East Coast Grill

Sad to bid farewell to the Grande Dame of Cambridge refined, casual dining.
Fortunate were we to enjoy every aspect of dining at East Coast Grill as East Coast Grill nears its retirement.
To the owners and staff, I say thanks for the memories, and thank you for bringing food to a new level in Boston and Cambridge.
The retirement of East Coast Gill will produce a substantial void in refined, casual dining in Boston and Cambridge.
May the future bring you — — the owners and staff of East Coast Grill — — the residual enjoyment of your labor of love that you earned every right to.

So sad to see this place go! I moved to the neighborhood fairly recently and was looking forward to lots of oysters and eventually working up the courage to attend hell night! Goodbye East Coast– hopefully this isn’t really the end!

Came here for my birthday yesterday, did not know what to expect, but as soon as the Flaming Volcano for 2 arrived, I knew this would be a great time. To begin with we got the Buffalo Fried Shrimp and Hell Hot Pulled Pork Stuffed Banana. The «Hell Hot» truly sticks by its word, it was pretty Spicy, but very delicious amd went well with the Pulled Pork. Their Buffalo Fried Shrimp is really really good, beats all the other places I’ve had this dish at. The Uncle Bud’s BBQ Trio Platter was my entrée along side with a Hell Bone as a side dish. The Hell Bone is a Delicious juicy rib topped with their Hell Hot sauce. Consumer be advised, there’s a lot of it on the rib and its totally worth it. The trio Platter is a dish to go for especially if you are having a hard time deciding in the BBQ section would you rather have Pulled Pork, a Brisket or Ribs, this is an option which will allow you to sample all three.
All in all, great place for any occasion, but sort of bummed that this place is to close down 1÷23÷16. So if you are in the area and can’t decide where to eat, well you just found your answer.

I came here with my mother a few months ago. I live in California but travel out to see my Mom a few times a year. We wanted something «different» and East Coast Grill fit the bill perfectly! The food was great and the atmosphere was great. And James (one of the owners) even checked on us mid-​meal! I always appreciate it when owners of a restaurant care enough to check in with their guests.
Seafood seemed very fresh and I like that they have some BBQ options to make the meal interesting. We’ll be back for sure!

The first thing I do when I’m back on my home turf in the East Coast is to grab my long awaited New England seafood meal. I really like the East Coast Grill because it’s simple, busy, and it doesn’t really change/​consistent. They always always have really good specials.
Pros:
Seafood anything (clams, scallops, chowder– yes do the chowder)
I even like the non-​New England seafood like swordfish/​Mahi Mahi — but do everything New England based here!
Cons:
BBQ. What? This place is known to have some of the best BBQ in Boston. The question you ask yourself is– huh at a seafood –east coast grill type establishment? So before I moved to the midwest, I would agree. But this is no Kansas City BBQ. They need to take those words off the Menu. Honestly, it doesn’t even compare. I had some of the ribs and brisket and they were just hard/​chewy. So if you’re a midwest transplant looking for some midwest BBQ– this is not your place.
Boston — I love you, but you can’t BBQ.

Hoot hoot! I went for Hell Night and it was simply one Hell of a night. Thanks to great service, tasty food, and delicious drink I will be returning.

This is not going to be a typical East Coast Grill review. Yes, I’m sure the seafood options are fine, but that’s not what I’m here to discuss. The agenda for this review: BBQ.
When people ask me what my favorite BBQ joint in Boston is, I don’t mention Redbones, Sweet Cheeks (forget that place), or even the very good Blue Ribbon. East Coast Grill wins, every time. Why? Their spice rubs and sauces are savory zingers. The baked beans and coleslaw are unusually well-​balanced for flavor. And the portions of meat that you receive are absolutely MASSIVE. I rarely use all-​caps in online writing, but this is a rare warranted case. Regardless of whether you get the pulled pork, the ribs, the beef brisket, or the Marlon Brando-​sized combination platter, know one thing: you’re going home with leftovers.
The only thing I’d like to see here in the future is a larger list of craft beers. Because really, there’s nothing like washing down entire fistfuls of meat with a great Imperial IPA or stout. Just writing that sentence makes my stomach growl and my arteries groan.

Very disappointed with my evening last night at east coast grill. This place had been on my radar for a while, one of the few spots I had yet to hit and it really missed last night.
The redeeming 3 star review were mostly from the fun staff and drink menus. Anyplace that has $ 3 PBR tall boys I can be a fan of. But unfortunately, my food experience was very sub-​par. We had some guests out of town visiting and we as a table were a little disappointed with the food.
I didn’t really get any of the BBQ and so maybe next time I come, I will dig into that. We’ll see…

The food and service here is subpar and overpriced.
The service was awkward. One of my appetizer plates was dirty as well. The wait between each time the server visited seem long and it also took a long time for the food to arrive.
Now for the food. I got to try the sirlion and BBQ trio platter for entrees. I got to share the chargrilled oysters and coconut curry mussels and foccacia bread for appetizers.
The mussels were good. The chargrilled oysters was small. Tastes okay. But have definitely had better.
The sirloin was good but no better than like a texas road house except much more expensive. The BBQ trio platter was a FAIL! They literally cram all the sides and meat onto the same small plate. Everything kinda just mashed together. Look through the pictures and see for yourself. I look issues with the pulled pork on my plate. The strands of pulled pork was so tough and leathery. It was like eating dry non tender jerky without the flavor. Major NO NO. Some portions of the pork ribs were good but other parts again was tough, chewy and leathery. The brisket as part of the trio was the only part of the entrée that was decent. I would have sent it back except I didn’t want boogers and cum.
Overall
Service is awkward because of our server. Food had major flaws. Overpriced. Would not go back and would not recommend.

Not too much to add to what others have said. Food was fantastic — well prepared and the main courses were as good as the appetizers! Good service and the staff was very friendly and helpful. Very large portions but taking some home is a bonus in this situation! Had the oysters and Hell wings appetizers and grilled mahi mahi, KC ribs, and barbecue trio for main courses. All equally delicious. Highly recommended.

Chewy meat, watery wine, uninspired service staff.

I mean I was told this is the spot to eat, but all I had wuz oysters n some steak and two beers. Dunno wut happen but it had a brotha sweatin bullets around 3am wit stomach pain. Also other peeps were havin stomach issues.
Though the place could of been betta

3.5, but I guess it rounds up.
Went on a BBQ binge craze a month back so there were some consecutive weeks where there were BBQ takeouts in the fridge nonstop. Tried their platter and the grilled veggies. The pulled pork was great, very flavorful, but the brisket was disappointing — actually not sure if they even gave us brisket! Ribs were so so. Corn bread was average as well.
Overall, I wouldn’t make a trip here for their BBQ. The grilled veggies were great!
Reason for the .5 star is that East Coast Grill hosts the annual Hell night where they come up with the most spicy dish ever! Last year, they had the lo mein, which was just insane spicy (and this is coming from a Szechuan girl who can out eat all friends, family, and coworkers in spicy food). They probably just poured an entire packet of ghost chili pepper into each serving! Took one bite and was dying. Took the bowl home to go, added lots of rice, noodles, and veggies, and it was okay spicy (or killer spicy, depending on the audience)! That was one fun night!

There are small cute, green giraffes on the Mimosas. The food itself was meh — particularly the steak and eggs was heavily over peppered on the steak & very chewy. Ie., the meat itself did not seem to be of of the best quality.
The Mimosas, though surprisingly strong, seemed unrefined.
Overall an okay spot (that would be 3-​stars) with price-​tag that drops it to two.

The food here is good and the staff is super nice! The guy who seated us was incredibly friendly. We were seated close to the kitchen, which was cool because it meant we could see the chefs in action. They also hooked us up with a free appetizer for no apparent reason other than to be nice and guarantee some happy appetizers.
I got the BBQ trio and it was a TON of food. Personally I think I liked the brisket best, but really everything on the platter was good. My boyfriend got the thai shrimp and I would totally recommend that as well. It’s kind of a weirdly diverse menu, but they really do all the dishes well!

A little pricy for my taste, but the food and service was impeccable. Right when we entered, the staff was friendly and accommodating. We were seated right next to the open kitchen, and I couldn’t help but drool watching all the food being cooked. It was also fun to watch as customers bought packs of PBR for the staff (which is an option on the menu).
Food-​wise, my friend and I ordered oysters, the creole shrimp, and snow crab to split. I kept wanting more after each dish was finished. I had also ordered a bone of rib, which was a much appreciated option instead of ordering a whole rack (although I probably could have finished that, too).

Las mejores ostras que hemos comido nunca. Y cuando creíamos que eran insuperables, pedimos costillas a la barbacoa. Sabor y textura inmejorables.

In town for work, and we were looking for a place on our last night that was quintessentially «boston seafood» (coming from a land-​locked state, it was necessary to take advantage!)… unfortunately, it was impossible to get a reservation at any of the best places 9p, so we weren’t sure what to do. Enter a coworker that lives locally in this neighborhood, and she suggested we try East Coast Grill. She assured us there was plenty of seafood, among other options, so we threw caution to the wind and made a reservation.
We were seated promptly at 7:15 on a Thursday night with 6 people. The restaurant is definitely a little tight, but we were not uncomfortable. Definitely a low-​key kind of place, with an open kitchen featuring cooks slamming PBRs (seriously, the menu says you can «buy the kitchen a 6-​pack»). So there was some built-​in entertainment value there, too.
We started with mussels (raw and steamed), and people seemed to enjoy them. I tried one of each and while I’m not generally a fan, these were pretty good. A few of us also got the clam and corn chowder. I was really looking forward to it based on the Unilocal reviews, but I have to say it was just good, not great. There were huge chunks of food in it and the broth was on the thin side. Also, it was served in a one of those wide, shallow soup bowls, which made for a strange presentation — just giant chunks sitting there surrounded by thin broth. A deeper soup bowl would have been nicer.
Since I needed to order seafood, I decided on the Mahi Mahi. It was a beautiful piece of fish and so yummy… once I added a little salt. There was virtually no seasoning at all, but a little sprinkle of salt brought all the flavors out nicely. All the accompaniments were good too — grilled avocado w/​a little pineapple salsa (amazing!), rice and beans (pretty good), and fried plantains (solid). Other people in my party ordered the crab legs and pulled pork platter and enjoyed them. For dessert, we had a Key Lime pie and Chocolate Pecan pie — both were so delicious, you could practically feel yourself gaining weight as you ate. Worth it, though.
All in all, a solid last night. I enjoyed myself, but I also wasn’t paying (thank you company card!) — I do think it seemed a little expensive overall and I would be a little more choosy next time if I were paying myself.

Randomly ate dinner here with a couple of friends.
Food: The menu is very random, as it ranges from barbeque to oysters… I ended up ordering the pulled pork barbeque, which is a HUGE portion. I ended up taking the left overs to go and it was worth an extra two meals. The pulled pork could’ve been more flavorful, mainly because I didn’t like the sauce (it was tangy) so I ate the meat as is (dry). The meat went well with the refried beans and the corn bread though!
Service: It was okay. Nothing out of the ordinary, no complaints either.
Wouldn’t go out of my way to return here.

I really enjoy this place! The food is good, service is friendly and attentive, and it had a fun atmosphere. I only gave it 4 stars because there are some dishes that I just don’t love and normally I’m not a fan of their rice (I am Supah picky when it comes to my rice). They can get really busy and parking can get dicey so get here early or make a reservation! We bring many of our out of town friends here and they love it!
Don’t forget to order beer for the kitchen!!!

This place is nothing less than an American Classic. I will admit that the quality is perhaps slipped just a bit since the beloved and revered founder parted ways some years back, and many of the core staff from the era have moved on as well. However there are some veterans of the Golden Era still helming the place and some of the classics are delicious as ever. Namely; The Buffalo Shrimp, still consistently delicious and the best I’ve encountered anywhere. Mussel’s with the Grilled bread in a Carribean curry sauce. Non-​traditional New England Clam Chowder made with sweet potatoes that still ranks among the metros’ best. Anything from the raw bar. If you want to go nuts throw down a couple of suicidal hell bones. Or go to brunch and build your own bloody mary with a selection of some thousand different types of hot sauce.
The fun and infectious spirit that has been with the place since its inception is still alive and well. The décor hasn’t changed at all and I am not sure it ever should. It is still currently unacceptable to pass thru greater Boston and not make at least one visit here.

Visited Boston about 2 months ago and ate here with a friend. We both loved it! Really good food and really good service!
Our waitress was really nice. She recommended dishes based on popularity and her own favorites. We decided to get a clam chowder (a must in Boston!), Texas Style Brisket Platter, and Steamed Snow Crab Legs. all so delicious!!!
Not the best in Boston or Cambridge but it was still really delicious!

Im East Coast Grill bekommt man genau das, was man erwartet — ehrliches amerikanisches BBQ. Auch wenn ihr Euch in New England befindet, hier kommen auch echte Südstaaten Spezialitäten auf den Teller. Ich hatte einen Teller mit Pulled Pork, Braten und Rippchen. Versucht die Ribs, sie sind großartig und auf einem echten Holzkohlegrill gebraten! Meine Frau hatte Hähnchen mit Avocado-​Papaya-​Salat. Das Hähnchen war durchschnittlich, der Salat große Klasse.
Kurz zur Bedienung und Wartezeit auf einen Tisch. Wir haben nicht auf einen Tisch warten müssen, allerdings waren wir spät dran. Die Bedienung war Okay, auch wenn unser Bier zunächst auf der Strecke blieb — es wurde uns dafür nicht berechnet.
Ps: Bringt Hunger mit!