The Oldest MA Restaurant Still Open at Nearly 200 Years Old

Folklore says the oldest restaurant in Massachusetts is where the use of a toothpick was born, but there is no confirmation of that theory, only hearsay.

Also, the title of the oldest restaurant in America lands squarely at the White Horse Tavern in Newport, Rhode Island, but this property was also used for other events like assembly meetings, criminal court, and city council meetings, according to oldest.org.

Getting into the nitty gritty of "oldest" is all in semantics.

In Massachusetts, the Union Oyster House claims it's the oldest continuously operating restaurant in America, and it is definitely the oldest restaurant in Massachusetts.

On the ‘National Register of Historic Places’, the restaurant started serving food in 1826, and hasn't stopped. It's continuously been a restaurant for 198 years, serving up mostly seafood and other New England fare.

The clam chowder is out of this world, and there's also a longstanding oyster bar when you walk through the front door.

The Union Oyster House was also named ‘North America’s Best Landmark Restaurant’ by The World Culinary Awards, and honored by USA Today, Forbes, American Culinary Federation, Conde Nast, Lonely Planet, Taste Atlas, and Open Table in recent years.

You can dine at President JFK’s favorite booth, or peruse the wall filled with photos of other famous guests. Daniel Webster was a regular at the oyster house, so raise a pint to our forefathers who made history while dining on classic New England seafood at The Union Oyster House.