Dining in Concord MA
Three areas in Concord have restaurants and shops to buy picnic supplies.
Concord Center
The center of Concord MA between Monument Square and the Concord Free Public Library has a number of restaurants and sandwich shops good for everything from a hearty breakfast through a quick sandwich to a tavern supper or formal dinner.
Concord Depot
Thoreau Street between Main Street and Sudbury Road in Concord MA is a commercial zone with a half-dozen places clustered around the Concord Depot (train station), 1/2 mile (800 meters, 10-minute walk) southwest of Monument Square.
West Concord
West Concord, 2.7 miles (4.4 km) west of Concord Center’s Monument Square on the southwest side of MA Route 2 (map), is the other commercial center of Concord MA, with shops, light industry, a library branch, schools, fuel stations and its own Commuter Rail train station (West Concord).
There are also three good restaurants near the Concord Rotary (traffic circle) near West Concord.
Concord Center
Concord’s Colonial Inn
On Monument Square in the town center (tel 978-369-9200), fresh, seasonal local ingredients sourced from farms in Concord are featured on the menu here, as are wines from Massachusetts, New England, the USA, and beyond.
The Liberty Restaurant serves a fine gastro-pub menu of creative dishes in its informal dining room, its cozy bar and, most invitingly, on the inn’s broad front porch. Reserve your front-porch table in advance in good weather.
The more formal Merchants’ Row restaurant offers traditional cuisine in a variety of dining rooms, with careful service. Reservations are suggested here as well.
Fiorella’s Cucina
Fiorella’s, at 24 Walden Street (tel 978-341-9999) near the US Post Office, serves traditional Italian cuisine in a convenient location.
Helen’s Restaurant
This simple but popular combination short-order restaurant and ice cream shop just off Monument Square at 17 Main Street (tel 978-369-9885) serves breakfast, lunch, supper and ice cream in informal surroundings at budget prices. Sometimes you must wait to get a table.
Main Streets Market & Café
Located at 42 Main Street, corner of Walden Street (tel 978-369-9948), in the very center of Concord’s boutiques, the very informal Main Streets does a brisk business for breakfast and lunch, but calms down for dinner with beer, wine, and live entertainment. Seating is on stools at the counter, indoor and outdoor-deck tables.
Concord Cheese Shop
A longstanding favorite gourmet shop at 29 Walden Street (tel 978-369-5778) a block south of Main Street across from the US Post Office, the Cheese Shop also sells soups, salads and fresh-cut sandwiches (which are sold by weight, so you can order as much or as little as you like).
SallyAnns Bakery
At 73 Main Street (tel 978-369-4558) across from the Middlesex Savings Bank and Concord Visitor Center, SallyAnns sells soups, salads, sandwiches and lots of cakes and bakery items.
Trail’s End Café & Corner Store
Trail’s End Café, 97 Lowell Road (tel 978-610-6633), known for its high-quality, locally-sourced ingredients and fresh on-site preparation, serves breakfast, lunch and Sunday brunch to hungry Concordians in the Millbrook Tarry complex 350 yards northwest of Monument Square (a 5-minute walk.
Concord Depot
80 Thoreau
80 Thoreau (the street address, tel 978-318-0008) is an upscale restaurant serving New American Cuisine dinners upstairs in the Concord Depot building. Fine cuisine, healthy (ie, not huge) portions, fairly lofty prices (especially for wine), attentive service, a good dining experience. The bar/lounge scene in a separate space is popular as well. Open for dinner only, closed Sunday.
Chang An Restaurant & Bar
Also in the Concord Crossing complex at No. 10, Chang An (tel 978-369-5288) is a full-service Chinese restaurant with an inexpensive daily luncheon buffet and a separate bar.
Karma Concord
At 105 Thoreau Street across from the depot (tel 978-776-6631), Karma features a menu of Asian/Fusion dishes derived from Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other culinary traditions.
New London Style Pizza
At 71 Thoreau Street (tel 978-369-7053) across from the depot, it’s good for quick, inexpensive pizza, calzones and sandwiches.
Sorrento’s Brick Oven Pizzeria
Simple pizza shop at 58 Thoreau Street, corner of Belknap (tel (978) 369-0938), producing very good brick oven pizzas, pasta, sandwiches, salads, wraps and appetizers, mostly for take-out, though there are some tables.
Concord Provisions & Country Kitchen
This small grocery store at 73 Thoreau Street (tel 978-369-5555) across from the depot, at the corner with Middle Street, sells sandwiches, salads, cheeses, breads, crackers and wines. The Country Kitchen sandwiches are fresh-cut.
Farfalle Italian Market Café
Across the railroad tracks from the depot on the southwest side in the Concord Crossing complex (No. 26), Farfalle (tel 978-369-2900) serves breakfast, light lunches and suppers, sells Italian foods, and has a good selection of wines.
Bedford Farms Ice Cream
On the northwest side of the depot building at 68 Thoreau Street (tel 978-341-0000), this little cabin of a place sells gigantic ice cream cones and dishes. Unless you are ravenous and can afford to put on pounds, order a kiddy-sized cone. It’ll still be huge.
Starbucks Coffee
At the railroad crossing, 159 Sudbury Road (tel 978-287-0183), corner of Thoreau Street, this cozy Starbucks has dark roast coffee concoctions, too small a parking lot, and you can only turn right when exiting it. Park on Thoreau Street northwest of Sudbury Road—it’s less hassle. I assume you know the beverage.
Dunkin’ [Donuts]
Cater-corner to Starbucks across the intersection with Sudbury Road at 117 Thoreau Street, Dunkin’ (tel 978-371-0949) has medium-roast coffee, the usual breakfast pastries and sandwiches, and a more comfortable parking lot than Starbucks’.
West Concord
Debra’s Natural Gourmet
A natural foods grocery store and deli counter, you can feel good about the fresh and packaged comestibles you buy at Debra’s, 98 Commonwealth Avenue (tel 978-371-7573).
Nashoba Brook Bakery
A bakery-café right beside swift-running Nashoba Brook at 152 Commonwealth Avenue (tel 978-318-1999), they bake the best bread in Concord and make great sandwiches from it. You can also get breakfast and special-treat pastries, soups and other light meals. Sit indoors in the light, high-ceilinged former factory building, or outside beside the bubbling brook.
Saltbox Kitchen
Farm-to-table bistro pub with its own craft beers and produce from its own Concord farm, at 84 Commonwealth Avenue, corner of Beharrell Street (tel 978-212-3585).
Woods Hill Table
Neighbor to the West Concord train station at 24 Commonealth Avenue (tel 978 254 1435), Woods Hill Table is an organic “pasture-to-plate” bistrot open for dinner only, closed Tuesday.
99 Restaurant
Booths and tables, good friendly service, a succinct menu of quality food at bargain prices: that’s what draws the crowds to this small but intensely popular restaurant-bar at 13 Commonwealth Avenue, corner of Main Street (tel 978-369-0300). The best dishes are the simple ones. Parking can be a problem: do not park in the shopping center lot or any other private parking space, or your car may be towed. Find a parking spot on the streets nearby.
Club Car Café
In the former West Concord Depot train station building at 20 Commonwealth Avenue (tel 978-371-9282), right next to the railroad tracks, the Club Car is an old-time atmosphere place for breakfast or lunch.
Twin Seafood
At 2 Church Street (tel 978-371-9030), corner of Commonwealth Avenue, sells fish, clams and lobsters to cook at home, but also simple fish dishes and chowders to eat in the store.
Concord Teacakes
This locally-famous bakery-café at 59 Commonwealth Avenue (tel 978-369-7644), corner of Church Street, very near the West Concord train station, has exquisite cakes, pastries and other bakery treats, as well as coffee, teas, sandwiches and light meals.
Dunkin’ [Donuts]
This popular coffee-and-doughnut shop is at 1191 Main Street (tel 978-287-4100), very near the West Concord fire station and opposite the small West Concord Plaza shopping center.
Concord Rotary
Pappa Razzi Trattoria
Large, popular Italian restaurant and bar at 768 Elm Street just off the Concord Rotary (tel 978-371-0030). Traditional Italian dishes, efficient service, loyal clientele, numerous dining rooms.
Asian Gourmet, Sushi House, Hibachi
Three Asian restaurants in one small building next to Pappa Razzi at 794 Elm Street (tel. 978-369-8114 for Chinese, 978-369-8856 for Japanese). Asian Gourmet is Chinese, Sushi House is for Japanese sushi and bento dinner boxes, Hibachi is where the Japanese chef cooks in front of you. Good food, good value, good service!