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Lobsters and other shellfish laid out on ice at a long counter.
Row 34 in Kendall Square.
Chris McIntosh/Row 34

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Seafood Destination Row 34 Makes a Splash With Its New Kendall Square Location

One of Boston’s best seafood restaurants opens in Cambridge

by Erika Adams
Erika Adams is the editor of Eater Boston.

Row 34, one of the city’s best modern New England seafood restaurants, has landed in Cambridge. The newest location of owners Jeremy Sewall and Shore Gregory’s fish-laden fleet — which also includes three other outposts in Boston, Burlington, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire — debuts on Friday, April 7 in Kendall Square.

To a Row 34 regular, the menu will feel familiar, with staples like the restaurant’s sought-after lobster roll, the lettuce cups with crispy fried oysters, and the creamy butterscotch pudding for dessert. But chef de cuisine Jason Smith, who leads the Cambridge kitchen, will also have plenty of latitude in how the day’s catch is prepared, with special crudo and ceviche dishes.

The bi-level restaurant includes a 120-seat dining room on the ground floor, a basement-level space with a private dining room, and a 40-seat outdoor patio opening later this year. Muralist Silvia López Chavez was commissioned to create two art installations for this location that are based on photographs of water and panoramic Boston scenes taken by her husband, photographer Dominic Chavez.

Historically, Kendall Square — known for its high-profile science and tech tenants like Google — hasn’t been known as a restaurant hot spot in Cambridge, and much of its dining scene didn’t survive the pandemic. But office workers are returning, and MIT, which is based in Kendall Square, has a longstanding public commitment to bolstering the neighborhood which has helped as well, says Row 34 owner and chef Sewall. Customers are packing into places like rotisserie chicken champ Shy Bird, Hunan restaurant Sumiao Hunan Kitchen, and French spot Batifol, which opened last fall.

“It seems to get busier every time I’m down there,” Sewall says. “It just felt like the right time to dip our toe in that area, and we’re pretty excited about it.”

Row 34 is located in Kendall Square at 314 Main Street. Reservations are available here.

A central bar is visible in a dining room with a person walking by on the left side.
Inside Row 34’s newest restaurant.
Chris McIntosh/Row 34
A curving, low-lit dining room with tables and chairs set with white plates and napkin roll-ups.
The ground-floor dining room.
Chris McIntosh/Row 34
A low-lit dining room with a bar and glass-walled dining area.
The restaurant’s subterranean level.
Chris McIntosh/Row 34
A low-lit dining room with black tables and chairs against a floor to ceiling windowed wall looking out onto a street.
Looking out onto Main Street from the main dining room.
Chris McIntosh/Row 34
A sunny, reflective exterior of the restaurant with a person on a bike going by on the street.
Row 34’s windowed exterior.
Chris McIntosh/Row 34

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