Warren Tavern Boston Menu, Prices, Hours

Warren Tavern Charlestown has been pouring drinks at 2 Pleasant Street since 1780, which makes it one of the oldest taverns in Massachusetts and one of the few Boston restaurants where you can eat clam chowder in a building George Washington visited. Today the Charlestown pub serves New England comfort food, weekend brunch and late-night drinks a short walk from the Bunker Hill Monument. Here is what to order, what it costs and how to plan a visit.

A Charlestown Tavern Rebuilt After Bunker Hill

The tavern is named for Dr. Joseph Warren, the Boston physician and patriot leader who was killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775. According to the restaurant’s history page, Warren wrote the Suffolk Resolves, sent Paul Revere and William Dawes on their rides to Lexington in April 1775, and turned down a command at Bunker Hill so he could fight as a volunteer. During that battle, British ships and landing parties set much of wooden Charlestown on fire.

The restaurant says its building on Pleasant Street was one of the first put up after that fire, in 1780, and that it has hosted George Washington, who stopped by in 1789, and Paul Revere. The Wikipedia entry on Warren Tavern also lists Benjamin Franklin among its early visitors and notes that the business has always been a tavern, closing only for short stretches since 1780. Fans of Boston crime fiction may know it from Robert B. Parker’s 1982 Spenser novel “Ceremony,” in which the private eye has dinner there.

That history puts Warren Tavern in the same conversation as the Union Oyster House, Boston’s best-known old restaurant, which recently changed hands.

Warren Tavern Menu Highlights and Prices

The kitchen sticks to pub classics with a New England accent. The restaurant’s online menu lists New England clam chowder at $9 a cup and $12 a bowl, with a cheeky note calling it the best chowder you will find. If you are comparing bowls around the city, our guide to the best clam chowder in Boston is a good place to start.

Other dishes on the lunch and dinner menu, at the prices listed by the restaurant, include:

New England lobster roll with Maine lobster, Old Bay and celery mayo on a buttered roll, $32
Lobster mac and cheese with cavatappi and a four-cheese blend, $32
Fish and chips with fried haddock, slaw and tartar sauce, $25
Short rib shepherd’s pie with mashed potatoes and onion strings, $24
House-marinated steak tips with mashed potatoes, $29
The Sons of Liberty burger with mushrooms, Gruyère and herb mayo, $18
The Plymouth Plantation sandwich, a Thanksgiving-style mix of roast turkey, stuffing, cranberry and gravy, $17

Starters run from $10 Parmesan truffle fries to $17 Thai chicken lettuce wraps, and oysters are shucked to order. The best deal on the menu is the weekday happy hour: oysters are listed at $1 each from 3 to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, compared with $3.50 each at other times. There are vegetarian options too, including an Impossible burger and Bang Bang cauliflower. Menu prices can change, so check the restaurant’s site before you go.

Weekend Brunch at Warren Tavern

On Saturdays and Sundays the tavern opens at 10 a.m. for brunch. The brunch menu keeps the chowder, burgers and lobster roll and adds breakfast plates such as the Gen. Warren Breakfast of pancakes, berries, two eggs and bacon for $17, a Dublin Benny on an everything bagel for $17, steak and eggs for $23, and hangover tater tots topped with cheese sauce, bacon and a sunny egg for $14. It is a handy stop before or after a morning on the Freedom Trail.

Atmosphere: Low Ceilings, Colonial Clapboard and a Busy Bar

From the outside, Warren Tavern looks like what it is: a three-story, cream-colored clapboard building on a brick-sidewalk corner of Pleasant Street, with a hanging green sign and flower boxes under the windows. Inside, the restaurant describes a classic pub atmosphere, with a bar that pours everything from Guinness to espresso martinis. Expect a mix of Charlestown regulars, Bunker Hill visitors and fans heading out after a game. Like Cheers on Beacon Hill, it draws tourists for its story, but it still works as a neighborhood bar.

Practical Info: Address, Hours and Reservations

Address: 2 Pleasant Street, Charlestown, MA 02129
Phone: (617) 241-8142
Hours: Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 1 a.m., according to the restaurant’s website
Price range: Most mains are $23 to $32; burgers and sandwiches are $17 to $19
Reservations: Available through the “Book a Reservation” link on the restaurant’s website
Takeout and delivery: Online ordering through Toast, with delivery through Grubhub

Pair a meal with a visit to the Bunker Hill Monument a few blocks away. The National Park Service says the 221-foot granite obelisk was dedicated in 1843 on Breed’s Hill, admission is free, and the climb to the top is 294 steps up a tight spiral stairway. The Bunker Hill Museum across the street, at 43 Monument Square, tells the story of the battle that gave this tavern its name.

The bottom line: Warren Tavern is not a fine-dining destination, and it does not try to be. It is a dependable Charlestown pub with fair prices for the neighborhood, a good bowl of chowder and nearly 250 years of Boston history built into the walls.

Featured photo: Warren Tavern on Pleasant Street in Charlestown, by Upstateherd via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; cropped.

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Warren Tavern Charlestown: Boston’s Historic Pub Since 1780