Visit
The front of Sophia’s Grotto at night — an illuminated sign over a red awning, ivy climbing the brick, bistro tables and chairs on the courtyard, and chandeliers glowing through the windows.

Roslindale Village · Boston

You have to know it’s there.

A courtyard off 22R Birch Street, a wood oven, and Mediterranean cooking since 2005. Boston Magazine has given the patio Best of Boston twice. Weeknights from 4:30, weekends from noon.

Find the courtyardWhat to order
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Candle lanterns and planted flowers along a ledge in the courtyard, with the kitchen lit up through a window behind them and a cook working inside.
A thin-crust pizza on a metal pan, blistered at the edges, with a slice being lifted and the melted cheese pulling away in strands.
A steel paella pan with red handles, full of saffron rice with black mussel shells through it, resting on a table edged with flowers.
Three open bottles of red wine and a poured glass on dark wood beside a lit candle, with a Sophia’s Grotto Wine Wednesday card propped behind them.

The grotto

  1. 01

    Down the passage, into the courtyard

    There is no street frontage to walk past. You go through to the courtyard behind Birch Street and it is all lanterns, planters and a kitchen window with the light on. The Boston Globe put it better than we can: it feels like a trattoria in Italy, one you might stumble upon in some quaint little town.

  2. 02

    The wood oven is the first thing you smell

    Nine thin-crust pizzas come out of it — mozzarella and basil at the plain end, oyster and shiitake mushrooms under white truffle oil at the other, pancetta and poblanos somewhere in the middle. It runs from the moment the doors open.

  3. 03

    Mediterranean, not only Italian

    Chorizo, manchego, patatas bravas and a paella of arborio rice with mussels, shrimp and calamari sit on the same menu as gnocchi bolognese and cannelloni. Nobody made a rule about which coast to cook from.

  4. 04

    And then nobody hurries you

    Brick walls, dim light, candles on every table and a patio that has taken Best of Boston for Romantic Patio and again for affordable al fresco. There is a wine list to sit in front of and a Wine Wednesday if you would rather be told what to drink.

What to order

Start with the potatoes

The small plates are where this menu shows its hand: patatas bravas, arancini, marcona almonds, crostini, artichoke hearts wrapped in prosciutto, Sophia’s meatballs of veal and sirloin and pork. Then nine pizzas out of the wood oven, mussels stewed with chorizo, paella, and a wine list worth staying for.

  • A white bowl of crisp golden fried potato cubes in a spicy red sauce, drizzled with pale aioli and scattered with parsley.

    Patatas Bravas

    Deep-fried potatoes under horseradish aioli, smoked paprika and a spicy tomato sauce. Eight dollars, and the thing every table orders twice.

    $7.95

  • A ball of burrata on a white plate beside blistered cherry tomatoes and a spoonful of bright green basil pesto, with balsamic and olive oil pooled around them.

    Burrata

    With basil pesto, cherry tomatoes and a balsamic reduction. Order it while you are still deciding.

    $16.95

  • A breaded chicken cutlet on a bed of linguini, covered in marinara and melted fontina, on an oval white plate.

    Chicken Parmesan

    Breaded chicken over linguini with fontina and marinara. The version you were hoping for rather than the version you were expecting.

    $24.95

  • A shallow white bowl of potato gnocchi coated in a creamy tomato meat sauce, dusted with grated parmesan and parsley.

    Gnocchi Bolognese

    Potato gnocchi in a creamy red meat sauce, with enough parmesan over it to be worth the walk home.

    $26.95

A row of wine bottles standing along a wooden ledge in warm low light, with cut flowers in front of them.
The list runs long. Wednesdays somebody else picks for you.

Our story

A courtyard in Roslindale,
and a wood oven since 2005.

Sophia’s Grotto opened in March 2005 in the courtyard at 22R Birch Street, and the pitch has not changed since: come through the passage, let the wood oven and the warm glowing decor get to you first, and find what the owners call a home away from home.

It has collected the kind of recognition that comes from being consistently good in one neighbourhood rather than from chasing anything — Boston Magazine on the 25 Best Al Fresco Spots, then Best of Boston for affordable al fresco dining, then Best Neighborhood Restaurant in Roslindale, then Romantic Patio, and one of the city’s 15 Most Romantic Restaurants. The Improper Bostonian named it best neighbourhood restaurant too. In 2024 the City of Boston gave it a Legacy Business Award.

The room is brick walls and low light, with a bar at one end and the patio out onto the courtyard. Boston is not short of Italian restaurants. It is short of ones you have to be told about.

  • 2005Opened in March, in the courtyard off 22R Birch Street
  • 9Thin-crust pizzas out of the wood oven
  • 2024Boston Legacy Business Award, City of Boston

The board

And whatever is on the specials board

Two frenched lamb chops standing on a white plate over a pale cream sauce, finished with balsamic swirls and chopped parsley.
Crisp fried fish fillets with hand-cut fries, lemon wedges and a cup of citrus aioli, beside a poured glass of white wine.
Overhead view of a salad of romaine, sliced avocado, shrimp and crumbled cheese on a white plate against dark slate.

Visit

22R Birch Street,
Roslindale Village

22R Birch Street
Roslindale, MA 02131

The entrance is not on Birch Street itself — go through the passage into the courtyard behind it, and you will see the lanterns before you see the sign. Reservations are taken online up until an hour before opening; after that, and for any party over six, call. If you want the patio, say so when you book. There is a bar inside if you would rather wait with a drink.

Call (617) 323‑4595Get directions

Open

Monday – Friday
4:30 PM – 9:30 PM
Saturday
12 PM – 9:30 PM
Sunday
12 PM – 9 PM

Doors at 4:30 Monday to Friday, and noon at weekends. The kitchen goes until 9:30, half an hour earlier on Sundays.