Amid the buzz, find seas of tranquillity
By Kara Baskin Globe Correspondent,Updated July 14, 2026, 5:30 a.m.
While reporting the Globe’s steakhouse package a few weeks ago, I had the rare occasion to dine alone, at the bar of Back Bay steakhouse Grill 23. This happens about as often as I find a kindred spirit who approves of mayonnaise on hot dogs.
I have two children, a spouse, and friends with busy schedules. Unless I’m working, going out to eat is usually a precisely planned way to catch up or to celebrate a birthday. Otherwise, it’s an act of sheer impulse, when we’ve exhausted every Trader Joe’s frozen meal in the house.
Oh, but solo dining is glorious. There’s the chance to quietly scrutinize human behavior: Who’s the fellow in the beret and monocle reading “Faust” while twirling linguine? There’s the potential for eavesdropping. There’s even the chance of making a new friend, as I did while enjoying French onion soup on that Tuesday night in the Back Bay.
Sitting alone, I decided to do the unthinkable in our screen-stricken society: strike up a conversation with the person sitting next to me. Maybe it was the clinking martinis; maybe it was the sense that, alone in the city on a weeknight, I ought to shrug off inhibitions and roll the dice. Turns out we grew up down the street from one another, about a decade apart. My friend’s mom was her elementary school teacher. This new bar pal is in my phone now, as “Acton Caitlin.”
The culture around restaurants these days involves jostling for a reservation, Instagramming your food, deciphering what the newest-hottest-buzziest place of the moment is. Our society also frowns on solitude, mistaking it for social failure.
But, sometimes, nothing beats sitting alone with your thoughts and, perhaps, a plate of oysters. My interlude at Grill 23 inspired me to reflect on other promising places to sup solo. Here is a quartet of suggestions, where the dishes are sized for one, the people-watching is priceless, and the food is worth the trip.
Lou’s, Harvard Square
This subterranean lounge in Harvard Square has library-meets-nightclub energy: leather, mahogany, deep velvet curtains, disco balls whose flattering lights give everyone cheekbones. If you could smoke here, well, you would. The people-watching is excellent, from professors to politicians. And the table arrangements lend themselves to indie adventuring, with cabaret-style seating in the lounge with tables fit for one, plus comfy couches. There’s a snacks menu; get the fried pickles. It’s a throwback to the Harvard Square of old, where you never quite knew who’d walk through the door — and it was almost too dim to tell, anyway.
13 Brattle St., Cambridge, 857-706-1100, www.wearelous.com