WTTS – Boston, MA

Sorry Boston, no stars

Okay, I’ll say this… the hoomans in Boston were very dog-friendly. Winnie and Pooka couldn’t make it a block without being stopped for an ear scratch or a photo opp. (Pretty sure that the back of my head is all over Instagram today… along with Winnie’s adorable face!) The people were great. The restaurants sucked.

Okay, okay… it’s probably not their fault. There’s apparently a law that says live animals aren’t allowed in the premises of restaurants and outdoor patios count as ‘on the premises’. Googling, I found conflicting articles saying the law had been changed, but also another that says it’s still in effect and a Change.org petition to change the law too. At any rate, the restaurants that we tried to visit today were still siting the law that said ‘no pets’.

It’s already enough of a challenge to find a restaurant that offers gluten free options that seems reasonably safe. Add ‘dog-friendly’ to the list of requirements and things get trickier. Usually, it seems that if a restaurant offers outdoor/patio dining they’ll allow dogs. That’s worked in most of the cities that we’ve visited. (Boo’s favorite is New Orleans… Winnie & Pooka are partial to Savannah.) So when I searched for a restaurant that offered gluten free options I just scanned the Find Me Gluten Free app for the ones that offered outdoor dining. Apparently that doesn’t work in Boston. So, that kind of set the tone for me with Boston, ‘cause if my dog can’t come I don’t want to go.

We ended up getting a take out order and eating in the park. Brian and I both got a crab roll (because they were out of lobster. Really?!). It was fine, but nothing to write home about. The gf rolls were actually pretty good, but the crab was boring.

I may still be annoyed about the whole non-dog friendly thing and not giving Boston a fair shake, but y’all know me by this point… I’m irritated now and there’s just no winning me back. Also, it rained, so none of my pictures turned out awesome.

By the time we managed to find a spot in the parking garage, find food, and eat it was already getting pretty far along into the afternoon. We decided to skip the historic walking tour and check out a few shops that our friends liked. The important part was that we got to spend time with our friends, so that was a success, but Boston won’t be on my list of places to re-visit.