Smithsonian Cafe and Chowderhouse

Hands down best seafood chowder I’ve ever had! Served with a perfectly made grilled cheese and friendly staff! They have ruined any other chowder for me. Luckily I live within an hour!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The "Classic" Rubin for $13.00 plus tax and tip. Service was non-existent, so the low end 15% tip. Modest content between two smallish squares of supermarket bread. Dining area was freezing. Indifferent service...

I'm not a food snob, and rarely post reviews, but I'm local & have been here many, many times. This was a borderline insult. I paid about $16 (with Tax & tip) for this?? Okay...Covid recovery, food prices, can't get help, the general drudge of the restaurant biz these days...yeah, I get it...but this was a totally depressing experience...never again.

Parking: It's okay

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 2

Recommended dishes: Soups

Hands down best seafood around

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Seafood Chowder, Seafood, Brioche Bun, Reuben, Soups, Fresh Maine Hot Buttered Lobster Roll

We had Peter and the Smithsonian Catering do our wedding. All of the food was delicious! Peter worked with us to put together a menu that fit all of our dietary restrictions without issue, changing recipes as needed. It was a huge help as we have multiple gluten free guests. It was awesome to not have to worry about getting people sick.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great spot for New England comfort foods! My family visits almost every week and never tire of their award-winning chowder, buttery lobster rolls, and made-from-scratch cupcakes.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

We hired Peter and his team to cater our wedding and in the process ate at his chowder house several times! He was very easy to work with and never seemed overwhelmed by my parents many asks when it came to wedding food. He was very adaptive and able to accommodate specific styles of prep and cooking to fit our preferences (ex. grilling instead of frying eggplant for eggplant parmigiana)! Most of his cooking is gluten free friendly without having to ask which was great for our GF guests and all of his food was delicious! Our event was nearly 150 people and buffet style service but with the quality of his food, you would have never guessed. We highly recommend Peter and his team to cater any and all of your events (and recommend the soup shooter appetizers!!) and recommend his chowder house for delicious soups and stuffed popovers :)

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

We used Smithsonian to cater our company outing and our experiencing was great. We had about 120 people and the event was flawless. Peter and Jeff were personable and the food was amazing. Peter was very responsive and accommodating during the planning phase and helped us come up with a menu that would suite our needs. We highly recommend using them to cater an event and we will most definitely be working with them again in the future!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Excellent chowder, I bought a gallon to freeze! They make the best lobster roll i ever had. Wonderful service.

Yeah, I get the shack vide but still have trouble pressured to tip on my card at a restaurant where I order from the counter, wipe and set my own table, go back to the window when paged to get my food, then follow prompts posted to clear my own table. Food was wonderful and staff was friendly so they'll have to settle on 15%

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 2

We just had Peter and his staff cater our wedding. He was very helpful throughout the process. The food was ready on time and exceptional. I would hire him again in a heartbeat. Thank you Peter and staff.

Terrific chowder.
period!

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 4

Service: 3

Recommended dishes: Seafood Chowder

Food was great, staff was wonderful.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Had a clam platter last evening. Tender delicious clams without having to drive to Cape Cod at a fraction of the price you would pay on the Cape!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Clam Chowder, Lobster

Truly a great stop! Food was delicious and well portioned. We ordered the spicy chicken sandwich and steak sandwich with a popover, clam and corn chowder and the portions were worth the prices. Would have preferred the steak sliced up instead of full cut but was tasty nonetheless. Best part was the soups served in mugs, genius!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Clam Chowder

The pulled pork popover is amazing.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5