Where to grab a bowl of soup, stew, bisque, chili in Greater Boston

Maybe the best reason for it to be cold for half of the year in New England is that there’s a longer time period to comfortably eat hot bowls of soup. 

While making one at home is just as fun (and more fiscally responsible), sometimes a rainy, chilly Boston day calls for grabbing your favorite soup to-go. 

And here’s the great thing about soup: it’s wide-ranging, from stews to bisques and broths. 

Even New England has its own soup, though it’s widely accessible and popular across the country. And Boston’s oldest continuously operating restaurant undoubtedly serves a favorite version of the soup to locals and visitors alike. 

Joseph Milano, president of Union Oyster House and the Honorary Consul General to Thailand, said the restaurant sells 10,000 gallons of clam chowder a year. 

“We have no secret ingredients in our ‘Chowdah,’” Milano said. “One intangible ingredient that stands out is consuming our world-famous chowder in the historic ambience of the restaurant.”

What there aren’t too many of are soup-forward restaurants, which may be why New England Soup Factory was consistently a favorite among our readers.

Owner and founder Marjorie Druker said her team makes 10 soups every day at their Newton restaurant. Favorites include chicken noodle and matzo ball soup because of its “healing purposes,” Druker said in an email. 

“Soup is the perfect meal,” Druker said. “It’s balanced eating by the spoonful, it chases away the chill of winter, [and] it’s a blanket for your mouth and throat that feels good and tastes even better.”

Boston.com asked readers to recommend their favorite soup spots so we could put it in a map, and not surprisingly, we were given plenty of clam chowder options. But our editorial staff wanted to share their picks as well, which include ramen, pho, and lentil soups. Those choices are labeled below as “Boston.com recommended,” and you can some soup options in the map.

It’s also important to note that there may be debates about what counts as a soup. We could squabble over the differences between soup versus stews and all the other items below, but if it was served hot, mostly liquid, usually in a bowl, and you sometimes make a slurping sound while eating it, it made the list. 

Included in our map are 123 restaurants where you can grab a bowl of hot soup (or broth, stew, chili, bisque, chowder, ramen, pho, etc.) to get through these cold months.

Where to find soup near you in Greater Boston

List of soups in Greater Boston

• Alice’s Mandarin Taste: 37 Pond St., Sharon
• Amrheins: 80 W. Broadway, South Boston
• Bar Mezzana: 360 Harrison Ave., South End
• Boston Sail Loft: 80 Atlantic Ave., Downtown
• Cabot’s: 743 Washington St., Newton
• Cafe Polonia: 611 Dorchester Ave., South Boston
• Charlie’s Sandwich Shoppe: 429 Columbus Ave., South End
• Clover Food Lab (Boston.com recommended): Multiple locations
• DoughBoy Doughnuts & Deli: 220 Dorchester Ave., South Boston
• Fornax Bread: 27 Corinth St., Roslindale
• Galway House: 710 Centre St., Jamaica Plain
• Ganko Ittetsu (Boston.com recommended): Multiple locations
• Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe: Multiple locations
• Happy Lamb Hot Pot (Boston.com recommended): Multiple locations
• Hokkaido Ramen Santouka (Boston.com recommended): Multiple locations
• Hook + Line: 10 Fan Pier Boulevard, Seaport
• Lambert’s Marketplace: 140 Tremont St., Downtown
• Le’s Vietnamese Restaurant (Boston.com recommended): 36 John F. Kennedy St., Cambridge
• Legal Sea Foods: Multiple locations
• Life Alive Organic Cafe: Multiple locations
• Mecha Noodle Bar (Boston.com recommended): Multiple locations
• New England Soup Factory (Boston.com recommended): 244 Needham St., Newton
• Pho 88: 1270 Westford St., Lowell
• Pho Basil (Boston.com recommended): 177 Massachusetts Ave., Fenway-Kenmore
• Pho Hoa: 1370 Dorchester Ave., Dorchester
• Pho Le Restaurant: 1356 Dorchester Ave., Dorchester
• Pho Pasteur: Multiple locations
• Pho So 1 (Boston.com recommended): 1625 Hancock St., Quincy
• Pikaichi (Boston.com recommended): 123 Boston Ave., Medford
• Sip Cafe (Boston.com recommended): 0 Post Office Square, Downtown
• Smith & Wollensky: Multiple locations
• Sugar & Spice Thai Restaurant (Boston.com recommended): 1933 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge
• Sullivan’s Castle Island: 2080 William J. Day Boulevard, South Boston
• Super Sub Shop: 324 Cabot St., Beverly
• Tatte Bakery & Cafe (Boston.com recommended): Multiple locations
• The Abbey (Boston.com recommended): Multiple locations
• Tikki Masala: 3706 Washington St., Jamaica Plain
• Tsurumen (Boston.com recommended): 420 Highland Ave., Somerville
• Turner’s Seafood: Multiple locations
• Union Oyster House: 41 Union St., Downtown
• Waku Waku Ramen (Boston.com recommended): Multiple locations
• Yume Wo Katare (Boston.com recommended): 1923 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge
• Zaftigs Delicatessen (Boston.com recommended): Multiple locations
• Zo Greek (Boston.com recommended): Multiple locations

Katelyn Umholtz

Food and Restaurant Reporter

Katelyn Umholtz covers food and restaurants for Boston.com. Katelyn is also the author of The Dish, a weekly food newsletter.