8 Historic Restaurants You Should Visit in Cape Cod

Cape Cod’s food scene is pretty much what you’d expect it to be: fresh seafood and Massachusetts cranberries, with a smattering of summertime, beach vacay favorites, like fresh ice cream and saltwater taffy. However, as you stuff your face with stuffies (aka stuffed quahogs), consider combining your explorations of the destination’s culinary landscape with a trip through the Cape’s past.

Cape Cod is extensively rich in history. For example, did you know that the Pilgrims actually landed in Cape Cod first, in Provincetown, before making their way on to Plymouth? Or that some of travelers’ favorite little towns and villages along the Cape, like Yarmouth and Sandwich, date back to the early 1600s?

While all but one of Cape Cod’s 17^th century eateries are gone, you can still find a wealth of historic spots to dine throughout the peninsula. Stop into one of these historic restaurants you should visit in Cape Cod, all of which have stood the test of time, serving locals and visitors for at least 50 years or longer.

The oldest of the bunch, Old Yarmouth Inn originally opened in 1696 as a wayside inn and stagecoach stop. Now, it’s a charming restaurant and tavern that, if you weren’t looking for it as you drove by, you’d merely dismiss as one of Yarmouth’s many historic homes. 

Surrounded by a white picket fence and looking every bit of classic New England Americana, the restaurant offers multiple dining rooms and an expansive seasonal patio. Inside, touches of the past remain, but the menu and service stay in touch with modern standards. (Old Yarmouth Inn has won numerous recent awards, including a 2024 Wine Spectator Award of Excellence.)

A three-course prix fixe menu is available, and offers a great value if you want a traditional multi-course meal, but if you’re hungry for options, order off the a la carte or specials menus. On a recent visit, my husband and I splashed out on the butter-poached filet mignon (served with confit garlic mash, asparagus, and a cabernet demi), and a seafood trio featuring lobster, shrimp, and scallops—all of which was perfectly prepared. Our cocktails—Manhattans—likewise spoke to the bartender’s skills (and I’m admittedly picky about my bourbon-based libations), and we ended our meal with the strawberry shortcake with absolutely no regrets.

Sure, I spent more on this meal than I did any other during this particular visit to Cape Cod, but it was also the best meal of the trip, and the historic ambience was the cherry on top.

Address: 223 MA-6A, Yarmouth Port, MA 02675

The next-oldest, still-open restaurant in Cape Cod jumps forward in history by about two centuries (an older restaurant, The Whitman House, which opened in the 1800s, sadly closed in 2024). In busy, bustling Provincetown, The Mayflower began welcoming hungry diners in the 1920s. The multigenerational business is still operated by the family that originally founded it.

Centrally located, The Mayflower definitely offers more casual vibes than Old Yarmouth Inn, but that’s exactly what you’re going to want when you stop in during a busy summer day of sightseeing. The menu features the requisite seafood, of course, but also a mix of Italian and Portuguese cuisine, as well as standard casual offerings for the picky eaters among us (think pizza and burgers).

There are a few particular dishes that reviewers rave about most. There’s the Portuguese kale soup, which is almost reminiscent of a zuppa Toscana, featuring kale, spicy Portuguese sausage, potatoes, and kidney beans. The chicken croquettes, served with brown gravy, fries, slaw, and cranberry sauce, also get a nod. The Portuguese baked scrod (which is a generic term that just refers to white fish like cod or haddock) is likewise a favorite.

Address: Historic District, 300 Commercial St, Provincetown, MA 02657

Technically, the first Sagamore was built in 1900, but then it burnt down and a new property was built in 1930—and that 1930 restaurant is what you’ll see if you visit today. The property has changed hands numerous times over its life, but some menu items have remained—like the pot roast that became popular in the 1960s, as well as the fried seafood platter, which offers a generous selection of local haddock, scallops, shrimp, whole belly clams, lobsters, fries, and coleslaw.

While seafood definitely reigns supreme here, and you’ll find it cooked just about every way you could want it, there are other non-seafood options on the menu as well, including steak, pasta, and various Italian chicken dishes, plus sandwiches and burgers. As for cocktails, expect exactly what you’d want to drink during a warm Cape Cod evening in the summer: refreshing options like the Cape Codder, rum punch, and palomas.

Address: 1131 Sandwich Rd #6A, Sagamore, MA 02561

With a location right across the street from the beach (and a deck from which you can see the water), The Skipper Restaurant and Chowder House was founded in 1936. It’s casual, but hardly feels dive-y, and the menu boasts an array of noteworthy dishes. The Cape Cod Clam Chowdah has won chowder festivals in not just Cape Cod, but also in Boston and Newport. The fried clam chowdah, which takes the aforementioned award-winning chowder and transforms it into a chowder cake fried in breadcrumbs, has been featured on the Travel Channel. Keeping the trend going, the restaurant serves up plenty of the classics, like fish and chips, lobster rolls, and seafood plates—but also more unexpected options like rice bowls and tuna wanton nachos.

Don’t have time to sit down for a full meal? Just stop by the restaurant’s ice cream shack walk-up window and order your favorite flavor, or one of the specialty sundaes, like The Old Salty Dog (a sea salt caramel sundae) or the massive Sea Monster, which is basically an oversized banana split, with a whopping six scoops of ice cream.

Address: 152 S Shore Dr, South Yarmouth, MA 02664

Opened in 1945, the Olympia Restaurant & Tavern gives big local diner vibes—nothing fancy, but low-key and affordable, with, as you might expect from a diner, big breakfast servings at a great value. Do keep in mind that breakfast is cash only, though. Choose from omelets, benedicts, pancakes, breakfast sandwiches, and french toast, or dip into one of the restaurant’s specialties, like the two sausage links wrapped in pancakes. Otherwise, if you stop in for lunch or dinner, you can grab a sandwich, sub, burger or a seafood or pasta entrée.

Address: 1341 MA-28, South Yarmouth, MA 02664

Situated right on the water in Hyannis, Baxter’s Boathouse, with roots stretching to 1957, is a lively, fun eatery with outdoor seating that overlooks the harbor. Watch the boats go in and out, including the Hyannis-Nantucket ferry, and be sure to snap a photo of the petite Hyannis Harbor Light. Better yet, if you’re a boater, it’s worth noting that Baxter’s is the only restaurant in Hyannis that has its own working dock, which means you can pull right up and dine from your boat. You’ll quickly see why this eatery has become a go-to for vacationers who return to Cape Cod year after year (as well as why the Kennedy family were regulars).

The menu is filled with primarily seafood, sandwiches and salads, and, when I visited, I ranked the broiled Chatham scrod (again, for the uninitiated, scrod is basically one of several types of whitefish, and Chatham is the Cape’s top fishing port) as one of my favorite dishes of my trip.

When perusing the cocktail menu, don’t miss the award-winning take on a bloody mary, dubbed The Binnacle. It’s one of the restaurant’s top sellers, and if you fall in love, you can take a bottle of the bloody cocktail mix home with you.

Address: 177 Pleasant St, Hyannis, MA 02601

Do you like kitschy little tourist spots? Then you’re going to love The Lobster Boat—and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. The Lobster Boat is everything you want out of a tourist trap restaurant in a beach town. It’s shaped like a giant boat. There’s outdoor seating over the water (a small inlet leading out to Nantucket Sound, in this case). There’s an expansive menu (both food and cocktail) with something for everyone.

During my stop in, I ordered a massive plate of potato skins and watched the seagulls come and go from my spot beneath the golden lights strung over the outdoor deck, and then tucked into some grilled shrimp, with my only regret being that I didn’t save room for peanut butter pie. (This is also technically the “youngest” restaurant on our list, at 52 years old.)

Address: 681 MA-28, West Yarmouth, MA 02673

The Lighthouse Inn is celebrating its 87^th year in business, and when you visit to dine at the aptly named Waterfront Restaurant, you can also see the property’s Bass River Light (also called the West Dennis Light), which is 160 years old. 

Sightseeing aside, the restaurant offers picturesque patio seating when the weather cooperates, overlooking Nantucket Sound, plus a seasonal menu and live music through the tourist season. Grab a cocktail and settle in for the view, and consider ordering some of the crowd-favorite dishes on the menu, such as the shrimp cocktail or fish and chips.

Address: 1 Lighthouse Inn Rd, West Dennis, MA 02670