Cunard Tavern, the craft beer and global pub food spot that has anchored East Boston's Jeffries Point for nearly a decade, will close its doors on Sunday, Sept. 27. Owner Phil Frattaroli says the shutdown comes down to a simple, uncomfortable truth: the tavern's original concept no longer makes much sense for the neighborhood it now serves.
Frattaroli told The Boston Globe that East Boston has changed substantially in the ten years since Cunard Tavern opened, and that the tavern's original concept no longer makes much sense for the neighborhood it now serves. He said closing now was preferable to limping through another winter with the space half-full.
Cunard Tavern opened at 24 Orleans St. in Jeffries Point in 2017, at a site that formerly housed Frattaroli's grandfather's woodworking shop before he transformed it into a restaurant complete with a tropical rooftop bar called The Layover, according to Cunard Tavern's own account. The name itself is a nod to the Cunard Steamship Line, whose ocean liners once docked at nearby Jeffries Point piers during East Boston's era as a major maritime port of entry, as noted by Caught In Charlestown.
Jeffries Point and Boston East
The 200-unit Boston East complex is a waterfront residential community that EastBoston.com described in a November 2017 article.
In an attempt to reinvent itself for that changing customer base, Cunard brought on James Beard Award-winning chef Tony Messina as a consulting chef-partner in 2024. Messina, an East Boston native, introduced an updated global gastropub menu in early December featuring dishes like lobster poutine and cheesy crab nachos, a shift documented by Caught In Eastie. Messina, who won Best Chef: Northeast in 2019 and previously worked at Alta Strada, Menton, aka bistro, and Uni, brought serious culinary credibility to the space even as the broader headwinds proved too strong.
National Numbers Back Up the Local Story
Frattaroli's read on younger drinkers lines up with what national data is showing. Forbes reported that overall adult drinking tied a record low of 54% in both 2025 and 2026, according to Forbes.
The industry contraction runs deeper than consumption habits alone. Nationwide, craft brewery closures outpaced openings in 2025, with 434 breweries shutting down against just 268 new openings, marking a second consecutive year of net closures in the sector, per the Brewers Association's year-end report. For a bar built around craft beer and pub fare, that's a tough current to swim against.
A Rough Year for Frattaroli's Restaurant Group
The Cunard closure follows a bruising stretch for Frattaroli's restaurant group elsewhere in Boston. The Pine Bar stall inside Boston Public Market was involved in a lease dispute that led to a liquor-license replacement, as Hoodline previously reported.
Filmark Hospitality Group traces back to 1977, when it was launched by a member of the Frattaroli family. Phil Frattaroli is part of the family business and is associated with Ducali Pizzeria & Bar. The group's portfolio includes Lucia, Ducali and The Pine Bar.
What Comes Next for the Orleans Street Space
Because Frattaroli owns the Cunard building outright, he has flexibility that a leaseholder wouldn't. He said he might open a new restaurant at the Orleans Street space as early as spring 2027, and isn't ruling out an Italian menu, since Italian and Italian-American food are what he knows best. In the meantime, some Cunard employees could be moved to Caffe Ducali, a fast-casual pizzeria and wine spot Frattaroli plans to open in Winchester this month, which will also serve as a central commissary kitchen producing breads, pasta, and desserts across his restaurant portfolio.
For now, Cunard Tavern prepares to serve its last round this Sunday. It's a quiet end for a bar that spent nearly a decade trying to define a neighborhood that changed faster than the concept built to serve it.
