How did Tiverton’s Boat House Waterfront Dining make OpenTable’s Top 100 Brunch Restaurants in America for 2024? They don’t even serve a brunch menu?
Apparently, that doesn’t dissuade guests from enjoying a midday meal at the casually elegant restaurant, a member of the upscale Newport Restaurant Group. Diner reviews note the water views, excellent food and service, and ambiance for special occasion meals.
The Boat House was the only Rhode Island restaurant on the national list published by OpenTable on April 30. The online reservation service releases the results of diner surveys periodically. It promises they stay in the news and relevant amid competition such as Resy and restaurants’ own reservation systems.
The brunch list resulted from 14 million verified diner reviews and metrics for 12 months ending Jan. 31. The methodology looked at five-star reviews, the number of alerts set, percentage of reservations made in advance and direct searches. The qualified restaurants were then ranked by the percentage of reviews with the tag “brunch.”
Brunch, a portmanteau of breakfast and lunch, generally refers to late morning to afternoon dining on the weekend. There are breakfast dishes, such as omelets, and lunch offerings served along with alcoholic drinks such as Mimosas.
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While the Boat House starts service daily at 11:30 a.m., including Saturday and Sunday, the menu offers all-day lunch and dinner dishes of seafood, sandwiches including a Maine Lobster Roll, simply grilled meats and fish, signature entrees including Seafood Scampi and appetizers. They offer specials but none would be breakfast items, a call to the restaurant confirmed.
But the setting there in Tiverton at 227 Schooner Drive, on a bluff over the foot of Mount Hope Bay, is stunning. A large deck allows for al fresco dining. The food from chef Marissa Lo is always stellar. So call it brunch or lunch, diners put the Boat House on their best list.