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Martha's Vineyard restaurant guide 2026: new openings, reservation tips, BYOB rules, and dining picks from fine dining to casual.
Martha's Vineyard's restaurant scene runs from James Beard semifinalists to fried-clam shacks, and the last few years have brought a run of new openings. BYOB works differently in the island's dry and semi-dry towns, and the full town-by-town alcohol map is in our dry towns guide. If the term is new: BYOB means bring your own bottle. The restaurant has no liquor license, so you carry in wine or beer you bought ahead (Edgartown and Oak Bluffs have the island's only liquor stores), and the kitchen supplies glasses, ice and sometimes a small corkage fee. Ranked lists of the best lobster roll, pizza, breakfast, and ice cream (plus town-by-town food tours) are in our Food Tour guide, and hotels and inns are in Where to Stay.
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Edgartown and Oak Bluffs are the only towns with real package stores. In Edgartown that means Al's Package Store on Upper Main, Your Market at the Triangle, and Rosewater Wine and Spirits. In Oak Bluffs, Jim's Package Store sits by the harbor along with Our Market, which also delivers island-wide, handy for up-island rentals. Vineyard Haven has no liquor store: its restaurants pour beer, wine and cocktails (with food since 2017, without since 2022), but bottles to take away come from Edgartown or Oak Bluffs. West Tisbury restaurants serve beer and wine with meals only (no bottles to go, no BYOB), and Aquinnah pours beer and wine with meals but sells no bottles. Chilmark is the island's only fully dry town: nothing sold at all, which is why its restaurants are BYOB. Two Massachusetts rules worth knowing: happy hour drink discounts are banned statewide, and it helps to carry photo ID whatever your age.
The hand-painted Liquors Wines Beers sign at Al’s Package Store on Upper Main Street in Edgartown.
The Our Market signs after dark: groceries, newspapers and liquor, with Bottled Liquors on the sign above.
The Black Dog Tavern on the Vineyard Haven waterfront.
Black Joy Kitchen (7 Oakland Ave, Oak Bluffs): Chef Allessandra "Ting" Bradley-Burns serves African Diaspora cuisine, tracing foods from West Africa through Brazil, Peru, the Caribbean and the American South. The fall and winter 2026 menu has Ghanaian suya honey wings, Jamaican jerk chicken and Brazilian moqueca served in a roasted pumpkin, plus Billionaire's Bacon at weekend brunch. 80% of the menu is vegan, vegetarian or gluten-free. There's a Wednesday Chef's Table at $75 prix fixe, Saturday dinner from 5 PM and a Sunday BrunchBQ with a DJ, and the bar pours only spirits made by Black and brown people. Year-round, on Resy.
Indigo (268 Upper Main St, Edgartown): an Indian restaurant from owner Babu Koganti (Rebel Foods, 20+ restaurants off-island). Tandoor dishes, eight kinds of naan, biryanis, OG Butter Chicken ($32), and an Indo-Chinese "Mumbai to Martha's" fusion section. Spiced cocktails with chaat masala and cardamom. Reservations on Resy.
Ocean Club (75 Main St, Vineyard Haven): In the Old Stone Bank building, from Boston's Lyons Group and chef Marc Orfaly, a seven-time James Beard Award nominee. Seafood and pasta, fine dining, 85 seats. The former bank vault door leads to a semi-private dining table inside the vault; request it when booking. Dinner Wednesday to Sunday 5–9 PM, bar from 4 PM; hours shift with the season, so they are worth confirming. Year-round.
Highlands General (25 Circuit Ave, Oak Bluffs): In the old Linda Jean's (closed February 2025 after 40+ years, building sold for $4.9M): a fast-casual, counter-order restaurant and market with affordable breakfast, lunch and coffee. Year-round.
9 Craft Kitchen (9 Main St, Vineyard Haven): Attached to the Mansion House Hotel, from owner Joseph Monteiro (also 19 Raw, Edgartown). New American with Asian, Peruvian and Italian influences: cast-iron swordfish, lobster tostadas, and Vineyard Haven's first serious cocktail bar. 130 seats, dinner only, reservations via Toast ($35 cancellation fee within 24 hrs).
El Barco (16 Union St, Vineyard Haven): Mexican street food. Tacos, burritos, and margaritas in a casual setting. Opened summer 2024 as part of Vineyard Haven's restaurant boom following the 2022 alcohol law changes.
A blue-tray lunch: taquitos under a drift of cotija and pico, quesadillas and a salt-rimmed margarita.
Behind the Bookstore (behind Edgartown Books, Edgartown): All-day cafe with the Hemingway Bar on the same patio. Coffee, pastries, breakfast and lunch every day; dinner under the tent in season, when reservations are recommended. In the fall the bar keeps daytime hours, so check before planning a nightcap.
The ESH sign and a hanging flower basket on the red storefront in Oak Bluffs.
Esh (Circuit Ave, Oak Bluffs): Rebranded from Dos Mas in March 2026. "Progressive American" with a new chef, Michael Thomas, who cooked on the West Coast. The menu has moved from Mexican to seasonal American, and early reviews mention creative small plates and an ambitious wine list.
State Road Restaurant (West Tisbury) was a 2026 James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Hospitality, one of 20 restaurants in the country on that list.
Island restaurants turn over every year. Recent changes:
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The biggest change in MV dining over the past two years has happened in Vineyard Haven. After the town approved full liquor with meals in 2017, then alcohol without food in a 2022 vote, nine new restaurants opened in 2024–2025 alone. Before the vote, Vineyard Haven had a handful of casual spots and no real cocktail bars. Now Main Street rivals Edgartown for dining options.
Besides Ocean Club and 9 Craft Kitchen, the newcomers include El Barco (Mexican), The Attic at Waterside (the upstairs tavern over Waterside Market, with MV's largest bourbon collection), and several others. If you're staying in or near Vineyard Haven, you no longer need to drive to Edgartown or Oak Bluffs for a proper dinner out.
Dockside restaurants and crowds around Oak Bluffs harbor on a summer evening.
Oak Bluffs has the most restaurants and the most variety: from harbor-view seafood at Nancy's Temporarily closed Closed for the season; reopening May 2027, per its own site to craft beer at Offshore Ale to the new Black Joy Kitchen. Circuit Avenue and the harbor area are walkable, and most places are casual enough for sandy flip-flops. OB also has the island's best late-night food, including Back Door Donuts Temporarily closed Closed for the 2026 season; back in 2027, per its own site.
The harbor just after sunset, the docks quiet and Nancy’s lit up across the water.
Giordano’s sign in Oak Bluffs, in the family since 1930.
Edgartown has most of the island's fine dining, much of it on Upper Main Street and North Water Street. The dress code skews smarter here: collared shirts and sundresses are the norm at dinner. It also has more wine shops than any other town, handy if you're carrying a bottle to dinner up-island.
The specials board outside Espresso Love in Edgartown.
Filmed August 2024The island moves on: shops, signs and prices may differ from what you see here. The text of this guide was checked October 2026.
With 9 new restaurants in 2024–2025, Vineyard Haven is now a real dinner town. If you are arriving on the Steamship Authority ferry, you can walk to every restaurant on this list from the terminal.
The Black Dog Bakery Cafe sign and the red patio umbrellas in Vineyard Haven.
The entrance at Beach Road, with the pond water showing past the porch; dinner from 5, Tuesday to Saturday.
West Tisbury is rural, with fewer restaurants, but good ones:
The counter and chalkboard menu at 7a Foods in West Tisbury.
Menemsha is a working fishing village and the island's favorite spot for a sunset dinner. Chilmark is the only fully dry town on Martha's Vineyard: every restaurant here is BYOB, so wine or beer has to come from Edgartown or Oak Bluffs, the only two towns with package stores.
Sunset timing and parking are in our Menemsha village guide, and the lobster rolls are ranked in the Food Tour guide.
Most MV restaurants are seasonal (Memorial Day through Columbus Day), which matters for an off-season visit. These stay open year-round, though hours may be reduced in winter:
Mocha Mott’s door in Oak Bluffs, the chalkboard welcoming the regulars back. This is the Oak Bluffs shop; the Vineyard Haven one closed in January 2026.
Year-round restaurants are concentrated in the three down-island towns. Up-island (West Tisbury, Chilmark, Aquinnah), options are very limited from November through April.
The 19 Raw sign in Edgartown on a bright day with the trees bare; in season it is one of the harder tables to get.
Upscale places mostly book on Resy, and casual ones are walk-in. No MV restaurants use Tock, and only a handful (Homeport, Ocean Club, MV Chowder Company) take OpenTable.
In July and August the island's kitchens are at capacity every night with a seasonal staff, so takeout and delivery orders routinely take thirty to forty-five minutes rather than the fifteen an app promises, and a walk-in at the places on this list means a real wait. Ordering and booking ahead helps, and the waits come with the season.
The blue doors of the Sweet Life Cafe in Oak Bluffs, with the number 63 beside them.
| Platform | Restaurants |
|---|---|
| Resy | Détente, Atria, Alchemy, State Road, Black Joy Kitchen, Indigo, Red Cat Kitchen, Bettini, Sweet Life |
| OpenTable | The Homeport (Menemsha), Ocean Club, MV Chowder Company |
| Toast | 9 Craft Kitchen ($35 cancellation fee within 24 hrs) |
| Walk-in only | Offshore Ale, Nancy's, Among the Flowers, Lookout Tavern, Biscuits, Net Result, Larsen's, The Galley |
Peak season: Resy restaurants book up 1–2 weeks ahead for July–August. State Road Restaurant is the hardest reservation on the island: tables open on Resy 29 days ahead and go fast, and the bar seats are kept for walk-ins. Without a booking, lunch as the main meal works, or dinner before 5:30 PM or after 8:30 PM. Weekday dinners are much easier to book than Friday–Saturday. If you strike out on Resy, check again at 3 PM the day of; cancellations often drop same-day tables.
Chilmark is the only fully dry town remaining on Martha's Vineyard. All Menemsha and Chilmark restaurants are BYOB: Homeport supplies mixers, Chilmark Tavern supplies chillers, glassware and mixers for a charge. Corkage charges are not published, so it's worth asking when you book. West Tisbury and Aquinnah now allow beer and wine at restaurants. Vineyard Haven approved full liquor at restaurants in 2017.
A harbor-front restaurant in Edgartown at dusk, string lights on the porch and tables out on the dock.
Two places are no longer BYOB: State Road Restaurant now serves beer and wine, and the Outermost Inn (Aquinnah) has stopped allowing it too.
Package stores exist only in Edgartown and Oak Bluffs: there are no liquor stores past Edgartown headed up-island. If you are heading to Chilmark or Menemsha for dinner, it's easiest to buy wine before you leave. The stores:
| Store | Town | Delivery | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Our Market | Oak Bluffs | Island-wide $3–10 | Largest selection. Since 1919. Call by 2 PM |
| Jim's Package Store | Oak Bluffs | Island-wide | Wines, spirits, walk-in cigar humidor |
| Al's Package Store | Edgartown | None | 258 Upper Main St. |
| Rosewater Wine | Edgartown | None | 65 Main St. |
| Your Market | Edgartown | Island-wide | 249 EV Haven Rd. Wine, beer, spirits + groceries |
There are no liquor stores in Vineyard Haven, West Tisbury, Chilmark, or Aquinnah. Tony's Market (OB) sells beer and wine only at competitive prices.
What to expect per person (food only, no drinks):
The Biscuits sign in Oak Bluffs: breakfast and lunch, and usually a line.
The best value is cooking at your rental, with fish from Larsen's or Net Result, produce from Morning Glory Farm and bread from Iggy's. Offshore Ale is the best-value dinner out. For getting around to restaurants without a car, the VTA bus is fare-free through June 30, 2027 and connects all three down-island towns.
Martha's Vineyard has a growing food truck scene, especially in Oak Bluffs and near the ferry terminals. They're the quick, cheaper meal between activities, and our honeymoon guide builds five days of dinners around them.
A Grace Church lobster roll sign on a Vineyard Haven roadside: Fridays, as the board says.
The complete directory, all 74 restaurants by town, is on our Restaurants page. For the rest of the trip there's our one-day itinerary, the full family guide and our June visitor's guide, and the Boston to MV transport guide covers the trip from Boston. The ranked lists by category (lobster rolls, pizza, breakfast, and more) are in the Food Tour guide.
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Our review of Nomans Restaurant takes a closer look at one of OB's less-known spots.
Step 1 · WhenMonth PickerTwelve months compared on NOAA numbers, crowds, prices and what is open. 
Step 2 · DaysDay-by-Day Trip PlannerMorning, afternoon and evening sketched for every day, events dropped in, emailed to you. 
Step 3 · CostTrip Cost CalculatorFerry, beds with the rooms tax, meals, getting around and activities in one price range. For the upscale places, yes. Resy restaurants book up one to two weeks ahead for July and August, and checking again at 3 PM the day of catches the cancellations. Casual spots like Offshore Ale and Nancy's are walk-in only, so eating early, before 5:30 PM, or late, after 8:30 PM, keeps the wait down.
Chilmark is the island's last fully dry town, so its restaurants let you bring your own bottle for a corkage charge; ask when you book. Bottles come from Edgartown or Oak Bluffs, the only two towns with package stores, so it's easiest to buy before heading up-island. Our dry towns guide has the full map.
Per person, food only: casual spots run $12 to $25, mid-range $20 to $40, and fine dining $75 to $150 or more. Lobster rolls are $32 to $46 at restaurants, or $24 cold at the Menemsha fish-market counter. Rankings are in our food tour guide.
Down-island mostly. Offshore Ale, Black Joy Kitchen and Highlands General in Oak Bluffs, Alchemy in Edgartown apart from its midwinter break, and Ocean Club and 9 Craft Kitchen in Vineyard Haven all run year-round with shorter hours. Up-island is very limited from November through April. See our off-season guide.
Larsen's Fish Market in Menemsha: order at the counter, carry it to the dock, open your own wine. It is seasonal, and in July and August getting there before 6 PM skips a long line. Nancy's harbor deck in Oak Bluffs is the down-island answer. Timing and parking are in our Menemsha guide.
Offshore Ale and Nancy's in Oak Bluffs are casual, quick and used to sandy feet. Nomans has lawn games, live music and a shuttle from the Oak Bluffs ferry terminal in season. Giordano's does fried clams and pizza. More in our family guide.
The island's farmers markets, checked October 2026: the West Tisbury Farmers Market at the Agricultural Hall (Saturdays to October 31, 9 AM to noon), the Harvest Festival on October 24, the indoor winter market, Edgartown's summer Tuesday market, and the farm stands that stay open all year.
Where Martha's Vineyard's oysters, bay scallops and quahogs come from: the public solar hatchery on Lagoon Pond that turned fifty in 2026, the dozen oyster farms in Katama Bay, Menemsha Pond and Vineyard Sound, the wild beds in the great ponds, the autumn scallop season and its limits, visitor shellfish permits by town, why rain closes a pond, and where to eat them.
Lobster on Martha's Vineyard from trap to paper plate: how the small Menemsha fleet fishes, the Massachusetts rules on size, egg-bearing females and whale-safe gear, where to buy lobster off the boat (Larsen's, Menemsha Fish Market, The Net Result), how to eat it on the dock with your own bottle, and how a visitor can get a permit and catch a few.
Every supermarket and market on Martha's Vineyard with posted hours: Stop and Shop, Cronig's, Reliable Market, Alley's, the meat and fish markets, the Falmouth Stop and Shop before the ferry, Instacart and pre-stocking delivery, and an honest word on island prices.
Is Martha's Vineyard a dry island? Town by town: Chilmark is fully dry and BYOB, West Tisbury and Aquinnah pour beer and wine with meals, Vineyard Haven serves full liquor but has no liquor store, and only Oak Bluffs and Edgartown have package stores. Corkage, beach rules, the ferry and the state laws, checked September 2026.
Every farm stand and visitable farm on Martha's Vineyard, checked with the farms in September 2026: Morning Glory, Beetlebung, North Tabor, Mermaid Farm's 24-hour dairy shed, Native Earth, Allen Farm, Island Alpaca, the FARM Institute and the West Tisbury Farmers Market, with hours, honor-system rules and the fall pumpkin dates.
Island tip of the day Timing No. 61 of 79 New tip at midnight, island time
Visit Edgartown on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Same beautiful town, maybe 30% of the weekend crowds. Most restaurants have availability without reservations.
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