The warm foyer is bustling on a Saturday night. A small moat separates the entrance from the vast dining room, and diners must walk across a small bridge covered by a crimson carpet that shows its years. It looks as if it has been there forever, as does the restaurant, which has been dishing out sea fare to Boston's denizens and visitors since 1963.
Patrons wait in the lobby, passing the time by gazing at the star gallery on the walls.
It seems as if every sports star, Hollywood celebrity or notable politician that has ever eaten in Bean Town has taken a table at this Boston landmark, and the pictures are there to prove it. Anthony's Pier 4 seems frozen in time. Orange bulbs illuminate the exposed beams and brick walls of the sprawling dining room, manned by waiters and waitresses decked out in stiff whites and blacks, complete with bow ties and military-style bars on their shoulders denoting rank. The atmosphere is less tacky than it is homey and charming. People don't enter these doors in search of haute cuisine, but straightforward, belly-filling classics.