Visit
Rino’s Place at night on Saratoga Street — a hanging sign lettered RINO’S PLACE over a gold lion, wall lamps along white clapboard, warm light in the windows and people at the tables inside.

Saratoga Street · East Boston

Worth the wait.

A small Italian kitchen on 258 Saratoga Street, in Day Square. The gnocchi, the ravioli, the rigatoni and the linguini are all made here, and the best things in this kitchen are usually not on the menu at all — ask what is on the board. Monday to Saturday, dinner only. Cash only, and no substitutions.

Find usWhat to order
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What to order

The short menu

One page, no prices, and everything with pasta in it made in this kitchen. Pasta entrées come with a salad; the chicken and veal come with ziti or linguini. Then ask what is on the board, because that is where the kitchen actually spends its day.

  • A platter of prosciutto, salami and other cured meats fanned around marinated artichoke hearts, olives, roasted peppers and cubes of cheese.

    Antipasto

    Imported cured meats and cheese with roasted peppers, marinated artichoke hearts, eggplant and mushrooms. It arrives cold, it arrives large, and it is the correct thing to be eating while you argue about the rest of the order.

  • A heaped plate of fried calamari rings and tentacles with sliced hot cherry peppers and a wedge of lemon.

    Calamari

    Battered, fried, and then finished in a spicy pepper ring sauce — which is the part that matters, and the part most places leave out. Rings and tentacles both, with lemon.

  • Shrimp in garlic and olive oil in the middle of a plate ringed with toasted bread points.

    Shrimp Scampi

    Sautéed in garlic and extra virgin olive oil and served with toasted bread points, which exist for the specific purpose of getting the garlic and oil off the plate. Do not leave any.

A wide white bowl of homemade rigatoni in a tomato cream sauce with mozzarella melted through it.
The rigatoni is made here. So is everything else with pasta in it.

The kitchen

Everything with pasta in it
was made here.

The menu at Rino’s Place is one page and it does not explain itself. Gnocchi, ravioli, lobster ravioli, rigatoni in a tomato cream sauce, homemade linguini with clams, pasta baked with mini meatballs and ricotta under mozzarella. The word that keeps appearing next to all of it is “homemade”, and in a room this size that is a statement about who is standing at the bench rather than a marketing line.

Around the pasta sits the rest of it — chicken and veal, marsala, saltimbocca, parmigiana, braciolettini, all finished in the same marsala-and-lemon-butter register, all served with ziti or linguini. And then there is the board. Their own site tells you to ask about the specials, and the specials are where the kitchen keeps the octopus, the short rib, the fish under a puttanesca and whatever came in that morning.

The rules are printed on the menu in capitals and they are not negotiable: no splitting of orders, no substitutions, cash only. Reservations exist for parties of six or more, three a night, by email. Everybody else puts their name on the list in person and waits — and on a Friday in East Boston, people do.

  • CashOnly — it is on their menu in capitals, so bring it
  • 6+The only parties they book, and only three a night
  • 8:45On the list by then and you will be seated

The board

None of this is on the menu

A charred grilled octopus tentacle laid over a salad of white beans, red onion and parsley.
A white fish fillet under a tomato sauce with olives and capers, with asparagus and two croquettes.
Short pasta tossed with mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, courgette and grated cheese in a wide bowl.
A braised short rib in its own gravy over soft polenta, with asparagus alongside.
A charred steak under sautéed mushrooms and onions on a rectangular plate, with asparagus and croquettes.
A fish fillet topped with shrimp in a butter sauce, with asparagus, a croquette and a wedge of lemon.
Four large meatballs in a plain tomato sauce on a white plate.
Shrimp in a saffron-coloured sauce laid along a bed of sautéed broccoli rabe on a long rectangular plate.
Fettuccine with crumbled sausage and broccoli in a light cream sauce.

Visit

258 Saratoga Street,
East Boston

258 Saratoga Street
Boston, MA 02128

Day Square, East Boston — a residential corner rather than a restaurant row, which is most of the charm. Reservations are taken only for parties of six or more, three a night, by email to Sadie. Everyone else adds their name to the list in person; your whole party has to be there to be seated, and as long as you are on the list by 8:45 you will be. Cash only — there is no card machine. Catering enquiries go to Anna DiCenso at sadieandnico@comcast.net.

Call (617) 567‑7412Get directions

Open

Monday – Thursday
3 PM – 8:45 PM
Friday
12 PM – 8:45 PM
Saturday
3 PM – 8:45 PM

Monday to Thursday and Saturday the door opens at three; Friday it opens at noon. The kitchen stops at 8:45 every one of those nights, and they are closed on Sunday.