L’amour
CITY GUIDES | NEW ENGLAND
The Restaurants Turning Springfield, Massachusetts Into a Legit Food City
By Eric Barton | Dec. 30, 2025
AUTHOR BIO: Eric Barton is editor of The Adventurist and a freelance journalist who has reviewed restaurants for more than two decades. Email him here.
I grew up a few towns away, so for a long time my mental map of Springfield, Massachusetts, had two pins and not much else: the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and then a post-museum lunch at Friendly’s, because that was the deal back then.
The funny part is that I kept that version of the city in my head long after Springfield restaurants stopped playing the old hits. Now, if the question is where to eat in Springfield, the answer involves real ambition, real cooking, and a dining scene that has finally grown into itself. Here are the best restaurants in Springfield, Massachusetts right now.
Frigo’s
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Frigo’s is the kind of Italian market that accidentally became a Springfield institution, with a sandwich counter up front, a serious meat-and-cheese operation behind it, and the Frigo family still running the show (owner Joe Frigo is third generation). The move is a Father Richard’s eggplant parm or the chicken parmesan, or something like the Carnivore—seasoned fillet roast beef with cheddar and bacon—then a hard left into the prepared-food case for braciole, sausage with peppers and onions, and those eggplant towers that look like dinner already solved. It’s bright, busy, and built for grab-and-go, the sort of place where the line is picking up lunch while everyone quietly restocks on Italian deli staples for later.
Best for: Sandwiches that come with a side of groceries
Nadim’s Mediterranean Grill
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Nadim Kashouh’s long-running Springfield ode to Lebanese comfort food is the kind of place that sets the tone with warm pita and oil before it starts throwing real choices at the table. The reliable opening move is the lentil soup and hummus, then something more committed: chicken or lamb shish kabobs, kibbie naya (by reservation), or that pan-seared swai in lemon-butter sauce with roasted red peppers and artichokes, ideally with “Nadim’s rice” on the side. The room reads like a downtown regulars’ spot rather than a theme restaurant, which is exactly why the menu can get away with a little swagger (including “hummachos,” essentially Mediterranean nachos built on house pita chips).
Best for: A downtown dinner that pleases everyone
Panjabi Tadka
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Panjabi Tadka has been feeding downtown Springfield since 1990, and it still feels like a place that expects repeat customers, not tourists collecting “ethnic food” merit badges. The order usually starts with vegetable samosas and garlic naan, then lands on the staples that have kept it busy for decades—chicken tikka masala, chicken vindaloo, chicken korma, or a biryani when the mood calls for something that eats like a full decision. The dining room is simple and to the point, which is fine, because the point is walking out warm, full, and lightly humbled by whatever spice level sounded brave five minutes earlier.
Best for: Reliable Indian classics downtown
La Fiorentina Pastry Shop
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La Fiorentina Pastry Shop is a Springfield rite of passage, a Daniele-family institution that has been turning out Italian pastries for generations and bragging rights like “serving New England since 1946.” The case is the whole argument: sfogliatelle with a shatter-crisp shell and ricotta-semolina-citrus filling, baba au rhum soaked in rum (with or without custard), and cannoli that make it hard to pretend it is “just dessert.” It also does celebration cakes and custom orders, which is why it shows up in Springfield life the same way it has for decades: birthdays, holidays, and the random Tuesday when someone decides the week needs rescuing.
Best for: Italian pastries that make the drive feel like a good decision
Leone’s Restaurant
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Leone’s runs on the kind of classic Italian-American range that still feels impressive: stone-baked pizzas and calzones on one side, then a full parade of parmigiano, marsala, and francaise on the other. The signatures are the lobster raviolis tossed with sun-dried tomatoes and basil in a roasted garlic–sherry cream sauce, and the baked seafood platter—haddock, sea scallops, and two stuffed shrimp—finished with herb-garlic butter and seasoned crumbs. It even throws in an “Emeril’s chicken” with a printed “Bam!!,” which pretty much tells the whole story about the vibe.
Best for: Lobster ravioli and baked seafood platters
L’amour Restaurant
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L’amour Restaurant is owned by Sunny Rana and Asif Khan, and it aims wide—Indian, Pakistani, and Himalayan/Nepalese flavors, plus a banquet-hall side that suggests it is thinking beyond quiet two-tops. The food hits the comfort-food bullseye: vegetable and chicken samosas, chicken tikka masala, butter chicken, mango chicken, chole peswari, and an extremely serious garlic naan situation, with pickled onions and tamarind chutney showing up like they matter. It reads like a newer downtown spot that is still introducing itself, but the menu already knows what it wants to be.
Best for: A big, shareable Indian-and-Himalayan spread
Mamou
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Mamou is the revival of a beloved Cajun-Creole spot, now run by co-owner chefs Ivan Felix and Jose G. Correa. The menu brings back the classics people missed—jambalaya, gumbo, and etouffee—then slides in newer moves like crawfish boulettes and a grilled pork chop dressed up with bacon-onion jam and sweet potato. The room feels like a comeback story that finally made it to opening night, with the kind of cocktail list that includes a Spicy Grapefruit Sidecar, because this version of Mamou is not pretending it is 1996.
Best for: Cajun-Creole classics with a comeback storyline
Pho Saigon Restaurant
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Pho Saigon is a family-run Vietnamese spot that’s been serving Springfield since 1998, and it wears that confidence lightly: brothy bowls, a big menu, and none of the “new concept” energy. Go straight for the pho bò, but it’s worth detouring into the deeper cuts: Hanoi-style meatballs, spicy lemongrass soup, bò xào sate (spicy beef with satay on a sizzling plate), or the seafood egg noodle soup loaded with shrimp, squid, fish balls, and crab meat. It’s built for repeat visits, the kind of place where one table is doing pho, another is doing vermicelli bowls and rice plates, and nobody has to negotiate a compromise.
Best for: Pho orders that turn into a full Vietnamese spread
Red Rose Pizzeria
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Red Rose is one of those Springfield institutions that started small—Nick Caputo’s family came to the city from Italy in 1958 and built it into the kind of place that feels woven into downtown life. The menu is a greatest-hits album that actually earns the title: thin-crust margherita or the white pizza with chicken, broccoli, and ricotta, plus arancini, bruschetta on “Red Rose house bread,” and grinders like chicken parm, meatball, and sausage that get toasted in the oven. It’s loud, bright, and unapologetically old-school, the rare restaurant where pizza is the headline but nobody is embarrassed to order pasta fagioli and call it dinner.
Best for: Big-group Italian comfort food and pizza
Student Prince
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Student Prince is the rare institution that still earns all the praise, a German restaurant that’s been holding court since 1935 with more steins than wall space and a dining room that looks like it was designed for power lunches and family milestones. The kitchen is led by chef Timothy Saxer, and the right order leans into the classics—wiener schnitzel, jägerschnitzel, and house-made bratwürst—because this is not the place to get cute with dinner. The vibe is old-world in the way Springfield actually means it, the kind of room that makes a weekday meal feel like an occasion even if it is only Tuesday.
Best for: Schnitzel and a proper stein
Theodores’
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Theodores’ is Springfield’s idea of a two-for-one: a smokehouse and a real-deal blues club that has been hosting live music since 1979, with Keith Weppler and Keith Makarowski steering the place and head chef Emily Meunier now part of the ownership team. The food leans into what it does best, like brisket slow-smoked for 12 hours and sliced to order, pulled pork shoulder with bourbon BBQ sauce, honey slaw, and waffle fries, plus smoked half chicken and other sandwiches built for nights that start with “one set” and end with “fine, bring napkins.” The room keeps it honest with a packed music calendar and a club vibe that wants the band loud and the barbecue messy, which is a pretty solid mission statement for downtown Springfield.
Best for: BBQ and live blues in the same night
White Lion Brewing Company
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White Lion Brewing Company is Ray Berry Jr.’s hometown craft-beer play, founded in 2014 and now operating as a downtown taproom with a full bar inside Tower Square, where the point is as much community as it is pints. The beer list has its own house staples, and the kitchen leans more “proper menu” than “brewery pretzels,” with Springfield native Andrew Brow (HighBrow Wood Fired) shaping dishes like Hall of Fame wings, a hot chicken sandwich, pork belly burnt ends, and sticky ribs that read like someone actually cooks here. The vibe is casual and social, built for an after-work meet-up or a pre-event stop that turns into dinner once the food starts landing.
Best for: A downtown beer stop that can handle dinner
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