Kelly's Roast Beef - Revere, MA

Posted by Michael Stern on September 04, 2007

Roast beef is a true local passion in the Boston area, as much as chili in Cincinnati or sourdough in San Francisco. In Lynn, Saugus, Salem, Beverly, and up towards Cape Ann, dozens of quick-service eateries boast of beef. When we went looking for Kelly’s Roast Beef in Revere (the original, and now one of four Kelly’s around Beantown), we asked a gent outside an auto body shop if he knew where Kelly’s was. “Whaddaya, hungry?” he asked with glee, pointing us to what he promised would be “one hunnerd fitty percent satisfaction.”

Service is eat-in-the-rough: place your order at the broad window, then linger on the sidewalk until it’s ready. Gather everything in your arms and dash across Revere Beach Boulevard to find a bench under a covered pavilion by the beach. Dine in true summer-vacation style – overlooking the ocean, surrounded by greedy seagulls.

The roast beef, available in a small or large sandwich, is lovely: soft, pink, thin-sliced, and piled high on a butter-toasted, sesame-seed bun. But the shoreline seafood is even better! Wonderful fish and chips: moist, fresh fish heaped on the plate in crunchy hunks with French fries. Also pretty wonderful are the fried clams, which vastly overflow the clam box into their surrounding bag no matter what size you get. They are golden-brown, toasty-flavored, and a joy to chew – much juicier than rubber-textured clam strips, yet not as gushy as a North Shore whole-belly clam. A clam plate includes French fries, sweet onion rings, and homemade tartar sauce.

Note the drink nomenclature, also utterly local. Carbonated beverages are here called tonics. What the rest of the world knows as a milk shake (ice cream, milk, flavoring) is a frappe.

Overall: Worth planning a day around

18 out of 18 people found the review helpful. Was it helpful to you?

Reviewers "Must Eats" List

roast beef ($6.00)

fried clams ($9.00)

Lobster Roll ($17.00)

fish & chips ($6.00)

"Kelly's namesake, with the works"
Michael Stern

"A big roast beef sandwich at Kelly's is A LOT of beef!"
Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle

"Tender, pink meat topped with a thin barbecue sauce is a north-of-Boston tradition."
Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle

"All of Kelly's containers are too small to hold what they're supposed to hold. Everything spills out the top. These, of course, are whole-belly clams."
Michael Stern

"A Kelly's large roast beef with cheese and horseradish."
mazuroo13

"Hand-battered onion rings, not too salty, not too sweet. Amazing crunch."
mazuroo13

"There was lots of sharing during the Roadfood.com tour. Some people loved Kelly's fried clams, some were not as impressed."
Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle

"Click on the photo to see this partial menu."
Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle

"In addition to a posted menu that customers can read, Kelly's offers color photos of some of its best dishes to help make decisions."
Michael Stern

"A Revere Beach institution, Kelly's has one outside wall decorated with vintage postcards that evoke summertime fun of times gone by."
Michael Stern

"Kelly's menu features Northeast seafood favorites - not just roast beef. But, as the sign indicates, beef is king, in our experience."
Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle

"Kelly's is an open-air restaurant where customers stand on the sidewalk to place their orders and get bags full of food."
Michael Stern

"A view of Kelly's from the pavilion across the streets shows what appears to be a haphazard crowd outside. While it looks chaotic, the ordering process is in fact quite efficient; and even if the crowd is large, you won't wait long for your meal. "
Michael Stern

"Carry your food to these benches across the street, and you can dine with a view of the water."
Michael Stern

"Kelly's presents its meals over the counter in handsome bags. This bag is sitting on the wall of the dining pavilion with the beach in the background."
Michael Stern