The Somerville Theatre says most of its patrons take the Red Line. That is Davis Square in one line. The theater is next to the train, the pub with the music is steps from the theater, and nobody has to drive. If Allston is for people who plan, Davis is for people who would rather not.
That convenience is the whole argument. It is also the trap: a night this close to the platform can drift past the last train without anyone noticing.
6 PM to 7 PM: pick the anchor first
Start with the thing that has a start time. The Somerville Theatre is the anchor, and its own history page says it was built in 1914. It opened on May 11, 1914. It was designed for stage shows, vaudeville, opera as well as what the page calls the new fad of motion pictures.
The theater also does the transit part for you. Its directions page puts the Red Line immediately adjacent to the theater. Parking, by contrast, is limited on street metered parking and two small lots. Take the train.
Pick the showtime first, then everything else slots around it. Check its schedule page the same day, because screenings and live events both change, and then work outward from the time on the ticket. If the show is early, eat after it. If it is late, eat before it and keep the second half of the night light.
7 PM: eat where the kitchen closes late enough
Spoke Wine Bar lists its own hours as Wednesday through Saturday, 5pm to 11pm. The kitchen is open until 10pm. That is a dinner stop, and a good one for a quiet start. Spoke Wine Bar also says it has served guests since 2013. Book ahead on a show night.
Foundry on Elm is the later kitchen. Its hours list says the bar is open until midnight Sunday through Thursday and 1am Friday and Saturday. Its kitchen list puts a late-night menu after dinner every night, which makes it the answer to the question that comes up after a movie ends. The page is terse about when that menu stops, so ask when you sit down.
9 PM: the music room
The Burren is the pub to know. Its own page says it has been open since January 1996. It also says it sits steps from the Red Line and the Somerville Theatre. Its music page lists music 7 days a week across two spaces, the Front Room and the Back Room.
Read the calendar the way you would read a menu. On the week of November 9, the Front Room had an Irish session on Monday, jazz on Tuesday and Americana on Wednesday, and the Back Room ran trivia, a free comedy night and a college night on three different evenings. The calendar changes weekly, so that is a sample and not a promise. The point is that one address gives you several different nights, and you choose by the room.
For food, the Burren says dinner is served daily from 5pm to 9:45pm. So eat before ten, then stay for the second set.
What Davis does badly
It does not do late. Its strength is that everything sits close together, and the cost is that the best of it is front-loaded. The theater has show times, the Burren has early doors, and the dinner kitchens lean toward the evening. If you arrive at ten expecting a full night ahead of you, you are arriving at the end of it.
It also does not do a crawl, and it should not try. A night built on one show and one pub here beats five bars anywhere else on the Red Line. Skip the urge to add stops.
Midnight: where to end
Foundry is the sit-down finish while it is open. The Burren is the pub you wander back to. Neither is a place to start at midnight. Davis Square is a square where the best hours are the early ones, and the stretch after midnight is for the people who planned to stay.
If you want a longer night, the neighboring squares are in our Cambridge and Somerville route. Our Somerville hub lists the other places we cover, and our guide to Central Square is one Red Line ride the other way.
The Red Line home
Davis is a Red Line stop. The MBTA keeps a page for Davis station. That is the reason this neighborhood works: the train is the way in and the way out. It is also the reason to look at Last Train before you order the last drink, since a platform that is close does not stay open. If you miss the final train, getting home after last call lists the backups.
What to do with this
- Fix the showtime first and fit dinner around it.
- Eat at Spoke or Foundry before the show, or at the Burren before ten.
- Pick the Burren's room from its calendar, not at the door.
- Leave the platform math to Last Train, not to your phone at one in the morning.
- Take the train in, and plan to take it out.
For a night of singing instead of dinner, see Boston karaoke bars.