Aline Kaplan recalls the days when the Boston area was full of Pewter Pot Muffin Houses.
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Aline Kaplan recalls the days when the Boston area was full of Pewter Pot Muffin Houses.
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Comments
Wow
By Lisfnord
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 8:59am
I had completely forgotten about Pewter Pot! There was one I went to regularly in Burlington (I think?). Thanks for the reminder!
Strange
By statler
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 9:31am
It appears that these restaurants were mostly closed before I was born, yet they seem strangely familiar.
They had a unique way of
By Patricia not lo...
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 9:38am
They had a unique way of pouring your coffee.
Muffins were good too.
Pot of Coffee
By anon
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 7:06pm
I believe you are referring to the fact that every table got an entire pot of coffee. If they ordered coffee, that is. They had those insulated pots that kept the coffee hot. They were two tone black and chrome color.
I miss Pewter Pot!
By anon
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 9:42am
And it's sister restaurant Mug and Muffin, I think they were part of the same parent company. They were as similar as TJ Maxx and Marshalls are now.
There's still at least one Mug and Muffin
By adamg
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 2:29pm
In Norwood (on whatever they call their main street - Washington, maybe?).
But when did the last one close?
By Gary C
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 10:16am
My ex-brother-in-law worked at the one in the South Shore Plaza until the early 1990's, so I know the above statement is not right. I wonder when the last one went out?
That's very cool that the founder went on to create the Hearth N Kettle. Similar vibe, but better food.
There was one in Burlington
By anon
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 10:29am
There was one in Burlington near Mitre Corp into the 1990s. To say 45 years is inaccurate.
South Shore Plaza Pewter Pot
By Mike Malone
Sun, 05/26/2019 - 12:04pm
My older brother and I both worked there in the 60’s. Here I was introduced to the “Radar Range”. The hadthe very best roast beef sandwich. The dinnerware was that dark black or brown with the cream colored melted edges style seen in manny coffee houses back then. It was near Stop & Shop area.... not sure if they’re still there.... I remember Windsor button, Perkins smoke shop, stop and shop, Kreskees, Filenes, Kennedy’s, Jordan Marsh, The Disc Shop, Hickory Farms. I remember when it was in the construction phase about 60 or 61, tented in plastic... we could see it from our classroom at Lakeside... actually had a helicopter land by Mrs Lampmans classroom...
Pewter Pot
By STEVE LAPIERRE
Sun, 08/23/2020 - 1:56pm
I worked at Pewter Pot from April of 1976 to June of 1996. I was GM at the last remaining location, 211 Middlesex Turnpike Burlington. We closed on a Sunday towards the middle of June 1996. I worked at Tewksbury, North Andover, Salem, Revere, Braintree in addition to Burlington. Yeah mostly microwave food that would probably not fly today.
So the statement that they have been gone 45 years is not true. The muffins were not made in house but made in Burlington downstairs from the restaurant in the bakery for a while then bought frozen muffins made by Harts bakery and delivered from Worchester Quality Foods where we got most of our product delivered from.
Yeah they had around 40 locations at one point but went down hill late 80's or so. Yup, if you don't reinvest in your locations to keep them up, be creative with new menu items, and properly train management/staff then sales decline.,...but hey you can drive a fancy car, take vacations, buy assorted "toys" until you bleed the business down.
Who
By Kevin leahy
Sat, 02/22/2025 - 7:32pm
Who was your ex brother-in-law? I worked there in the 80s and 90s.
I am 37 and have memories of
By Matt Frank
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 10:54am
I am 37 and have memories of going to the Pewter Pot in Revere... so it can not have been gone for more than 30 or so years.
I worked at one in North
By Scratchie
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 11:38am
I worked at one in North Andover in 1981, so it hasn't been 45 years by any means.
Also, it's amusing to me how
By Scratchie
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 11:42am
Also, it's amusing to me how many people (of those who remember the chain) seem to think that the muffins were made in-house. Maybe they were at one point, but they arrived frozen in the back of a truck when I worked there.
As for the claim that "the food was pretty good", everything was either fried on the griddle, deep-fried, or heated up in the microwave.
Was their slogan?
By Michael Reiskind
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 12:40pm
Was their slogan "Our latchstring is always out"?
Pewter Pot and Mug and Muffin
By dga
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 12:48pm
There were a bunch of Pewter Pots as well as Mug & Muffins. I could never keep track of which was which. One of the chains had a location in South Weymouth (Pleasant Shops when I worked at the Purity Supreme in 1980 give-or-take. I just found out there's still a Mug & Muffin in Norwood.
I often forget the Mug &
By Scratchie
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 1:27pm
I often forget the Mug & Muffin. Was there one downtown on Tremont Street? And maybe one in the heart of Harvard Square (or was that a Pewter Pot)?
Up in Danvers, the large house-shaped building on Endicott Street that's now a Dunkin Donuts used to be a Pewter Pot.
There was one in Salem as well...
By E
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 5:53pm
Located at 232 Essex Street (corner of Washington Street), now Fountain Place Restaurant.
http://fountainplacerestaurant.com/
Salem
By Elisabeth LeBrun
Sun, 02/21/2021 - 4:21pm
I worked at the one in Salem from about 1968 to 1970.
Yes, right on tremors street,
By Lise
Sun, 01/16/2022 - 1:12pm
Yes, right on tremors street, very close to park st station. I went there in the 70s often with my dad.
Dedham Mall and South Shore Plaza
By Cleary Squared
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 7:26pm
I remember there was a Pewter Pot right across from Bradlees at the Dedham Mall; there was also a Pewter Pot in the South Shore Plaza (I think it was near the food courts, but I'm not sure).
Mug & Muffin in Cleary Square
By Cleary Squared
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 7:25pm
There was a Mug & Muffin in Cleary Square that came to be in the late '70s/early '80s, which replaced the former Rexall pharmacy. That M&M lasted until at least the mid '90s, when it became the current Talk & Wok Chinese restaurant.
This teenage Busboy, Dishwasher, and Human Dumpster Compactor...
By All Gone
Fri, 09/21/2018 - 2:48pm
.... never had it so good. $3.35 an hour, all the food you can eat, and all the rest of the employees were female.
Pewter Pot
By Gitte elgaard
Fri, 02/04/2022 - 4:17pm
I waitressed at Pewter Pot at downtown crossing in Boston as one of my first jobs after moving to Boston in 1975. I loved that job. The people, the downtown ambiance, all the shopping right around the corner from Filenes Basement!! Mostly women were my customers - and they were all so happy!!
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