A Sleek & Sophisticated Stay: Encore Boston Harbor

Photo Credit: Roger Davies

Encore Boston Harbor is, quite simply, exquisite  — a one-stop extravagant shop just outside of Boston proper in Everett, Mass. for fine dining, gambling, relaxation, nature (yes, nature!) and more. Here is what to expect.

As befits a casino hotel, this place is huge. There are 671 lavishly appointed guest rooms and suites, including premier king and double guest
rooms that, at 650 square feet, are the largest standard hotel accommodations in New England. Signature Suites increase to 1,350 square feet; 18 two-bedroom residences are 3,350 square feet; and two limited-availability villas total 5,800 square feet. Designed in elegant tones with floor-to-ceiling windows, each room highlights exclusive Wynn Dream Beds, innovative tech-friendly conveniences and custom designed voice-activation system controls. They’re cool, too: Using voice activation technology, the hotel’s custom designed Alexa can control lighting, room temperature, drapes and entertainment, and can initiate room privacy mode or request housekeeping service. Guests are able to connect their own personal devices to Alexa using Bluetooth wireless technology. Portable bedside iPads can also be used to control lighting, room temperature, drapes, privacy, housekeeping and entertainment, including streaming apps such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu. In addition to these functions, the iPads provide information on in-room dining and restaurant reservations, spa and salon services, and hotel attractions and promotions.

Personally, we love the signature harbor view suites, which offer prime views of the Boston Harbor and the city skyline. There are also 18 two-bedroom residences which feature private massage rooms and guest powder rooms in the foyer, separate living and dining areas with comfortable seating for eight and a granite wet bar with refrigerator and minibar, two bedrooms featuring custom king-sized beds with 507-
thread-count linens, and corner bedrooms with floor-to-ceiling windows and panoramic views.

The presidential and chairman’s villa are 5,800-square-feet, two stories, and three bedrooms. They’re epic. Just ask Jayson Tatum. 

Photo Credit: Encore Boston Harbor

There are a plethora of dining outlets at Encore Boston Harbor. Our favorites include Fratelli, an uber-Italian eatery within the casino. “Fratelli” translates to “brothers,” and honors Boston’s North End with Southern Italian cooking in a comfortable atmosphere courtesy of local restaurateurs Frank DePasquale and Nick Varano. Must-trys include the zucchini flowers with seasonal flowers stuffed with goat cheese / lemon zest and dotted with tempura zucchini chips, as well as truffle-crusted tuna with Japanese eggplant, wilted spinach, sweet baby peppers, and olives.

Photo Credit: Encore Boston Harbor

Mystique, from Chef Anthony Micari, features Asian-inspired shareable plates and sushi in a sophisticated and sexy atmosphere with the resort part of Encore. Set against the backdrop of the Boston skyline, the energy of the buzzing room grows as the evening advances. The sushi is standout, as are dishes like the avocado bomb with sudachi aioli, toasted sesame, and ponzu, and the Tik Tok Chicken, served with sweet & spicy ginger sauce and jasmine rice.

Photo Credit: Encore Boston Harbor

Other options include the fine dining Rare Steakhouse; the Garden Cafe, an all-day American eatery overlooking the garden lobby; Red 8, an eatery featuring the best of southeast Asia; and On Deck, a great place to watch the Patriots and Celtics play (because come on, they’ll be on!). The best nightlife venues are Mystique Lounge, located within Mystique, and Memoire, a fantasy brought to Boston by Big Night Entertainment Group, with DJs and VIP table service galore.

Photo Credit: Barbara Kraft

The shopping, as befitting a Wynn property, is on point. The best of the best includes Watches of Switzerland, a British-based retailer that offers an extensive selection of luxury Swiss watches, from brands such as Hublot, IWC, Schaffhausen, Omega and Panerai. There’s also The Wynn Collection, a favorite boutique concept in Las Vegas, but curated especially for Boston, The Wynn Collection carries women’s lines from an A-list of global designers and emerging cutting-edge talent including Zimmerman, Victoria Beckham, Jason Wu, Giambattista Valli and Yigal Azrouel. Last but not least is Wynn Men’s, which carries everything from sportswear to evening pieces, from brands like ZZegna, Etro, Bugatchi, John Varvatos and Vince.

Photo Credit: Encore Boston Harbor

And of course you can’t go into a casino without gambling (or without knowing what your options are, duh). Encore Boston Harbor features 210,000 square feet of gaming space with more than 3,100 state-of-the-art slot machines and 231 table games (Baccarat, Blackjack, Roulette, Poker, Casino War and Craps). The two-level casino also offers private gaming rooms with secluded terraces, as well as an 88-table Poker Room.

Photo Credit: Encore Boston Harbor

What makes this stunning space more than a casino is the incredible amount of flora, fauna, and nature space. There aare 1,000 mature trees and tens of thousands of shrubs within the entire resort area. 50,000 flowering species are planted and are changed out several times per year to create new color schemes that align with the New England seasons.

The 6.5-acre Harborwalk surrounds Encore Boston Harbor and is open day and night, offering a waterfront park for residents and guests to enjoy. The park links to existing paths around Boston Harbor and opens a stretch of Everett’s shoreline to the public for the first time in more than a century. In addition to impressive florals, the Harborwalk is also home to three Jaume Plensa sculptures.

Plus, in the Garden Lobby, in classic Wynn Resorts style, guests will find lush interior gardens featuring four voluminous 20-foot, multi-trunk ficus trees with an all-new Preston Bailey floral carousel at its center. Four thousand annual flower pots fill the planters, along with a dynamic mix of green leaf foliage to further enhance and complement the resplendent floral garden and carousel. There’s also a 10,000-square-foot roof garden, complemented by floral parterres shaped like large flowers, accentuated by Ilex hedges and white stone. The parterres are filled to the brim with 6,000 vibrant flowers changing seasonally and appear to float within a natural turf lawn reminiscent of wind-swept flower petals dropping from towering trees.

Photo Credit: Encore Boston Harbor

Last but not least, we can’t mention a Wynn property and not discuss the absolutely incredible collection of art. The pieces on display here include Viola Frey’s “Amphora IV”; Preston Bailey’s 15,000 pound, 83,000 flower and 11,000-jewel-strong carousel; Jeff Koons‘ “Popeye”; three 10-foot-high stainless-steel portraits of women by Jaume Plensa; and David Harber‘s polished convex mirror sculpture, “Torus.”

Encore Boston Harbor is located at 1 Broadway, Everett, MA 021491