We will be travelling unexpectedly (for a funeral) on Thanksgiving, and are looking for a place to have a nice meal on Thanksgiving evening.
We will be in the Lawrence/Lowell/Andover Mass. area, and would be willing to drive about 30-45 minutes.
Does anyone have any recommendations for a nice restaurant in that area that would be open late Thanksgiving afternoon/evening?
Thanks!
Annette

You may want to check out the Andover Inn at Philips Academy, or Angelica's in No Reading, a bit south on Rt. 28. Vincenzo's is a popular Italian restaurant in Chelmsford, and maybe another location in the Andover area.

There are also many nice restaurants in the coastal town of Newburyport, MA, but that would be at the high end of your commute distance from Lawrence.

www.Andoverinn.com has a 6pm seating for their elegant 6pm buffet ($45)...or checkout cobblestonesoflowell.com - not sure if they serve on Thanksgiving but if you email them they might recommend something nearby.

The only "nice restaurant" that I know of in Lawrence is One Mill Street (web site of same name) - do not know if they are open Thanksgiving.

Agree with Andover Inn as possibility as well.

Thanks, everyone! We'll be looking these suggestions up on the web....
We did find the website of Joseph's Winter Street Bar and Grille (in Newburyport) that looked promising as well.
Annette

The beautiful Stonehedge Inn in Tyngsboro, across the river from Lowell.

Josephs is very nice. I was trying to come up with a place nearby that I knew would be open for sure on Thanksgiving. There are a few nice places in Newburyport; it really is a great little town.

Enjoy my neck of the woods although my condolences for the event that brings you this way.

I on the other hand will be much further south in the lovely "Garden State".

Hsppy Thanksgiving to all. Eva

annette here is the web site

http://www.stonehedgeinn.com/

Joseph's Winter Street Cafe is very nice as Eeva has said. If Newburyport is not too far then also consider The Black Cow (on the water, fireplace) or David's at the Garrison Inn.

While Boston weather is certainly changeable, to add another wrinkle to your trip - they are predicting some inland snow on Thanksgiving Day. Depending on where you are staying, you might want to have a back-up plan close to house or hotel in case it actually does snow.

(That said, that is today's forecast. Just yesterday they were predicting sunny and mild for Thursday)

Thanks to all of you, we now have dinner reservations at the Andover Inn, and have all the other restaurant names filed away for a future trip.
Now we just need Mother Nature to cooperate with all the plans.
What a great resource this community of Fodorites is!
Happy Thanksgiving to all....
Annette

With reports of a few inches of snow on Thanksgiving Day, the campus of Phillips Academy (where the Andover Inn is located) and all of Main Street, Andover should look very festive for your unexpected trip to this area.

The Andover Inn should be lovely - they have a nice lobby area with fireplaces, so you can arrive early for a drink if you want. Latest local forecasts are for a few inches of snow early AM and possible snow squalls later in day.

Do not know where you are staying, but traffic advisory for local streets - there is a huge road race Thanksgiving morning in Andover - detours in place, but it is possible to get around except for a limited number of streets. Sunday afternoon there used to be a big "Santa Parade" - do not know if it is happening this year, and downtown streets are closed.

Sorry for the nature of your trip - but have a nice dinner anyway.

Annettetx, I am curious to find out how the dinner was at the Andover Inn. I just learned that my brother and his wife went to dinner there for their anniversary and they were very disappointed - very long wait for appetizers, another very long wait for dinner and then my SIL's meat entree was served raw (purple) on the inside. She sent it back and it was another long wait for it to come out. By that time my brother was done. Waitress requested that they not be charged for SIL's meal. I hope your experience was much better.