According to Boston.com: "While D’Parma has three locations — Winthrop, East Boston, and Revere — diners are only allowed to bring beer and wine to the Winthrop outpost. The Italian restaurant has plenty of dishes that almost demand a great bottle of wine, like a chicken piccata with lemon, capers, and white wine sauce; or ziti with meatballs in alfredo sauce. Twinkling lights suspended from the ceiling above add a playful vibe to the space, whether you’re here for a much-needed date night or a family meal. (467 Shirley St., Winthrop)
Corkage fee: None"
https://www.boston.com/food/restaurants/2019/02/08/10-restaurants-where-you-can-byob-in-the-boston-area/
BostonBestEats’s 3-star review:
LEGAL BYOB AT D'PARMA IN WINTHROP
To make a long story short, I'm going to give D'Parma 2 Stars for their food plus 1 star extra for being one of those rare, almost mythical creatures, a LEGAL BYOB in Massachusetts.
If you know me, then you know that I appreciate a great wine list. And the very best wine list of all is the one that I have at home! So if a restaurant will let me BYOB my own wine for dinner, then they immediately shoot to the top in my book.
The only problem is that BYOB is ILLEGAL in ***most*** of Massachusetts. Grrrr, yes, we are still living in the 19th Century in MA! But wait, why did I say "most?" Well here is where, in typical MA fashion, it gets a bit complicated:
1) Massachusetts law states that BYOB is illegal in any restaurant that has a liquor license.
2) If a restaurant doesn't have a liquor license, then the legality of BYOB depends on the laws of the city or town in which the restaurant operates.
3) But only some towns permit BYOB for restaurants without liquor licenses. To the best of my knowledge, these include: Brookline, Lowell, Needham, Watertown (requires a BYOB license), Wellesley, Winthrop, and Worcester. Arlington and Belmont may also be in this category, but I'm still researching that. If you know of any others, please let me know!
4) However, thanks to a newly passed law in Boston, BYOB is only legal for restaurants without liquor licenses in some but not all Boston neighborhoods, namely: Allston-Brighton, Charlestown, Dorchester, East Boston, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Mission Hill, Roslindale, Roxbury and West Roxbury. Such restaurants must be sit-down with waiter service and 30 or fewer seats, and they must have a BYOB license (which only Seven Star Bistro in Rosindale does as of April 2017).
5) By the way, many restaurants will let you BYOB under the table if you ask them (with or without a corkage fee). However, it is definitely poor form to post about this online since we don't want to get them in trouble for doing us a favor (which occasionally happens, although rarely in my experience).
OK, with that background out of the way, you will have noticed that Winthrop is one of those towns that permits legal BYOB. And from perusing Yelp, I was able to find 3 restaurants in Winthrop that do not have liquor licenses and allow BYOB (all Italian). None of which are very well known, so I decided to do some reconnoitering first before I invited my somewhat snobby wine group (don't tell them I said that)...
First up was D'Parma, mostly because it was the only one that is open on Mondays. I should also note that their second location in East Boston has a liquor license and is therefore not a BYOB.
Inside, D'Parma is a surprisingly attractive, wood paneled, two room space. It was perhaps half-full on a Monday evening, and not terribly loud. Service was prompt and generally friendly.
However, as I noted above, I'm only giving them a mediocre 2 stars for their food. Why? I and my two dining companions ordered 3 appetizers to share, and then since we were drinking California cabernets, steaks. D'Parmis is not really "red sauce", but it's not fancy fine Italian dining either.
The appetizers were the best part of the meal. They were good sized and generally tasty, but a bit sloppily presented and not actually very exciting. But I would eat them again.
Unfortunately, the steaks were a disappointment. 8 oz sirloins (not stated on the menu), 1/2 inch thick. I ordered mine medium rare, but it came out medium to medium-well. Certainly a OK piece of meat, but not steakhouse quality. However, the real sin was the accompanying mushroom risotto, which was a disaster. In fact, I wouldn't call the huge pile of rice with mushrooms and onions a risotto. Short grain rather than risotto rice, and not at all creamy. No detectable Parmigiano flavor. The large slices of portabella mushrooms were in fact the only good part and I did finish those. The worst "risotto" I've ever had.
However, despite the average food, this still is a legal BYOB and so gets an extra star from me for that reason alone. Wine glasses were serviceable, but of the typical style found in "red sauce" restaurants, so I would recommend bringing your own if you care about this. We opened and poured our own wines, which we prefer (although no one offered to do it for us).
Parking is fairly easy at a city lot located a block further down Shirley St (free after 5PM). Otherwise be careful about parking on the streets without a permit, and do not park in the lot next to the front door of D'Parma or you will be towed. [Update: according to owner's reply below, parking is now permitted next door.]
Would I come back? Maybe I'll give them a second shot and try more of their pastas and bring a few more casual bottles of pasta-friendly wine (no more serious cabernets!). But it's not the sort of place I'm going to rush to invite my wine group to drink SQNs!