Restaurants Open Year-Round in Eastham: Fairway Restaurant & Pizzeria

What is Fairway Restaurant & Pizzeria in Eastham?
Fairway Restaurant & Pizzeria is a casual, family-friendly eatery in Eastham, MA, serving hearty breakfasts, house-made baked goods, and classic American-Italian fare, including pizzas, burgers, and seafood dishes.

Is Fairway Restaurant open in the off-season?
Yes, Fairway is open year-round, making it a reliable dining option on the Outer Cape even during the quieter winter months.

What are the best dishes at Fairway Restaurant?
Popular menu items include the BBQ Chicken, Bacon & Ranch Pizza, Tavern Burger, Cheeseburger Club Salad, and Southwest Salad. The restaurant is also known for its fresh pastries from Hole-In-One Bakery.

Where is Fairway Restaurant located in Eastham?
Fairway Restaurant is located on Route 6 in Eastham, just before the Cumberland Farms intersection, making it an easy stop for both locals and visitors.

Does Fairway Restaurant take reservations?
No, Fairway operates on a first-come, first-served basis, though wait times are usually reasonable, especially in the off-season.

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Fairway Restaurant & Pizzeria Off-Season Hours (Feb 2025): Everyday: 630a-Noon; 4-8p
On the Table Tonight:

• BBQ Chicken, Bacon & Ranch Pizza
• Tavern Burger
• Cheeseburger Club Salad

Surprise & Delight

We set it up, it was knocked down, and then—somehow—the tide brought the sandcastle back to shore, whole. This was supposed to be one of the big dinners of the month, the kind that swells anticipation. But then John Lennon's old axiom rolled in with the clouds and the early darkness, and one by one, the chairs fell empty. Until there were only two of us.

For only two, we debated, did we really want to empty the wallet tonight? No, we’d decided. But we also weren’t about to close the shades socially. So we picked a spot, copped a squat, and rolled the dice.

Fairway has history. Open since 1989 (for the Swiftieeees), it was taken over a few years back by a cinnamon bun enthusiast with a trunk full of restaurant baggage a couple of years heavy. Watching a place change hands is simply documenting an experiment—what’s kept, what’s tossed, and, ultimately, whether the new steward can keep the boat afloat.

Thirty-plus years is a long haul for a place on a seasonal strip of pavement this end of Speedway 6, a road that giveth in July and taketh away in October. If you can navigate its off-season squalls, you deserve a tip of the hat. It’s a thankless grind, and if the horse don’t pull, guess who carries the load?

So, we took seats at the bar—less drawn to the ghostly, Zelda-esque dining room of vacant, set -tables waiting on a final boss to arrive from Make-Up in full costume.

The Guinness & The Doughnut

The first of them arrived without a plan, texting and pacing the small waiting area before settling at the bar. Guinness, a good call. And then—pure chuckling of the gods—a tray of baked goodies appeared. Fairway doubles as the Hole-In-One Bakery & Coffee Shop, which means at least these two things: good pastries and, apparently, occasional complimentary handouts.

Since he’d already decided he was feigning poverty for the night, a coconut doughnut seemed like the kind of divine intervention and alms he was prepared to accept. Into the to-go bag it went. A pre-dinner gift, a post-dinner amuse-bouche, courtesy of … probably his 10th House.

The Shock Betrayal of German Engineering

Meanwhile, somewhere west of the Orleans rotary, the third of them was fighting a different battle: goddam car wouldn’t start. This was a particularly sharp betrayal, given that he’d halfway built the thing himself, only for it to turn Judas now! It was freezing, his fingers weren’t far from frostbite, and the engine refused to acknowledge the urgency of the situation. And for what? To get somewhere he said he wasn’t going to see friends he said he wasn’t seeing … all to make a kind surprise gesture. No good deed …

Pizza & The Existential Crisis

They hadn’t talked about going to Fairway before but they both knew it existed out there on that long, bleached and splintered stretch in Eastham approaching the Cumbies light not two miles from the double lanes disappearing into the final, cavernous, strip, abandoned by street lights. ‘Knew about it’ meant they knew it sold pizza, and a much different pie than Red Barn (a softer crust, a bigger wing out to experiment) that’s not said as neither a good nor as a bad. Just as an is. If both places can hang on sitting practically across the street from each other then they must be different enough to avoid the cannibalism. Now then, when in Rome: they ordered a piefor the appetizer.

Fairway BBQ Chicken, Bacon & Ranch Pizza

Stunt pizza not typically being a sport these two contacted, this was a pleasant surprise. Once your palate is prepared, the sorcery of cheat code ingredient (bacon ...) sneaks past your dropped guard and you can enjoy the tang of the BBQ sauce cut against the diffuse ranch without feeling the need to tweet about it.

There aren’t many restaurants that will really drag your eyes to the Short Rib on the right side of the menu, but have you rethinking a lot of things in your immediate present when something like Cheeseburger Club Salad comes across your face. Lines of logic swirl …

• If they’re good enough to fuck with Short Ribs, their Cheeseburger Club Salad must be amazing but …
• if they’re willing to do a Cheeseburger Club Salad, how good were these Short Ribs gonna be? How many and how often are they shipping units of that one?

Spoiler alert: everything that was eaten, including, it’s rumored, the doughnut later, was very tasty. Now, admittedly, the Short Ribs weren’t ordered. This time. And, even though empirical evidence dictates they’re good, our hero knew it would be best, and most honest, to find out for himself and speak first hand. Yes, he’d have to go back and get the Short Ribs. Even if by invitation …  wink.

Tavern Burger

After also toying with the Short Rib among other things, the tea leaves returned that it should be the burger for the second of them. Maybe it had something to do with the tarot card reading on Menu Psychology or maybe it didn’t.

Cheeseburger Club Salad

Expectations weren’t managed, which was our mistake. You see "Cheeseburger Club Salad" across from Short Ribs and you expect some kind of deconstruction, some clever reimagining, some … je ne sais pas. Nope, this was a straight-up cheeseburger patty on a salad. Do not fool yourself into thinking there’ll be some kind of chopped product.

Still good. Just…not a revelation … in a situation where all of the elements for a revelation were present but … this revelation wasn’t in the room with them right then. If given that flavor profile, there is an onus on the grillmaster. And life is very long. Wrongs will sometimes be righted. When I conceded 1800 calories, please do your worst.

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In between bites of Cheeseburger Salad the call came in from the German auto, it’d made its way to the restaurant, a piggybank and a furniture hammer bouncing around in the backseat. Let the wallet smashing feast begin!

Ahh but no one told the third of them about the venue change, there was no piggy bank necessary tonight. The frugal left turn they’d taken had been done offline and now, well, our man had managed to bring his car back from the breach only to venture into proper Orleans and now have to dig himself out and over to Eastham - practically Boca to Jacksonville.

The Arrival & The Southwest Salad

Romaine with even the tastiest of tasty veg (from tomatoes to wontons + chipotle ranch dressing) was had a high bar to clear given the German driver arrived late, hungry, mildly fucking annoyed at discomms and miscomms, so the salad showing up strong was Life dapping him up.

So there they were, these diners: once a team divided and scattered to the winds, now in post-dinner bliss a damn-near approximation of that whole group that had fallen to the gusts of real life off-coursities. Their sandcastle has been returned to them and even years later, when there were 10 or 12 such groups, these three never witnessed a sandcastle come back like that again.

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Do you have a favorite year-round Eastham restaurant and want to regal us with tales of your adventures? Have you eaten a chopped cheeseburger club salad?
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