The Zebra Room: Boston's Intimate New Underground Steakhouse

The Zebra Room opens downtown Boston on April 15, tucking 10 tables and a small bar behind a secret bookshelf door inside Yvonne’s subterranean Library.

That entrance tells you everything. Chris Jamison, CEO of COJE Management Group, didn’t want another corporate steakhouse with wood paneling and a boys’ club energy. He wanted something you’d actually want to linger in. “We designed this beautiful room [to be] super intimate, elegant, and comfortable, sort of a throwback to the 1970s ‘conversation pit’ vibe,” Jamison said, and the dark red room delivers exactly that, with banquettes, carpets, and bold patterned wallpaper covering nearly every surface. “The whole room is full of fabric.”

The space sits below sibling restaurant Yvonne’s and has moved through a few identities over the years, most recently serving as an event room called the Gallery. COJE saw something better hiding in there. “Over the last year or so, we kept thinking that there was an opportunity to use the space better,” Jamison said, pointing to a broader shift he’s been watching play out. “We’ve seen an interesting trend [domestically and globally] toward much smaller, higher-touch restaurants. All of ours are huge.”

Small is the point.

With just 10 tables, the Zebra Room sits in rare company among Boston dining rooms. Intimate restaurant concepts have been gaining ground across major American cities, and locally, Jamison acknowledged that Bogie’s Place, tucked between the Wig Shop cocktail bar and JM Curley, is another exception to the region’s tendency toward sprawling dining floors.

COJE built its reputation on nightlife-leaning venues including Mariel, Coquette, and Yvonne’s. The Zebra Room is a deliberate shift. “This is a restaurant and dining bar first, a major departure from what we’ve traditionally done,” Jamison said, calling it a response to guests who’ve been asking for exactly this kind of experience. The company started threading that needle in late 2025 with My Girl, a cozy cocktail lounge in Post Office Square built around sofas and good martinis. The Zebra Room goes further. Cold drinks and a great soundtrack still show up, but dinner leads.

The art on the walls doesn’t lean on steakhouse clichés either. Colorful contemporary works by Junar Rodriguez, Halim A. Flowers, King Paris, Eser Gündüz, and Francisco Valverde hang against the bold patterns, giving the room a personality that’s closer to a well-curated apartment than a financial district expense account dinner. According to Boston Magazine, several menu references reach back even further than the 1970s design, serving as a nod to the iconic Locke-Ober, the storied Boston restaurant that closed in 2012 after more than 130 years.

Jamison framed the whole project around a personal reckoning with how he wants to spend his evenings now. “I’m 42 now, and how do I want to spend my nights?” he said. “Going to dinner, and then going somewhere with a good soundtrack, sitting back, and grabbing some martinis.”

Boston’s steakhouse scene isn’t short on options. It’s short on rooms that feel like someone actually thought about comfort over square footage. The Zebra Room, at just 10 tables, is betting that’s exactly what people want. Jamison calls it “a wholesale departure from what we’ve seen for steakhouses in Boston.” The bookshelf door swings open April 15.