Rachel Shuster

Located at 90 Commercial St. in Worcester, Off the Rails is the city’s newest spot where you can get a taste of Nashville without hopping on a plane or in the car. 

Since opening in mid-July, Communications Director Eric Lindquist says they’ve been keeping busy! “We’ve been packed especially on the weekends with our live music,” he says. “We’ve been excited about the outpouring of support by the Worcester community.”

The space felt just right for the Off the Rails team when it came time to find a location to bring a little bit of Nashville to Worcester. The team behind Off the Rails is a powerhouse team with plenty of roots here in the city. Cliff Rucker, the owner of Off the Rails also owns the Worcester Railers hockey team and part of the nearby Worcester Palladium music hall. Chris Besaw is the managing partner and ran the Palladium for more than 20 years. 

“I worked with Worcester hockey for the last 15 years. With the pandemic, hockey got shut off. I had a gig in Atlanta at the time, but that came to an end, so I gave Cliff a call. There was a need over at the restaurant and it worked out,” Lindquist says.

For Lindquist, he’s not the biggest country music guy, but Off the Rails goes far beyond country music – it fills a void in the city. “There aren’t too many places in Worcester that have live music while you can grab a really good bite to eat,” he says.

The restaurant features southern cuisine from Executive Chef Rick Araujo in his scratch kitchen.

Menu items include small plates like baked pimento dip, fried pickle chips and hush puppies ranging from $5 – $18, salads for $12, big plates like fried chicken, Carolina style ribs and shrimp and grits ranging from $14 – $36 and sweets like banana pudding and bourbon and chocolate bread pudding at $8. “We have a diverse menu and Chef Rick Araujo adds these little details that really put us in the spotlight,” Lindquist says. 

All the delicious food is complimented by a full bar with 20 tap lines and cocktails featuring southern flair managed by Bar Manager Justin Coburn.

While you’re grubbing on southern style food and great drinks, you’ll find yourself surrounded by authentic country memorabilia – whiskey barrels, guitar tables, country music memorabilia and reclaimed wood all give the space an authentic feel. 

Live music is a regular occurrence at the restaurant with rotating artists playing nightly. “We have all country live music,” Lindquist says. “If we don’t have live music playing, we have country music blaring throughout. We have a small stage that can host a singer and another. We’ve been getting dozens of emails asking to play here.”

In fact, the restaurant is just phase one of the big plans that the Off the Rails team has for the space and for the Worcester community. Phase two will feature a music venue and beer garden which is set to open in the fall of 2021.

“The venue is going in behind the restaurant and will accommodate 600-700 people,” Lindquist says. “It will be a four-season venue with garage doors opening into the Palladium, a full stage – it’s going to be unlike anything the city has seen. It will also provide even more creativity to what we can do here in the space, like hold concerts, corporate events, special events, etc.”

The Off the Rails team is excited about the restaurant and the big plans for the future. “This space has been a lot of different places over the years,” Lindquist says. “Worcester is always changing, but we hope this becomes a trademark place in the city. Especially with the opening of the music venue this fall, it will be a game changer for downtown Worcester.”

For more information about Off the Rails, visit Offtherailsworcester.com.