Encore Boston Seafood Restaurant to Close Weeks After Workers Voted to Unionize

Seamark Seafood & Cocktails, the upscale seafood restaurant inside Encore Boston Harbor, will permanently close on March 29, 2026, laying off 56 employees less than a month after its workers voted overwhelmingly to join UNITE HERE Local 26. The union is calling the shutdown retaliation. The operator says the numbers simply didn't work.

The vote was 38 to 7 in favor of unionizing. Certification of those results came earlier this month. Workers had not yet sat down to bargain for a first contract when Las Vegas-based Carver Road Hospitality announced the closure.

UNITE HERE Local 26 claimed in a press release that the decision was retaliation against newly unionized employees. Carver Road Hospitality offered a different explanation in an emailed statement. "While the team remained optimistic that improving market conditions in 2025 and into 2026 would allow the business to turn the corner, those expectations ultimately did not materialize," the company said. "As the first quarter of 2026 comes to a close, ownership determined that continuing operations was no longer economically sustainable."

The timing is striking even without assuming motive. Federal labor law prohibits employers from closing a facility specifically to punish workers for unionizing, but proving that intent is a high bar, and no independent evidence of retaliation has been established in reporting so far. Carver Road provided no financial data to substantiate its economic rationale.

Seamark opened in April 2024, along with its adjoining speakeasy Old Wives' Tale, and was billed as a destination dining concept with a "pier-to-plate" menu featuring ceviche, crispy Ipswich clams, and grilled swordfish. The restaurant occupied the first floor of the Everett casino complex. In its statement, the company paid tribute to its staff: "From the kitchen to the dining room, the dedication, professionalism, and passion of the Seamark team helped shape the restaurant into a memorable destination for guests and visitors alike."

Workers learned of the closure from management the day before the Boston Business Journal first reported it. One employee confirmed to that outlet that March 29 is the scheduled last day of service. Another worker told the Boston Globe that staff are considering a rally to protest the decision and hold out hope that Encore Boston Harbor itself might step in to assume control of the space. "I'm always going to fight for what I want," she said.

Whether Encore has any such plans is unknown; the casino's management has not publicly commented. What is clear is that 56 hospitality workers will be out of a job before April, their union certified but their first contract never negotiated.