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What are the respectable Boston M&A groups? Obviously there's ropes, Goodwin, wilmerhale, and choate. But are there others?

Morgan Lewis, (including most of what used to be Bingham Boston), Nixon Peabody, Dechert all claim to do M&A in Boston. There are also satellite offices of Latham, Skadden, Weil, Cooley, DLA Piper and now Kirkland, who claim to do M&A. But with satellite offices, there can be a wide discrepancy between what they say they do and what they do.

Edit: Also, foley hoag is based in Boston and probably does some M&A, Nutter, Foley & Lardner has a large office that, if memory serves, does corporate work, McDermott has a big office in Boston but not sure what they do.

Work in another L&W office, we do "real" M&A in our Boston office.
I would say Ropes, Goodwin and Wilmer are strong.
I like what we (L&W) do there. KE is will be strong and I see joining them as a growth opportunity for an associate -> certainly comes with long hrs and risk.

Agree with the above. The big three firms are a good bet. Choate is good but limited as to deal size and it can be difficult to get the department you want. Otherwise, L&W, Skadden, Weil and K&E are your best bets for this type of work in Boston, with PE M&A a focus for most offices given the Boston market. K&E only has a couple associates right now though so as poster above stated, it's a risk and will be long hours. That may appeal to some people, so all the better if that's you. Other Boston firms do this work but imo not on the same scale/as well.

Edit: should also note that rumor is K&E plans to grow the Boston office pretty quickly, so might be an outdated consideration by the time you start.

What about offices like Gunderson, Proskauer, and Holland & Knight?

Proskauer might be a good option, I know their funds formation group is solid, but know less about their other groups. I know they do some PE M&A work and I haven't heard anything negative. Gunderson like Cooley is more focused on vc/emerging company work, so look into them if you're interested in that route. H&K I would avoid for M&A - good healthcare group though. All generalizations, so take with a grain of salt.