Two weekend visits to this relatively new subterranean Sichuan eatery in Harvard Square (Eliot…read moreStreet) with a very inviting interior and some VERY spicy dishes. -- Vegetarian Cold Noodle: Firm, peanut buttery, satisfying. Not spicy. Not too saucy, so you can "feel" the noodle, but I would have liked more vegetables. -- Yibin Fiery Noodles: Warm and similarly al dente, these were manageably spicy. Meat crumble, seeds or nuts, scallions, and heat. -- Red and Green Pepper Chicken: Batterless but crisp, tender, and not boneless. Relentlessly spicy from several heat sources and kaleidoscopically delicious. The closest comparison is dry hot chicken that also goes by a few other names, but this was better. Elite, and the best thing I ate in all of 2025, but sadly no longer on the menu. -- Stone Pot Tofu: Billed as Ma Po Tofu sizzling in a stone pot, but no sizzle and no stone pot. Identified as very spicy but minimally spicy and more numbing (more "ma" than "la"). I enjoyed the overall flavor (heavily seasoned) and the saltiness of the fermented black beans. Despite some of the menu discrepancies, this was a really good version for my tastes. Near-elite. -- Green Beans With Eggplant: Strong flavor, not too hot spicewise, but volcanically hot temperaturewise. Decent. -- Chicken and Clams: Black bean flavor, whole peppercorns, spicy but loaded with flavor beyond the spice. A deceptively huge and quite delicious. Elite. -- Beef Spring Rolls: Not my choice. Crisp, beefy, and chili sauce on the side added contrast. Solid, but boring, more typical of an Americanized offering, and a waste of an opportunity given Too Hot's killer menu. -- Pork Belly with Fermented Beans: Superb rendition, not drastically different from twice cooked pork, but much more flavor and giant pieces. Near-elite to Elite. -- Shrimp in Dry Hot Pot: Tons of dry rub spiciness, giant shrimp, chopped vegetables, and crinkle cut potatoes. Near-elite. -- Brussels Sprouts w/Shallots: More subtle flavors here but hardly bland. Fried shallots had sort of an onion ringy presence in miniature. Cooked just right. Outstanding overall experience, with the best dish on the first visit and almost all winners on the second. Kudos to the friendly and helpful service, including a server suggestion to switch an item after noticing we ordered two very similar items. Eager to return often and try even more of the menu.

Pretty solid szechuan spot in Harvard Square! I made a reservation to ensure no wait time and at…read morethe time, I had to make it quite early so it seems like a popular spot. Interior felt very modern and sleek - it was a bit small as well so it was a little cramped between tables and walking areas. The menu had a good selection of szechuan fare and we ended up sharing some of their popular dishes. I enjoyed the large fish one which was a good size for a family. Everything tasted authentic, my only qualm was paying for rice - you can't not have rice and it seems ridiculous to pay $3 for one bowl. Overall, a solid restaurant and option for Chinese food in Harvard Square.

Full Blog: https://tantorski.com/f/black-ruby…read more Friday nights in Cambridge have a great energy, and Black Ruby fully leans into it. The restaurant was buzzing when we arrived, but we were seated right away at the last available table. The space felt both lively and cozy, perfect for a date night. Service started a bit slow, but once it picked up, the pacing was excellent. Our server was more hands off, which worked well, letting us settle in and enjoy the night without feeling rushed. We started with the Larb Pork Dumplings, which were beautifully presented with chili lime mayo, fresh herbs, and crispy greens. They were fried perfectly, packed with bright Thai flavors, and the added crunch from the greens made the dish even better. With five dumplings, it was a great portion to share. For dinner, we ordered the Crispy Basil Burger and the Thai Garlic Burger, both cooked medium and full of flavor, with Thai seasoning adding a unique twist to the beef.

Once I tried Black Ruby, it immediately became one of my favorite restaurants in Cambridge. The…read morecocktails are creative and delicious--I love the Thai Tea Martini--and the food is fantastic as well. The Khao Soi burger is my go-to. It has all of the flavors and textures of Khao Soi, with pickled mustard greens for acid, crispy noodles for a crunchy flair, and just the right amount of spice. I find myself craving it often! The one and only bone I have to pick with Black Ruby is that the service, while very attentive, is almost TOO fast. I get that they want to turn tables over efficiently, but the last couple of times I've come, I kind of felt like they were rushing me out. I came here to catch up with a couple friends and our food came almost instantly, before our drinks, and the waitress seemed eager to keep us moving. I think our entire meal was less than 50 minutes. While I'll definitely be back, I think it won't be somewhere I'd bring friends anymore since it's just not enough time for a full conversation.

We came to wusong road on a trip up to Boston after getting the recommendation from a friend who…read morecomes here every time they visit. Funny enough when we visited my friend was also in town that weekend and by happenstance we happened to get to the restaurant at the same time. I would definitely make reservations because I did not realize you would need a reservation for a Wednesday night, but we did. Luckily we were able to give our name and they had a cancellation and were able to be seated within 20 to 30 minutes. The upstairs is pretty cool. I really like the decor. One of my favorites was these monkey lamps they had. The food was pretty good and we had gotten a slider for my son which basically filled him up. My wife and I split a poo poo platter and got an appetizer and that was enough for us. The drinks were really good. We had gotten a few to try. I like my first one and really enjoyed my second one. I asked the waitress for a recommendation and she made one and then when we went for our second round she did say she was new to the job so I went with something I knew I would like. They also sell some of their mugs which is a cool bonus. If your into tiki drinks definitely pick up a wusong road branded mug when you stop by. We got two.

Fusion mostly done well. Especially liked the chicken skewer, lotus dumplings, fried rice, and the…read moremeat in the beef noodles (though the noodles were more meh). The misses weren't that bad either, just not to my taste, mostly in the direction of too sweet. I enjoyed the mugs that the drinks are served in, but the drinks were pretty sweet (even the ones rated as less sweet). An experience for sure!

The scallion pancakes are among the best I have ever tried. Love that they include some braised…read moreand organ meat dishes. Hope we can still get a table after their recent award.

Nice location, has good dining room and decor. We arrived…read morebefore kitchen close, and ordered super quick because we didn't want to be those people haha. Our server definitely didn't seem like he was too happy about that and it showed most the night, but it could be me reading it wrong but that's what i interpreted it as. So i would say service was lacking. - Jahunger noodles thought this was tasty and the meats were cooked well and tender. The star was the noodles chewy bounce and had nice flavor. - Meefen noodles - ooooweee after a few bites definitely spicy and numbing haha probably the peppercorn bit i enjoyed this dish (paid for it later tho when digested haha) - Kavap (lamb kebab skewers) wasn't worth the price to portion ratio, well grilled and seasoned with cumin. Lamb was prepared well, no hint of gaminess. - Hand-made Lamb dumplings - hard pass for me next time, came out cold and bland. - not your avg honey cake- not my cup of tea but the lady enjoyed it! Reminded me of carrot cake consistency, mild sweetness which is nice. Not the dinner i would gravitate toward again but it was enjoyable dishes for trying it the first time.

I got take out from this silk for the first time. The hostess was very friendly and was quick to…read morehelp grab my food. The chicken Tikka was delicious, and you seemed to get two servings for one order which was nice for the price. I will be going back!

I had really been looking forward to trying this place and was finally able to on Valentines Day…read more The decoration was adorable and I'm pretty sure they were booked out for the evening. There was a great singer, pianist, and sax player to really set the mood. They were super fun, especially when a couple got engaged! To start, I got their ginger martini and while my friend went with a Do-er neat (not a whiskey drinker myself, lol). He tried to order 2 of their beers but they were out of both. My drink came after 15 mins and then we had to remind the waiter about his whiskey. That took another 10. We started with the chicken bao buns and the samosas. Both spectacular! My only complaint is the little size for the samosa size. For our mains we got the short rib and the white butter chicken. The butter chicken could've used a bit more chicken for the price and was frankly a bit tough. The sauce was great. The short rib was flavorful and packed the perfect punch. Dipping the garlic naan in both sauces was my fav part!! Overall an ok experience. I want to give the restaurant grace because it was very packed but service was poor. I think we had 4 different staff members help us total which probably led to lots of miscommunication.

One of the BEST Thai restaurants in Boston. Love that I don't have to drive into the city, there is…read morea spacious parking lot, and the folks inside are always speedy and friendly. The food is spicy, delicious, and flavorful every time. Everything is fantastic and I've yet to taste a dish that I wouldn't get again. Things I've gotten: -Larb - quintessential, can't go wrong. -Thai Saap Pork Ribs Soup: SO GOOD. Sour and spicy (you can adjust the heat). It was perfect during the cold winter. The ribs were very tender and the broth was full of flavor. -Pad Thai - again, can't go wrong. -Wonton Soup - some of the best I've had. The broth was deliciously savory and so much tastier than the bland versions you get from most Chinese places. -Pad See Ew - also fantastic. -Rad Nah - appreciated that they packed the noodles separately so I could assemble the dish fresh. No soggy noodles. -Ka Prow Crispy Pork - by the time I got it home, it wasn't very crispy anymore but it didn't matter because the flavor was fantastic. -Crispy Chicken Basil - same thing, not too crispy but still delicious. Restaurant decor looks comfortable and there are a decent amount of tables inside. I haven't made the effort to eat onsite yet, but looking forward to doing that at some point because I definitely want to try their whole fish. It looks amazing! Can totally understand why some people would be intimidated by the location and look from outside, but looks can be deceiving! Absolutely worth the drive.

This place used to be the adult store but I think it moved to the back. Decent parking around since…read morea small lot. Its small inside with tables for dine in. 4/5 drunken noodles was spicy and delicious. Arived fresh and hot. This was lunch portion so assuming its smaller sized. Think there was only one cook so things bit slower but fresh cook to order. 4/5 fighting fish roll was decent. Crunchy tofu skin exterior and packed with flavors of pork, crab and shrimp. Juicy and hot inside, good flavor and texture. 3.5 siam fried rice was decent and flavored well but just wasn't distinguishing itself enough. Service was decent, it was one guy doing waiter and cashier. He was back and forth and sometimes waiting inside kitchen. Overall will come again since location has decent parking and reasonable prices and good thai food. I like their specials menu which I assume rotates.

Saw blue elephant on a late night from Work and decided to…read morestop and place a to go order for the family. I was greeted by the staff and the restaurant was large with plenty of tables for patrons who decided to dine In. All items I tried were delicious and here's a list of what was ordered. The serving sizes were large portion and there were leftovers for the next few days. All items were extremely flavorful and I will certainly go there again to dine in next time. - Chicken satay - Street fried rice - Broccoli lover with chicken - Veggie delight with shrimp - Veggie spring roll - Crab Rangoon - Blue elephant magic stick Soup -Tom yum -wonton soup Salad - Som Tum corn salad Noodles - pad see ew Stir-fried entrees - broccoli lover beef Curry Massaman curry with tofu

We get takeout from Blue Elephant about once a month, and would normally rate it 4 stars for the…read morefood quality. Tonight there was a noticeable decrease in the amount of chicken and beef in the two dishes we ordered. Very disappointing to have to shuffle through the sauce and veggies to find the beef and chicken.

This is my FAVORITE Thai place in all of Cambridge and probably Boston. I so so recommend it, I'm…read morebaffled at some of the lower ratings. I've gotten lucky with walking in but they have enough seating for one to generally be able to snag a table even around dinner time. During the summer, they have lovely outdoor seating! I've gotten take out here once and the food holds up well. Now onto the food... - drunken noodles: occasionally these are very spicy and occasionally they are appropriately spicy. They are always so excellent and the noodles are bouncy and chewy! I usually get this with pork. - pad see ew: this is my favorite Thai noodle dish and it's no exception here. Not as spicy as the drunken noodles but just a massive portion of filling noodles, chicken/tofu, and Chinese broccoli. There's something about the way they do the sauce here that is just so savory and delicious. It feels less greasy than it usually does at other Thai places, which I really like - pad mee korat: my friend always get this and raves about it. I felt like it was worth sharing that this comes in a huge plate and was finished completely. They have a lot of variety in dishes!!

We ordered takeout for two noodle dishes: Pad See Ew with chicken and Pad Thai…read more The Pad See Ew is usually one of my favorite dishes, so I was excited. Flavor-wise, this version was lighter and more lime-forward than the sweeter, dark soy profile I'm used to. It was also very liquidy, which didn't mesh well with the noodle type. The Pad Thai was fine overall. They use a different kind of noodle than I've eaten before, which was fun and unique. The flavor was solid, though not especially memorable. Portion sizes were very generous, especially for Boston. That said, at $17 per dish I didn't feel the quality quite matched the price, even with the large portions. Overall, it's not gonna be my go-to spot, but I'd be open to ordering again if a friend really wanted to.

This was our first visit to Pagu, and it might already be one of my new favorite spots in…read moreCambridge. The menu had a great mix of reasonably priced dishes and a few higher-end options. Everything we ordered was amazing!! The Tempura String Beans were our favorite (perfectly crispy and addictive), the Hamachi Crudo was super fresh and balanced, and the Pork Spicy Knife Cut Noodles were spicy but honestly some of the best noodles I've ever had. The Miso Black Cod was rich and buttery, and the Chicken Karaage was incredibly tender with a great crunch. Service was great, dishes came out maybe a little slow, but we enjoyed taking our time. We also loved seeing the chef/owner Tracy Chang so hands-on, checking in on guests and delivering dishes, which made the experience feel extra special. You can tell a lot of care goes into every dish. Already planning my next visit, it looks like they have a bunch of cooking classes on the weekends too!

After seeing that Pagu is Michelin Bib Gourmand, I had high expectations. The interior was nice…read morewith a pleasant ambiance with a subtle pug theme which was cute. For drinks, we ordered the spritz from the drink menu and also asked if they could make a lychee martini. The lychee martinis weren't bad and were pink to match the spritz which was fun, but I do wish the martini included an actual lychee. We ordered the pork bao buns for the table which usually come in two, but our waitress kindly offered for three bao buns to come out since our group had three people. These bao buns were fantastic and I would definitely recommend, the pork was so tender and flavorful. I ordered the 2011 guchi ramen and unfortunately, I was disappointed. I've had many bowls of ramen in my lifetime and maybe my opinion is based on personal preference, but the ramen was not great. The broth was pretty bland and the pork was mostly fat and the meat itself was quite dry and tough. I'm not sure if this is what they were going for, but I wouldn't recommend the ramen and I wouldn't get it again. However, I wouldn't be opposed to coming back and trying something else as my friends enjoyed their meal!

Food service and ambience was great. Very comfortable atmosphere, but it was made so by our server…read moreAna who was very warm, welcoming and quick to serve - all without making us feel rushed. I hope if my wife and I come back (we work in cambridge), that we get Ana to serve us again!

Ana was our server and she was so great and attentive, she answered all our questions and got us…read moreour food and drink very quickly!