A friend and I went there Friday night to celebrate her birthday…read more The waitperson was very nice and helpful as he explained the menu items. American cuisine, a little pricey, atmosphere and drinks were great! Only bad thing is the restroom is downstairs flight of stairs or else take the elevator. Overall, excellent restaurant!

Great date night spot! I love their tasting concept where you can pick 3 items for a board. It's so…read morefun to mix and match! In terms of food, some parts of dishes tended to be quite salty and drowned out a lot of the complex ingredients they had in there, so food was just ok really. Overall 10/10 experience, 7/10 food, and I'd definitely come back! Service was also fantastic.

Wow talk about a hidden gem!…read more I hadn't heard much about this place so I wasn't sure what to expect-- located in Inman square with nearby limited street parking (there's a metered lot on Springfield street nearby!), Oak Bistro is a medium sized restaurant with a simple but chic decor and true focus on hospitality. When we came in we were greeted and our coats were taken and put away. They have rotating specials that our server walked us through. We ordered all three of the mock tails on the menu -- Odin's Oracle was a sparkling elderflower and passion fruit drink, the Northern Rose was fruity with a slight thick cream of coconut base (and the tables favorite!) and the last drink was a warm ginger drink. They all came out looking beautiful. For food, we started with the Halloumi Cheese which was delicious and perfect for sharing (comes with four pieces), then tried the Blueberry Ricotta Cornbread (really well made and yummy but needed a little more butter spread) and the fried burrata (huge serving of burrata with balsamic, fig jam, warm bread, just as good as it sounds). We tried the Braised Short Rib Croquettes which were stuffed with short rib and topped with sooo much yummy cheese. We also had the Pappardelle braised shore rib Ragu which was truly delicious-- would highly recommend. For dessert we tried a special menu bread pudding which was a perfect end to the night. Our leftovers came perfectly packaged in little baggies with dish names and dates written on them which is so cute and thoughtful! Overall I would order everything we got again and was so pleasantly surprised by the caliber of food at Oak Bistro-- get in and try it before it gets too popular!

Most excellent Yelp find! I am still not sure why it wasn't packed the day we visited. I don't…read moreknow if it's new or if it's unpopular or what it could be, because this place is great! Everything and everyone we encountered were just lovely! Our server was a delight. Slightly shy and a bit pensive at first. She opened up as we interacted. The interior is beautifully decorated. Interior design was spot on to me and the atmosphere was warm and cozy. Bravo! Why is it empty?? Restaurant business if tough man! Here sits a great place and no one is there. I really hope they kill it at night as our visit was at lunch. I absolutely loved my sandwich and think about it often still to this day. Beautifully grilled and crunchy, with a great beefy/oniony taste. The au jus was rich and flavorful and oh so good. Fries were fresh and also banging as well. C's dish of the thousand layers of really thin potato slices was probably the coolest thing we had to eat on our trip to the northeast. Wonderful dish with an excellent presentation! The piles of pecorino were an instant swoon. Very time consuming dish to prepare well. I applaud them for having it on the menu. All in all, a total memory maker kind of place that I do hope to return to someday. Until then, take care and keep up the good work! '26 - 10

I went to Pammy's on Friday for a girls dinner. Pammy's reservations are interesting. You can only…read moremake for up to 5 people and if you make a reservation, you have to do the prix fixe menu. However, you can walk in and order a la carte. The prix fixe menu has 15 items on it and each person picks three items. It's $88 per person not including drinks or dessert. The vibe is cozy/rustic and upscale but not too fancy. There is a community table in the middle of the restaurant but we had a booth that was perfect for 5 girls wanting to chat. The service was really wonderful! Great recommendations and never waited too long for anything! We were able to try 12 of the 15 menu items and we all tried a few bites of each. It was plenty of food! Must haves for me were the kale salad, lasagne bianca and the beef short rib. The dirty martini was also good. Quick review: - go with a small group so you can order lots of dishes on the menu and share. - expect the bill to be at least $150 a person if you have 1-2 drinks. - be open to trying foods you have never had or usually shy away from.

Honestly the food was a bit of a let down :(( The lasagna was really good and the sauce with the…read morebeef tongue was also super yummy. The rest were not as good as I hoped, the flavors didn't feel that special or delicious. They were alright, just not worth the hype or price. However, the service was definitely amazing. Our server was super friendly and attentive, the interior of the restaurant was also very pretty. The plating of all the food was done beautifully.

Four of us went to Tall Order around 7 pm on a Saturday for drinks and apps, and it was exactly…read morewhat we were hoping for. The vibe is cozy and welcoming--no-frills décor, but thoughtfully laid out with a nice mix of low tables, high tops, and a long, inviting bar. It was fairly empty at first but became more lively as people trickled in. The staff really stood out, especially our server Sarah, who was warm, knowledgeable, and took the time to walk us through both the food and cocktail options without rushing us. As an extra touch, Chef Steve came out to our table to chat and describe a few of the dishes, which made the experience feel personal. Food highlights: * Firecracker tofu - perfectly fried cubes tossed in a hot-sweet Korean-style sauce; addictive. * Grilled broccoli - smoky, well-seasoned * Butternut squash soup - smooth and flavorful, elevated by roasted, ground squash seeds and a subtle curry note. * Polenta with short ribs - rich and balanced. * Smoked bluefish pâté - excellent texture though a little salty for my taste. Drinks: * Also Fancy - bright and fruity, but not overly sweet. * St. Peter's Bay - think mezcal meets Old Fashioned. * Bonus points: I asked for a custom gin gimlet, and the bartender delivered a fresh, mint-forward version that was amazing. Tall Order is a great neighborhood spot that's doing everything right. We'll absolutely be back.

Great for drinks, okay for food! We visited Tall Order on a Saturday evening, having made a…read morereservation in advance. The interior was dimly lit with exposed brick walls and sports on the TV screens. For drinks, I chose the 1, 2, 3, 4 mocktail. This was one of the best mocktails of my life! The refreshing early grey really balanced out the tangy mango cold foam with tajin. They had a substantial non-alc and low ABV menu, which I love to see. For food, we ordered a bunch of plates to eat family-style. Our server had recommended the Pickled Mushrooms, which I thought were just alright. My favorite item was the Burrata with gooseberries, and the Caramelized Onion Dip was pretty good, as well. I was really unimpressed with the Fried Polenta, which had the skimpiest topping of braised short ribs. Service was good overall, but our drinks kept getting bussed before we were finished with them, which was unfortunate. Overall though, a good experience!

We happened to go to Russell House Tavern during Dine Out Boston (aka Restaurant Week). I'm…read morenormally a bit suspicious of prix fixe menus, but I was taken with Russell House Tavern's because none of their prix fixe items were on the menu, and they looked delicious. The prix fixe menu was $46 for an appetizer, entree and dessert. I got the French onion soup (with short rib!), duck cassoulet and the profiteroles. The French onion soup was more substantial than a typical French onion soup which is saying something - cheesy, breast and meaty. I probably could have just eaten the French onion soup. The duck cassoulet and profiteroles were solid, and I particularly enjoyed the duck confit. Wonderful service.

I'm so conflicted because I've been here so many times and each time is a little different…read more Unfortunately most of that difference winds up on the "meh" end of the scale. The place flirts with a nice classy vibe but there's something, I don't know, cheap about it. Like the Hollywood studio version of a speakeasy - it was only meant to be used for a couple of scenes and now it's been here for years. And this is really no fault of theirs but when you have a bunch of screaming trust funders sloshing their drinks around, it really washes the class right out. This is maybe more a review of Harvard than this place. The food is also pretty generic and unconscionably expensive. It's the $20 burger effect - if a place has a $20 burger on your menu, it has forgotten how food works. It has become a social experiment. One thing I will say is the staff is very attentive and nice - promotes this from a bad place to a meh place - kind of inoffensive. Again - maybe that's kind of a review of Harvard Sq, generally.

Forage isn't necessarily a cheap spot, but I just had a great experience here and do believe it is…read moreworth the price you pay. My partner and I couldn't decide what to get from their a la carte menu so we ended up going for the four-course tasting menu instead ($85/pp), picking the omnivore and pescatarian options to see if we could try more items. We were actually a little underwhelmed at first, but the tasting menu got better and better after each course. The tasting menu started with some of their in-house pickles and ferments. We had some onion, green beans, and cucumbers, which I wished were crunchier. Each pickle had a good amount of acidity but I wouldn't have minded if the flavors were punchier. The first course of the tasting menu was a salad. Visually it just looked like a pile of lettuce, but they added a savory garlicky sauce and a sprinkle of asparagus salt that allowed the dish to feel refreshing and hearty at the same time. The radishes were crunchy, peppery, and delicious, and we were very pleased to find that many of the later courses also included raw radish. We ended up getting different dishes for the second course, one of which involved deep-fried arancini-like balls of risotto with a creamy sauce, and the other had a cold plant-based loaf served with a vibrant garlic sauce. Both dishes featured some fresh greens that balanced the carby heaviness. By the time we got to the third course, we realized that Forage makes their vegetables shine. The omnivore course came with a steak while the pescatarian course had a pan-fried fish, both of which were also available to be ordered a la carte. While we thought that the steak and fish were seasoned and prepared well, the vegetables stood out to us even more. They weren't prepared in any crazily innovative way but the chefs made the natural flavors of the vegetables shine in a way that complemented the rest of the dish very well. After the third course, we added one optional cheese course ($22/pp) that came with even more radishes. The hazelnut shortbread was super buttery and everything went well together. I was already feeling pretty full and was glad that we only got one cheese course instead of two. Finally, the fourth course had a maple semifreddo with seaweed crisps and a caramel nut sauce. This was amazing and something that I'll think about for a long time! I could really taste the maple flavor in the semifreddo, and the cold creaminess went so well with the salty, crispy seaweed and nutty, buttery caramel. The balance of textures and flavors in the dessert was excellent. Along with the tasting menu, we added one wine pairing ($60/pp). We liked some of the wines so much that we asked for more information about them and learned that some of the wines are imported in small batches. After experiencing how well vegetables are prepared here, I'd love to visit during different seasons to sample their vegetarian menu items.

Round 2! After 2 years we gave this spot another try. Many of my first comments stand, but we…read moreapproached this dining experience with a different attitude. Forage's menu is fresh, in season, locally sourced, and a little weird! But that's okay! We started with the scallops and the char spread served with a milk bun. The bun and char spread was DELICIOUS. I could eat a whole tub of it. The scallops are poached in Parmesan oil, and topped with fennel and ... black ants. Yes, actual dried, crunchy ants. It was a fun dish but it was actually the fennel that threw my palate off. For mains we were indecisive so we got 3 big plates. The cabbage Alfredo served with mushroom bacon and winter squash, the green peppercorn hanger steak served with cornbread (!) and mixed veg, and the New England seafood bake. The cabbage Alfredo was 10/10; incredible flavors and textures. The steak was of course amazing. And the seafood bake was good! We may have been hitting a food coma wall at that point, but the fish was a little underseasoned. Overall my opinion has changed. Forage is a spot you return to if you're tired of the monotony of your typical restaurant. I don't think any other spot in Greater Boston is serving scallops topped with black ants, but hey, it was fun! And once again, the staff is AMAZING. SO kind and fun and really lean into giving you the best dining experience.

I came here with a big group for brunch over the summer, where we each picked our own entree and…read moreshared a couple dishes. Like other reviewers have mentioned before, some of the dishes arrive faster than others, so I think selecting a few dishes to share family-style among the group might be the best. This is also because I got the milk bread monte cristo ($18) which I thought was tasty, but quickly became too greasy to fully enjoy. It was a big portion which could be easily shared among a group. I also tried their zucchini and spring onion latkes ($18) and seasonal donuts ($12), both of which were excellent. The zucchini latkes were super soft but seasoned perfectly and had a nice aroma of charred onions. I highly recommend the seasonal donuts which are fluffy and not too sweet.

Came to this restaurant as a visitor from out of town for a special event the other night. The…read morerestaurant is very nice and has a nice ambience about it. We were a large group, however, it doesn't account for the slow service received. There were several courses that were brought out family style, and they took forever to come out. Water and wine and other beverages were quick and timely. However, the food was extremely slow in coming out. It was to the point, that they brought out the entrée and dessert at the same time. The dinner was supposed to start at 6 PM, and we ended leaving after 9:30 because it was already late for a week night. I would understand if the restaurant was packed and very busy, however, it was not. The food that did come out was very tasty, but it was marred by the poor service and getting the food out. Kitchen needs to work on their execution .

We've walked by Urban Heath a bunch, but only recently decided to go in for a Friday dinner, and…read morethey're definitely worth a visit! Standouts would be the littleneck clams in sweet corn broth (loved the focaccia) and the shaved brussels salad & kimchi pancake and I'd definitely get both again. The turmeric & citrus scallop crudo and grilled local monkfish were great as well and worth getting. It also looked like most tables were getting the five spice pork osso bucco, which I'll keep in mind for the future if it stays on the menu. I appreciated the cozy setting and attentive staff (who really knew what was in each dish) and it made our night feel special.

Wow. The Chef's Counter was exquisite, what an amazing tasting journey and experience for all your…read moresenses! I knew from the moment the smoked miso maple butter hit my tongue that we were in for a treat -- and that was just the amuse bouche with a nice lil' warm biscuit bite. Cocktails were also very good and well balanced, especially the one with butter-washed mezcal, charred corn, and lime. Chef Erin and her talented crew carefully crafted sheer magic with each dish from start to finish. Each element was thoughtfully prepared, with the flavors and textures coming together beautifully in each bite. Many of their purveyors are local or they directly forage some of the ingredients themselves...and you can tell, so fresh and delicious! All the dishes were wonderful but the star for me was the duck, which was cooked perfectly with bold and sophisticated sauces. I will definitely remember this meal. Service was impeccable and the vibes were relaxed, which was very noticeable given the busy kitchen we witnessed over the course of the meal. No yelling or banging, just a smooth team of talented folks (mostly women) making gorgeous food - some plates were truly works of art. Similarly the acoustics of the small room were pretty impressive, as it never felt too loud and it was easy to talk to my partner. After living in the PNW for 10 years, I finally found a farm-to-table place in the Boston area worth going to, and Urban Hearth is it. I will definitely be back!

Season to Taste is one of my favorite restaurants in Cambridge, and I think it's underrated. I've…read morenever had a bad dish here--they always have something new, seasonal, and unique on the menu, and I appreciate that they feature local and seasonal produce. The cocktails are always a standout as well--I had a tomato martini here almost 2 years ago and I still think about how good it was.

We ordered a mix of small plates and mains. The Crispy Pork Ribs were easily the highlight,…read moreperfectly crispy on the outside, tender inside, and packed with flavor. Definitely a must-order. The Smoked Trout Toast was also very solid, with a nice smoky flavor and good texture. The Tennessee Caviar felt more like a "try it once" dish, nicely presented, but not the most memorable in terms of taste. For mains, we had the Sea Captain, which was fresh and well-executed, with a clean, refined seafood flavor that fits the New American style. For drinks, both the Rosa Rossa Collins and Remembering Ophelia were well balanced and a great start to the meal. The atmosphere was lively and energetic rather than quiet, which made it feel more social and less formal. Service was attentive without being intrusive, and the pacing of the meal felt smooth.

My 2nd time here and it got even better!! The service was…read moregreat and the ambiance was a vibe, which is great for a mid week visit. Tried multiple dishes and every single one was a hit! Got a chance hear the chef speak about the influence of the dishes and restaurant which was pretty cool too!

Small portions - more than one dishes recommended. Lovely presentations, and sometimes surprising…read moreflavors. Relatively health food, which is appreciated. Service is good. I don't have much else to say; it wasn't a memorable experience.