The Best Restaurants In Cambridge, Massachusetts

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It happens only so rarely that a basic staple like pizza leaves you swooning in the throes of culinary ecstasy, but that’s just what Area Four‘s pizza does for you. Twelve year-old starter dough fermented for 30 hours, top ingredients like hand-pulled mozzarella, wood-fire ovens and a cooking technique inspired by the Neapolitan masters are the winning tricks up Area Four’s sleeve to bake up some of the most delicious, crispy pizza in Cambridge, and perhaps all of the Boston area. Choose a no-frills margherita or marinara, or fancier options like mushroom and fontina or caramelized onion and gorgonzola. Not in Cambridge? Not all hope is lost – Area Four’s truck is always on the road bringing delicious flatbreads and sandwiches around.

Bar, Restaurant, American, Vegan, Vegetarian, Wine, Beer, Cocktails, $$
Michael Scelfo, the executive chef at recently opened restaurant Alden & Harlow, envisages food as a medium to connect with those you love and care for. That’s why he tailored the dining experience at Alden & Harlow to recreate the atmosphere he enjoys with his family around his home kitchen table. In Scelfo’s restaurant, guests will taste honest, American fare, full of flavor and cooked to perfection with fresh, locally sourced ingredients. Accordingly to the chef’s philosophy, the large dining room is simply decorated to encourage conviviality and leave center stage to the food and the conversation, but it doesn’t lack charming details like the lush leather chairs.

Restaurant, Cafe, Market, American, Contemporary, Gluten-free, Vegetarian, $

Cambridge’s Commonwealth is a one-of-a-kind restaurant in several ways. First off, the establishment hosts a market-cum-cafe selling seasonal produce alongside a range of sandwiches and salads that you can feast on at your leisure. Secondly, Commonwealth sports an eccentric farm-inspired design; you will be impressed at how much the dining rooms, encapsulated in structures of wood boards and complemented by salvaged tables, look like the interior of a stable. In this unusual, fun setting, guests are served uncomplicated American fare with occasional forays into international cuisines and extensive utilization of local seafood.

Restaurant, Italian, $$

Award-winning chef Michael Pagliarini and his wife Pamela Ralston settled on opening their Italian restaurant in Cambridge while visiting Rome’s historic Via Giulia. A few years later, Cambridge is still so very grateful for that moment, as restaurant Giulia proved to be a tremendous addition to the local array of restaurants. Giulia’s show-stealer is the hand-made pasta — Pagliarini expertly rolls it fresh everyday on a white oak table that is later used to accommodate some of the guests for dinner. Treat yourself to bucatini all’amatriciana(house-cured pancetta, tomato, onion and pecorino), a staple of Rome’s cuisine, or try the authentic, creamy fusilli al pesto.

Restaurant, Mediterranean, $$
A cloud of intense, tongue-tingling aromas envelopes Oleana, a fixture on Cambridge’s dining scene since 2001. This restaurant is well-known for its delectable Middle Eastern cuisine, a failsafe choice for an ethnic dinner that won’t disappoint. At Oleana, mains are preceded by a tantalizing range of small plates, collectively known as meze and similar to Spain’s tapas, featuring the likes of warm buttered hummus, octopus coca and spinach falafel. The house-made desserts are particularly well-done and irresistible — try to say no to the mouth-watering profiteroles (brown butter cream, sesame caramel and cashew) or the heavenly almond cremolata. Oleana boasts an award-winning patio featuring a lovely fountain, a herb garden and an oh-so Mediterranean fig tree.