This is a difficult blog to write. I want to like Cambridge Common, I really do. It’s close to home and I like the feel of the place. The menu is varied and looks amazing. I have tried and tried again over the last six to eight months to like this place, but to be honest, I can’t and here’s why.
It’s a loud, and obnoxious place to dine. The staff are too busy to pay attention to any of their customers, they try (and I really believe they do), but they are just machines delivering food and drinks. No matter how often I go there, I will just be a number, a strange face in the crowd. No one has time to chat, or get to know their customers and that’s a shame. All this basically relates to poor and/or slow service, water not being refilled, drinks not being reordered. It takes forever to get someone’s attention. Now onto the real issue I have with this place.
The food is mediocre at best. The salads are not fresh, the lettuce often wilted and overpowered by poorly made dressings with out of balance flavors. The Burgers are never done to the customer’s satisfaction. I don’t think the kitchen staff knows the difference between rare, medium well, and well done. Every time I’ve order a burger no matter how I specify it, it comes on way – rare. I don’t like my meat bleeding, so I have to send it back, and of course this means (because of the impossibly slow service) the people I’m with are done with their meal before mine ever returns from the kitchen. The fries are horrible. They taste freezer burnt. The regular fries are always soft, and mushy with grease, and the curly fries are brittle and dry throughout. And I’m not talking on one occasion. Every time I get fries they are like this. Their fresh mozzarella sandwich might be good, but there is so much garlic in the basil pesto, you can’t taste any of the other ingredients. And I can’t even begin to describe how greasy their grilled cheese sandwich is – I just can’t go there.
This is a no win situation for me, and despite its proximity to me, and their decent cocktails I will have to resign myself to finding another neighborhood restaurant to frequent. This place just won’t do.
The only reason I’m giving them 2 paws instead of 1 is because perhaps there is something on the menu I haven’t tried, which is edible. I just can’t keep going back and being disappointed, so with that my friends I’m giving them an extra paw and a prayer.
Online at: Cambridge Common
Take Reservations: No
Food Rating: 2.0 paw
Service Rating: 2.0 paw
Overall Rating: 2.0 paws
With love from my dog bowl to yours…Happy eating.
Shata