West Bridge

One of my a my wife’s favorite spots, it will be missed!

Sad to hear this place is closing down. Good food, good ambience, and great drinks. Decent selection of beers and some excellent sigature cocktails.

The food was tasty and great
The service left a lot to be desired — we were initially seated on the couches although we were certainly up for a meal.
The waiter was not overly pleasant and appeared aggressive — particularly when we didn’t order what he thought was sufficient for our party of seven. He was difficult to engage despite us all ordering one or two cocktails each, six appetisers and a large plate to share. Plates were removed whilst people were still eating and some dishes were removed before they were completely finished — again we were forced to ask for them to be kept on the table.
Enjoyed the food. But not impressed by the attitude and arrogance of the service.

I’ve eaten here twice. Food was better the first time, service better the second time. Overall the food is very good and some of the wait staff are personable and friendly.
My major gripe is the attitude of the staff. It is clear that we middle-​aged suburbanites are not really welcome here — at least that’s the message from the hostess and some of the wait staff. As an example, I went there with my spouse for dinner before a movie — because the movie was early we were there at 5:30. Dining room was completely empty. The hostess was very dismissive and pretended that there might not be a table — at 5:30 on a Thursday in the summer. When we left at 6:45 the place was still a ghost town.
On our most recent visit, our waitress was wonderful. Really went above and beyond to make sure everything was just right. The dude running food and clearing tables, not so much. He literally took a plate out from under the ½ eaten toast I was eating (it was in my hand) and walked away with it. Later he literally threw our desserts on the table. So the service is hit and miss.
On the most recent visit my food was wonderful. My spouse was put off a little by paying $ 14 for a tomato salad that consisted of 4 slices of tomato, some basil, and some dressing. It was good, but no 4 slice tomato salad is worth $ 14.
On our previous visit the attitude of the staff was more pronounced, service not as good, but the food was outstanding.
I’ll continue to go as long as the food is as good as it is, but if the attitude gets worse, I won’t.

For a late-​night dinner after a movie, this place looked great. But when we sat down, the menu got me worried. What do you suppose happens when you mix together eclectic ingredients like pigs head meat, apples, lentils and snails? Turns out, pretty much the same thing you get when you mix the eclectic colors of a big box of crayons or tempura paints – brown. And, what happens when you cook a $ 27 flank steak medium rare? Just what you’d expect – an overpriced slab of tough, chewy beef that should have been sliced thin for fajitas or tossed in a stew. Sigh.

My review is only based on going here for drinks. I went here Friday night with two friends and we were able to sit down immediately at the bar. Their signature cocktail menu looked unique with interesting flavor combinations and friends enjoyed their seasonal bourbon offering with cherry and vodka drink with grapefruit, passion fruit and a spicy finish. Their extra dirty martini with olives was great (sad they don’t do stuffed olives though) but the flavors were spot on. The bar accommodates plenty of people and the bartender was friendly and attentive the whole night. Must return at some point for dinner and try some of their other seasonal drinks!

I had very high hopes for dinner here since had a good lunch experience. Our dinner experience today was underwhelming to put it mildly. Waiter asked what my «aspirations» for dinner were, tap ran out of the three beers that we wanted, the cauliflower with tobiko was awful and my ribs were flavorless and chewy– how can you make ribs chewy??? For an eclectic menu, nothing tastes good. Maybe they were having an off night, but I left hungry and dissatisfied with the service and the food.

We went to West Bridge for my daugther’s birthday. We were very disappointed with both the food and service. We ordered Duck Liver (too running) Eggs in a Jar (pretty plain) Uni Toasts was okay (did not even taste the Uni) Lamb shoulder and Steak flanks was cool. Would not come back and would not recommend to friends and family.

I went to West Bridge with 2 friends to celebrate a birthday. We were disappointed with the food and service. The service was prompt, with different servers bringing out dishes as they came up, but out server was dour and did not stop by the table once to see if we wanted another drink or to ask how our food was. At the end of the meal he tossed the check on the table without a word.
The food was good, but odd. I’ve never had bone marrow served without some sort of toasts to spread it on. Some of the appetizers weren’t more than a bite. The steak was cool (not warm). We were unimpressed with the food and service. I like the bar but won’t be back to eat.

Aight, here’s the run down.
So we received an invitation from Ford Motors to test drive their cars and in exchange, a complimentary three course meal w/​drinks. Didn’t do any research about West Bridge, no expectations, no nothing. But boy I was super impressed.
The menu tonight was made special for the guests who did the test drive for Ford, and it was for the most part great. Three course meal, pretty much appetizer, entrée, and desert structure. I got the foie gras — note: I watched a documentary on inhumane practices on how foie gras was made, and if you’re a foody, I recommend watching it. So in the doc, a lot of people rave about foie gras, so when I saw it on the menu, my eyes lit eye. My expectations were exceeded. It literally melt in your mouth, and the sauce that complimented was fantastic. Other folks in my party got the the scallop dish, and that was also amazing too.
For the entrée, I got the «American Lemon Sole», which was a fish dish. Very lightly seared, semi-​underseasoned, but still very very good. Other folks in my party got a duck dish, and the duck was great. The light pink in the center of the duck made for nice texture that had that melt in your mouth type of feel. Gucci.
Unfortunately, the desert was meh. I got a chocolate jellatin type of desert. I think I would have enjoyed it more if the desert dish I got wasn’t so rich, but I guess ultimately that is subjective. The fact that it had a jellatin feel really through me off, as the menu suggested it was sort of a cake?
The service was great and our waitress was super nice.
Nevertheless, the meh desert does not warrant a subtracted star, as the appetizer really was amazing and I’ll give it a full five star just for that.
TL;DR: Foie gras is the best.

Hands down the best restaurant I’ve been to in cambridge.
Waiter was funny and helpful and the food is amazing. I had the small plates which are rather pricey and small portioned, but worth it.
Egg in a jar is pretty heavy and dense, packed full of flavor from that little quail egg. Pasta was fresh and made wonderfully. Definitely would come back again.

The food and wine selection here is so, so, so good.
I guess let’s get the bad out of the way; the service. My assumption is that our server saw a young couple (one of them tattooed) and assumed he wasn’t getting a good tip. This seems like a weird assumption to make in Cambridge where the crowd is often young, but we were sandwiched between two older couples who were very well attended to. To be fair, this was my second time eating here and my first experience with poor service, but bad service is always frustrating and inexcusable.
Now on to the good; the food. We were encouraged to order way too much by our server (I think he suggested 2 smalls, 2 sides, 1 share and a table and it was entirely too much for two people). We of course had the egg in a jar which is a personal favorite. I begged my husband to split one because they’re so rich but he insisted we each get our own. A delicious idea but we could have made due with just one. I won’t mention everything here, because we ordered a lot of food, but the toast was a surprise stand-​out. We ordered both of the toasts, duck liver and asparagus, and I was surprised at how large the portion size was. I also wasn’t expecting them to be so complex flavor-​wise and was very happy with the layers of complimentary tastes.
I will definitely go back!

First of all you need to know that my father is a) a botanist and b) allergic to onions and garlic and their whole family. The onion thing has gotten him reactions in the past, at a variety of often quite nice restaurants, ranging from, «oh…um I guess we can figure something out» to «there’s nothing we can do, you might as well just leave.»
But when we took dad to West Bridge for his birthday and my wife told our waiter the situation he simply replied, «Allium allergy, no problem.» (For non botanist Unilocalers, Allium is the genus of plants that include onions, garlic, chives and all of their friends.) My father was visibly impressed and exclaimed that the waiter must be a biology student. His response?
«No sir, I’m not a student. That’s just the quality of staff you’ll find here at West Bridge.» Then he sent us out a round of champagne.
And I have to admit, that in my experience, he’s right. On this, and other occasions, they have gracefully accommodated a variety of allergies and preferences to alter both ala carte and pre fixe menu items. And the sommelier happy engaged in genuine conversation about our likes and dislikes before bringing out a bottle that was exactly what we were looking for.
And the cocktails are just phenomenal. All of them are great, but the Radar Gun and the Lake Union are two of the best, most original drinks I’ve ever had.

I’ll preface this by saying that I really like the bar and the bartenders. They deserve 4 stars.
My food experiences however, have been pretty lackluster. I’ve had a burger that I wouldn’t rate anywhere near the top 10 I’ve had in Boston. It wasn’t bad per se, but it didn’t have enough grease or toppings to really feel like a BURGAR, if you know what I mean. It was like a dry beef sandwich. Plus it comes with like 3 chips and I’m sorry, but homegirl needs more chips.
I’ve also had the Black Pepper Linguine with artichoke and basil pesto. The sauce was sticky, thick, clung to the pasta, and I couldn’t taste the pesto at all. What I could taste was sort of a bland thick cream taste that didn’t offend me but didn’t excite me either. Also for something with Black Pepper in the title, I couldn’t see any pepper in the sauce, and I only tasted it very, very faintly. I can’t even bring myself to eat the leftovers because I know reheated it will be even more meh than it was fresh. Anyway, at $ 15 for a lunch item, I wouldn’t recommend.
Bar is good, food is blah.

UGH GUYS I AM SO BEHIND ON MY UnilocalS. Such is the tragedy of my life.
I’d been meaning to get here for a while and was thrilled to finally have an excuse to go celebrate… idk…Saturday or something — rolled in relatively early as we were trying to catch an 8p Clouds of Sils Maria (which is a real mind eff of a film, in case you were curious), perched ourselves on the reclaimed wood bar stools, and got to acquainting ourselves w the cocktail list — with names like «favorable rejection» (vodka, cocchi americano, suze, cardamon), «sinnerman» (vermouth, allspice dram, suze, and Nina Simone), and «conspiracy theory» (scotch, amaro, apricot, lemon), you really can’t go wrong — and do chat up the bartenders as they are lovely and knowledgeable, if a bit overworked/​absent once things get busier (around 7p-​ish).
For din we split the asparagus/​ricotta toasts, miso/​broccolini pasta, cauli w apricot/​sambal/​verjus, and shrimp + cucumber + avo salad — the toast was delicate, mixing sweet and bitter in all the right ways — and the cauli was out of this world — totally interesting flavor combo — the pasta, while a pleasantly «mush» texture, tasted a bit muddy, as if miso, broc, seaweed, and garlic weren’t all thrilled that they rocked up to the same party.
I think the menu changes often, but if you’re there this early summer, the egg in a jar (duck egg, artichoke, crispy skin) and the ribs (whiskey, shrimp, sake, garbanzo) also get high marks — and I didn’t see the table sized short ribs or chicken ($ 47 each), apparently they are a delight.
Small plates are $ 12 – 17, sides are $ 12 – 15 (and are honestly no different in size than the «smalls»), and mains are $ 19 – 21 — I think they suggested we get 2 – 3 small/​sides each — and had I been eating w boys, I think I would have ramped this up to 3−4/pp, or incorporated a large plate into the mix — but overall, I was happily satiated at the end of our adventure. If you’re looking for a place near the Kendall Theatre and you want to get a little fancy w/​it, WB is a lovely place to end up.

West Bridge has a great vibe and scene. The cocktails are fantastic (we had the love and fear and the conspiracy theory). The small plates were phenomenal and the egg in a jar is all it is cracked up to be. But unfortunately, the large to share dishes fell flat compared to the rest of the meal. I really did not like the pork and calamari dish. In fact, my table couldn’t even finish it cause it was quite unpalatable for us. The dish is served cold, and boy it may be just my own palate, but I would definitely not order that again. The short ribs though was a solid dish.
In summary, go here for cocktails and the small plates and sides (especially the egg in a jar). I would skip the large plates.

I think this is one of my favorite restaurants in Boston/​Cambridge. My FAVORITE dish is the lamb belly «small plate». It’s served on top of this amazingly crispy, buttery spaetzle, Swiss chard and quince. The lamb has a really nice crust, that when broken into, reveals this fatty, delicious, gamey lamb goodness. Omfg it’s a total FOODGASM.
I also really like their egg in a jar. I love the flavor and texture combinations of their dishes. Their kale salad with duck confit and gooseberries is also a superb dish.
I’m definitely a bigger fan of their small dishes over their shared ones. The bartenders also know how to make interesting and delicious cocktails. I love West Bridge!

West Bridge is located in Kendall Square. At night, the restaurant is dimmed, which gave it an intimate setting. There was upbeat music in the background. It’s a great place to grab a drink, have dinner, and socialize with friends. They have a variety of alcoholic beverages — wine (both bottled and on draft), beer (both bottled and on draft), and specialty cocktails.
We sat in the lounge area. The seating was u-​shaped couch with small tables. All of us got beers. I’d recommend Bantam’s Wunderkind Cider. We shared «Hand Torn» pasta, which consisted of thick flat pasta, smoked broccolini, seaweed, spring onion, garlic tossed in a semi thick miso sauce. It was an Italian dish with a Japanese flare. It was delicious. The chef gave us complimentary shots of turnip soup topped with toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds). It was a great meal and I’d definitely return!

Came here last night for best friend’s birthday. We like the overall atmosphere and dining experience. The waitress for our table was pretty attentive and friendly.
In terms of food, I will recommend egg in a jar, ribs, and the pasta. We don’t like the duck cuz the duck skin was not crispy, if you like the smell of lamb, you may like the lamb dish.
The food portion is small except the ribs, which I didn’t expect it will come out with 6 ribs, very crispy but really oily which we love so much.
Finally, the dessert pana cotta was really good, not too sweet as I always find desert in American restaurant will end to be super sweet though the display was just ok

I was here for a company outing, so I was lucky to be able to sample a LOT of dishes on the menu. Some highlights:
Egg in a jar: a duck egg, mushrooms, potato purée, and crispy chicken skin. This is the dish I was told I HAD to try, and I’m glad I did. You basically destroy the beautiful creation by stirring it all up as you eat it. It ends up being a yolky, salty/​savory potato porridge. And it rules.
Duck liver toast: Excellent and rich. No froofy stuff. Liver done right.
Skate: What a delicious fish. I understand this can be a hell of an ingredient to prepare, and the kitchen did a great job producing a tender, flavorful, boneless dish.
I will definitely be returning to West Bridge to dive into more of the menu.