Capone Foods Cambridge

Note — this is not a restaurant but a great place to purchase Italian food items…
Delicious home made treats and specialty items await you at this hidden gem of North Cambridge. Be sure to stop in and look over their large array of pastas, sauces and fresh items. The service is superb and the food is tasty and authentic. It’s also a great place to pick up a hostess gift!

Caveat: I have never been to this location, but I used to regularly go to Capon’es when it was in Union Square.
Note — I think this is only my second 5 star rating! And as I write this — I can’t believe the amount of gushing I am doing.
For a part-​time sad-​sack who sometimes has trouble getting my ass out of the house, I remember those «Capone days» with such love.
It was usually near pay day, and I would collect my errands — johnny’s, dollar tree, garment district — whatever — and then on the way home (powderhouse or E arlington), I would stop at Capone’s to pick out two pastas and maybe a sauce if I was feeling rich and worthy.
Red wine, squid ink, lemon pepper, mushroom, rosemary garlic — everything I tried was perfection! Amatriciano, bergamo, and porcini among my favorite sauces. And from what I can tell on their website and my memory, prices — which were always VERY reasonable haven’t even gone up much in the last ¾ years.
Not a big olive girl and I rarely bought the crazy groceries that made up this small, charming market and made it feel warm and italian. But their bread was amazing, I miss sampling with olive oil, and the homemade herby cheese (ala boursin) is downright dreamy.
The newsletter always made me giggle because it was so silly. But the owner — whose name I forget was always so warm and friendly and enjoyed a good chat as long as it wasn’t crazy busy. As I peruse the site, I am tempted to have some shipped here to pdx, but better I wait and make the happy journey when I come east in September. Save me some pepper pasta… or wait, maybe shroom.

Absolutely love this place. They always have what I’m looking for and something I didn’t even know I wanted! Friendly staff, great selection, and reasonable prices. This is a must for any food lover.

This place is so great to have, and especially down the street! It’s everything it should be. They sell the grocery items from the main store in Union Square, and often have tastings and other small events. A welcome addition to the area!

Ever feel like a dork? Sure you have.
After passing the newish storefront on Mass Ave, we stopped in to Capone Foods and asked «Is there another store?» The counter gal laughed, and told us the original location was in Union Square.
A square we walk basically every weekend. A square that’s not a square.
Capone hocks specialty items (mostly Eye-​talian goods) and boasts a huge assortment of natural, pre-​cooked and frozen solid meals for parties of one to eight. From large trays of shells and sauce to single servings of lobster bisque, the single running freezer case has you covered for dinner tonight. Or tomorrow. Or post-​zombie apocalpyse; I mean, it’s frozen.
There’s also a smaller assortment of fresh pastas, made and packaged at the Union Square locale, and a hot counter of soups and (oddly enough) meat patties. Prices are more than reasonable, with frozen single entrees at $ 4 and meals for two at $ 8, making sub-​zero stocking almost second nature.
The only ding so far (we’ve tried the patties — decent — and have a few meals in the freezer) is purely cosmetic. Italian markets, like Sessa’s, Bob’s, Salumeria and, to a hefty extent, Dave’s Fresh, should have shelves jammed with dried goods for some serious loading-​up. This Capone has a stark, almost sterile feel to it — akin to a hair salon or a check cashing strip mall space. Get cozy, Capone; our neighborhood wants to party with ya!
Total bonus for iced tea and lemonade chilled with tea and ade cubes! Take my advice and starting offering ade cubes in the tea and vice versa. Arnold Palmer will send his regards.

Capone’s is a real neighborhood gem. They have fantastic pasta, Italian goodies and fairly inexpensive pre-​made foods. The woman who tends to be there on weeknights is extremely friendly and has given me a free loaf of bread more than once. Also one of the only places I have found to get real 00 flour for making pizza. Only downside to this location is that they do not have the saffron pasta. Nonetheless, I LOVE this place and I am glad to have it in my neighborhood.

I’ve run by this place several times and wondered what it was, thinking it was just an expensive specialty store. Today, I was proven wrong. I was on my way back from a failed trip to an asian market in the area, feeling slightly depressed about said failed trip, I looked up and spotted some balloons!!! Clearly an invitation for me to come inside. Wait awaited me: fresh pasta, sauces, frozen dishes, vinegars, oils = foodie heaven AND they were having a sale!!! I came home with the frozen lobster mac and cheese which can go into the oven (with a handy tin that they provide you!!!) or be heated in the microwave. For $ 12.95, I was in heaven. AND THEN, there was a sale on select items which included some truffle products and sherry vinegar. Forty dollars later, I was on my way home content. I will be back, hopefully my waist line will not expand after subsequent visits.

You had me at «Free Spring Tasting».
I’ve walked by this location hundreds of times and for some reason I always thought it was a catering company. Yesterday, I noticed a sign that implied that they were giving away free samples. I’m a sucker for free food, so I frantically ran in.
What I found was a charming Italian food shop. Tons of prepared foods, cheeses, meats, olive oil and pastries greeted me. I tried everything they had to offer and walked out with some good cheese and a bar of chocolate.
I wanted to give this place a shout out because if people are anything like me, they probably had no idea that this storefront was a specialty food store. The service was awesome too and you could tell the employees really cared about the company!

This place is fantastic. As others have mentioned the look of the place is a little stark, but the food is great and the prices are reasonable. I was in this past week and bought a few dozen empanadas, gnocchi and a special Neopolitan pizza flour. The woman behind the register went in the back and got me a copy of their newsletter, with a pizza recipe and topping ideas — made it, and it’s out of this world. I’ve been perusing their old newsletters online and there’s so much great stuff there. I can’t wait to try their frozen entrees, looks like a great meal for about the price of ordering pizza delivery.

Capone’s is a great place. Any shop that has a matrix to identify the best flavor combinations is a «YES» by me. The mushroom ravioli and sundried tomato pesto is an outstanding combination. Avoid an expensive night in the North End by buying fresh pasta, great sauce and cheese here. The fresh homemade ricotta cheese is also fantastic.
Also, the dulce de leche empanada is amazing. If you go in, it’s worth $ 1.85 to try just one. AMAZING…

Fresh pasta that is inexpensive and delicious can be found here! I walked in last night and was excited by all the various food that was waiting for me to buy it and take it home.
I ended up buying fresh rotini to go with the homemade frozen poblano chile chili. I was helped out by Lorraine, who was very helpful and answered my many questions.
I hung around for about 10 minutes making a mental list of everything I will try here. The have fresh lemon pasta. I love lemon pasta! Takes 2 minutes too cook, too. They have a huge variety of frozen dinners that are all homemade. These range from stuffed shells to alfredo lasagna to pasta with lobster!
They also have an assortment of frozen pastas like pumpkin ravioli! The prices were very reasonable and the store is bright, cheerful, and CLEAN.
I didn’t see anything close to expiration and that is a good thing.
I can’t wait to return to Capone Foods!

We get our olive oil here and its good and reasonably priced (as far as my limited palate knows), plus you can come back and refill your bottle for a discount and they give you a handy spout for free. They also have both fresh and frozen pastas and sauces as well as Italian groceries and complete meals. Food-​wise I’ve only tried the smoked gouda tortellini, which was good. The staff is always very helpful. I like this place a lot.

«Dear AJ Stephans: where do I find your amazing spicy Jamaican Style Ginger Beer?» «Dear [crazy obsessed girl], Your best bet would be Capone Foods in Cambridge.» Cha ching!
I am pissed that I moved from Meacham Road before Capone Foods opened. Seriously, who doesn’t like homemade pasta. Well, there is Dave’s Fresh Pasta, which is awesome, but here’s another place to buy the stuff, and I’m pretty sure it’s slightly cheaper. Well… a bit stark and sterile, too, but I liked my pasta. Between two of us, we got two meals out of one package of linguine (fine, I admit, the first serving was two, but the second serving, I ate all on my own… because I’m greedy).
I’m not sure what to think about the shrink wrapped deli meats and cheeses. But I like the selection of canned tomato goods and olive oils.
Who am I kidding? I will return for the ginger beer.

I had been to the Union Square Capone’s a couple of times and, like many other people who live close to the Cambridge location, I had high hopes for this store — until it opened. It’s not that it’s a bad store — not at all. It’s just that it’s nothing like its Somerville sibling. Like earlier reviewer Trish, I find the store so neat and careful that if I pick something up and then decide not to get it, I carefully place it back exactly as I found it. But the staff members are friendly, cheerful, and helpful, completely at odds with the general impression the store itself seems to rather unintentionally give.
My favorite things here are the kinds of pasta you can’t find at other local homemade pasta shops, fresh homemade pastas like rigatoni, creste di galli (my favorite — it’s so cute, and as far as I’ve yet seen, it’s hard to find, even dried, outside of Capone’s in the metro area), and rotini. Exactly which types they have at the Cambridge location seem to vary somewhat from week to week. However, I find the ravioli, linguine, and similar to be better at Dave’s Fresh Pasta. I don’t know quite why — maybe it’s as simple as the fact that Dave’s pasta is made on location while the pasta here is made at the other Capone’s and brought over to this one, where it seems to sit for a while as they don’t seem to get very many customers (sometimes when I come in, some of the fresh pastas have been sitting there long enough that they are marked to expire the next day). The thing that I find most disappointing about the store, though, is that all their sauces seem to be frozen here. Even when I get pasta here, I’d rather either make my own fresh sauce or, if I’m feeling lazy, pick up a homemade fresh sauce at Dave’s. Since much of the pasta and all of the available entrees are also frozen, it really seems like this outpost of Capone’s is meant for a specific type of customer. If you’re that type of customer, you’ll probably love it here. If you’re not, you’ll probably get the vague sense that something’s missing but you’re not quite sure what.
Will E. mentioned empanadas. Those are a relatively new addition to their menu, added around early winter. The samples I had around the time they were introduced were tasty, but I’ve never tried a full one. They seem to mostly carry savory meat ones and dessert type ones.

A local gem. I know Dave’s Pasta is the big daddy in this space, but I’ve never gone wrong with Capone’s for:
* fresh, homemade pasta
* frozen pasta and pasta sauce that you can reheat easily
* frozen Italian meals for about $ 9 that you can heat up at home (lasagna, eggplant parm, etc)
* empanadas!
Yes — they also have empanadas. I asked about this and the woman working there told me the owner is of Italian descent and was born in Argentina. So there you go.
In any case, everything I’ve gotten from Capone’s has been good to great and I heartily recommend it, especially if you live in the North Cambridge area.

This place is incredible… in a good way. I’d seen it a number of times while on the bus to and from Porter. When I finally stopped in, I was pleasantly surprised. The store was clean, bright, and stocked from wall to wall with tasty foodstuffs. Fresh pasta in the refrigerator cases was reasonably priced and ultimately delicious. Pasta sauces in the freezer were priced like pasta sauces at Shaw’s…but tasted way better. Make your own cannoli kits, discs of olive oil crispbread, loaves of crusty italian bread, dried egg pastas, and prepared foods were all offerings. There was much more, but I was so overwhelmed, I couldn’t take it all in. We headed out having spent less than five bucks with fresh pasta enough for 4 people. I’m definitely returning… things don’t seem to last long in their location but I hope this place NEVER closes.

I wanted to love Capone’s. Maybe that was my problem. Maybe my high expectations are what fated me to a mediocre experience. I have to admit, I was a bit intimidated by the store. It’s so well kept. When I took things off the shelves and decided they weren’t for me. I made sure I put them back into place. Perfectly. Label out and everything. Like the honey mustard that still had the whole seeds and was soaked in whiskey! I didn’t know how that operated, so I put that back. Supplies to make your own cannoli. MUHHHHHH? No. no. start off slow… pasta first. I picked up pumpkin ravioli. The top instructed me that I should get shallot sauce, but I’m a fan of plain ol pumpkin, so I decided nay. Although a cooking-​challenged person like myself appreciated the suggestion. I also picked up some rosemary and garlic pasta and marinara sauce. The containers stated that the products are low fat, low saturated fat, and low sodium products. With 15mg (of sodium) per serving (at least for the pasta). that blows Ramen out of the water. After browsing a little more, I noticed they also carried special chocolates and an assortment of beverages like lime rickey and ginger beer that you wouldn’t find in a regular supermarket. When I got up to the counter, I saw that there was a tasting station of bread and at least 10 different olive oil type products for dipping. Ooohhh…
Okay, onto the goods. The pumpkin ravioli pasta was pretty good. I wasn’t crazy about the pasta itself, but the pumpkiny inside made my belly warm. The rosemary and garlic pasta with marinara was just alright. It did have a little more oomph than store bought dry pasta, but didn’t taste that much different to me. To be honest, I’m kind of inconsistent with my boiling skills. So maybe I’m not boiling it well enough?
The pasta seem to be seasonal. as there were a few pumpkin or squash products… so the variety will probably keep me coming back for more. They sometimes have deals like buy a sauce get a free pound of pasta, etc. which is cool. I don’t dig the plastic container the sauce comes in. I know it has to be frozen, but the man is telling us all these stories about how we shouldn’t heat up plastic blah blah… so that kind of bothered me. Overall, I’ll probably stop by every so often since it’s in my hood. and when the words Shrimp flavor begin to annoy me.

I stopped in Capone Foods last night on my way home for the first time. There was a great variety to choose from, and I picked up some wheat chive pasta and frozen sauces. The staff were really friendly and gracious, I left the store smiling. Dinner was great! It is so easy to cook fresh pasta, just two minutes in boiling water, melt down your sauce and go. It was really delicious. Nothing beats fresh pasta. I was really pleased with the whole experience.

Hello Pasta Central. One of my favorite stores just branched into another location off Mass ave in Cambridge. It has most of everything the Somerville store has but no deli meats. They are working on what sort of set up to have for cheeses and meats. However in the mean time they have most off the hard goods, oils, vinegars and the lovely pasta. One thing to try is their pizza dough. The flour they use to create it makes incredible dough and easy to stretch. Definitely stop by on your way to Pemberton Farms…

Rejoice, the new Capone Foods has FINALLY opened in North Cambridge! I am so excited. I have been meaning to stop in there for awhile but their hours are kind of short (only open ’til 7 during the week, 5 on weekends). Finally made it in today and I’m impressed. It doesn’t have as much of a selection as the store in Somerville, but it’s the perfect place to pick up stuff for dinner on my way home. The staff is very friendly and the prices are right (frozen pasta dinners for two that are eight bucks!). I can’t believe the prices on their fresh pasta, actually. I’ve bought crappy Buittoni brand from Shaw’s or whatever for three bucks. The Capone Foods fresh pasta I bought was $ 1.95!!! So cheap! No credit card minimum either (unlike their other location)! Basically this place is one giant foodgasm and I had to stop myself from buying all kinds of frozen pasta, empanadas, sauce, cheese, and fancy olive oil.
Now I just have to stop myself from eating the entire loaf of Clear Flour sourdough I bought, and I’ll be all set.