Kendall Square / Cambridge Center Food Court

After a couple of years, the Food Court is open again. Better late than never? Besides Einstein bagels, and Panda Express there is a spot that offers a large salad bar. Because I’m trying to deprive myself of all delicious food, I ate at the salad bar. They have a lot of offerings, but it’s very overpriced for what you get. I had the smallest salad and it cost $ 10. I wish they had a better selection of eateries, especially because the lines get crazy around lunch time. The seating is much improved thanks to the renovations! I won’t probably come back here, but if I do, I’ll probably skip the salad bar and go straight to some general tso’s chicken!

I ate here at the Kendall Square food court at the chinese place, and the calamari was excellent at the time. When I go back later this year, I will revisit and reyelp.
The food court itself is basically a very small strip of fast food restaurants with limited seating, located next to The Coop (MIT’s bookstore). The food court is a hole in the wall arrangement close by to the subway station. The calamari really was not bad at all! I hope it hasn’t changed…

All I know is the sushi is good and I never have to wait in some crazy line to get it. So while you wait for your beef and broccoli and fried rice I am already on the Marriot roof deck chowing down while catching some rays.

I get it… You’re a young teenager who’d rather be texting her bf half naked pictures vs working during lunch in a loud food court… I get it! BY NO MEANS does that mean you should treat my existence in your presence like a bothersome nuisance to your very BEING. Absolutely the worst customer service I have ever experienced from a few young ladies at the Damons and Au Bön Pain. They basically slam things at you, get annoyed when you ask for ANYTHING (literally, asked for a spoon… got hissed at on multiple occasions)
The food is quick, so I guess thats the trade off? I’d rather spend my entire lunch break ordering from Clover up the street, or walking over to Sebstians, where at least no one acts like they hates my life.

If MIT has any affiliation with this venue, they should be ashamed. We walked over at 6:45 pm and found 75% of the stalls closed. It was a race to see who could close the doors faster, food-​sellers or security/​management. When I asked the black-​haired guy in the tan shirt why he was locking up early, he said it was normal and wanted to know if I was coming back (presumably to throw some free food my way). I said no and I’d be reviewing this bad behavior on Unilocal,replying with a «who cares» statement. Hopefully most Unilocalers can’t be bought off, so beware of this trick. I haven’t eaten the «what’s left» fare from the sushi joint, but can tell you the «sushi chef» (most likely Chinese or close to it) wouldn’t make a plate of sashimi for me, and directed me to tired-​lookin’ pre-​packages of nigiri for the day-​old nigiri crowd. Really, this is a pedestrian at best operation that really doesn’t live up to anyone’s expectations unless you have no other choice and must rush.

It was one of those super hectic on-​the-​fly days. Took the Amtrak Acela into Boston, met the sales guys I was technically supporting, then did three prospect calls in various areas of Metro Boston before dinner and the train home to NJ. Between the second and third prospect stop we found ourselves famished and with 20 minutes before were were expected at a Kendall Square biotech firm. The Kendall Square Food Court saw us coming.
Dismissing pretty much everything else, the salad bar won our business by default. I started with a cup of clam chowder. It hit the spot on a cold day, but probably wasn’t up to the grade of the dishwater used to clean the pots of Boston’s better chowdah houses. The rest of lunch was an alright– and woefully overpriced– salad bar. We spent most of this hurried lunch break discussing how great a thick and juicy steak would be after this final prospect stop.

If you’re looking for a wide variety of mediocre food, this is the place. Your options here are:
The Au Bön Pain is safe but boring, and service tends to be slow even when there isn’t a line. If you just want ABP, go across the street.
The salad bar place is decent, and I’d much rather have a salad from here than one of the pricier ones from Au Bön Pain. The soup is good. I haven’t tried any of the hot entrees.
Sbarros is overpriced and under-​seasoned. MIT-​lings, you’re better off with pizza from the Stata center.
The chinese food is the greasiest I’ve ever seen, and I spend a lot of time in hole-​in-​the-​wall, open-​till-​3am takeout joints. The sushi is pretty good (for food-​court-​sushi)
The Japanese place at the end is better than the chinese food, but nothing to write home about.
Honestly, the best thing I can say about this place is that, despite appearances, it’s never made me sick. But I usually end up getting so depressed that I need a candy bar from the Coop.

In desperation I ventured forth to the dreaded Kendall Square Food Court today for lunch. I went to the salad/​entrée place in the middle and got a bit of mac n cheese (average), chicken with rice and assorted veggies.
When I found a bone (looked like a small joint bone actually) in the chicken I lost all my appetite and threw the whole thing away.
Add in being over-​priced (they weigh everything),…don’t even bother.
Sbarro has and continues to have the most blandest tasting sauced food-​no flavor, everything tastes the same.
Chinese food places –meh– too greasy and not enough selection.
Au Bön Pain — safe if boring.
Why, oh why, can’t Kendall get some decent places to eat?!

The setting is nice, especially if you avoid rush hour from 12:30 — 1:30. Good place to sit and read quietly. I’ll echo what others have said about the chinese food: plentiful, cheap and greasy. Just the thing, if a little skimpy on the meat. I like pepper chicken, calmari or beef and broccoli. The spring rolls are deep-​fried and yummy.
The sushi tastes good and is fresh and cold. Avoid the Sbarro’s like the plague. The Au Bön Pain is average. But Damon’s salad bar has three other features to salad: make your own sandwich, hot buffee entrees, and fresh soup (of which they have four every day).
So in winter they have clam chowder, corn chowder, vegetable, tomato, asparagus, broccoli-​cheese, Italian Wedding, and a few other soups that rotate through, all the time. The sandwiches are deli sandwiches, with your choice of breads, cold cuts, cheese, etc.
And the entrees are daily specials: Turkey and stuffing on Monday, roast chicken on Tuesday, build-​your-​own tacos on Wed., stuffed cabbage on Thurs. and roast beef and corned brisket on fridays. Sometimes they mix some of this up, but all of it is solid home-​cooking: the mashed potatoes aren’t instant, and the meat is cooked to good stew-​like tenderness. Very filling, old-​fashioned and made from fresh ingredients.

This place should be banished to the food court hall of shame.
Overpriced tasteless pizza, brown lettuce and shriveled up cold cuts of the unhealthy variety (salami, pastrami), hummus with a dark patina that shows off its antiquity, horrific greasy «chicken» all located in a most unappealing space.
The only positives– little kids don’t care about any of the above, and it’s easy to get to from the Marriott. If you are staying there and need a quick snack, you don’t need to go outside. Nice for some people if it is pouring rain but frankly, I’d walk up to Central Square or over to Inman Square in a historic hail storm rather than go into this depressing place again. With the terrific food trucks right across the street, I can’t believe this food court stays alive.
MIT geniuses– create a business plan for this place that brings in some healthy, well-​priced local food and a friendlier eating environment. This is just a tragedy.

I just paid $ 4.19 for one slice of pizza at the Sbarro in this food court. $ 4+? For a regular slice of pizza? Sure it had some veggies on it, but no meat or special toppings or whatnot. And it was terrible pizza.
Yuck. Do not go here.

There’s only one thing I go get here, a massive amount of greasy chinese food for ~$ 5.25 at Beijing Tokyo. The rest of the food court might as well not be there and I probably wouldn’t notice.
Their fried rice is pretty good, greasy as hell but tastes good. Their noodles are probably as greasy, they actually look like they came out of a grease bath.
Their ‘Orange Chicken’ and ‘Saseme Pork’ are the two things I get the most. Their crab ragoons are pretty good too. Sea-​food is okay.
I go there all the time because it’s convenient, and you can buy a membership card for $ 1.00 and every time you spend $ 80 you get $ 8.00 to spend! Hey, if you’re a cheap student it’s worth it.

I frequent the food court out of necessity (I’m up at Harvard earlier in the day, and work in the area)…unfortunately, my commute takes place at noon. The place is always packed, and no matter where you choose to eat, there is always a line. I bypass ABP and Sbarro, and beeline it for either the Chinese food place or the grill (on the left).
Chinese food place — usually a quicker line because they keep up with food orders really well. The food is decent (not the best you’ll find in Cambridge, but for $ 5, it beats anywhere else I’ve found). The staff is busy, so customer service kind of suffers. But overall, I’ve had a good experience.
Grill — Since I love greasy food, I really like the food from here. The steak and cheese is great (the fries are not, they are thick-​cut french fries that taste little more than microwaved nothingness). The staff taking orders always rudely cuts people off in order to try to get to the next person, and there is little organization to how orders get out. I’ve had my order misplaced and have had other people take my food, which has made me late for work. If I have the energy or inclination, this is always a decent contender for a good take out lunch, but only if you have about 20 minutes, while they reassure you saying «your order is next.»

Never, never, never, never, EVER grab someone’s slice of pizza with your bare hands. It is unsanitary and flat out disgusting… and it crosses the line of repulsive when I notice your hands are speckled with powdery calluses. I think I just threw up in my mouth.
Pizza at Sbarro in the Cambridge Center Food Court (Coop Food Court) — FAIL.
Pasta… okay at first glance… but who knows if there are gloves involved in the prep… imagine a callus flaking off into a meatball.
Tres disgustemunto.
I had two stars… but after typing this, I’m revamping my score and awarding one powdery callused star.

Um… yeah. When I first started working in Kendall Square, I was fascinated by this place.
«Ooh! There’s a food court near my job, and I can go there and get lunch! This is the greatest thing ever! They’ve got Chinese! And Sbarro! And a place where I can make my own sandwiches! Yaaay!»
What this really meant was that I needed to get out more. That accomplished, I now don’t have these feelings towards the Food Court.
The options here are interesting. There’s an ABP (but there’s a larger one basically across the street), a make your own sandwich place, a Sbarro, a Chinese place, and a teriyaki place that also makes hamburgers. Really, the teriyaki place is probably the most remarkable of these, because the burger/​fries option isn’t too bad.
Beyond that, it’s a panoply of foods you could either make at home, get over at the MIT Trucks for less, or avoid altogether (that’s you, Sbarro). So, if you like burgers, they aren’t terrible, but I wouldn’t go out of your way for it.

If you work in Kendall Square, this place gets old real quick. Nevertheless, it’s worth going to the teriyaki chicken /​hot dog /​tea /​breakfast place just to hear the tall Asian guy say «teriyaki chicken YUM YUM!!» as he enthusiastically hands out free samples.

The Sushi place here is great! Pretty decent tasting and economic. Since they don’t keep sushi overnight, so around 7, when they’re about to close the place every evening, all the sushi is 20% off. So, you can enjoy Sushi to your heart’s content without burning a hole in your pocket :)

This is the place to go to if you need a quick lunch to take back to your desk. It is virtually impossible to get a table during the lunch rush hour.
Here is the low down:
Au Bön Pan — the usual. They have a frequent coffee drinkers card.
Salad and entrée place in the middle — way too overpriced. Make your own sandwich at home though it does have good soup.
Sbarro — no comment
Chinese grease fest place — get the sushi. They even have sashimi now. Avoid the chinese food unless you want to fall asleep at your desk. Instead go to the Teryaki Café and get their chicken sautee. much better, but still big and greasy.

Compares well only in the context of the options surrounding it, which are nearly nonexistent. Sbarro should be fined for their prices. The au bon pain is a limited and awkward arrangement compared to the one across the street, and the Chinese place needs to halve the grease (and stop using lots of filler rice/​noodles as an excuse to serve you less entrée). The Teriyaki Grill at least has some variety (and excellent fries), and with Damon’s at least you’re in charge of making your dish, so there’s not a lot to screw up there.
I wish K2 were still across the street so I’d never have to set foot in here again.

Small but pleasant food court with lots of seating under skylights at the Kendall subway station. Lots of MIT people grab a quick bite to eat here. There is a large salad bar, a japanese place, chinese place, sbarro, etc. It’s all pretty greasy but it is quick and convenient.