Highland Creole Cuisine

I’ve had take-​out from this restaurant on several occasions and have no complaints on that.
Last night my family dined here and for the most part, our experience was positive.
I Give them 3 stars because for take-​out they are great, but for dining-​in there is much room for improvement. If I could give them a 3.5, I would.
First off, it’s pretty difficult to find parking in this area.
The waitress was very friendly and attentive.
The food came out in a timely manner especially with it being a party of 8.
Three of us ordered a little later than the rest of the group and unfortunately there wasn’t any more rice and beans (Diri kole ak pwa wouj). I didn’t understand that as it was 8pm and the restaurant closed at 10 I believe. They offered us alternatives such as white rice with sauce pois or black rice. I opted for the white rice and sauce poi which was good.
We also ordered the fried fish and asked for the smaller one which cost $ 17.00. When our order came out, we (us 3) received the large fried fish which cost ($ 20.00) because they were out of the smaller one. While I don’t mind the price, it would have been nice to know before we were served.
They didn’t offer dessert which I wasn’t really surprised about lol.
The restaurant also looks a bit dated. Redecorating/​renovating the place could help.
But for the most part, it was a pleasant experience.

This is where all of my Haitian husband’s family goes. The kids chicken & rice or griot and rice are HUGE and come with lemonade, great rice and beans and plantains for $ 6.00! It’s funny how many people find this overpriced… the portions are huge and are pretty on par with food for the area. I wonder if it’s because it’s «Ethnic» somehow people think it should be cheaper? It really is amazing. The fried fish, creole chicken, fried pork (griot) are my favorite.

Even though I haven’t been here in some years and was quite shocked at the gross price increases… I’m pleasantly surprised that that’s the only thing that has changed here. The food was simply delicious as usual and the staff was hospitable.
The kids and I had the griot with rice and peas. Griot wasn’t fried too hard and the rice cooked to perfection. Try the limeade. I’ll be sure to stop by whenever I’m in town.
Hard to find parking around the restaurant though. :/

Really did not like it here. The atmosphere was rather unpleasant – we felt like we didn’t belong. The food was not good. Everything we ordered (chicken, pork, fish) was overcooked and underseasoned. The fried pork in particular, was so tough that I couldn’t even get pass the texture. The rice was quite good, and the smoothies were heavenly. I might drop by for a smoothie because it was so good, but I’m not eating there ever again. Also, VERY OVERPRICED.

Great food but very poor customer service.
The woman server made me wait on purpose for close to 2 hours. i needed clarification on the menu and she became annoyed with my questions. I gently reminded her that she could be more patient. Then she deliberately delayed serving me the food.
I will never go back there again. I have used this restaurant for years but I am done.

Been coming here for years. Great food but lacks parking. Could also use a little renovating.

Highland Creole Cuisine is incredibly authentic — from the food itself to the entire dining experience. The staff is Haitian, incredibly friendly, and very accommodating. I had the Chicken Creole with plantains and rice/​beans. My boyfriend had the goat, and both dishes were really, really good. I agree with the poster below that you should ask for extra sauce! If you’re not too full (which you probably will be, because portion sizes are also authentically Haitian), you should order some of their freshly made juices. We tried both the mango and papaya with milk, and had to take a bit of everything to go.
Based on their comments, it seems as though the few negative reviewers on Unilocal may not be very familiar with Haitian food or service. If you know that you love Haitian food, and especially if you speak some Creole, try out Highland Creole Cuisine and you will not be disappointed!

I’ve been going to this place since I was a kid and try to make it back at least once every couple of months.
If you enter this place be ready for:
1.) Cabbies waiting for food
2.) Maybe a few stares if you aren’t Haitian
3.) Laminated table tops if you dine-​in
If you can accept these conditions, you’ll open the doors to a pleasant foodie discovery.
If you’re a first-​timer or a regular, it’s a must that you try the Creole Chicken, rice&beans/rice&peas, and fried plantains. Make sure to request and extra side of the chicken sauce aka «gravy». Submerge your fresh onions into the gravy and let it stew for at least a minute. Use this addicting gravy to top your rice or to dunk your plantains. This meal always satisfies any craving and I get a food-​boner just thinking about it.

They have the best lambi (conch) in boston!!! Great service as well!!!

I’ve never eaten Haitian food, but I wanted to try it. I had the creole chicken and my friend had the creole goat. Comes with a small salad, a roll, rice and peas or rice and beans, plantains, and meat in a savory sauce. I liked it, very filling and good flavor. We were both happy with our dinners. ⁴⁄₅ because the place looks divey. I want to try the fish next time.

As a Caribbean native I was really pleased with the food and service. My original goal was to find a place in Cambridge that served Haitian/​Black rice (which they only have on fridays) but I am so glad I stumbled across this place. The food was simple but its taste is extraordinary. I will definitely be a repeat customer!

Food was dry and overpriced I didn’t really enjoy eating here and I don’t plan to come back again in the future …

Great food, poor customer service, place smell fishy at times, one of my son’s favorite haitian restaurant

I wanted to give this restaurant 2.5 stars, but Unilocal doesn’t do that. So I rounded down.
My boyfriend, 13-​year-​old daughter, and I went there for dinner tonight. I had a
$ 25 certificate. I saw the Unilocal warnings but thought I’d give it a try anyway. Lesson learned: TRUST THE Unilocal, JEN; TRUST THE Unilocal.
My daughter and I had the fried chicken dinners and my boyfriend the red snapper. Dinners came with the very lame iceberg/​unripe tomato salad and Good Seasons dressing (though at least nothing was old or rotten), plus the «French» bread, which was maybe a step up from hot dog rolls.
Also included were plantain slices, which disappointed me after all the positive reviews. I prefer them more yellow (sweet), but these were green and starchy. They were sliced, squashed, battered and then fried, and very dry.
The boyfriend wasn’t impressed with his fish; I had a taste of it and it was just adequate. The fried chicken was cooked very well, nice and tender and juicy, if light on seasoning. (The 13-​year-​old agrees.) Everything was light on seasoning, except for what looked like cole slaw but which was really HOT pickled cabbage (warning!). They laid large raw onion slices on top of nearly everything, which did not appeal to any of us. A bowl of tomatoey-​vinegarey sauce was supplied for the table, sightly spicy, which improved everything, especially the plantains and rice-​n-​beans (also included). The portions are pretty generous, but so are the prices. Dinner for the three of us came to over $ 50.
I was excited about the plain peach juice, but it was way too sweet, not very peachy, and my boyfriend, on whom I pawned it off, said it tasted like melted sherbet. My favorite part of the meal was actually the mango juice with milk. It was a delicious mango milkshake. I might stop by just to get that again.
What everyone said about the service was absolutely true. The waitress did not seem pleased to see us at all, responded «What?» at first every time to questions, and mumbled her responses. The only time she cracked a smile was when I told her how much I liked the mango drink. She thought I was referring to the whole meal, but whatever. Also, things were served in a strange order: First salad and bread (not strange), then entrees, then like 5 – 10 minutes later our side dish of rice and beans, and finally the drinks, about 20 minutes after we’d started. We were served pretty quickly, at least, though that’s not saying much, as it was not busy.
The ambiance was also pretty abysmal. When we first walked in, the only people visible were patrons, who turned and stared at us (it could be our surprising lack of melanin). After about 30 seconds of awkwardness, a waitress showed up, mumbled something, and seated us. The tables are «decorated» with plastic tablecloths and little sad fake flower arrangements. The napkins they give are cheap paper; we had to ask for extras to eat the greasy food. The TV was on, showing a World Cup game, which I understand is important, but it didn’t contribute to our experience.
So, yeah, not heading back. But we have about six cups of leftover rice and beans to eat tomorrow.

Best Haitian food in the area ! Try the fried pork and rice and beans, ask for extra sauce and extra pickleze

Here are some reasons why you should not go here:
a. It’s not the most welcoming place on earth. Everyone there acts like they don’t want you there.
b. Yes, the menu is four pages long but there isn’t anything else available other than fried chicken and rice.
c. The ingredients used were of low quality, and not in a good way, it’s not tasty.
d. It’s not worth the money you are paying for.
e. The place feels very sticky.

I have lived in Somerville for five years. I drive by this place a few times a week and have always wanted to try it, but after my experience last night, I probably won’t return.
So here’s the thing… I am not Haitian, but I know good Carribean food when I taste it, and I definitely wasn’t knocked out by the food at Highland Creole.
First, I’ll start with the food that was actually acceptable, and what we went there for: the Creole Fish and Creole Goat. I was surprised when my fish came out and it was an entire fish, (that had been properly emptied of organs and such) complete with head, but it was relatively easy to eat, once I learned how to work my way around the pin bones in the fin. I was glad that it wasn’t just a generic piece of fish. The sauce was okay, though a bit oily, and the dish itself was pretty salty, but I enjoyed eating it. My fiancé ordered the Creole Goat and it was good, with a salty, tasty sauce. The rice and beans were mediocre in my opinion, and there was such a large portion that we ended up taking most of it home. You know your rice and beans are mediocre when you take it home and plan to add spices, sauce, and more beans to it before eating it again. My fiancé also ordered the «Papaye» juice, and while I know papaya doesn’t have the strongest flavor, the «juice» which was basically a smoothie, was almost completely flavorless. A different flavor would probably have been better… Mango, maybe?
The plantains were, by far, the star of the meal. Yum.
So why two stars, you ask? It all started with the salad and bread before the meal. While I always appreciate complimentary food, I honestly think I would have given this place three stars if we hadn’t been given either item at all. The salad was iceberg lettuce with two pieces of flavorless tomato and a few slices of red onion, and for dressing, they brought two ginormous bottles of Wishbone salad dressing to the table with torn, greasy labels. The worst part, by far, was the bread. I have read other reviews — someone called the bread «warm, French bread» — but our experience was that someone had literally put HOT DOG BUNS in the toaster. I repeat: HOT DOG BUNS. And not even the substantial kind. Granted, they were the ones that you would have to cut yourself, so it could have been worse (though not much), but I pity the fool who thinks this is french bread. It was warm, to their credit, which I appreciated, because the only bread item worse than a warm hot dog bun, is a cold hot dog bun.
As others have said, the décor and ambience leave something to be desired. I feel like if the owners stuck with what they know (Haitian food) and stopped trying to give us Americanized «bread» and «salad,» they might be able to spend a few dollars on more appealing lighting, salad dressing carafes (though they wouldn’t need these if they stopped trying to make salad) and napkins that don’t rip when you wipe your hands.
Finally, I didn’t try to find a bathroom, so I’m not sure if there even is one, but if there is, there is definitely no need for two giant bottles of hand sanitizer on the half-​wall in the dining room. They don’t need any more eyesores in the joint, and people can use a sink if they need to clean their hands. I did use the hand sanitizer, but it was only because it was there. I figured it must be there for a reason…(?) Yikes.
Let me know if this place improves, and maybe I’ll return.

My husband and I had a
gift certificate for Highland, and after having gone to Haiti and tried some delicious homecooking there, we wanted to find a Haitian place here in Boston.
The most important part of the meal is food, and that was decent although it still left something to be desired. He got the creole chicken, while I got the fried pork. Of our two dishes, the chicken had the best flavoring. My pork was a bit overly deep-​fried, but the sauce helped. Our plantains were delicious and there were just mountains and mountains of food (a culinary «dye mon, gen mon»?), so we had enough for at least another meal the next day. I do wish there were more veggies, but I guess this is Caribbean food. The salad was «homestyle,» meaning very simple with store-​bought dressing.
No frills here, and that extended to the actual restaurant itself — it felt like a place that had been there a while and showed it. We were some of the few customers seated, but I noticed a lot of people coming in to pick up their take out orders. The service was austere but got friendlier towards the end.
So I wasn’t wowed, but I think I’d still go back, particularly for the fried chicken. I also haven’t tried any other place in the area, so have no State-​side comparisons to make.

As a Haitian American who grew up on home cooked delicious meals from the women in my family. I know what is good Haitian food. The rice here is dry and doesn’t offer a lot of flavor. The sauce that comes with the salad is watery yet oily. The only food option I can say is really good is the fried plantains with the pork. The plantains are crispy and firm on the inside. The pork is salty and well fried.
I would have given this place a 3 star rating but I think I got jipped! Last week I go order fried plantains and pork. I was born here, so I sound American and most people dont think I look Haitian. So, tell me why the male host said my pick up was $ 13? I said, «Wow, that’s expensive, the prices went up?» I expected an answer but didn’t get any but I still paid for it.
I am not cheap at all but plantains only cost like 30 cents each and pork is an inexpensive meat, especially since Griyo is mostly fatty pieces.
I asked my mom, a native Haitian and long time Highland cuisine patron how much is the fried plantains and pork suppose to cost and she said $ 10 bucks. This is the price I remembered it costing but I thought they raised prices, albeit deep down inside I didn’t think so.
My mom said because they think I am American they can jip me because I don’t know about the prices.
Never going there again! You jipped me for a measly $ 3?
If anyone else goes here, how much did they charge you for fried plantains and pork, lol?

I’m no expert on Haitian food, but I do love ethnic cuisine. I didn’t care for Highland. I ordered fried goat, and my date ordered the conch. Both were so-​so but certainly not worth the price. And the complimentary salad literally was iceberg lettuce with watered-​down thousand island dressing.
The servers and patrons were friendly and entertaining, but I’ve had much better meals for less than I spent at Highland.