After living in HSQ for a couple of years, I’ve a few suggestions on where to eat in the area. Particularly when you’re on a student budget, like my beau and I were while we were living there (I was working for the bulk of the our time there but rent in the Boston area is significantly higher than most other parts of the country so it never felt like my income went as far as I would have liked it to – although, that is often the case, isn’t it?). All of that is to say, while we didn’t go out often, we did enjoy our time in HSQ and have a few favorite places that I’d like the share here (and here, too).
Experience places:
- Grab your food and sit in Harvard Yard to people watch. Beyond that, the rest of the suggestions are great for gathering with friends but aren’t directly in HSQ.
- Roxy’s: the one in Central/MIT area has an arcade but there is also a stand-alone location in Allston and food trucks in various parts of the city
- Sacco’s/Flatbread Co: If there is a group of people, Sacco’s is pretty fun to hang out in. Pizza and alcohol selections are good. Bowling may require reservations.
- Boston Public Market: We’ve been happy with everything we’ve had here (but still have plenty of places to explore! Fun if you’re with a group with a variety of needs/preferences. There are tables to gather after you grab your food.
Vegetarian:
- Clover: particularly their fried mushroom sandwiches!If you are looking to try faux meat, their Impossible meatballs are pretty good.
- Sweetgreens (NYC based chain): Say hello to the future/salad version of McDonald’s. Far better taste and health wise, but they’ve inspired knock-offs and are definitely expanding their network. My favorites the Harvest or Shroomami bowls.
Bakeries:
- Flour: Famous for their sticky buns; I love the sugar brioche buns, ham and cheese croissants, and pudding cup.
- Tatte: Good but I prefer Flour. Super cute and a great space for Insta photos.
- Hi-Rise: Favorite here is the lemon curd cake. Think banana bread but with lemon curd instead. Def not cheap but the other options (read: sandwiches and coffee) are in line with the rest of the city price wise.
Asian:
- Santouka (Japanese chain): Well known for their ramen. Relatively cheap and fast. Individuals get put at a large table with other small parties generally. Not good for vegetarians.
- Dumpling House: Where we always got Asian when we lived in HSQ
- Zoe’s: A bit of a hike but authentic; probably my beau’s favorite Chinese in the Boston area but its maybe a 30 minute walk or 15 minute drive since the mass transit to this area isn’t great.
- China Pearl: Where we tend to land for dim sum in Chinatown. To be fair, we really need to branch out in this regard.
Classics:
- Mr Bartley’s Burgers: A bit of a greasy spoon. Not good for vegetarians but they do technically have some options. Love the burgers, tend to get the shakes, fries and onion rings are their weak spot.
- Modern Pastry: “Leave the gun, take the cannoli.” We prefer them to Mike’s because they fill the shell when you order them but they are only located in the North End, unlike Mike’s which has an outpost steps from the HSQ T station
- Berryline: Frozen Yogurt and my dessert place of choice in the summer. It was started by a couple Harvard grads years ago and was practically across the street from where we were living (dangerous, I know). I love the Nutella and the Honey Lavender reminds me of my honeymoon in Seattle. My beau always gets the mochi as a topping.
- Harvard House of Pizza: My beau ordered from here all the time for school events. Its a doughy, tasty, cheap pizza. I prefer home-made or thin crusts from my home-town but it is *very* affordable.
- Pinocchio’s: Pizza that you can grab by the slice and well known for its famous visitors (and they post photos on the wall). We tend to get the deep dish with onions and sausage.
Date Nights:
- Places like Honeycomb and Burdick’s are great casual date night experiences that allow you to get out of the house, have something fancy but on a relatively affordable level. Sacco’s would be great for a double date in winter (just book ahead!) and we’ve loved grabbing food and simply eating along the Charles River while watching the sun set, usually from Sweetgreens. On nights where I wanted to break from routine and needed ‘us’ time, we’d also head to Clover post-gym for a ‘date’. Take-out from Pinocchio’s and Dumpling House has also qualified has date night events for us!
- The Hourly: This is where we’d have our ‘just because we need a date night’ date nights. I tended towards fish and chips but I’ve been happy with everything I’ve tried here. They’re part of the Grafton Street group of restaurants but the others aren’t hits for me. And most of the fancy places are simply beyond an ‘affordable’ price point so we didn’t spend too much time exploring them.
- There are other places for date nights but would certainly be beyond what I would generally consider affordable on a student budget (I’m looking at you, Alden and Harlow, Harvest and Henrietta’s Table).
- There are plenty of restaurants outside of HSQ worthy of date nights. I’d suggest checking out Time Out Market now that it has opened; its pretty easy to do dinner and a date night (take the M2 if you can since it, essentially, drops off right in front of the theater) across the river.
Final notes: Links were added for ease of use, none are affiliates. Double posted most of this on a new blog that I’m working on starting. Please be aware that HSQ has been going through a lot of change over the past couple of years. The restaurant industry in particular has seen a lot of upheaval. Please check to verify that the restaurants are open before heading to one!
Hooked on Madelines 