ZuZu

Whenever I go to Cambridge for brunch, I head straight for the usual spots and forget all about ZuZu. But, today I popped in with my husband, who is a very tough restaurant critic (almost to the point of annoyance) and we were greeted immediately and sat at the last empty table (the place is small.)
I was really surprised to see they had so many vegan options! I was assuming I’d have to order a couple sides. They offer all of their egg dishes with an alternative of tofu or egg whites. I ordered tofu with tomatoes & spinach and fresh squeezed orange juice. My husband ordered steak and eggs.
Rather than a scramble, the tofu was served as grilled little «planks» atop a flavorful medley of chopped tomatoes, onions and spinach. Not what I expected but it was delicious. The homefries are perfectly browned and not overseasoned. My super-​picky husband really enjoyed his steak and eggs — actually cleaning his plate, which is a rarity in itself. The orange juice was definitely fresh squeezed and really yummy.
Our waiter was very polite and friendly. It was an all-​around excellent experience and I am definitely glad to now know there is someplace else I can find a good vegan breakfast in Cambridge!

I really wanted to like this place, but I can’t (at least not for dinner). See the «Cons» section below.
Pros: Funky Central Square décor and atmosphere, friendly service (I had two different bartenders), decent varieties of local beers, good place for a drink,
Cons: The food I ordered was terrible. The bartender recommended I tried the Msaah (Mediterranean eggplant dish with rice and pita chips). The eggplant and red sauce portion reminded me of some sort of sloppy chili concoction and the rice had to have been the rice you buy at a supermarket… picture the rice packet with the corn and carrots already mixed in. It was kind of insulting that they serve this at a restaurant. Surely, I thought the pita chips would be good… I was very wrong. They tasted burnt and dry.
Overall, I would never come back for food. They definitely make all their money at night when the DJ comes through. Stick to the night life for this spot.

Brunch on Saturday was terrible. I ordered the Kathy Bates – it had no redeeming qualities. Absolutely no taste at all. How do they do it? It sounded great on the menu. The bloody Mary’s were okay. The service also sucked. We won’t be back.

Awesome brunch. Chicken and waffles were some of the best I’ve ever had. Sweet potato latkas were delicious.

Great Middle Eastern Food or stay American with a Steak. 5 places in one! Friendly bar, awesome restaurant, Belly dancers, Rap DJ with dancing, then onto dance party at the ZuZu! If ya got a great wife who likes to have fun, grab a bottle of wine and enjoy a treat night with great people. Thank you Joseph (proprietor), you made our night. God bless you’re Mom.

I had brunch here during a recent conference stay. I’m not 100% sure why it was empty at 11:30 on a weekend (maybe I should have been next door?), but the service was fine and the food was fine. It was reasonably quick as well.
My poached eggs were a little underdone and the steak was a little overdone, but I’ve found that sort of thing to be usual at the Middle East and maybe they share a kitchen. The only thing I found a bit odd (aside from the empty dining room) was that they seemed put off when I pulled out my computer. Maybe next time I need to run over a conference paper, I’ll try another location.

I’ve been here a couple times and it’s not bad. The appetizers are good and the staff is friendly. The one downside is that the space is small and when it gets full, it will be hard for anyone to move around. I’m under 5 feet so it’s easy for me, but anyone that is average height or tall there may be some issues.

Having visited the Middle East before, I must say this restaurant has the most authentic Middle Eastern food I’ve every tried in Massachusetts! They do the humus and garlic paste totally right! The kebab is just so amazing.

We live 3 blocks away, so found this place shortly after moving to Cambridge. We love the zuzu pupu (non-​vegetarian) platter. It includes 2 kebabs (your choice) several meat filled pastries, 2 grape leaves, hummus, harissa, whipped garlic and Baba ghanoush. Nothing earth shattering, but competent. Very good C Square location with windows onto Mass Ave.

Look, even if your waitress isn’t sick, if she can barely converse with patrons as a result of how hoarse her voice is, you should probably send her home.
It is really a pity that everything else about ZuZu lets down its food. Our waitress was rather nice, voice be damned, but pretty much everything else fell apart. The layout of the restaurant is bohemian to a fault, to the point where tables are seemingly randomly placed. There was nobody at the door so patrons grabbed tables as a first-​to-​grab-​it-​wins sort of deal. And in spite of how nice our waitress was, service was pathetically slow. We couldn’t get anybody’s attention for either ordering or the check without actively flagging someone down.
The food though, was quite good and really its only saving grace. I ordered the chicken and waffles and it was really delicious.
It’s really a pity then. If ZuZu fixed its haphazardly thrown together layout and improved its service, I’d be happy to reassess.
As an addendum, my friends have reported that ZuZu offers the most pathetic orange juice at $ 4.50 ever, but I haven’t bothered to verify. Be warned.

Ate here yesterday and had one of the worst dining experiences ever. Say for 50 min while restaurant was not crowded. Had to find waiter ask for coffee refills. Finally asked about food as 3 tables that came in after got food and the waiter said it will be just one more minute. Brings out ice cold food… sausage felt like it was, just unfrozen. Complained said we didn’t want it… still charged us for food but with 25% discount for something we didn’t eat. I should have walked out without paying at that point but still ending up spending 30 dollars for 2 coffees and a bloody Mary apparently. Absolutely terrible.

Enjoyable brunch.
I had a nice meal at Zuzu. I had an eggs Benedict variation with salmon. The eggs were poached perfectly and the side potatoes were tasty. The feta and fig waffle was a little bit on the dry side, luckily I had a pretty good mimosa to wash it down.
Service was friendly and efficient.
I am happy to come back again for brunch or for dinner.

Great sunday brunch. Loved the Kathy Bates and Shakshuka. Fantastic servers and reasonable price.

Went here for a 90s party night. Small but gets crowded. Massachusetts avenue in Cambridge was a cute little strip of bars with foreigners from the colleges. Great spot to have fun and meet new people!

I signed up for Unilocal just so I could write this review. If only I could rate this place 0 stars, I would.
I came here for brunch with a friend only because Veggie Galaxy was packed. The first sign of disarray was when our waiter came over to take our order. He was either extremely hung-​over or still high. Literally right after we finished ordering (the words had just come out of our mouths), he looked at us with a blank stare and forgot what BOTH of us had ordered (he didn’t bother to write anything down either… and there were just 2 of us). He then gave up and just got another waiter (who was actually better and clearly trying to pick up this other guy’s slack) to take care of us. Keep in mind there was no one else seated at the time besides us and one other table.
30 minutes later my friend’s food came out. Over the NEXT 30 minutes, I told my friend just to go ahead and eat her food before it gets even colder than it was when it was served. After asking our waiter (s) if my food was almost ready, it finally came out a good 20 minutes after my friend had already finished hers. The worst part was that when I finally did get my food, it was the wrong order. Then the waiter thought maybe he had given me the 1 other table’s food, but apparently they didn’t order what I was brought either. After waiting another 20 minutes they finally got me my correct order. In the meantime, the other table had gotten up and left because apparently they messed up all their orders as well after an hour’s wait. I really couldn’t grasp how they could manage to mess up everything possible with only 2 tables of people here, and still take over an hour to do so (I felt bad for the one waiter who was actually trying, which was the only reason I left any tip at all).
Even leaving was a chore! Our check finally came and the charges were again all wrong. It took 10 minutes each time to get our waiters attention (he must’ve been too busy serving all of the zero other tables at this point?): first to get the bill, then to complain about it being wrong, then explaining to him that it was in fact wrong (he didn’t believe us), then to get the correct one, and finally to get change back. I almost up and left without waiting for change because I was so fed up at this point and didn’t care to see this place ever again.
Upon reading other reviews, it’s clear they don’t care about service for brunch/​lunch, and several other reviews claim the exact same experience we suffered through in terms of mixed up orders, long waits, and the waiters being high or something… NEVER AGAIN.

Delicious! Lots of great options, nice environment, very friendly staff and quick service!

My favorite dinner spot in the Boston area, hands down. I’m a vegetarian, so I can’t speak to their array of meat and seafood dishes. ZuZu’s meat-​free selection is a godsend: genuine diversity and ingenuity in the dishes as opposed to tired standbys (veggie burger, Caesar salad, etc.) that seem to dominate menus. All the dishes I’ve had so far have been sumptuous and filling, but my favorites are the Msaah, Eggplant Bracciolette, and the salad with arugula, oranges, and seasoned nuts. I recently brought a group of six friends here and they all raved about the food and reasonable prices. Everyone was satisfied, locals and out-​of-​towners alike.
As a bonus, the service is consistently quick and courteous. Once I was having dinner solo and a band started setting up around me for a scheduled concert. I wasn’t bothered at all, but the owner (I’m assuming) apologized for the noise and started giving me free food to make up for it. He waited on me personally, bringing me pita, extra salad, baklava, and green tea, and even gave me food to take home. He then led me to an adjacent space where I used their free WiFi and worked happily for an hour or so. ZuZu offers excellent food and great service and is never crowded for dinner. I highly recommend.

I was having breakfast with my son before I headed back home after dropping him at college, on Sunday. It was a major disappointment, even three days later-​prompting me to write this review.
To start with, the coffee tasted three days old. I asked for a second cup, after asking for a new pot, and it was worse. I asked for a third cup, and this time it really was fresh, if weak. I ordered 2 eggs over easy. That’s a freaking breakfast staple. One of the «over easy» yolks was completely broken and cooked. The hash browns had potato cubes that were only partially cooked. The service was excellent. Our waiter was great. But the food was really sub-​par.

If you don’t want to stand in line for brunch at Café Luna, Middle East/​Zuzu offers a great menu with interesting spins on traditional foods, I had the «Go Green!» scramble with basil marinated portabello, fried green tomatoes,
fresh mozzarella & basil cashew pesto. The scramble was excellent with solid flavor variance and perfect texture and the side potatoes were so good that I wanted more. Other dishes ordered and given a big thumbs up were the Cheeseburger & Corned Beef Hash which was a nice blend of eggs, peppers, potatoes and onions. An unsuspecting treat!

I’m really in to brunch. Particularly chicken and waffles. Zuzu has THEE best chicken in waffles I’ve ever tasted in the Boston area.
My plan is to try as many chicken and waffles dishes as I can, but I can’t get passed Zuzu’s amazing dish. I’ve been there twice. And I can’t wait until the weekend comes so I can go back. Their Chicken and Waffles topped with the Jalapeño Cheese Sauce is to DIE for! Match that with their delicious SOB mimosa, and that’s all you really need in life.
The staff is pretty awesome too. Last time I went I was the only customer in the restaurant and they pretty much kept me company the whole time.
I’ll definitely be back.

I have done brunch here a couple times and always been happy with the food. The huervos rancheros is a solid meal with a bunch of great salsas and really well cooked beans. I like it in part, because its always just enough food for me to feel full, but not like a glutton. I usually eat my boyfriend;s home fries and then I hit my brunch full-​feeling.
My boyfriend always gets the fried green tomatoes, who knew how good those were? Sweet potato latkes are okay, not outstanding.
This place is really fun on the weekends– they do jazz and swing music and it;s a really great vibe. Gets packed, for good reason.

Came on a Friday when the cover was $ 5 but ladies got in free so wooo. Had to go find my friends friend because my friend didn’t have cash… but by the time I found him they decided to let him in because he looked sad :)
Fun time, good music. Weird that there is a wall of mirrors… but oh well, people loved to dance in front of it with friends!
I had the jalapeño margarita (of course) and it was strong, spicy and super salty on the rim. Ususally I go around and get all the salt by the end of the drink but there was no need for that because of how much there was for one sip!

Wu Wu Wu Wu!!!
Wu-​tang Wednesdays!!! We haven’t yet attended but they get a vote for having a cool theme… «Hut one, Hut two, Hut three –Cut, Ol’Dirty Bastard Live and uncut!»
Had breakfast here three times and we have always been satisfied with the food. They have great choices, even for very picky kids. Its kid of small, but the sidewalk seating was nice for a late fall morning.

Zuzu is an overall awesome place. It is located right off the red line in central square, Cambridge. The food is delicious. It has a warm and cozy atmosphere. The service is wonderful and the dance scene that takes place every evening is too much fun! Go to Zuzu for a great time!

Stopped in on Wednesday for a drink around 6pm, the place was empty, and tried my friend and I shared the vegetarian poo poo platter, which was very good.
Four stars because of the sheer variety offered in the platter. Hummus, grapeleaves, falafel, babaganouj, garlic dip, Harissa, olive tapenade, labne, sour cream, pico de gallo, soft pita, crispy, spicy pita chips, and some tortilla chips!
I ordered a gin cocktail that was generously (too) strong, and my friend ordered the poo poo platter off the cuff and then paid the bill so I have no sense of what all of that cost, but I was happily surprised by the quality and variety. The babaganouj wasn’t my favorite and the tortilla chips could have been fresher but overall this was an awesome appetizer and way too much food for two, even for what would become our whole dinner!

I walked by Zuzu hundreds of times without noticing how cute it is inside and how amazing its food could be. Shame on me! Lol
The chicken quesadilla is perfect — full of flavor and not greasy. My bf ordered the Chicken Parmesan. It was truly amazing!!! I had the Tequila Shrimp, which was tasty too but I just couldn’t keep my fork away from by bf’s plate.
I’m glad that I finally tried out Zuzu. Will definitely go back!

Came on a Sunday morning a few weeks back for brunch. The place was pretty packed. I chose the Kathy Bates benedict b/​c I’m a sucker for benedicts. The eggs were perfectly ooey-​gooey, and I loved the avocado and fried green tomatoes. Things got messy quickly, but in a good way! It came with a side of home fries that were seasoned with an awesome spice mix – very unique and tasty.
Pleasantly surprised and would definitely come back!

Soullelujah! This spot is a gem. I have been here twice for the Saturday night dancing scene and loved it and had a total ball both times. The music is clutch and so is the dancing! You can go on or off the stage at your leisure and dance like a total weirdo without being judged (very rare for the greater Boston area!) because everyone is right there with you doing their own thing. It is one of the more eclectic places I have been to and, especially for that reason, I will keep coming back! It is so refreshing to visit a place where people truly do «just want to dance» and you don’t have to worry about creeps hitting on you. This place is for everyone!
My only complaint was that there was some confusion when we left to get a drink and went back in and were asked to pay a $ 7 cover. the guys working the door seemed confused and I definitely didn’t have to pay a cover last time but it was still worth it!

This place is horrible. They kicked me out because some bitchy teens wanted to have a «Heathers» party.
I won’t go back. And don’t go. I hope it was worth it, Zuzu.