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Good Food Café - CLOSED
Category: Restaurants Sandwiches Sandwiches [Edit]
2378 Massachusetts AveCambridge, MA 02140
Neighborhood: North Cambridge
(617) 876-2450
- Nearest Transit:
-
Massachusetts Ave @ North Cambridge Carhouse Gate (77)
Massachusetts Ave @ Cameron Ave (77)
Massachusetts Ave @ Norris St (77)
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- No
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch
- Alcohol:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
29 reviews for Good Food Café
Review Highlights
"...is great, and they have free wi-fi - - you don't get better..."
(in 4 reviews)
"I highly recommend the nutella latte."
(in 3 reviews)
"The spicy mayo was delish and really completed sandwich."
(in 3 reviews)
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29 reviews in English
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Review from Tammy H.
Somerville, MA
Updated - 1/23/2009
I said I'd probably be back to add that last star, and by golly, here I am!
[I feel I should edit this part out about cream in the latte because I now realize that you can get them as "breve" ... which apparently has over a full day's worth of SATURATED FAT in a 12 oz serving!!! I have to stop drinking them before I have to change pant sizes again!]
$4.50 for a large side salad (it's an oxymoron really), and pineapple juice made ONLY from fresh pineapple ... I say it's amazing. And did you know you can get a prosciutto+egg+cheese brekky sandwich?? It's super good. Super good FOOD ... cafe.Listed in: My Neighborhood, Top Restaurants
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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5/2/2008
I'm actually quite sad that I don't live closer. If I did, I would surely be a regular. So onto… Read more »
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Review from Sarah G.
7/14/2009
Ms. Retro Disco Fabulous I would like to introduce you to Mr. Coffee Sandwich Smoothie...
Oh, you two have already met? My mistake!!
Yes, they definitely have at Good Food Cafe, and this is exactly how I felt the moment I stepped in here--semi awkward, feeling like I had been here before, met the people here before, but really all I wanted was a sandwich and free wifi ;-)
This place is colorful and pretty big inside, and when I went in the middle of the day today it was pretty much empty, so I had my pick of the tables. I overheard the guy at the counter say that the whole week had been slow here, but honestly, that Cranberry, Stuffing, Turkey Sandwich I had should be drawing people in here by the dozens! Yes, it was basically a little piece of thanksgiving made fresh to order, which you can then enjoy while surfing the web for free! But for $6.83 with tax, it isn't the biggest sandwich in the world, and no ships and not even a big pickle on the side to go with it....so I wouldn't come here starving because that plus a smoothie would bring you almost to $15 for a local cafe spot...
There are some pretty cool red plastic/pleather couches and who doesn't love pleather?? I sure do! But other than that, there are a bunch of award orange plastic chairs and tables which honestly could be more comfortable....I was the only one there with my laptop, but maybe they don't give you that comfy of chairs because they don't want you to stay for hours on end ha ha
But hey, any place with free wifi and stuffing in sandwiches (yes, stuffing is second heaven, maybe even first...hmmmmm) is a good spot to me!! -
Review from Sunny S.
MA
Updated - 10/19/2010
This wonderful little cafe has cut its hours and made it hard to go as often as I'd like...
I hope for another lunch here soon but found them closed the last two times I'd tried! :-(Listed in: My Neighborhood
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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3/16/2009
If it already had great food and now it's "gotten better!" then wow...it's a "MUST GO". Seriously… Read more »
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Review from Meagan H.
11/12/2008
Peppermint patty cupcakes. Need I say more...???
"Good Food Cafe" is a good name for this place. An alternate name could be "GREAT Cupcakes Cafe". Or "Super Interesting Cupcakes Cafe". My friend and I sampled not only the peppermint patty, but also peanut butter cup. So delicious.
My lunch was also good, but could not hold a candle to the cupcakes. Service was excellent and the decor is modern, minimal, and citrus inspired. -
Review from Graham C.
1/22/2009
I heard about this place from Chowhound and fellow Yelpers. I was informed that the turkey, cranberries, and stuffing sandwich was the one to get, so I did. This restaurant clearly defines gentrification, which we know is where new businesses and residents move in, displacing the poorer more authentic places that used to be there. Let me say this about this practice.
Gentrification is delicious.
I wouldn't care if this shop opened up in a former Boys and Girls Club. The sandwich was worth every urban planning disaster. The bread from Iggy's I think made it perfect.
The sandwich gets 5 stars. The decor of the place gets 3, averaging out to a grand total of 4. It felt too sparse, modern and clinical. Even though they have some couches. It's not the kind of place you could sit and read a book for a while. -
Review from Kristina B.
Somerville, MA
5/1/2008
Free wifi + yummy homemade meatball sandwiches + nice staff = awesome food cafe.
EDIT (5/3/2008): The classic reuben is good too. The soy lattes are okay--I think I've become a corporate brat through my adoration of the Starbucks soy lattes though. Orange chairs and colorful paintings make me happy. There is an adorable toddler with enormous cheeks running around in here right now--Good Food Cafe is totally toddleresque delight.Listed in: Coffee
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Review from Red D.
Henrico, VA
7/24/2007
"Good Food" is too modest a name for this gem, steps outside of Porter Square--it's goooood food (try the meatball or turkey), excellent prices (huge delicious sandwiches that cost under $7 each), stellar service (Jim, the owner pulled out crayons and coloring books for the kids!).
Now here's a cafe that lives up to AND beyond it's name: Spacious, bright, colorful, cool orange/green/white decor, friendly, lots of art on the walls, clean bathroom, best turkey BLT I've had, tasty smoothies, very reasonable prices, and VERY kid friendly.
Leave a generous tip. -
Review from Svend E.
Brooklyn, NY
2/26/2008
Spacious. Aesthetically pleasing contemporary/ 60s retro design. Well-ordered.
Owner Jim is very nice. Has excellent taste in music, plays great selection of music all day, not too loud.
Free wifi.
Ingredients good quality. Food presentation/ taste good. Owner tries to incorporate organic ingredients. Coffee decent/mediocre.
A fairly remote location that bodes to become more popular within the next five or ten years. Right now, though, the cafe is pretty empty most of the time; hopefully business will pick up when more people discover this place. -
Review from Julia F.
3/21/2009 1 photo
This place is in a strange location - it's true, I have noticed it while stopped at a light heading towards 16, on Mass Ave, but never felt motivated enough to go out of my way to eat here.
My friend came here last year and had the roast beef sandwich (she and I have similar tastes in food and food/retail service) she told me it was decent, she had scraped up the roof of her mouth on the bread this roast beef was housed in, but other than that - it was only ok.
I stopped in the other day cause I happened to be working in the neighborhood. I stood around behind a totally unruly line musing that the space would better serve as a dance studio with all the mirrors they had up on the wall, while trying to decipher why there were so many versions of what seemed to be the same menu, and which one I should try to order off of.
I got a chocolate chip cookie, and the bacon, turkey sandwich with spicy mayo. I ate the cookie while waiting, and decided that I didn't like the fact that I could see the kitchen and how messy it was because of the wall of mirrors on the opposite side. But if I was down here for the wi-fi, that it might be ok.
My cookie tasted like it was straight out of the refrigerated cookie section at the grocery store. So sad. It's so easy to make good chocolate chip cookies, and yet this was an epic fail. I ate the sandwich, which was on a very good piece of bread. Sourdough, baguette - I approve. The slices of Turkey were hard to negotiate, they had lots of tendons in them, and so had to be removed mostly to enjoy the rest of the bread, sparse lettuce and strangely textured tomato. I really can get down with spicy mayo, but only if it has a unique taste and is also spicy. This mayo was only spicy.
I would have named this place the "Really Just OK Food Cafe" though I know it doesn't roll off the tongue quite as easy. I will not be back. -
Review from Mike D.
Brookline, MA
3/23/2008
I went to Good Food Cafe with some friends yesterday for a late breakfast, having never been there before. In fact, I have to say that I had never noticed it before. Randomly, the reason my friends knew about it is that they had been down the street at Joe Sent Me one night and felt like a non-alcoholic beverage, so headed two doors down to Good Food Cafe, where they had a smoothie that was so memorable that they were dying to go back.
Anyway, back to breakfast. The menu is pretty straightforward -- sandwiches, mainly -- but I was really impressed with mine. I got the Egg, Cheese, and Tomato sandwich on wheat. The bread was very good (Iggy's, I'm pretty sure), and toasted just right. The sandwich had sliced hard boiled eggs along with the tomatoes and cheese, garnished with spicy mayo and a pesto spread. I'm not a mayo fan, but this stuff was good, and quite spicy (be warned!). Overall, the sandwich was delicious. Sandwich + large coffee was $5.85, good deal.
Atmosphere was very nice -- the space is large and open, and you might think that it's empty walking by, but most of the tables inside aren't visible from the door, and many were occupied yesterday. As others have said, not the easiest location to get to other than driving, but definitely worth a try. -
Review from Trish F.
Boston, MA
Updated - 7/15/2008
You know you love a place when you're there after a truly sh*tty day. I've almost always ended up at Good Food Cafe after a bad day in the past few months. Like I said I would.. I tried the the chicken salad and the meatball sandwiches. The chicken salad was okay. More veggies than I would hope but the chicken was tender (nothing's worse than chewy/hard chicken.. yuck). And the meatball sandwich was sort of a lie since it was more like a meatloaf sandwich (in slices) but that doesn't matter, it was homemade and delicious.
OH.. and please.. let us have a moment of silence for the Elvis Nut Smoothie.. peanut butter, milk, nutella, and banana.. SO good. Get a large.. it's only $3.25. I think I told the guy working that it tasted magical.. like childhood but more delicious.
I've seen musicians set up in here a couple times but couldn't stay to watch/hear them perform so I can't comment on the acoustics yet. Next time! I'm glad this place is moving right along. Stop on by to support this wonderful local business. :)
PS - Delivery now by NightOwl.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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4/10/2008
The owner of Good Food was definitely selling himself short when he named this cafe. I would venture… Read more »
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Review from Cheryl D.
Cambridge, MA
6/28/2009
Good Food Cafe is a bright little Mom-and-Pop (without the Mom, 'cause it's owned by a guy) cafe. Everything I've tried here is good or better. My husband's favorite is the sandwich special: chicken, lettuce, tomato, cheese? (I forget if it has cheese), and chipotle mayo. Sometimes they have one with turkey and bacon instead of chicken, which is even better. I recommend any sandwich, but especially sandwiches with turkey ('cause it's real turkey, not pressed), any smoothie, and the Nutella latte. Yeah, I'd say they're true to the name.
The walls always have art from locals displayed, but I've noticed that it's been the same things up for a long time, now. Also expect jazz to be playing and someone staked out with a laptop. In spite of this, you can still expect to find a table available, unlike at Diesel. For some reason, this place is always virtually empty when I go. Not sure how they stay open with the amount of business that I see, but maybe it's busy when I'm not around. -
Review from Chris W.
8/28/2008
I always hit this place up before I go to get tattooed b/c its only 2 doors down from the shop. The staff is and service is great while they're smoothies are even better!!! I've had the strawberry and the elvis and every time I go its a struggle on which one I want.
I've only tried their sandwiches but I haven't had a single one I didn't like! Although I think my favorite is the turkey, stuffing, & cranberry sauce. Definitely check this place out. Good food, good people!Listed in: What used to be my hood...
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Review from Anastasia C.
Cambridge, MA
12/28/2009
Good smoothies, a great lime rickey and a yummy garlic sandwich.
Weird hours - seemingly closed every time I walk past it, which is a lot. Weird egg breakfast sandwiches, too. The eggs are hard boiled, sliced and then put on your choice of bread. That's the first and only time I've seen a breakfast sandwich prepared that way. Its really the hours, though, that have made me give up on this place. After being foiled several attempts in a row I've vowed not to try again and just go to Singa Bella across the street instead. -
Review from Amy H.
Greensboro, NC
5/1/2008
I have only had coffee and a muffin here, so I can't comment on the food, but this place seems odd. It rarely has people in it, and it is a HUGE eating space that is just not furnished correctly. The owner is the only guy who works there.
I really feel like he needs to hire a design consultant if the food is that good. Because I feel like this place is going under with so few people going there.
Also, I wake up pretty early (6:30am) and he doesn't open until 8:30am for breakfast. Seems a tad late. -
Review from Natalie B.
Cambridge, MA
10/18/2009
My boyfriend recommended this place for lunch after finding here on yelp.
I had an amazing chicken and avocado sandwich with tomatoes and pesto sauce.
The first thing I noticed about this place was that the minimalist/retro look was different from anything I've seen in the city AND the bread used for sandwiches was homemade!!!
I loved the sandwich so much that I took half of it to go and ate it later in my boyfriend's car. It was still as scrumptuous as when I first sank my teeth into it.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Oh, the guy at the counter was pretty nice too! -
Review from Jane M.
Honolulu, HI
2/19/2010
The nut elvis shakes here are too die for! Nutella, peanut butter, and bananas, YUM. The sandwiches are great too. My favorites are the turkey cranberry - juts like Thanksgiving leftovers and the Italian panini's, warm and gooey almost like an open faced calzone. They also have really interesting flavored cupcakes, like root beer float.
Only issue here is that as of late I've noticed that they aren't open very often. Not sure what the deal is, but keeping my fingers crossed that they are open next time I swing by. I'm joshing for a nut elvis shake! -
Review from Kristy H.
Mountain View, CA
7/16/2008
I went there for the first time this weekend. The food was incredible. I got a chicken salad, and it wasn't a huge glob of mayo! The tea wasn't bad either, and the nutella latte that my husband got was amazing.
I had to deduct one star just because it was impossible to find. We passed it several times and only managed to spot the tiny sign by accident. It's hiding behind a tree and incredibly easy to miss. -
Review from Matt B.
Somerville, MA
7/3/2008
This is one of my favorite spots in North Cambridge. The coffee is always top shelf. The people are also very friendly.
I always get the Chicken Avocado & Pesto (no chicken). They serve on excellent ciabatta bread as well.
Support this place. It is worth it. -
Review from Miranda P.
Cambridge, MA
9/16/2010
I'm a huge fan of the food here. The sandwiches and his homemade bread are delicious. I love all his fresh juice options. Even the cookies are good. The guy is super nice too, but his hours have gotten really CRAZY. It's always closed when I try to go there now. I end up just getting delivery occasionally via MixMenu when I suddenly have people over and am not up for cooking lunch.
If he were consistently open 8-9 like he used to be and some parts of his website still say, this place would get 5 stars easy.
Also, as someone else mentioned, the egg sandwiches are weird. -
Review from Rich O.
Cambridge, MA
11/21/2008
A charming (a word I don't use often) little cafe with sandwiches, desserts, smoothies and coffee. The folks working there are super nice and it really is comfy. My only worry is it's empty whenever I'm in there and in these tough times I hope it survives
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Review from Jeffrey B.
Arlington, MA
12/12/2008
Good Food Cafe. It was good. They had food. And it is a cafe. It definitely lives up to its name. :-) On a rainy vacation day from work, I took a walk to check this place out. I brought along a good book and ordered up the turkey club and a coffee. The spicy mayo was delish and really completed sandwich. I sat comfortably and sipped my joe and read while people watching the Mass Ave sidewalk. There is a nice sofa setup for casual seating and cafe tables scattered about. I took a late lunch and the place was nearly empty for the hour or so I was there. For the owner's sake and the loyal customers alike I hope there's more of a line during the breakfast and lunch rush--this is a neighborhood spot I will definitely frequent again.
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Review from Pete G.
East Watertown, MA
9/25/2008
Love this place and I wish I hadn't moved so far away from it. The service is always great and friendly, the smoothies and sandwiches are top notch, but the real deal there is in the cookies. Their home made cookies are fantastic. I know it's a cliche, but the chocolate chip cookies really are as good as my mom used to make, and my mom makes a damn fine cookie. It's kind of out of the way for most people, but if you're in the North Cambridge area and need a sammich YOU SHOULD EAT HERE.
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Review from Bianca P.
Boston, MA
11/2/2008
Just OK. Good service. It just doesn't feel very cozy, like a cafe.
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Review from Robin G.
Wakefield, MA
4/18/2007
Great fresh fruit smoothie.
I love the local art work displayed on the walls. -
Review from Ameesha C.
Cambridge, MA
10/5/2008
This place is wonderful. I highly recommend the nutella latte. I have also eaten here, and their sandwiches are incredible. The space is great, and they have free wi-fi - - you don't get better than that. Yum!
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Review from Bill U.
Lynn, MA
5/27/2008 1 photo
Open for about a year, I only found this place on my way to Hana Sushi and promised myself I would stop in one day for lunch. Today I am quite happy I did just that! What a wonderful surprise to walk into a bright and spacious caf with just the right kind of refreshing food. I had the mozzarella and roasted red pepper sandwich with pesto, along with an Aranciata. The sandwich was served warm on Ciabatta and the friendly staff brought it right to my table. Two added bonus points go to this place for accepting credit cards and providing free Wi-Fi. Unlike so many cyber cafes in Cambridge, the Mass Ave location is away from any University or T-stop square, which gives this place a quite ambiance that lets one contemplate his on thoughts rather than the conversation of people suffocating the space around him. No take-out menus were available on my visit, but the full menu is up online. Metered parking out front is usually available.
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Review from Laurie C.
Cambridge, MA
Updated - 11/3/2010
Elvis smoothie! Just go try it. Everything is great there! Open for lunch only,m so go and get on your way!
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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10/15/2009
perfect peanut butter bannanna smoothie, free wifi, enough seats, lovely staff, and yummy resh food! Read more »
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Review from Melissa C.
Cambridge, MA
4/25/2009
Staff and service are great! Well, at least from the girl who works there. She is always very kind. I love the smoothies and it's a decent atmosphere, pretty "clean" feeling. Good music also! Very reasonably priced.
