Women-Owned Restaurants in Cambridge

Israeli-inspired bakery and cafe. Beautiful pastries, shakshuka, fresh salads, and excellent coffee. Multiple Cambridge locations, Instagram-worthy.

Award-winning bakery with breakfast and lunch. Sticky buns, sandwiches, and pastries. Multiple Cambridge locations.

Joanne Chang's Harvard Square outpost of the Flour Bakery + Cafe empire she started in the South End in 2000. The sticky buns are legendary — Bobby Flay famously couldn't beat them on Throwdown. Sandwiches are substantial, cookies are perfect.

Award-winning Mediterranean restaurant with Turkish and Arabic influences. Chef Ana Sortun's seasonal menu features creative mezze, grilled meats, and vegetarian options.

All-vegetarian diner with vegan options. Comfort food classics reimagined plant-based. Retro diner atmosphere with modern values. Full bar.

Turkish, Lebanese, and Greek pastries and savory flatbreads from Ana Sortun (Oleana) and pastry chef Maura Kilpatrick. Across from Mount Auburn Cemetery in Huron Village — worth the detour for the morning bun alone.

Microbrewery and taproom between Central and Inman Squares on Broadway, with a shared cafe space with Longfellows Coffee. Known for funky fermentation beers — sours, wild yeasts, unexpected ingredients (sweet potato, chamomile, buckwheat) — alongside the core IPA program.

Modern Cuban restaurant and bar in the former Elephant Walk space, with a highly curated Cuban rum list and a cocktail program developed with Sam Treadway of Backbar. Chef-owner Patricia Estorino is a two-time James Beard semifinalist.

Jewish delicatessen in Kendall Square from the Hungry Mother / State Park team. House-smoked pastrami, hand-rolled bagels, Montreal-style smoked meat, and a weekend brunch line that regularly wraps the block.

Michelin-recognized Hunan restaurant in Kendall Square. Rare authentic Hunan cooking in Boston — Sumiao's father is a calligrapher and the interior is draped in his work. The name means 'sketch' in Chinese.

Porter Square Thai institution since 2003, with a menu that runs 100-plus dishes. Chef-owner Penjan Janburiwong learned to cook from her mother in Nakhon Sri Thammarat and ran the family kitchen from the age of eight. Now operated by Penjan's daughter Amy Kridaratikorn.

Harvard Square institution since 1971. Eclectic menu, half-price food with drink purchase before 7:30PM. Cozy basement setting, college-friendly prices.

24-seat chef-driven counter in North Cambridge. Chef-owner Erin Miller (French Culinary Institute; trained under Blue Hill's Dan Barber) cooks a seasonal New American menu focused on New England farms and fisheries. Relocating and expanding to Inman Square in 2026.

Cafe with espresso, coffee, home-made bagels, and elaborate bagel sandwiches. Fresh bagels baked daily. Cozy Harvard Square spot popular for breakfast and lunch.

Neighborhood restaurant and bar in the ground floor of the 907 Main hotel. Seasonal, grill-driven American cooking from chef-owner Greg Reeves with a warm exposed-brick room and a spacious patio. Opened May 2024 in the former Dial space.

Shanghai-style restaurant at the corner of Mass Ave and Inman Street. Hand-pulled noodles, pork-and-crab xiaolongbao, and Sichuan-style fried chicken. Cheery, hip dining room with chalkboard walls and modern bamboo light fixtures.

East Cambridge Uyghur restaurant blending Central Asian and Turkish traditions. Lamb kebabs, hand-pulled laghman noodles, polo rice, and traditional Uyghur breads cooked in-house.

Cambridge's oldest family- and woman-owned bar. North Cambridge dive that's been pouring cold beer and keeping firefighters, lawyers, and politicians on a first-name basis since 1934. The name says 'Lunch' — it doesn't actually serve any.

Serving wholesome and healthy sandwiches, salads, multigrain rice bowls, and noodle dishes. High grade hot and iced teas, espresso and coffee. First in Cambridge to introduce bubble tea in 2002!

12-table tasting-menu restaurant in Huron Village from husband-and-wife team Conor Dennehy and Danielle Ayer. A short menu drawing on French, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese technique, paired with a carefully-edited wine list and a tight classic cocktail program.

Natural-wine-focused neighborhood bar between Harvard and Porter, with a pescatarian menu and a single large communal table. Walk-in only. One of the most consequential natural-wine programs in New England.

Slow-fermented sourdough bagels shaped and boiled in-house. Expanding the storefront in 2024 to meet demand. Not New York-style but Bon Appétit once called them among the best bagels in the US outside of New York.

Vegetable-forward farm-to-table restaurant in the former Craigie on Main space, from the Talulla team. Zero-waste kitchen — byproducts of one dish show up in the next (halibut poached in whey from in-house yogurt). Tasting counter; regular menu of share plates; a 'farm burger' in homage to Tony Maws's Craigie original.

Central Square Eritrean-Ethiopian restaurant since 1986. Traditional mesob (woven basket) dining — diners sit around a basket with the food served in the center. Two kinds of house-made injera (rice flour and teff), and one of the strongest vegetarian combos in Cambridge.

Japanese-Spanish tapas from chef Tracy Chang, Michelin Bib Gourmand. Two-story loft space in Central Square with deep-blue walls and wood-topped tables; the menu blends Japanese precision with Spanish warmth (okonomiyaki, guindillas, squid-ink paella).

Porter Square Thai-fusion restaurant in the former Chalawan space. Thai-influenced burgers and pasta from chef Pam Kamolnithi — raised in Thailand, classically trained, cooking both grandmothers-kitchen Thai and Western-format mashups. The name refers to a non-naturally-occurring gemstone, reflecting the fusion concept.

East Cambridge Brazilian restaurant specializing in muqueca — clay-pot seafood stew from the coast of Bahia, a recipe passed down through generations of Brazilian indigenous cooks. Warm Bahian hospitality; weekend feijoada.

Cambridge Taiwanese institution since 2000. Scallion pancakes, soup dumplings, beef noodle soup, and the full Taiwanese home-cooking repertoire that doesn't usually travel to American Chinese restaurants. A second location opened later in Waltham.

Inman Square institution since 1919. Jewish-style deli: Reubens, matzo ball soup, blintzes, knishes, and a 100+-year-old pastrami recipe. Weekend brunch is packed.

Fast-casual Greek from Rialto alum Jody Adams. Build-your-own pita or bowl; the chicken is the sleeper order. The Harvard Square location is the brand's flagship and test kitchen, with a full bar that other outposts don't have.