Symposium Cafe Restaurant Cambridge — Restaurant in Cambridge

My kids went to the Symposium Cafe last year on Ira Needles and we had a wonderful experience. It was so good in fact, that we decided we were going to make it our place to celebrate a yearly occasion. Imagine our surprise and complete and utter disappointment that the Cambridge location was so vastly different!!! When we arrived, it was dinner time and the place was completely empty. There were two tables and they were leaving shortly after we arrived. The food was horrible. The menu descriptions, I believe, we're trying to be enticing, but it was just flat out confusing or completely wrong. The butter chicken had tiny bits of dry chicken and mushy rice. My son ordered the spiced chicken and his carrots we're so hard that you couldn't even cut them with the knife provided. And I had the fish tacos that was supposed to have something called "pickled slaw", which I thought would be like a coleslaw that normally comes with fish tacos.... But no. There were mushy cucumbers, green peppers, a couple of carrots, and no slaw to be seen anywhere. My son also ordered a banana freezie to drink how do you said it tasted like a banana blended with water. And finally, we ordered the "bananarama crepe". This is the description: "Bananarama Crepe nutella filled, with ripe bananas, fresh strawberries & chocolate drizzle (710 Cals)". You would think with the word banana in it that it would actually be stuffed with bananas, but alas, no. The crepe was overstuffed with Nutella, and on the side of the plate there were four slices of banana. It was too sweet to eat, and the crepes were mush. So overall, including tip, we spent $187 and left completely dissatisfied. Note to any restaurant owners and wait staff.... If you see that your customer has completely disassembled, and are trying to pick out the good parts, don't ask them if they want you to take away their plate. Either offer them something else instead or remove the item from the bill. And please don't send over your wait staff to try to explain "the confusion" that your menu has caused. That's just ridiculous. I worked in upscale restaurants for over a decade and if I came across a customer who did what I did with my fish tacos, I wouldn't hesitate to remove it off of their bill. Providing really great customer service, when your food is subpar or creates any dissatisfaction for your customers, will have said customers returning over and over and over again. I should have taken photos but didn't. We're also going to go back to the Ira Needles location next year and try it again. Maybe it's location based? I'd like to give the restaurant the benefit of the...

I am seriously disappointed in this location. When we got there, there were maybe 2 tables of guests. We were seated- kid was given a kids menu but we had to ask for crayons and was brought only 1. Please don't give us a kids entertainment menu but no crayons- I could find ways to entertain her but she was excited to colour because she was given something to colour on. I will give credit, my kid told server her favorite colour was purple and the server brougjt her a purple crayon. (when brought crayon, it looked like someone bit it- should have heeded that as a warning that crayon was better alternative to food)

Ordered food. food came, had to go and ask server (busy chatting) for cutlery after waiting a few minutes. They picked up the pace in better service after this. However not to say they weren't super nice from the beginning though.

Kids menu- chicken fingers and fries. Fries were dark brown, burnt or basically double fried. Chicken fingers swimming in grease and super chewy to bite into. The brownie dessert, super dry and not edible. Server commented "I guess you don't like brownies" No she does, just not yours.

Clam chowder and chicken wings- not bad, I would recommend, but wings came out cool.

Dusted shrimp and chicken pesto flat bread- I could have bought it from Farm Boys and made it at home and better. Disappointed because you go out to dinner to avoid eating things you can make yourself.

Spinach dip- just spinach baked with kraft single melted on top. Super greasy, underwhelming and weird to legit pay for kraft singles melted on top.Naan served with it was good at least.

Took my family to Marble Slab after for ice cream because we were so underwhelmed by the low bar set for food and dessert.

Went home and had a horrible...

I just had the worst experience that I've ever had with take-out dinner. We ordered Fish & Chips, Turkey Bacon Club Sandwich, and the Carrot Cake. We had to call back about the Fish & Chips because the fish was barely battered if it was at all. It was extremely dry as if it was 2 or 3 days or and just reheated in the microwave or oven(not fried). There was no coleslaw and I was told they've run out of coleslaw 3 months ago however didn't mention that to me when I ordered the food. I said I'm coming back to return the food and I'll take something else Because it was very clear that whoever is cooking doesn't know how to make a decent fried fish anyways. I then asked it to be replaced by the Teriyaki Rice Bowl. Brought that home and it didn't have Sesame seeds or scallions(green onions) in it which is in the description. The rice was gluggy and there was way too much Teriyaki sauce in it. The green peppers weren't even stir fried properly. Who's in that kitchen?! My sandwich was alright. I mean it was a sandwich. I wasn't expecting anything special. This is the first time I've ever left a review because it had to be addressed. This restaurant was a great neighbourhood restaurant when the previous owner ran it. Since it took new ownership I had been weary of trying the food evidently for good reason. The bartender remained the same and he's been great company whenever I sat at the bar. The servers have always been very personable and kind. The only staff member that changed to my knowledge is the cook and like I said, the food took a toll. I will never go back there for cooked food again. Their cakes have always been consistent because those are made by a different supplier. I will continue...