Black Ruby: Thai Craft Burger & Dining — Restaurant in Cambridge

When I first heard about this restaurant I was excited and amazed by the concept. I made a reservation with my friend to grab dinner.

I noticed at first the 2 waitresses on the floor appeared overwhelmed as it was a full house. When I arrived, I was standing behind one couple in the line and then another couple followed behind me. We were all waiting to be seated. Once a waitress finally attended to us she asked if anyone had a reservation, which I mentioned that I did and I was on time for it. The other 2 groups did not and were both walk ins. The waitress decides to seat the 2 couples in front and behind me instead of me when I was the only that had a reservation. I was told to wait at the bar. I mentioned to other waitress how it was unfair and weird for the 2 walks ins to be seated first before the Person who actually made the reservation and they apologised.

After waiting to be seated, my friend and I ordered the Tom Kha pasta, calamari and the green curry sandwich with fries. The waitress recommended the green curry sandwich and said that it was spicy so I went ahead and ordered it. The chicken sandwich with fries and calamari came out first and we were still waiting on the pasta for a while. We did notice the other tables that were seated after us received their food (we believe it was the same pasta) before us. After a long wait we received the pasta. We both tried the Tom kha pasta and both really loved it! The sauce was flavourful and creamy. My friend asked for it to be extra spicy and there was no spice at all in the pasta, but the pasta tasted good.

I was excited to try the chicken sandwich so I began to cut the sandwich in half. As I was cutting I noticed it was pretty tough to cut but I assumed it was because of how dense the sandwich was. After cutting I noticed the inside of the chicken sandwich was slightly pink, i pulled the chicken apart to confirm and I told the waitress that the chicken wasn’t fully cooked. She was able to take the plate away and she did offer if I wanted something else to which I declined. The calamari was okay, nothing special in my opinion.

Overall, the service needs improvement and there needs to be more organisation within the staff. I do think this place has potential and I understand that this is a soft opening. The pasta was amazing but I was disappointed with the chicken sandwich. There needs to be some sort of quality check of food to ensure customers don’t get...

Black ruby offers several options for meat lovers and vegetarians alike. Plus, you get an option to have these with locally made sourdough brioche buns. Here’s what we tried and how it was:

Khao soi burger with crispy tofu patty - crunchy and loaded with their curry sauce, this was a solid burger. The only qualm was that the tofu patty could have done with a bit more flavor since it was really just a block of tofu that was crumb coated and fried until crisp.

Thai garlic burger - with caramelized onions, mushrooms, cheddar, and a garlic aioli, this burger had a starkly different flavor profile. Plus, I added crispy basil to mine which complemented these flavors beautifully. The criticism, however, was the same as that for the khao soi burger.

Green curry burger - this one had a chicken patty which was tried by my friends and not me. In their words “the flavors in the sauces were on point but the bun was a bit stale (read dry), and the burger could have done with a bit more seasoning.

Pad thai spring rolls - these were our favorite. Served on a bed of crispy rice noodles; we devoured these almost instantly.

Scallion fries (not pictured) - these were like gua chai tod aka thai scallion cakes. They were a bit oily for our liking and could definitely have done with more salt.

Honey lavender affogato - this one was too sweet for our liking and somehow the texture of melted lavender ice cream with the hot coffee resembled that of curdled milk. It is something we won’t order again.

Mango coconut crepe cake - mango and coconut is a dream combination of flavors and this one was no different. However, the crepes were a tad too thick than they should be causing the mouthfeel to go from melt in your mouth to chewy and dry in some places.

To summarize - great place, a ton of potential, good service, the ambience was excellent, and despite its flaws, a place that we would not mind...

In town for marathon, my family thought it was excellent pick as it sounded great. Went there, initial server was super kind and opened door for us with my stroller and sat us with our party. 2nd server came over asked for our order. I ordered crispy basil burger— never asked us about preference on doneness or even if we wanted drinks. Anyway, burger came beautifully medium which is wonderful except I’m 7 months pregnant with a two year old. The food has to be thoroughly cooked and since no one asked, I assumed it would be well done. I already felt like I was bothering server from making my order so I just ate around the burger which tasted amazing to be honest. Well seasoned with a tasty sauce on it. The egg had to be abandoned too because of the runny yolk which is great, but not for a pregnant lady. My two year old loved the fries and the soft and delicious brioche bun that was gently toasted. I then ordered a hot Thai tea after a server finally came back to check on us after we finished eating. She gave me a black Thai tea with one sugar packet. Once it arrived, I asked for creamer and she just seemed annoyed and disinterested (maybe because it was busy). Creamer came. I dare not ask for more sugar — or anything else for that matter. I still was well mannered saying please and thank you and was met with nothing but stares. We paid, tipped well per usual. Food was delicious and came fast. My burger temperature was variable (fried egg cold, meat medium warm, sauce room temp, bun room temp). Atmosphere nice. The service wasn’t great. If it wasn’t for the initial person who was lovely, I would say I would never come back because our service was not great, like at all. Not sure if that is the standard or if that was specially reserved...