Bluestone Lane Harvard Square Café — Restaurant in Cambridge

I personally like their food & coffee. I also really enjoy the ambiance/style of the cafe (note though it can be crowded & loud) which is why it is one of my fav go to brunch/lunch places in Harvard Sq. To note I do say this given that actually you do not have a lot of choices available in the Square so ends up being the go to place. However - two negatives are worth noting. First, I did have time to time unpleasing experience with the food. (1) Most recently the breakfast burrito I had was heavily oily which did not feel well. (2) When I ordered the pancakes one time which tasted off and then I realised it looked molded, I called the server and showed it and they told me it is not mold but the pan leaves those marks. It was disturbing. Second, apart from these two specific food instances the staff does engage in a form of age discrimination worth noting (intentions left aside). Unless you look of certain age they tell you to order online with the QR code which means the pay is online. But they say this in a way as if there is no other option - I literally asked on two separate occasions and was told there is no other way. One time my friend’s card did not work online form, they did not bring the card reader device for traditional non-online card payment or accept cash so was very inconvenient. I paid for my friend which was fine but could have found ourselves in a more difficult position too. I mention the ‘discrimination’ point because just as this backdrop existed, we saw that two people who were senior citizens and they immediately were given an option to do it as a traditional order at the table with the server & non-online form of pay. I understand that it may be more convenient for the majority to do the ordering online, but there should be an optional choice. It is not accurate to assume that if you look ‘young’ you can handle online order & payment because there may be reasons why you simply can not (apart from preference)…Just wanted to mention this as personal feedback for reference. Thank you though - I do overall have a positive perception which is why I am a loyal...

Really enjoyed my food and the whole vibe of the place. It is pricy, so I wouldn’t come often, but you can try teas and foods you don’t get elsewhere!

I did have an issue with my burger coming to me bloody (I don’t like that). I took two awful bites before figuring out why the burger was so awful, and telling the waitress I wanted one medium-well. She took the food back, then a few min later returned with it and someone I can only assume was a manager, who said they couldn’t take it back (having managed my own cafe, I know that what they couldn’t do is take my food back and then bring it back to my table, which is what they did. What they CAN do is throw it out and remake it, which is, I hope, what happened today). When the manager brought the burger back, she said they couldn’t take it back due to health codes, “so, I mean, is it okay?”

I said it was not okay. I don’t eat bloody burgers.

She said “well if you don’t specify it comes medium.”

I said “well the waitress didn’t ask how I wanted it and I was distracted and didn’t think to mention.”

She said “well, next time, remember to mention.” And took it away.

Really awful customer service. I was shocked, but it seemed like she might be new or something, so I don’t think this is the norm.

When the burger was finally done medium- well, I enjoyed it and left.

Maybe this person was new? Maybe they were inexperienced? Cooking a burger wrong and remaking it isn’t a big deal so I wasn’t sure why it was being made into one. I ordered several dishes, so it wasn’t like I was sending everything back, but to send a bloody burger back is pretty reasonable.

Other than that incident, everything went well. I’ve been here before and didn’t have an experience like that so I don’t think...

I visit Bluestone often for brunch and I got the best service every time. This visit was with my family I wanted them to try my favorite brunch spot. However, I was faced with the worst service I’ve ever had! The waiter took our order and another one got us our drinks. They got us a duplicate of one of our drinks and instead of apologizing they insisted we are the ones that made this mistake and told me that I must’ve clicked it twice when ordering! I told them that’s not possible because the other waiter took our order and we didn’t even use the application! they rolled their eyes and took the duplicate order with them. They then asked my sister about her order and gave her the cup with her drink. After that they came back with the rest of the drinks and asked her again about her order which she was holding in her hands by the time and when she repeated her order they snatched it out of her hand and aggressively threw it in the trash bin in front of us saying it’s the wrong order! Then they asked me if we have anything missing and I told them that we only got our drinks and are still waiting on our food. They rolled their eyes again and told me in the most condescending tone “OBVIOUSLY the food will come later!”. They also kept dropping the plates and cups on the table every time they delivered one making a very loud noise and a very huge mess for us to clean! My family wanted to try Bluestone in their last day in Boston and were very disappointed especially after I told them all of the good things about the place. It felt like they didn’t want us there probably because we’re from a different culture and race! Very inappropriate...