Cicada — Restaurant in Cambridge

Great Vietnamese cafe and restaurant with elevated dishes.

Since its opening during the pandemic, Cicada has been a massive success. It seamlessly transitions from a charming daytime cafe to a cozy nighttime wine bar, and its versatile appeal almost seems limitless. I’ve visited Cicada for lunch, coffee, and dinner, and each has been thoroughly enjoyable.

In the mornings, they offer pastries from Cafe Beatrice, one of my favorite local cafes in Cambridge. I've tried a couple of their coffees, and the Sea Salt Shaker was my favorite. It masterfully balances sweet and salty flavors, and it was perhaps the best Vietnamese coffee I've tried in the city so far.

They also offer an excellent selection for lunch, including noodles, banh mi, and rice bowls. I tried the Baked Salmon Rice Bowl, which was simple yet satisfying. The crunch of thinly sliced radish and a spicy kick from the herb pesto provided refreshing and flavorful contrasts to the sushi-grade salmon. To town down the spice, I had to get a Saigon latte, but overall, it was a very enjoyable meal.

The dinner experience here was the real highlight. While it is deemed as a “wine bar”, it’s more casual than most wine bars in the city, with a self-service model that includes fetching your own food and cutlery and returning them to a bin after dining. Among the appetizers, the Charred Whole Eggplant and the Spicy Minced Duck were our favorites. The Banh Trang Rice Crackers, with their sweet and zesty undertones, paired beautifully with the spicy minced duck. We chose a medium spice level for the appetizers, which turned out to be quite spicy. For those who are sensitive to heat, I'd recommend opting for a lighter spice level or none at all.

Both entrées we ordered, the Lemongrass Confit Chicken and the Cured Duck with Red Wine, were excellent. The Duck Rice Bowl, similar in concept to the lunch bowl I had tried earlier, featured seared duck which proved to be a much more satisfying topping for a rice bowl. The Confit Chicken Thigh was very tender, and the mild lemongrass paste added  creaminess that enhanced the overall flavor of the chicken.

Vinh Le and Duong Huynh, who have already opened a Vietnamese restaurant in Bow Market, are planning to open another rooftop bar in Central Square. Definitely excited to check out...

This place is a bit overrated. Won't go out of my way to try it again. The atmosphere is very chaotic. It opened at 11am and i got there at 1120, there was a line out the door already and all tables and most chairs were taken. I ordered a duck confit bahn mi, salmon mango spring roll, and a siagon latte hot. I was saddened they were out of pastries already only a half hour or so into opening. I happened to find a single open chair at their little winter hut outside. It had a greater in it but it didnt do much. I wish they had their tables operational outside as well cause I'd rather have just sat at one of them rather than being cramped in the little hut. My food was ready fairly quickly which was great! I did really like the salmon spring roll. I was a bit disappointed at the container they used to put the peanut sauce in though. They didn't put a lot of sauce in, it was enough to eat with the roll for sure! But the container was big and metal so it was hard to get the sauce into the very fragile roll by dipping it. The sauce is thick so it doesn't exactly pour out of the container either. Barbee change to a shorter wider container or something that makes it easier to access the sauce. The bahni mi was mehh. It definately left more to be desired. The flavor was present but not as strong as I'm used to. Maybe the bahn mi bowls are the way to go here? Cause the bread too alot away. It was very hard and dry. It heart the roof of my mouth to bit into. The duck confit itself was pretty flavorless and irrelevant to the sandwich. The pickle on the veggies was very very light. The spread on the bread by itself was flavorful and thats why i suggest trying the bowl instead. I would have preferred takeout but they do not offer any of the small plate options for takeout which was what i was interested in most. I would go back for the coffee but id offer takeout so i can just go and grab it instead of waiting in line. However there are plenty of great coffee shops in the boston area so it hardly matters.

Takeaways: Go if you really want to but be prepared to wait and don't order a sandwich. Go during dinner time so you get access to the full menu as well as done if the small plate options such as the green papaya salad i was hoping to try, is not...

Came back for dinner! Man, what a treat! I can't wait until awesome restaurants like this are all over Cambridge and Boston—mindblowing, intimate, refreshing Asian and Asian American eating experiences.

As a group of 4, we ordered 3 apps and 3 entrees. For apps, we got the steamed clams (fresh and briny, loved the ginger), the papaya salad (get it spicy; really crunchy and refreshing and acidic), and the eggplant with coconut oil (great smoky flavor with nice crunch from the nuts). For entrees, we got the duck with black sushi rice, the torched salmon, and the oxtail pho with homemade noodles. The pho was TO DIE for—I haven't had such depth of flavor in so long, the acid and fat and umami combination was heavenly, and the noodles were fresh and just the perfect texture. The torched salmon and duck were similar with the black sushi rice base, but I loved the elevation the dill in the salmon brought to the dish, and the duck was tender and yummy.

They also have pastries from Cafe Beatrix. We supplemented the above with a bottle of sake and a beer. Total came out to be $180 after tax and tip for 4—really reasonable imho.

Can't wait to come back!

-- edit in Dec 202 for dinner above ^^ --

Holy cow I liked this place. We got takeout for lunch and our friends picked it up so I can't speak to the ambiance of the place, although they said it was very cute so I can't wait to check it out. The food though! The food!

First off, I don't think I've ever had fishy banh mi and the vegetarian banh mi I've had have always been a little meh. But this place is soooo tasty. The egg banh mi was truly luxurious, the avo pate was lovely, and I loved that there were plenty of pickled veggies (my main complaint with banh mi is a lot of places will give you one carrot and that's it). The noodle salads were also amazing. It was like a pesto x Chinese liangpi (hope that's not an offensive comparison) -- the noodles were a great, chewy texture and the sauce and fish and cilantro were just divine.

Their sweetened coffees are good, pretty sweet but good chicory flavor for many of them. I'd skip the black coffee...not a ton of character imho.

Lovely place, fair prices ($9-12 for entrees, standard coffee prices), can't wait...