Desfina Restaurant — Restaurant in Cambridge

My friend and I took my wife here for her birthday. We met up late so we were hungry! For 5 people, we ordered 5 appetizers, salad and 4 main.

For apps we got the 4 dip which came with very thin pita. The consensus favorite was the tzatziki. The eggplant and Tamara (carp roe) were close runner ups. The scordalia was like mashed potatoes... Could skip it. The grilled octopus was ok. A bit burnt for some pieces but at least it wasn't mushy like many other restaurants. The gigades (Lima beans in tomato sauce) was tasty. Good to have with some bread. The loukaniko (Greek sausage) was pretty sizable and flavorful. The Greek salad was alright... Came with a slab of tasty feta. The grilled sardines were exactly what they were. Very lightly battered and bite sized snacks.

For the main dishes, my favorite was the shrimp desfina. It was almost like a risotto topped with garlic shrimp. The tenderloin tips were super tender. The crinkle cut fries were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The sea bass was a bit overcooked where the skin was too charred for me and the fish was a bit dry. Lastly we had the mussels chablis. So good with bread.

They don't skimp on the portions. The waiter was also phenomenal. He gave us some suggestions, was attentive but not overbearing. He brought out the cake which they sliced up already and sang happy birthday with us. Then when we had some leftover, he didn't even ask if we wanted a box... He just brought it out as if he read our minds.

Very...

I had pretty high expectations, since the food was fairly expensive. Our meal came with bread and butter, and we also ordered garlic bread. It was very oily but tasted good. Our entrees also came with a side salad and a choice of a side. The side salads consisted of lettuce, one chunk of tomato, one olive, and one slice of cucumber. I asked for the haddock that they had on the specials menu, and it was $17.99, and I asked for a side of french fries. Our waitress offered regular fries or handcut, so I followed her suggestion for the handcut fries, which came back as an added expense on my bill. This was not disclosed before I ordered them. My boyfriend got the steak for $19.99 with a side of potatoes. The meals do not come with anything other than the protein and the side. The haddock I ordered was probably less than a quarter of a pound, very thin, tasteless, and extremely overcooked. I could have made a better meal at my own home for less than half the cost. My boyfriend enjoyed his steak but mentioned that it really wasn't anything special and could have also been made at home with minimal effort. Not only was the food lackluster, but we were sat at the window which was extremely cold, very far away from everything else, and our waitress was not personable or friendly at all. I still gave a 22% tip out of courtesy, but I would not recommend going here unless you want to try out something cheaper...

Decided on this place after reading other reviews (4.4). Went for dinner before our sunset cruise. Since we had things we needed to set down (backpack and purse, we asked to be seated on a table for 4 but they told us NO. The place was practically empty (2 other tables - a single diner and a couple at a table for 4 so why not us?). Service started out at (2 - the local non-Greek girl) but parts of it went up to (5 - Greek guy & girl when we asked for extra bread to go with Saganaki) with service speed a (3). The air conditioning hardly worked and it felt like 78~80 degrees inside where we were asked to sit. Prior to arrival, we had studied the menu and had for appetizer saganaki (lightly breaded cheese that has been lightly fried and set on fire for visual effect and adding a burnt crust) and octopus. Saganaki (5) with dense bread was awesome! Octopus (3) was mostly grilled nicely (body was but the tentacles were a little over cooked/burned) with a drizzle of olive oil but lacked seasonings as was bland. For entrees we had Moussaka (layered eggplant with cheese and meat) OPA (4) which was tender and tasty and Lamb Chops (2) which was ordered medium but came well done and dry which was a huge disappointment - It was bland to boot! We were trying to experience the Ethnic Food experience (couple of the staff sounded Greek) so part of it good part of it not so good. We give it...