Kismet — Restaurant in Cambridge

New unique café from the Iggy’s Bread team.

For the past few months, Kismet has been my favorite place in Cambridge to unwind. Not your everyday laptop-and-latte cafe, but rather it leans hard into aesthetics over practical utility. The space is small, but they make it work beautifully. Instead of cramming in tables, they opted for plants, a fireplace, and lofty ceilings that fill the place with natural light. During colder months, the fireplace becomes the centerpiece that provides both warmth and ambiance.

Pastries come from their main Iggy’s bakery, with a small rotating selection: croissants, cheese twists, and a couple sweets. Limited, but top-tier. Iggy’s is my favorite local bakery, and their croissants always deliver—flaky, soft, and never overly buttery.

Difficult to pick a favorite, but I really enjoyed the Chocolate croissant, Almond croissant, and the Pepperoni cheese twist. Without a tray or full-sized table, it was almost impossible to eat these without making a mess, but it was a mess worth making.

Drinks-wise, their “Healing” lineup seemed unique. Aromatic coffee-based drinks infused with dried floral petals and unconventional ingredient combos. Each drink has its own vibe and scent. I wouldn’t say they justify the premium price, but they’re interesting enough to try...

Considering that Kismet is an Arabic word, I was expecting an Arabic-inspired coffee shop, but I was greeted by a menu that had standard choices and a few specialty choices - but no Arabic choices. This should have been a red flag from the get go, that a coffee shop can aestheticize from but not commit to the culture that it’s borrowing from. The interior is beautiful, but in the winter, it was not practical. Every time the door opened, you were hit by the brutal New England cold, inescapable because the coffee shop is one large oval. I tried the mocha and the Mexican hot chocolate. The mocha was okay, not memorable but decent. The Mexican hot chocolate was awful. I wanted to order it before I saw a few other people got it, and it was a pretty drink. Unfortunately, the chocolate was chalky and the spices used didn’t blend into the drink at all, resulting in a bitter mouth punch at the end of your sip. It was an expensive drink, and I hate to waste food, but it was so bad that I returned almost the entire thing to the...

Kismet, also going by the name Imagine Cafe, is a small, cozy aesthetic cafe located in West Cambridge. The cafe has a decent amount of seating, but was quite crowded when we entered.

The staff are friendly and bring the drinks over as well as make them quite quickly. We did dine-in but when we were ordering there was no seating, so we got our drinks in take out containers. The drink cups are pretty nice though, and would look much better in photos with the cups.

The food however was alright, not the greatest but tasted fine. The butter croissant was fluffy but pretty much tasted fine. The matcha was alright, it didn't really suit my tastes but tasted fine. I think I would need to try something different to see if I'd like this place more, but it was already good...