Kuya Jay’s Ube Kafe — Restaurant in Cambridge

never really do reviews but unfortunately we’re disappointed and want to share why.

We visited last weekend because we wanted to try it, but first impression: it was a nice menu and nice staff. but we saw a little kid (assuming it was an employee’s kid) was on the counter near the register, with socks on near serving utensils. it made us question the sanitation itself.

Wait time was okay. but we had to wait almost an hour for longganisa that we didnt get so they offered for us to choose another item. The pancit was disappointing, it tasted like lo mein and barely a veggie pancit like the filipino cuisine. The skewers and rice was definitely the most disappointing as the portion was basically a scoop of rice and mini skewers. Though the price is cheap and it may justify the serving, and it was labeled as filipino street food. but as a filipino, our skewers are never that small.

The drinks were okay. The filipino lemonade tasted more like black tea and black tea only with a hint of calamansi. the ube matcha was good, i liked the sweetness but unfortunately had powdery texture.

the banana cue is basically brown sugar on top on the banana. normally we coat it with sugar and it should be in the crispier side.

Definitely has room for improvement, but staff was friendly. Just wanted to share this feedback and hoping it...

I was really excited to see a Filipino inspired café open in Cambridge. Filipino food is hard to find in Boston, and I went in with high hopes.

The experience was disappointing. The dishes leaned on shortcuts, using ube extract/powder and food coloring instead of real ube, and the flavors just were not there. Much of the food was bland, greasy, and overpriced for what it was. The pancit canton was so oily it made my wife and me feel sick afterward. The drinks were overwhelmingly sweet, more sugar than anything else.

I want to support Filipino food businesses, but we also have to hold them to a higher standard. Filipino cuisine is rich, nuanced, and soulful. It deserves to be represented with care, not watered down or turned into stereotypes. If we settle for less, Boston will keep getting overpriced, mediocre pop ups that do not do justice to the culture.

Kuya Jay’s is marketed as a Filipino café, but it is not run by a Filipino. That alone is not a problem and I can appreciate that our food inspires others. But paired with the quality of what is being served, the whole place felt less like a celebration of Filipino cuisine and more like a...

Fun spot to try everything ube.

Saw this cafe pop up inside one of the new office buildings nearby. Bright and spacious seating area, and the cafe wasn’t too crowded on my past two visits.

Most of their drinks were centered on ube. As someone who loves ube, I was excited, but the flavors were fairly weak. They clearly avoided the syrupy-sweet shortcut, which I respect, but the natural ube presence wasn’t enough in most drinks. In the latte, coffee drowned it out completely, and the ube milk was more like a lightly sweetened milk. Ube matcha was the most decent, but it was mostly due to the caramelized banana foam I added.

Thankfully, the food was great. One of the owners is Filipino, so dishes like the longganisa sausage were perfectly executed, and the ube waffles were genuinely satisfying.

Would return for the food, but unless the drinks get dialed up, I probably wouldn’t give them...