Shōjō Cambridge — Restaurant in Cambridge

We've been meaning to try out Shojo's wing Wednesday for a while, and finally made it this week. I appreciated that the staff were very upfront about the policies for Wing Wednesday -- each person has to order one item (app, entree, or drink) before they "unlock" $1 wings. They have a special menu with smaller portions of their normal menu as "sides" on Wednesdays.

We got the crispy tofu salad and the kimchi fried rice. The crispy tofu salad was great! Packed with watercress, avocado, and tofu, with a tasty sauce. It went great with the wings. The kimchi fried rice was also pretty good.

Wings come in sets of $5 per flavor, so we tried 3 flavors. They have some regular flavors as well as special flavors. I tried some wing flavors I've never tried before, like Shanghai sesame. I wasn't expecting to like it, but it was really good! Maybe a bit too much sauce on the outside, as it was a bit too salty. I also liked the Sichuan dry rub, though again a bit too much dry rub -- I ended up scratching some off. It's a bit sweet but since it's a dry rub it's the crispiest wing. The soy garlic was much less saucy than the Shanghai sesame. It didn't make a strong impression on me.

Overall the wings are a great deal and the flavors are very unique! I can definitely see myself coming back on a Wednesday. Service was...

May 2025 (dinner): Shojonator very good, and they had no problem with medium rare this time. Duck fat fries were crisp, very hot, and a big portion (even though it was an add-on to the burger). Fish sauce wings were very good. Crisp tofu salad was a great watercress salad. Lots of cocktails on menu, small but good list of beers. Wine selection tiny. Friendly and helpful service

Paid $45 pp w 1 glass beer. We shared three dishes, which were lots of food.

Outdoor tables not available on May 17 (Sat eve); hope they'll open them soon!

Careful: their reservation app shows no availability for the upcoming hour whether they're empty or packed, so call if you're planning to walk in.

Review from 2024 (lunch): The Shojonator is a hamburger served on a bao bun. Good idea: the bun isn't sweet and mushy like most burger buns. Bacon, sauce, all good. Portion was a good size, not huge like some places. The patty itself was well done, which I normally don't like, but it was nicely crisped. One problem: the bun wasn't warm. I mentioned that to the server and she offered to replace it, a food sign.

Duck fat...

About the service: I thought it was terrible. The waitress who served us wasn’t friendly, and we ordered three different dishes. It took over 45 minutes for the first dish to arrive, another 20–25 minutes for the second dish, and then some additional minutes for the third dish. I found that absurd—everything should have been served at the same time. There was no one else in the restaurant, just me, my husband, and a woman sitting at another table. Honestly, the service is not what I would expect from any place.

There were 3 or 4 dishes unavailable because the kitchen didn’t have them, which is absurd too. I work in a kitchen, so I know how it is.

About the food: The dishes are flavorful and creative.

I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant if the service is gonna be like this, but the...