Si Cara — Restaurant in Cambridge

OK good stuff first -- the pizza was really tasty and different! I don't think it will be everyone's cup of tea. It's definitely more of a crust-lover's pizza.

Super, super thin slice with a giant tasty soft bread puff at the end. If you love bread, you'll love this pizza because it's so soft and fresh. But the toppings are pretty minimal, so if you're more of a toppings person, you might not be a fan. The toppings were also pretty soggy. I think the pizza was pretty overpriced considering how minimal the toppings were - I think $16/18 would be more appropriate then the $20-$25 range they were at.

The burada was incredible. Possibly one of the best I've had. The rhubarb was such a great touch, it was really tasty. But they definitely didn’t give us enough bread with it (ironically)

The wine selection was also great. I was a little confused why cocktails were listed online but not on the in-restaurant menu, but not a huge deal.

Our hostess was absolutely lovely and awesome, but our server was pretty meh. He didn't seem super knowledgeable about the menu -- we asked which wines were chilled (since we started with the very delicious lambrusco that was chilled and were curious which others were chilled). He said none of them were, but we pointed out that the lambrusco we just had was. So then he had to go check with someone else and it turns out ALL the wines are chilled. Which was a little weird.

But that wasn't a huge deal. The real issue is that our server continued to check in with us every 15 minutes or so -- I think he came over 4-5 times while we were eating and chatting over the course of an hour. It was busy, maybe they wanted us to go, but we had bought a bottle of wine so were sticking around.

Then, after he brought out the check and we immediately put in our cards, he didn't give us the time of day. I actually think he must have just left without telling us because he was nowhere to be seen. We kept trying to make eye contact with other servers, and couldn't get anyone to notice us. This went on for about half an hour. As my friend said "I've never felt so unseen in a restaurant before". I will say we were seated in the corner at the bar, so that probably had something to do with it, but it definitely felt uncomfortable and put a damper on the experience.

My friend actually ended up having to get up and go find a random different server to hand our credit cards because we were waiting so long and it was so ridiculous.

Then, this server came back and said he couldn't split the check three ways because of the system (which seems fishy to me, I think he just didn't know how to or didn't bother to find out how to), so we said it would be fine to split it on two cards.

But then, when he brought us the checks, 2/3 of the bill was on one card and 1/3 was on another. Which obviously made it a lot more complicated for us to figure out who owed what. It was just not really a professional way to handle a check, especially when we spent almost $200.

The other plus though is that sitting at the bar towards the windows gave us a great view of Central Sq people watching. Which, as always, Central is fantastic for. Lots of characters.

Overall, liked the pizza but our service experience...

This was one of the most pleasant experiences I have had dining out in a little while. My wife and I went at 5PM with our 6 month old - the entire staff was so welcoming and hospitable in a situation where sometimes you feel like a nuisance with a small child (and rightly so for some children) it was amazing.

The food - start to finish was some of the best Italian food we've had in recent memory.

At a "Pizza" place.

Canotto style pizza - which the server informed us is Italian for raft - the pizzas do vaguely resemble a dinghy of amazing sourdough crust topped with both traditional and more innovative offerings. We had the classic margherita and the lamb. Both were absolutely lights-out delicious. The crust has an insane tang and great snap to it. I could probably survive off this and the garlic bread.

Luckily, everything else was also ridiculously good. Deceptively simple sounding dishes, executed FLAWLESSLY and with great ingredients. 48HR sourdough starter for the breads and pizza. Heirloom tomatoes and house bread in the salad. Even the mixed green salad was insane. I'm pretty sure they make EVERYTHING (I mean they make their own fermented red pepper flakes and garlic oil....)

Wine list was tight and very well curated. Something for everyone with a focus on natural and small production labels. Some really good values. I got kind of excited when the women behind us kept talking about how good her margarita was but she was chatting pizza and they only do beer and wine.

Price was very reasonable based on anything in recent memory. Under $200 for what would easily have fed 4-5 people (5-6 small plates and starters and 2 pizzas).

Si Cara hits way above it's price tag and I would go fast - there may not be much availability there once the...

I had a wonderful experience at Si Cara a few weeks ago. We made a reservation for 7:45 and had to wait a bit for our table to be ready. We were sitting right in front of the kitchen so enjoyed watching the pizzas and other oven-fired dishes going in and out of the pizza oven.

Everything we had was delicious, but the oven-baked clams were everyone's favorite dish. The clams were perfectly cooked and the seafood flavor was poignant and delicious. The chewy bread sopped up the soup perfectly. This is a must-get.

Our pizzas were delicious -- by the time we got to them, we had already had 2 iterations of the pizza dough, but it was still a pretty perfect pairing. The toppings are minimal (very little shrimp on the shrimp pizza) but each one was delicious. I don't know where else I could get a shrimp cauliflower salsa verde pizza, but it works surprisingly well. The pizza dough is light and chewy, and seems to be made from sourdough as it's a bit sour.

I also really enjoyed everything else. The broccoli was a cold dish with a smoky char and creamy but light green goddess sauce, and the white bean dip hit the spot. We also really enjoyed our drink (Love Island), which had sweet and fruity flavors.

The garlic bread wasn't a must-get -- it was more butter than anything else, and is the same bread as the pizza. I did happen to have the garlic bread again at a pop-up event, and that one had more cheese and was more enjoyable.

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience here and could definitely see myself returning, if only...