The Cellar Food & Drink — Restaurant in Cambridge

THIS IS A DISCRIMINATORY ESTABLISHMENT.

"So that you'll stop staring at me, I guess I'll take your order" - The Owner of The Cellar

Looking for a good, quick dinner, I suggested to my boyfriend that we try The Cellar, a place I'd been many times before and enjoyed. My boyfriend and I walked in ahead of another couple, and were seated. Oddly, I noticed that the woman, the owner as she told us, proceeded to first take the order of the older, white couple who came in after us and were seated after us. I thought that was odd, but decided to ignore it. We waited another ten minutes without being helped. The owner finally walked over then and told us she was short staffed, but not in a professional or apologetic way. Fine, I thought, that is no big deal! But she went back to drinking at the bar and muttered something under her breath about us.

After waiting for a few minutes, my boyfriend and I had decided what we wanted to order. I was trying to make eye contact with the owner to take our order, but she was completely inattentive. Her friend then came over to her and muttered under her breath that we were looking at her, so the owner came over, with a judging look on her face, oozing disrespect, and said - LITERALLY VERBATIM - "So that you'll stop staring at me, I guess I'll take your order."

I could not believe what she had just said - it was so rude and completely uncalled for. I responded, "ma'am, there is no need to talk like that to a patron, and yes I was trying to catch your eye because we were ready to order." I cannot explain if her discriminatory behavior was race-based or age-based, but I have never felt so insulted in my life in a restaurant. I will never go back to The Cellar and urge anyone who lives in Cambridge or visits to respect the racial and age diversity of this beautiful town and to not support this horrible management with your business....

On the spectrum of sophistication, the Celler food lies somewhere between home-style food and haute cuisine, leaning more towards home-style food. We were greeted by the owner of the establishment, Marilyn. She was charming and welcoming. The food is simple, familiar, affordable and delicious. We started with Perfectly braised short rib tacos with shredded lightly pickled and spicy cabbage. Followed by ever popular masterfully fried Rosemary truffle fries and kale and Cesar salad. While waiting for our main course, mussels (from George's Island) and freshly made sausage in a tomato sauce over ziti, the chef, chef Yaz sent us the most tender and flavorful chicken kebab I have had in a long time. It was served with barberry and Roseland saffron basmati rice. (Roseland saffron is chef Yaz signature ingredient) and a side of fresh mint, tomato and cucumber and a touch of red onions salad / light lemon and olive oil dressing. The right way to eat this dish is; you mix the rice and salad and have a spoonful with a perfectly sized moist chicken kabab cube. It's savory, a bit tangy and full of flavor and truly refreshing. This was my favorite dish. Chef Yaz is the new chef at The Cellar. She brings her years of experience working in variety of restaurant from the Plough to Clio and her very personal touch to every dish. We felt welcomed, received good service, ate well and left very satisfied. We will...

Awful experience with a rude and drunken owner at the Cellar

My girlfriend and I went to get a what we thought would be a casual dinner at the Cellar tonight. Despite the restaurant being quiet, we easily waited for 2 min or so before even being greeted by someone. Finally, the owner (who had clearly been drinking) of the restaurant took us to our table, gave us the wrong menu (brunch instead of dinner) and then had us waiting another 10 minutes or so before even asking if we needed water or more time with the menu.

Meanwhile, two older guests who had arrived after us had their orders taken very quickly by the drunken owner. After waiting another ~10 min, the owner came back, muttered something rude under her breath and then apologized for being "understaffed" saying that some one would take our order soon. She then returned to the bar and continued drinking her martini.

We thought about leaving the restaurant but to be honest, we were just confused as to what was going on. So regretfully, we waited another 10 minutes and then just stared at the owner to get her attention.

She made eye contact with us and then walked over and said "so that you'll stop staring at me, I guess I'll take your order."

It's safe to say that this establishment discriminates against some of its customers, either by race or age -- we immediately left the restaurant offended and discriminated against. Stay away...