Insider Pages Reviews for The Middle East

1 Stars: Rude service, bad food (by martinlk)

martinlk — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:00:00 GMT

Cons:

The wait staff (some, not all) are rude. I showed up with 2 other people on a Friday before a concert. In short, they really didn't want to serve us drinks or food. I was reminded 3 times that they have an $8 minimum for sitting at a table. Once is fine, I say... 3 times is rude.

Ordered drinks and we never got them. 15 minutes later they wanted to take away one of the two sewing-machine tables we were sitting at to give to some other people who wanted a table. Great, so 3 people can comfortably sit at a 12" square sewing machine table with no leg room...

Saw the concert downstairs. Would be fine if they would turn a vent fan on once in a while. It went up to 80 degrees and 90% humidity. Good thing I didn't get a chance to eat anything first...

Went there another time for dinner. It was cold (ok, winter) but it was about 55 degrees upstairs and they wouldn't turn the heat up. The pieces of pita that came with whatever I ordered were obviously leftovers from a day or two ago. Stale and dry.

I've vowed to not go back, at least until I hear they've changed their act.

3 Stars: crappy restaraunt, amazing food (by sarah p.)

sarah p. — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:43:00 GMT

We have been searching for a great middle eastern restaurant in the area and we decided to try this one out. We went to the left side of the restaurant. Where we sat every time the door opened we were shot with a cold chill. And due to the restaurant's popularity, we were given numerous chills throughout our meal. The waitress was nice, however we had to ask for our empty glasses to be refilled and for the spare plates to be removed from our crowded small table. She only visited our table once to "check on us" during our entire meal. The food was incredible though. We ordered 4 versions of the kabobs- and all of them were juicy and delicious. The rice they were served on was fantastic. It was also served with a salad and baked beans. (All of the food was on one plate, also) The salad was... a salad. The baked beans were awful and were not at all middle eastern. They had no place in this meal. So overall, the restaraunt experience was awful, but the food was incredible- minus the baked beans.

4 Stars: a cambridge institution (by joslyn f.)

joslyn f. — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 07:37:00 GMT

a really great venue that brings in top talent. i remember seeing death cab for cutie a million years ago before they got big. too bad there aren't more places like this in boston

5 Stars: Favorite place to see live music (by Jennifer M.)

Jennifer M. — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:16:00 GMT

Upstairs or downstairs, the Middle East gets the best bands to come play there. I cant even count the number of times I have seen live music here. Prices are very reasonable for Cambridge- stop by for lunch or dinner too- they make a killer falafel and kibbah!

4 Stars: A Cambridge landmark (by keller m.)

keller m. — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:35:00 GMT

This Boston area institution is not merely a middle eastern themed restaurant, but a major music venue. There are two bars at ground level, bookending the portion called Zuzu. On the left and to the back is the upstairs smaller room featuring mostly local rock acts. On the right, to the back and downstairs is the much larger room, which is host to national acts as well as larger local shows. Both are excellent venues to see a show. Drinks are moderately priced and the food is good. A cool place to hang out.

4 Stars: Greek salad and fresh pita (by Jen C.)

Jen C. — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:59:00 GMT

You can get a fantastic Greek salad at the Middle East in between sets of some band downstairs. It's awesome to have a way to get fed at a club. Most places have beer. The Middle East has beer AND pumpkin kibbeh. Fantastic.

4 Stars: Music. Food. Good Times... (by Corrie H.)

Corrie H. — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:28:00 GMT

I like this resturant, and even more so I like the music.

Great appetizers and good locations (two other venues right near by)

A great place to grab a bite to eat and have some beers before your show!!

1 Stars: Bizarre ID policy, lying bouncers, rude ticket-takers result in angry customers (by geoffpynn)

geoffpynn — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 09:00:00 GMT

Why would you turn away a balding guy obviously over 30 from the 18+ show he drove 25 miles to see with his wife because his ID was expired -- instead of just giving him the "under 21" bracelet? And then why would you tell him that this is because you are "following the law as it's written" when you and he both know that there is certainly NO such law? I have no idea; you'd have to ask the management of The Middle East. Deliberately alienating your customers by irrationally keeping them out and then lying about the reason seems like a strange business strategy.

1 Stars: The music is good, but the food and service isn't (by brettd)

brettd — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 09:00:00 GMT

Catch a show- but not the food.

Our party of 3 wasn't given the proper number of utensils when we were seated, and the waitress almost threw them at us when I asked for a third set. When one person went to the bathroom and we placed our drink order(s), the waitress didn't return to collect the third person's drink order.

A friend declared "the juices are great here!", so I ordered a Cranberry juice- and watched as the waitress used the soda gun to make it. It was sickeningly sweet artificial junk, served with an r0tten slice of lemon cut too thin to squeeze.

We ordered our food, and the waitress had to RETURN TWICE to ask what we had ordered; once for two of us, and then a second time for one of the orders she had asked about already.

Two out of our party of three were served our meals; it was several minutes before the third plate showed up and we could start eating, and the 'late dish was identical to mine. The 'steak' kabobs were clearly the cheapest meat they could get their hands on and very chewy, though they were at least cooked correctly. The salad had a disgusting dressing, and beans on the side were soupy. A huge chunk of onion was placed next to the kabobs; do they not understand that the veggies and onion go TOGETHER on the skewer?

5 Stars: good (by emojoe52)

emojoe52 — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 09:00:00 GMT

if you do not like small places dont go. i love it, it feels like it was a show in freinds basement or somthing.