Pagu

This is one of my favorite restaurants in the Cambridge/Boston area for so many reasons:It has a great bar program. The ambiance is fancy and decor is nice. It serve lunch and dinner. I was working closed by when they first opened and got to eat lunch here quite a bit. To be clear, it's not affordable enough to eat lunch here everyday but the food is worth the price. I came here for dinner this time and here are some of my suggestions:On a busy weekend, it would be helpful to make a reservation especially if you have a big party. For a party of 2-3ish, I recommend the Kitchen bar seats because it's really fun watching the chefs cook. It's pretty easier to get bar seating if you are by yourself or with 1 more person.Drinks are great and you can find something to enjoy. For food, try everything. The knife cut noodles is a must. Suckling Pig comes off as pull pork but great to share with a group and it comes with Baos (a sandwich if you), kimchi, and sauce. The suckling pig is so good that I ordered it to go for my Super Bowl party. My wife love the Koji Marinated striplion because it's a more tasty and umami steak compared to what you find from the usual steakhouse. There is a lot more for food options.

Had a solid time having dinner here as a party of 4. The ambiance is upscale but not stuffy and the service is friendly and attentive. Unfortunately, value for price is a bit hit-or-miss and none of the flavors besides dessert really blew us away.Thoughts on what we got:Tempura string beans: a solid portion with flavorful aioli and hot sauce on top, but not very unique flavor or presentation-wise. If you really like tempura, would recommend. Otherwise, would skip.Roasted mushrooms: these were flavorful, well cooked, and a good portion size. Would recommend.Squid ink oyster bao: very delicious fried oyster and purple cabbage filling in a soft, fluffy bao, but wasn't worth the price for me. If you like bao at this price point, would recommend. Otherwise, would skip.Roasted bone marrow and mushrooms: an incredibly soft-textured dish with good presentation, but not very flavorful or worth the price to me. Would skip.Roasted tuna collar for 4-6: a fun experience making your own handrolls, with a solid portion size when split between four people. Unfortunately, not very flavorful and different parts of the collar differed in tenderness and dryness. Would recommend having with a group if you want to try the experience. Otherwise, would skip.Bouqerones: the biggest rip off of the night. $8 for basically the top layer of a $1 can of anchovies. Would not recommend.Black sesame tofu: a unique and delicious restaurant dessert. Sweet without being too sweet, elevates the dish by having a layer of foam on top, and has a wonder hojicha tea flavor added to it. Would recommend.Overall, I would maybe come back to try more of Pagu's large plates and desserts, but probably skip out on their small plates. Food here is okay, but not really worth the price. Ambiance and service are great though.

Let me begin this review by noting that I've know about pagu since it opened (I think 2016), and this was my first time visiting in 2024. I checked reviews time to time but it wasn't high on my list to visit. We ended up coming because we were in the area and thought we may be surprised, AND WE WERE. What a cute place, it really does have lovely ambiance. There is a table full of pug stuff when you walk in which is quite adorable. 0 complaints on service. Everyone was nice and helpful.Now onto the food, which was extremely disappointing.We ordered the following:Black Cod Croquettes - A bit fishy. Not what we expected. Hamachi -The fish quality was terrible. It was old and we couldn't eat it. Luckily our server noticed that we barely touched it and subbed in the patatas bravas Bone marrow - Fine but salty. Would not get this again.Patatas Bravas- The only item we enjoyed. They are crispy itty bitty potatoes almost sliced through with a little sauce on top. Mapo Tofu - I can honestly say we can make a better pork rice dish ourselves. Flavorless & the pork was not crispy.The execution here didn't make any sense on top of the food being underwhelming. Within 5 min of ordering we got the Mapo tofu (an entree), and then the hamachi & croquettes followed. Since the pork came out so fast it was obvious they did not just make it. Anyways we will not be returning. I'm surprised at the good ratings, we were very disappointed in the quality and taste of the food.

Went here last night and was incredibly impressed. There was a function going on the first floor so things were a bit noisy when we came in but not anything to do with the restaurant itself. We were seated in the lofted second floor which was quieter and nice. Service was incredible everyone was extremely helpful and attentive. Good came out extremely quickly and servers presumptively split dishes for sharing. Now the food! The food was incredible especially for the price. We've been to a few high rated places around the city and things can get pretty pricey. For the amazing quality you are getting the prices are extremely reasonable. The pork belly bao was my favorite dish. The pork was so tender and juicy and the bao was fresh and delicious. I will definitely be coming again!

Came here for lunch to celebrate Lunar New Year and despite a nice atmosphere an entertaining Lion Dance performance, the food was underwhelming.We originally wanted to come to try the Sticky Rice Duck Meal. but it wasn't available so we ordered Spicy Knife Cut Noodles, Black Cod Croquetas, Shishito Peppers. Maybe we didn't order the right dishes, but it felt like the food leaned too hard on fusion elements and lacked a true identity (on top of being overpriced).

Great drinks and good, interesting flavors. Our fav was white rabbit and smoked Kyoto (almost an old fashioned)The hamachi crudo was outta this world. The squid ink bao was good to look at but to taste, just meh, try the pork belly instead. Good service good vibes.

This was my second time visiting and I loved this visit much more than my last.I went with a friend who was vegan and was so surprised by all of the vegan options. Even their aioli is vegan which we were both happy about. Turns out, 47% of their menu can be veganized!!I do want to go back and get more of the meatier options, but highlights were def the potatoes minus the price and the mushrooms!! I'd come back also because the drinks were good and it's a good tapas style place. I think my one complaint is that the prices are a little high for what it is. We had patatas bravas, five in particular, and it was $12 :(

Certainly enjoyed the flavors here. Came here for a special occasion and had made a reservation ahead of time. We were seated at the kitchen counter which I was disappointed by (because I wanted to face my bf) but they were able to quickly switch us to a high top table without us asking. - Knife cut noodles - my bf's favorite. Lots of umami with the mushrooms and pork. - Shishito - plenty of them!- Katsu chicken - very tender inside, I love the pickled onion/cabbage too - Calamari - excellent, the squid ink sauce was also a nice addition- Pork belly bao - my favorite- Squid ink bao - comes with a fried oyster inside. Will make your teeth temporarily black so would not recommend for a date. - Cheesecake - not too sweet and has smokey/caramelized hints- Lei It On Me cocktail - I love the guava flavor in this!With the squid ink bao, my bf actually chewed into a large oyster shell which we promptly showed our server for safety reasons, which then escalated to the manager as they were all shocked to see that there. We learned that they purchase ?de-shelled oysters so that really shouldn't be there. Either way, the staff handled the situation professionally and removed the item from our bill and offered dessert on the house. Overall, my bf and I really enjoyed the meal despite the shell. Would be happy to come back!

I came here with my friends on a Thursday night to celebrate Boston Asian restaurant week. This has some mixed reviews but I was keen on trying out this restaurant. It's a Japanese & Spanish tapas restaurant near central square in Cambridge. We got the striped bass ceviche, roasted mushrooms, braised pork belly bao, purple lamb yam bao, shio koji roasted corn, chicken katsu, spicy knife cut noodles, matcha cookie and the lei it on me mocktail. My favorites were the mocktail, chicken katsu and ceviche. The ambience was quite homey and not loud. The only thing that bothered us was that we had to wait around 15 mins even though we made reservations well in advance.

This place was pretty disappointing. Supposed to be Japanese-Spanish cuisine so I was kind of assuming fusion but it was just one or the other. The food wasn't bad but just overpriced and it didn't blow my mind. The katsu was my favorite since the meat was marinated in spices as well. The knife cut noodles were also very good, we got them with meat and mushrooms (costs extra) but it wasn't spicy at all. The ambiance was nice but honestly a bit too bright for dinner. The service was very good however, and our server was knowledgeable about the menu. She did let us know if the dish only had 3 pieces and asked us if we wanted to make it four to fit our party.