Amelias Trattoria

There is something about places that try to be more interesting/​versatile and they drift towards the fusion/​experimental kitchen. The dishes can easily become not edible. Surprisingly a great deal of people accept the bizarre flavors, better yet rave about them, and I wonder if this is the effect of the Emperor’s New Clothes…
Take the butternut squash gnocchi rolled in cinnamon, or a mimosa with rosemary. Cinnamon in the Italian kitchen is not popular unless Italy means Sicily, which is heavily influenced with the Arab flavors. So trying to tell me that the cinnamon gnocchi are a traditional Italian dish is a serious exaggeration. And I love gnocchi!
Stay safe and order home made pasta with mushrooms but do not expect porcini or chanterelle.
The appetizer, fried calamari on the bed of risotto was not bad and could easily be a whole meal. Not salty enough though.

I really enjoyed the bolognese pasta. Fresh salty bread to start was good with a butternut squash /​olive oil spread that was awesome! My wife really enjoyed the pear ravioli special as well. I would recommend especially if you are walking from local hotel.

Called to make a last minute reservation: «Do you mind sitting outside?» Do I mind! On a beautiful night like tonight? Another great night at Amelia’s. Wonderful food and drink and friendly friendly service. Nice teamwork. Thank you Amelia’s.

Great Italian place in Cambridge. They have a pretty good Veal Marsala, different from most I’ve had. The sauce is thinner and less creamy than most, but still good. Also I have to say, the veal was maybe the most tender and juicy piece I have ever had. They also give you bread with a really good spread.

Needed a restaurant to celebrate daughter’s college graduation this past weekend (Sat. May 14) when every place on earth is booked. Read a few reviews about Amelias since we weren’t familiar with it and went to opentable to make reservation. I was happy to see many choice times available and chose 7pm. (should have worried me!)… It was easy parking, lots of open meters. Arrived at 7pm and surprised to find a full house, small bustling restaurant. Gave our reservation, told it wasn’t in system. So I pulled up the confirmation email on phone and was distressed to see that I had a 7pm reservation, but it was on Monday night the 16^th! The service was incredible. We were told not to worry. They had a table reserved for another party of 5 (our size too) who were a bit late. They asked if we would mind waiting 10 – 15 minutes or so and if the party didn’t show, the table would be ours. If they did arrive we were told not to worry, they would find a way to seat us, make it work by moving around a few tables if needed.
Thanks to the «no show» we were seated as promised within 15 minutes.
Now to the good stuff: Aside from excellent service the food at Amelias is great! We had the antipasto to start and every item was scrumptious and more than enough for five to share. The bread and dipping sauce, great. I got the gnocchi with butternut squash filling and delicious sauce. The table decided I ordered the tastiest dish! But every other dish was a close second. One house special ravioli and even though it was also butternut squash, the taste was entirely different with a mushroom reduction sauce, yum. One pappardelle dish, one chicken dish, one short ribs and pasta… the forks were flying as we tasted and shared around the table. Every bite was wonderful.
Here’s the thing about price. Four years ago same daughter’s graduation from High School. Did better planning and got a groupon for a french restaurant located in Brighton and also in Kenmore Square. Made the reservation correctly and well in advance and for a Tuesday night to avoid some of the rush. They didn’t have our reservation and although they had empty tables, they tried to turn us away. We made a stink so they finally seated us. We had a groupon worth $ 60 on the bill. And we had the same party of five. One appetizer and five entrees. Same in terms of drinks and coffee. After the groupon was applied to the total, we payed a full ¹⁄₃ more four years ago at this place for crappy service and so-​so food, putting a little damper on our celebration. Amelia’s — priced beautifully and correctly; perfectly suited for a special occasion and also affordable for a night out for no particular reason.
Thank you Amelia’s for your wonderful food, wonderful service and for allowing us to celebrate our daughter’s graduation when there wasn’t a table to be had in either Boston or Cambridge, including at Amelia’s. Can’t wait until our next celebration when I’ll make the reservation in advance and carefully check that I made it for the right date!!!

Loved the food. It’s just a tiny place tucked into Cambridge but the food is amazing and the service is too. I had the braised beef short ribs bolognese with freshly made fusilli pasta. It was incredible and melts in your mouth. My colleague had the salmon special with fresh vegetables and it was great. The wine selections were spot on! Highly recommend.

A decent Italian restaurant in Kendall square. It is certainly a bit on the pricier side. I would expect a bit more from each dish at that price but it was an over all good experience.
I went for a team dinner with my company and the service was good, it was not busy that day on a weekday. I ordered calamari to share as an appetizer and that was my favorite dish. It came over polenta and the calamari was a balance between soft and crunchy. Often times they can be too crumbly and crispy which was not the case. The polenta was a great compliment! I had the chicken entrée and it was good but nothing impressive that really jumped out to my tastebuds. Also for dessert we shared the tiramisu with a side of vanilla gelato. Gelato was yummy but the tiramisu didn’t have a homemade taste to it. I get the feeling its outsourced?
The one thing that stood out to me was the Italian wine options. I had a glass of white that I do not remember the name of but it was delicious!

The ambience of this place and service were impeccable. The bread basket was tasty, a tad bit salty.
I ordered a Chicken Fettuccini pasta. The pasta sauce was drenched in oil, black pepper and salt. It was really hard to eat. For the price i was charged i was expecting much better. How could an Italian Trattoria not know how to out together a simple Alfredo fettuccini pasta?

Super cute restaurant even if the location isn’t the best. The specials all sounded delicious but when lobster ravioli was mentioned I was done. I tend to always crave lobster ravioli and this one did not disappoint. First, back to the drinks and apps. Ordered a bottle of prosecco and the meatballs. Delicious meatballs with lots of yummy gooey cheese. The waiter brought out a couple rounds of bread so we could soak up all the sauce/​cheese. :). Back to the ravioli — yes it was a little pricey but the ravioli was STUFFED with seafood and the CHUNKS of lobster hanging out in the sauce/​outside of the ravioli was impressive. All in all a very satisfying meal!

Went for lunch with a colleague. No wait though it did get busier as we sat. We both got paninis. The Rosemary fries are great and the mixed green salad had pickled onions on it which was a really nice touch. Cappuccino was solid as well. Service was attentive but not overly so. Good balance. I’d definitely go back.

I recently made a reservation last Friday night. We got stuck in some traffic and gave them a courtesy call to give them a heads up (we were 5 – 10 mins late).
After we had checked in with host, they told us we’d be seated shortly and that the couple was paying…25 minutes later, no couple had left and still found ourselves waiting to be seated. Hungry and annoyed, we decided to leave try somewhere else. So much for making a reservation.

I really wanted to like this place. My date and I came last minute and had a reservation made on Open Table. I am a restaurant worker so to get Valentine’s Day off is impossible, so this was our date on a Monday night. When we arrived we decided we would rather just sit at the bar, this was a wise choice and there are only 8 tables in the place and they are closely put together. There were only two front of the house employees on and it was difficult for them the handle the restaurant that had almost filled up, and my party of two at the bar.
We started off with an order of meatballs. They were 5 small meatballs. The flavor was very good. Expected more from the sauce. The sauce was kind of watery and did not to seem to have any thickness to it. My date had the house made gnocchi and she really enjoyed it. I had the clams with the red sauce. Honestly it was very very good. 10 clams with spaghetti. Not a lot of pasta, but didn’t run out while eating it with the clams. The sauce here was good, a little bit of a kick and even though no consistency, very flavorful.
Would I go back? That is the question we all ask ourselves as we write these reviews. Food would make me return, staff and service was slow. It would be ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ on my return.

Best gnocchi I have ever had. Absolutely delicious. Has limited outdoor seating that is nice if you can get it.

I’ve walked by this restaurant a thousand times but today was my first time in. The lunch menu looked great and the wait staff was very friendly. I had the risotto special and it was delicious! The bread is great as well. Will definitely be back

It pains me to have to write a negative review: I want good Italian restaurants to succeed.
There is still hope for this one.
The kitchen: Simple pleasures like pomodoro and Bolognese sauces needn’t be flat and insipid. Try more aromatics, longer reduction and more concentrated flavor. It might help to spy on your Boston competition, Da Vinci, where they are beating you hands down on this point. Your prices encouraged me to expect more.
The clientele: Mostly harmless and Cambridge cool, except for the entitled New Yorky party of four who gossiped too loudly about San Gimignano, intending others to hear, and then elbowed their way to be seated first at a table, despite arriving after my weary and hungry party, which had a reservation. You know who you are. You’re a modern plague on Cambridge not unlike that long ago bacterial infection that inspired Boccaccio to write the Decameron. I wish I could prescribe antibiotics for your kind.
The management: I appreciate that you’re trying, and crowded nights are the worst, a perfect storm at 20:00. Nevertheless, it was an unpardonable faux pas to give a table to that obnoxious and pushy claque ahead of our polite, discreet group, when we had arrived first with a reservation made well in advance. Was your avoidance of my inquiring gaze an admission of guilt? Bullies are made possible by their enablers. Just stop it and grow a pair.
If I sense an improvement, I’ll be back. Meanwhile, the braying social climbers can have my table.

Meh. Came here for a work event, the place is tiny and our group of 12 took up half the restaurant. I was seated in the aisle between our table and the bar so the waiters kept bumping into me. It was quite annoying but more annoying was the incredibly slow service. It took forever for them to take our drink, appetizer, and food order. At one point we had drinks, and appetizers, and still had food menus waiting to order our entrees. The apps were ok, nothing spectacular. I got the lobster ravioli which was the special, the lobster meat inside the ravioli was ok, but the lobster meat served with the sauce was atrocious. It was tough and obviously not fresh at all. The pasta was not even hot by the time it was served which was disappointing. Prob won’t be back

It’s expensive for lunch, ($ 15-​$ 17 pp) but I got their special panini of the day which was an olive-​oil drenched chicken pesto mozzarella with rosemary parmesan fries. This sandwich made me a better person. I ate it for two meals, lunch and dinner, because it was a beast. During those two meals I was able to experience each part of the sandwich as a separate entity, and I could honestly say that I would happily eat any part of this sandwich as a meal.
The foccacia bread was soaked in olive oil from the rich pesto, and I’d totally eat somma that just by itself, but the mozzarella was applied in thick slices and just tasted so fresh I could have just eaten a big steak size cut of it and be done, but the chicken was even better. It had grill lines and that super delicious grill taste, but it was still moist and was cut really thin so that each bite of the sandwich had the same amount of chicken, so you don’t have that bite in the middle that you can barely get your mouth around that is basically just bread and chicken.
The rosemary parmesan fries were really delicious as well, and they actually take the parmesan part seriously, as opposed to it just being an afterthought as it is in most restaurants.
I’ll also spare a moment for their fresh-​brewed iced tea. So refreshing and good! I didn’t even think about putting sugar in it, it was so delicious.
Would come back, maybe for a more upscale dinner.

EXQUISITE! First, they pay attention to how you ask for your drinks. Then, the bolognese and the mushroom risotto (special) were enough to make me want to keep eating straight through breakfast the following morning. Then they hit us with the Tiramisu that made my heart skip a beat.
Plus a waitstaff that would make Diana weep for the beauty of it all. :)
Definitely go here as often as you can!

Great restaurant for our 12^th anniversary dinner. We had the antipasto for two, crispy calamari (on delicious risotto), pappardelle with wild mushrooms and house-​made butternut squash gnocchi. We shared all the dishes (because we didn’t want to limit ourselves). We’ll definitely go back to try all the other food on the menu!

Good food. Sadly we were rushed through our meal. Arrived at 7 and paid and left by 7:45. Two different waiters asked us if we had decided on our meal immediately after ordering our appetizer which had not even arrived to the table. Nobody appeared to be rushed through their meals given we arrived after everyone was already seated and left before everyone. I’m thinking a gay couple having dinner together put them off. Also the meal was $ 85 for two entrees, app, and two glasses of wine. Way over priced and having been rushed I can’t justify spending almost $ 100 (tip included) for a 30 minute dinner.
Note: the owner or chef had friends visiting right after we arrived and they rolled out the red carpet for this party. I guess if you’re friends with him it’s worth dining here, if not, avoid coming here.