Summer Shack
| Address: | 149 Alewife Brook Pkwy, Cambridge, MA 02140, USA |
| Phone: | +1 617-520-9500 |
| Site: | summershackrestaurant.com |
| Rating: | 3.8 |
| Working: | 11:30AM–9PM 11:30AM–9PM 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–10PM 12–10PM 12–9PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 13
A
A Private User
This location seems to be extremely similar to the Boston location on Dalton. Every meal comes with great corn bread. They have a wonderful raw bar, some of the better oysters around and always 6-10 types to design yourself an oyster platter. I also highly recommend the chicken wing appetizer. For mains, Ive tried their variety of fried seafood and fish dishes. Im a big fan of the Rhode Island Style calimari as well as their always present fish specials. The only downside I see is that I like my drinks with a little more generous of a pour. Also the deserts arent very good, but really you shouldnt be coming here for the desert. Overall a wonderful restaurant, highly recommended for old fashioned new england seafood with a few modern twists.
GA
Gauri Kadu
I dont understand the good reviews for this place. This is mediocre at best. The fried chicken is stale and overly greasy, the sweet potato fries are soggy and disgusting. The ceviche is at minimum C+, providing no palate, simply a one flavor meal. They gave 5 chips to eat this with. The crab cake is GREASY, I have never had a crab cake this greasy and full of half crab half filler, no chunks of crab. For the price of this I could go anywhere better . The crab cake is GREASY and covered in a bread crumb outer shell that tastes like pan fried sadness Heck I could get trader Joes Crab cakes from the freezer and have them be better! I am appalled at the food here. The whole idea that this place is a local favorite astounds me. Truly.
CA
Catherine Feldman
HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE 7/2/15 9:00pm. Old/not fresh food, atrocious and argumentative management and terrible service. Sent back the $32 crab legs because they were so tough and old you could not get the meat out of the shell. Tried to talk to manager but he was incredibly aggressive and argumentative and refused to listen to us about it. Charged excessively and told us it was reasonable for the crab to taste not fresh because it was frozen and old so we should not have expected it to be better, despite us having the same dish MANY times before. Terrible experience, I will never be returning and am telling everyone to avoid Summer Shack. Fire that manager, he is ruining what was once a great restaurant.
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Randi Ryan
My family and I stopped in for lunch. The waitress, Meg, is the worse I have ever encountered. Not once did she ask how our meal was, if i had, I would have informed her my food was bland. When she brought our bill, she placed it on the table and ran. We were charged 2.50 for childrens drinks, the same as an adult, and not once were they offered a refill. When I complained to the manager, he just looked at me and said "What do you want me to do?" As the manager, you should know what to do. It was the worse display of management I have seen as well. It was as if he didnt care. In my opinion, both Meg and the manager need to find new professions!! I walked out beyond dissatisfied!
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DowntownScotty
I guess I go there because its there. Kind of like why does it happen ? Because it happens. I live right next to it. Bartenders are really good. Cynthia, Namm and Maureen. Customers are all decent people. Clam chowder is just OK. Buffalo shrimp is OK. Fried chicken is average at best. Not crispy enough. Really good quality seafood though. The seafood smell is a little pungent but not too bad for a seafood chain. And it is a chain. I dont care what any of you fools say. There is a Summer Shack in Dedham, Boston and Mohegan Sun in addition to Cambridge. I wish they had a better " non fish menu."
A
A Private User
Over-hyped and over-priced. Portions are lousy and quality is not what you would expect from a seafood restaurant with its reputation. I will not order fish, e.g., haddock, salmon, etc. because the portions are tiny and they just dont know how to prepare the food so that it has flavor. Every time ive had fish here it has been overcooked. It does have a few good appetizers and the raw bar is usually excellent. They have a good beer selection and several tasty desserts, as well. Stay away from the dinners as they just arent worth the money.
LO
Lori Stratton
It is far from a quality eating place. It is noisy and uncozy. The presence of lobsters staring at you in the tanks is barbaric. They cant even offer a vegetarian who may come with a group of seafood lovers a salad other than a piece of iceberg lettuce. Cant even get a piece of corn that is not cooked in the same water in which lobsters were killed, I mean "cooked" (even when you ask for it). We could not even get a plain baked potato!
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Nicolas Schank
Not a fancy upscale place, but a fun time. Prepare for a lot of food and go for the seafood (the fried chicken is also apparently pretty good, but I didnt have any myself). Lots of beer options. Presentation is a bit less impressive, and they dont really have stand-out sides. Their fries were fairly bland, for instance. All in all, a good place to go with a big group to chow down, but not suitable for a date or anything.
BE
Beijia Zhang
Its a bit too pricey for the quality of food. Sometimes they have interesting appetizers as specials but most of the entrees are really kind of basic and a bit boring. The fish tacos are nice (they use haddock) but pricey for just two tacos and a load of fries. Lobster is amazingly expensive here considering they typically cost between $5 to $10 a pound at Market Basket which also will steam them for free.
SE
Sean Laurence
This is a HUGE restaurant with tons of seating. I really liked the giant pots in the middle with various creatures of the sea waiting to be cooked in them. I tried the full belly fried clams. They were super fresh and tasty too. There were a couple of wait staff that took care of us (we had a large group). They were very friendly and attentive. Id like to come back here to explore more of their menu.
TE
Terran Lane
Classic New England fish joint. Steamed lobster, fried fish, etc. Prepared well and not pretentious. Good place to go with kids on a Sunday evening: $10 kids meal, including sundae bar, a wandering balloon artist, and a laid back staff who are used to the chaos of a ton of kids running around. If the kids ask nicely, they may pull a lobster out of the tanks for them to look at up closer.
A
A Private User
Good corn bread and rolls, but down hill after that. Tasteless shrimp cocktail app, wonder bread rolls for the clam rolls, fish and chips should have been called batter-fries and bit o fish. Everything salty and over fried, and 4.50 for a dish of sorbet that had chunks of ice in it. Cost us $72 for 2 people, and with only 1 beer between us. Would never go again.
KE
Kelly Melendez
Went for my 10yr anniversary. How disappointing. We have talked about going for years and finally made our way there. The mussels tasted like human feces or at least the smell of feces. They were disgusting, had ti spit them out. Got the net with lobster, mussels, clams and corn. There were 2 clams the rest were mussels and they were nasty. SS lobster next time.
