Food was delicious... unfortunately due to the high amounts of MSG used. :( The two of us are so unbelievably sick after eating only from this restaurant today. We had a short fast this morning and then drove by on our way home to pick up Indian food. The first time we ate here I loved it, but felt sluggish the next day, which I assumed was the result of the high amounts of cream, butter, and yogurt. But we tried it again today and specifically ordered dishes that are not creamed based. It is 10:23pm and rather than go to sleep I felt compelled to write this review warning others of the obscenely high amounts of MSG used. :( read more

Ok, their relentless mediocrity has finally won. I can't go there anymore. Last night, I sat at the bar, and ordered a Harpoon draft. Local, easy, simple. Bad. 11 ounce glass rather than a 16. Either bad lines, or the end of the keg, or both. Flat, no head, wrong. I looked at the 'tender and was going to send it back, and then realized, she probably would either argue with me, or mess with my food order. If she actually cared enough, which was debateable. I am not going back. read more

S & S a must every time we visit family in Boston and we just had a great lunch there. Works for lunch, brunch or a quick grab of tasty bits from the deli. Parking can be a challenge, but they do have a small lot. Chicken liver, knishes and corned beef Reuben are stand outs. read more

let me start by saying I have been here several times and this is a very nice place for breakfast. you get a high quality meal with great service. the place is very nice inside and you thing that really makes a difference is the fresh fruit served with the meal read more

This is a review for service and management only. I've been coming to the S&S with my family since I was child. Despite the usually pleasant visits of my past, my recent experience was bad enough for me not to return in the future. My husband and I visited for brunch and the dining room was nearly empty. We waited to be sat. We stood directly in front of 3 employees, but were completely ignored. We had to interrupt their conversation to be sat. They actually seemed visibly annoyed that they had to help us! An employee asked a manager (in front of us) where to seat us and was told "the bar." After he led us past the sparsely seated dining room into the bar area, I was met with loud TVs featuring sports--not what I had in mind for brunch. I asked if we could move to the main dining room. The host fumbled trying to find us a spot, offering instead to seat us in another back room. I asked him (again) if we could sit in the main dining room at one of the MANY open booths. He left us standing in a hallway holding menus while he looked (?) at the dining room. Finally, after essentially arguing our way into the main room, he sat us at a tiny table (not the booth I'd asked for multiple times). We were very awkwardly sandwiched right in between 2 other occupied tables in a nearly empty room. We were also right at the edge of the room by the door. After this very strange experience we felt completely unwelcome and decided to go elsewhere. In short: Rude and unwelcoming service. Will not return. read more

I with it recently and ordered a hard salami sandwich. When I took my first bite something was not right as it did not taste like hard salami to me and had to spit it out. I called the waitress only to find out that it was Genoa salami. The waitress told me that they have Jewish salami and Genoa salami. I do not like pork and pork is in the Genoa salama. The owner told me that the S&S is not a Jewish establishment even though it is owned by Jewish people and that I should've specified Jewish salami. I don't have to worry about that because I will never go there again. read more

One of my favorite brunch spots ever. Great Bloody Mary's , homemade corn beef hash , great liver ,lox, bagels .. you name it and they've got it and it's great ! Never left disappointed . read more

An "oh so homey" family style diner-type restaurant. We split time between both coasts and eat at S&S the most frequently of any place in Cambridge. You can't go wrong for all the choices, including the amazing deserts, and breakfast all-day and evening. Not the place to go if you're looking for an innovative new menu. This place started out as a Kosher-style deli nearly 100 years ago and is stilled owned by the same family! Definitely a local haunt with comfort food at its best. Many dishes are so generous in size that they can be easily split for two, unless of course, you want to take the leftovers for lunch tomorrow! Definitely just tell them how you want your beef cooked and they will do it. No excuse for not getting it how you like it, but if the waiter doesn't ask, tell them! We've been eating here for over 20 years. read more

Everything I get here tends to be a decent version of something that should be awesome in a really bad for you kind of way. That leaves me feeling kind of meh about the S&S, in an I'd go but only if someone invited me kind of way. The reubens are good but not great and the breakfast food is pretty unexciting, though fine. Knockwursts and beans were kind of off though. Deli should be comfort food to an excessive degree, and this place just doesn't get there for me, though it's clearly trying. B- for effort? read more

What a load of tripe....This place had, without doubt the slowest service, and the food was even worse. If you're into tasteless, super bland food, then this is the place for you. So much so that our one and only time there even the soft drinks were flat too...tasty? no chance. The bbq drowned chicken was clearly boiled for 24 hrs prior to it's dip in the bbq sauce, then dumped on a plate. The fish was just as bad - the odd thing was, that on the menu, it never mentioned bbq sauce on the fish, and lo and behold it was drowned in the stuff too. The best part of the restaurant was the exit door, back to sanity. Needless to say a quick stop to the ice cream store down the road would have satisfied my pallette for a fraction of the price. Sadly I had to give this one star...shame, what a waste of a star. read more

S&S Deli is a huge place if you haven't been before. There is a parking lot in the rear which is convenient and the restaurant is very clean & well maintained. The service was very friendly & fast. The food is diner style and is very good but not fantastic which may be due to the large volume of customers being served. read more

I am so very disappointed by this place because I have been coming here for more than a decade. Having breakfast and my poor son says mommy something crawling in my food, and it was a roach. I notified the waiter who was apologetic but when I spoke to the manager, she was not shocked. I am calling the board of health of this restaurant. I didn't even mention fruit flies, come on, in Janurary. Prior to this, S&S was one of my favorite restaurants but I will never ever eat here again. I am still very grossed out and don't want to eat out anymore. 2016 great exterminators available. read more

Perfect restaurant for friends and/or family, especially if there are picky eaters in the group! We are visiting from Chicago and are spoiled with good food - this place really impressed everyone! Comfortable atmosphere, great portions, and everything was delicious. read more

My brothers and I have been semi-regulars here since we moved into the neighborhood in 2005. This is a great place to go if you like casual comfort, familiarity, and consistency. The food is fine -- nothing spectacular, but, again, consistent. The service staff is usually attentive and friendly. There is also a take-out counter that includes some good-looking desserts I've never tried. UPDATE 3/2/07 I had a really strange experience at the S&S last Saturday around 1PM. Since I wasn't very hungry, I ordered a cup of clam chowder. The server told me it's not served until 4PM. I said, "Are you sure?" a. It's on the menu that says lunch is served 11AM - ?? daily. and b. I can see people around me with matzo ball soup and another unidentified soup in a cup. Is clam chowder the only soup not served until 4? And why, then, is it on the menu? "If I go ask in the kitchen, they'll just tell me we don't serve it till 4." Since I didn't want anything else, our server apparently went to the kitchen and made a special request to the chef, who apparently obliged. Yes, I got what I ordered, but the whole experience was really weird because I was made to feel like I was putting them out or asking for some strange special order. He even asked, "Was it good?" when clearing our dishes. Weird. I usually feel at home at the S&S but this experience felt icky. read more

I am not sure what happened to the service of this restaurant over the years. I have been a loyal customer for over a decade and was saddened by the events that took place today. I had a friend and her teenage son meet me there for brunch today, while they waited the son was hungry so his mother ordered him an omelet, about an hour later I arrived. When I arrived I asked if we could please move to a booth, well this seemed to be an issue because I had to ask 2 servers and then a manager had to come over and explain the issue with changing seats. While she clearly explained what the issue would be regarding the changing of seats and I understood (thank you). It just seemed ridiculous. So seats changed my friends son decides to wrap up the remainder of his omelet to take home, the waiter comes and wraps it up for us very nice. As me and my friend were ordering our food her teenage son becomes hungry again and decides to finish his omelet. Well he opens it ans surprise he found hair in his food, his first instinct as a kid was to take the hair out of the food, which he did his mother asks the server is she would please throw it away, but the server says she is going to inform the manager. So we sit there and wait for at least 20 min and a supposedly manager (an older lady, has glasses, short brown hair usually sits in the back behind the main counter that holds all the pastries while I called to get the name of this person Amy informed me that she did not know which one I was talking about REALLY AMY so helpful and very rude over the phone THANK YOU AMY) comes over and informs us that they did not find the hair in the food. My friend explained to her that it was her son who found the hair and that he took it out, the manager informs us that he already ate most of it and not only that he should have left the hair in the food (which I can understand, but this was a kid reacting and not thinking about evidence that is needed). Mind you my friend had already spent about $30 feeding her son and then we spent another $50 so a total of $80 for all three of us. I was really surprised about how rude the supposedly manager was, not only did she make it seem like we were lying about the hair in the food but she also made it seem like we were trying to get a free meal. Not only did she embarrass us but she also humiliated us with these implications that all the other customers could here. Well by the end of this conversation our food arrived and we just decided to pack it up and leave. I am a foodie so I eat out very often and this by far the worst I have ever been treated. Even though most of the restaurants are high end I would expect good customer service, a friendly face, and an awesome meal, S&S had none of these and i will not be spending my money in that type of establishment. SO ALL BE WEARY. Thank you read more

I've been numerous times over the years, and I have to say I have yet to be dissapointed. Everything from their baked goods, to cocktails & dinner is amazing! read more

I've been going here on and off for years, I would have given it more stars, except the menu is hit or miss. The S&S wings or the S&S sandwich, are very good, the ruben on the other hand, is a complete disgrace for a jewish deli. breakfast I have found is always good. This is a great place to take people that like their food on the bland side, which is not an insult. You won't find anything spicy here, it was the perfect place to take my grandparents. read more

This is one of my favorite places in the Boston/Cambridge area! It is consistently excellent for breakfast, brunch, and lunch! The menu is quite expansive. Be sure to save room for the chocolate cake! read more

came here for desserts after a concert at the lily pad (across the street) the dessert was great the waitress was not. it took her over 15 mins to get us the fruit salad. highly recommend this place as a family restaurant. very kid friendly. read more

Some of the best bagels I've ever had. Great place to go if you want more breakfast than you can possibly ever eat. The food is incredible, so not only are the portions huge but the quality is high! Occasionally some of the staff has seemed a bit surly but my experience here has been positive generally. If you don't feel like sitting down you can get bagels to go. My friend is a fan of the lox spread, but you'll never get me near that stuff. read more

What happened? I used to love this place. Went there with the family, 4 different meals were all subpar. We left feeling robbed of our fond memories. read more

Their Sunday brunch is fantastic, but their monte cristo sandwich is to die for!

I go there almost every Sunday morning that I am home. The buffet omelet is the best and after eating it you are set for the day. If you haven't gone there, go and prepare for a good experience. You should try the peach belini....Its really good. read more

I went for breakfast. The menu says "fresh squeezed orange juice" and they brought me juice out of a carton. I ordered a "pesto omelette" and it had no pesto. The bagel was stale. The fruit salad was only melon, and it was hard as a rock and tasteless. The coffee was terrible, and the price for a simple breakfast came out to $24 with tip! Then when I pointed out the false advertising on the menu about the OJ, the manager was snippy, and as I left joked "What does he expect, that our employees should have orange juice staining on their hands?", laughing. I had thought this was a classic place, but it has poor food and worse management. Stay away! read more

Don't bother with the rude service at this wannabe NY deli. And I'm talking management and not just staff.

i am boycotting s & s because once they made me cry. so. i was going there to eat but i was also looking for a job and they had a sign on the door so i went in and talked to the owner who was the hostess that night. and before we were seated i asked her if i could apply a job waiting tables, and she asked me if i had any experience. i said not really. so then she called a waitress over, and asked the waitress how long she had been working there. the waitress said 30 years or something depressing like that, then the woman smirked at me and said "hmmph" like i was scum. then she said i couldnt wait tables, but could apply to be counter help if i came back on tuesday. then she asked me if i knew what day tuesday was, and i said yes. then she proceded to spell it out for me: "today is saturday, tomorrow is sunday, the day after that is monday, and then it is tuesday." so then we were seated and then i burst into tears and left. but ultimately she did me a favor because the wait staff there is miserable and are permanently crabby. plus, my boycott saved me from eating the food at s+s. overpriced and tasteless as it may be. and very not jewish-style at all. jerks. read more

This place was never anything amazing, but it seems to get a little worse each time I go. I've lived in Inman Square for the last 5 years. I always thought of S&S as the kind of place you go when you need breakfast and nothing else is serving, or it's sunday afternoon, you've exhausted the other options in the area for the week, and you just want a sandwich or something. The food is never amazing, but consistently decent. Until they started hiking up the prices. I expect some price increase over time but they started skimping on a few things. I notice this most on weekends during breakfast time, when they're at their absolute busiest. I've made 2 egg omelettes at home that are twice the size of their "three egg omelette". If you look at all the options, like 8 out of their 10 specialty omelettes include onions, and when it comes out, it's like a big pile of onions wrapped with a thin egg crepe-like-thing with some other stuff mixed in. I ordered one without onions once, it was the saddest thing I'd ever seen. Each time we go now, whether it's due to the extremely rude and hostile owner who usually seats people as if their ruining her day by walking in, or feeling shortchanged by what we ordered, we say "OK, that's the last time we're going there." but sometimes, you just want breakfast in the evening without hiking out to Ball Square or IHOP in Harvard. Last time in, we got there around 9:20. Took a little while to get a server, but she was very polite. We ordered drinks, and got our food order in by 9:30pm. They close at 10. Place was still busy, and they start flashing lights at 9:35 like it's last call and then they cut half the lights off and start stacking chairs up right next to all our tables. I never felt so rushed out of a restaurant. We ate, tried to leave, and had to get someone to unlock the doors on the Cambridge street side. It was 10:05, and there was still at least 8 tables still seated. They wanted us to leave on the Hampshire street side and walk around the block to go home because they didn't feel like getting a key! Eventually they opened it and let us out, and as we walked home, we said "That's it, that's the last time we're going there..." No, for real this time. read more

i don't think much of the ambiance, but i will give them four stars, because the one time i went there, the food helped me overcome an awful cold. it was rather unexpected, because what the bf and i ordered was by no means healthy (pastrami sandwich and hamburger). but they were both so tasty and fulfilling, that we were immediately knocked out as soon as we got home. we fell into a deep slumber and when we woke up, we felt loads better. read more

Great service, they really seem to care about the customers! Just a simple diner, but one of the best of its kind.

S&S is a great place for breakfast and lunch. The soups are great. They are very dear to my heart. I recently brought a bowl of the Italian Wedding soup to my mom while she was in a local hospital. She still swears that this was the turning point for her successful recovery! The salads are great, I especially love the the Wild Maine salad. Check this place out if you are in the Inman Square area. read more

I really like this place and never had a bad meal here. Let me correct that, I've never had a bad brunch or lunch here; couldn't honestly tell you about dinner but I'm sure it's not too shabby. The S&S is a quintessential neighborhood eatery with a good selection of food options, from your typical diner breakfast (steak and eggs) to the normal deli staples (turkey club, rueben sandwiches). It's a place you'd go to if you live around the area (it's too much of a hassle if you have to drive to get here) and don't want to think too much about what to eat on weekend afternoons. Prices are standard ($10-$15), I suppose, but for a cheapskate like myself, it's a bit pricey. The portions and quality, however, are well worth the price. I see the complaints about it not being a real jewish deli--- I don't know why these people expect the S&S to be a beacon of kosherdom --- it doesn't unfairly markets itself as such. To these folks, I ask, "Do you go to Burger King or Dairy Queen expecting to dine with royalties in a robe of ermine and sapphires?" For crying out loud. My favorite dish is the corned beef hash with poached eggs. Love it. The salmon hash with eggs isn't too bad but does anyone out there feel right eating salmon with eggs for brunch? The knockwurst, hot pastrami, and swiss cheese triple decker is a good kind of monstrosity. Pancakes are all delish. Further, they serve nearly every dish with a small ramekin of assorted fruits which helps refresh your palate in between bites. And it goes without saying that I love their strawberry mimosa--drinking champagne in the late morning always makes me feel a bit decadent. Free coffee refills here is a plus too. Get there before noon-- that's when the rest of the neighborhood realizes they don't have to look far to get wholesome heavy tasty brunch food. read more

I don't understand why this place only gets 3.5 stars average. So it's not a cool decor little brunch spot full of hipsters... so what. You get a table fairly quickly even on very busy days, it has awesome history, classic service and consistently decent food. It is our staple brunch spot. The croissant french toast is amazing, the eggs benedict are good, the poached salmon is delicious as are the homefries. Thumbs up - keep it up for another 90 years. read more

Nasty manager running the show today- told me I could not have a pickle then gave me a piss warm Bloody Mary - I can't have ice cubes or water either.. Nasty bitch - 25$ for a salad and piss warm warm glass of tomato juice !! read more

Such a cute little diner!! I don't know how I never knew about this place before!! Food was great as well as service

Average food for the price. However, I receieved incredibly rude service from the staff.

Okay, I like the S&S. Their food ain't bad! The meat is always fresh and delicious and I absolutely love the S&S wings. HOWEVER, the service is awful and the prices are through the roof. If you feel like spending a ton of money on a pretty good sandwich and some wings, go here! read more

Totally dig this place - on the surface it's nothing special, but taking a look closer it is special - a throwback Jewish style family establishment. Long-time servers are pleasant, my food was great - lox plate (other dishes looked excellent), and you can tell the neighborhood really embraces it - lots of families enjoying themselves, happy people blissfully noshing. I look forward to the next time I can go, and will bring a friend or two to share the experience. read more

excellent breakfast food. lines are insane on weekends. also the service can be a little slow, ok a lot slow. As good as this place is foodwise, it still can't touch the Town Diner of Watertown. read more

Yes, the service is horrible...but that's why I ALWAYS ask to be in Sue's seating area. There are two Sues, and they are related funny enough, and they are wonderful and attentive. Which helps me to focus on the amazing brunch this place serves. Pancakes are great but the waffles are better, esp. with fruit and bacon. Mmmmmmm. Please give this place a chance. read more

I like this place, especially for brunch. Good breakfast, good bagel/lox platter, and yummy knishes. I have to agree though, the people they hire to wait tables there are a bunch of jerks, which is a definitely turn off. read more