
Take a detour from the North End to Harvard Square.
Nestled inside the elegant Charles Hotel is Bar Enza, owned and opened by two Michelin-Star and James Beard Award-Winning Chef, Mark Ladne. Bar Enza, the pasta-centric, Italian brasserie in Harvard Square’s Charles Hotel has some of the best pasta and Italian food in the Boston area. First opened in 2021, Bar Enza proves a consistent hit with Cambridge’s foodie crowd.
The kitchen is now spearheaded by Chef Tony Susi, who perfected his craft in Italy. Susi’s food focuses on quality ingredients, exceptional blending of flavors, and incorporates traditional Italian techniques. There’s plenty of fresh, farm-to-table produce on the menu, as the restaurant is located right next door to a farmer’s market on Harvard Square.
Highlights from Bar Enza’s menu include a whipped ricotta served with warm homemade tomato focaccia, a perfectly seasoned grilled octopus on a bed of pickled vegetables, and Bar Enza’s signature pastas and steak for primi and secondi.
You can’t go wrong with any of their pasta dishes, but the Rhode Island squid spaghetti in a lemon, garlic, basil sauce is exceptional. Bar Enza’s famous for its Ragu, so the Baked Rotolo made with short rib ragu and served layered in a rose-like pasta is as beautiful as it is delicious.
Finish the meal with one of the ultra airy rotating gelato or sorbet flavors. The space itself is abundant, comfortable, and chic—with warm globe lighting, bronze accents, white brick, and plush banquette seating and scalloped velvet upholstery— perfect for a Valentine’s dinner or date night when the craving for an amazing Italian meal hits! In the warmer months, Bar Enza opens its outdoor patio seating.
Find Bar Enza at 1 Bennett Street, Cambridge for dinner starting at 5 PM Monday- Saturday