Toscano Harvard Square

Absolutely delicious food, especially their Bolognese! Came here with a group to celebrate a friends birthday, they gave us a private area and we had a great time. The staff was friendly and welcoming. Highly recommend stopping by!

The bruschetta was so delicious that my daughter asked when we got home from dinner when we could go back again. Definitely try on your next visit.

We were there for the Dine Out Boston. The menu is awesome! I had the pasta and the beef. The pasta is full of flavors; I enjoyed it so much. I chose chocolate blueberry tart for my dessert and it was divine.

we went here for brunch on sunday afternoon and tried the dine out boston menu. all the dishes were good, especially the tiramisu…. their tiramisu is one of the best ive had in my life. would definitely come back for the tiramisu.

We called them to do a last minute booking, and they gladly provided us with seatings. Our server was organised, service was quick, food was delicious. We ordered linguine pesto pasta, Ortolano Risotto, chicken liver crostini and tiramisu. Chicken liver was a nice surprise. Tiramisu was soft and fluffy. Our server also split everything for us, so it made it easy for us to eat. I would recommend going to the place for good food and vibe.

Toscano is one of my go-tos for Restaurant Week. What a treat! My absolute favorite dish is the Porcini Tagliatelle -- perfect housemade tagliatelle with succulent porcini mushrooms in a lovely sauce. And then for dessert I'm obsessed with the white chocolate blueberry tart. None of the meat/seafood entrees have really taken my breath away like the tagliatelle and the blueberry tart, but I will keep coming to Toscano for those delightful dishes. All of Toscano's pasta is perfectly crafted and their desserts are second to none.

Good food and attention, the lady helping us gave us information about what was the best to orden. Really good option if you are on the area. Its really close to Harvard . It can be a little pricey but good quality and quantity of food

The panna cotta was delicious! Our waiter was very friendly and kind. Great service and food.

One of the top casual dining spots for Italian food in Cambridge. We were looking for Italian food for lunch near Harvard Square, and this place seemed like a great option. We got in around their opening time, so without a wait, we were seated at one of their window seats which had a nice terrace vibe. Instead of the 3-course lunch special they were offering, we got the bruschetta to share, pappardelle bolognese Bianco, and the spaghetti con scoglio. The bruschetta was amazing, and the salt, pepper, and olive oil on large chunks of tomatoes really highlighted its umami flavor and made them addicting. Both pasta were also great, and I especially enjoyed the bolognese which had the creamy sauce in lieu of the conventional tomato based sauce. The spaghetti had a strong seafood flavor which might be a bit repulsive to some, but I actually liked it. We came in with no expectations, but we were impressed with the overall quality of the food. Definitely a solid contender for some of the restaurants in North End, and I would highly recommend trying them out.

Went there on a week night and the place was hopping! After the dinner we realized why! Because its that good! First the place - truly warm and inviting. Great location, decor and ambiance. See pics as they speak for themselves. Food - great selection and really fresh. Even the dinner rolls they started us with were delicious, soft and warm, authentic dinner rolls if you will. Started off with drinks and appetizers. They carry a huge selection of choice wines. Main course entrees were all made exceptionally well and well seasoned. Meatballs were out of this world! Rarely have I found them made with veal... Only down side a bit was the 4 cheese "blanco" pizza which has fresh tomato slices added, not expected...and made the pizza a bit "tomatoey" rather than quattro formaggi. Finally desserts - must haves...

Try Osso Bucco, filet Rossini and pasta rigatoni. I have been here at least 25 times and thats what we have had each time. They have the usual Italian fare and most of it good. Pizza are really good and the pasta and the minestrone soup too.

Apologies for the delayed review from our October team dinner. Special thanks to Cassie Messmer and the staff there at Toscano in Harvard Square for the service and the amazing food. Attendees were all very happy. THANK YOU!

Absolutely wonderful stop. A quaint atmosphere serving authentic dishes. Enjoyed the lunch menu with a small Caesar salad and swordfish, complete with a nice serving of Pannacotta. Creative cocktail selection. Enjoyed a couple southern peach drinks and a pear lichti martini. A worthwhile stop. Bona appetito!

This is a wonderful High in Italian restaurant in Harvard Square. I’ve never had so many incredible options for choices from the menu. Daniela, our server was an absolute delight and added to our overall dining experience. Highly recommend and look forward to coming back soon.

This is one of our favorite fine dinning places. We love it and my family takes me there every year on my birthday. We love it! The staff is outstanding!!

There's a lot to like about Toscano Harvard Square: great ambiance, professional service, excellent wine list, and a nice little view onto Brattle Street. But my favorite aspect is the food. In metro Boston, like lots of regions in the Northeast there are Italian restaurants ranging from the old-fashioned red sauce chicken parm spots to the newfangled Italian restaurants trying to reinvent the culinary wheel. Toscano is firmly in the middle; really nicely done renditions on some of the classics, along with some more modern touches that don't go overboard (no gochujang marinara). They do a nice job here. The one downside might be the stuffy clientele. But it's Harvard Square, those scarf wearing squares may stare at you, but it's a staring contest they'll lose.

Best meal I have had in a long long time. Generous portions of beautifully prepared food. Excellent service. Really an extraordinary experience.

Visited the other night from out of state, I was a huge fan! Staff were very friendly and attentive and the bartender made some great drinks. Great specials too

Valentine’s Day with the family was celebrated with a great Italian restaurant. We started of our night with Tuscan Red Wine from Montalcino region suggested by our server Tomas. For appetizers: • 2 Dozen Oysters. Tiny but fresh and they went out fast! • Calamari in Gratella was amazing! They were grilled and perfectly cooked squid’s. Splash of lemon and a sprinkle of salt. • Cesare Salad was delicious! Always a must order and not overpowered with so much dressing. • Chicken Liver Pate in Crostini brought me back memories of when my grandma used to make them back in the day. Perfect seasoning. For entrée: • Rigatoni Norcina was amazingly delicious! Perfect amount of truffle flavor. Every bite was definitely enjoyed! For dessert: • Créme Caramel AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Not good at all • Tiramisu HIGHLY disappointed. If you’re looking for the typical classical tiramisu; this is not it! It’s literally ice cream with coffee flakes. AVOID AT ALL COSTS! • Panna Cotta was the best dessert we had.

The service was great. Ambiance is sober...great for conversations. Food is good but not that good, it's normal (although tried only two dishes)!

Had an early dinner at Toscano this weekend, and it was overall pretty good. The service was prompt and kind. I went for the pappardelle white bolognese which was very flavorful if a tad heavy. My dining partner had the salmon and asparagus which he said was nice but only had three spears of asparagus. The bread was an interesting choice given they were warm yeasted rolls rather than a ciabatta or the like. A decent option in Cambridge, though by no means the only option.

The service was phenomenal! Every waiter was really nice, specially Alex. The decoration is incredible as well. We tried the rigatoni which was delicious 10/10. The shrimp was also amazing. And I fell in love with the fresh pepper, the favor really popped. I was a little disappointed by the prosciutto and melon entree, it was good but it lacked presentation. The tiramisu was good but for me it lacked coffee flavor. The bread at the table also lacked some flavor.

Old school and classy Italian place. The atmosphere was elegant and the service was also great. I really enjoyed the cheese tasting with the truffle honey—highly recommend. The cheese were really good and a great variety. The fruits aren’t great but they weren’t the star anyway. I got a special pasta of the day and it had pork sausage, peas and tomato cream with tagliatelle. Their aren’t much pork sausage and the tomato sauce was a little too salty to my taste. My biggest disappointment was the pasta wasn’t cooked well—there were a couple noodles that were stuck together and they basically were raw. I would expect better quality control from a place like this.

Very good oysters. The staff were very patient. You can make reservations here. The oysters were not briney despite their size. The rigatoni is very popular. There is a decent wine selection. The meatballs were also quite tasty. It is a fairly open space.

A good restaurant to visit with family and friends. They have a great collection of wines and cocktails. I loved their appetizer Salsicce uccelletto- made with home made sausage and Osso bucco served with saffron rice.

Great ambiance and good food, staff is friendly and wine is great. I personally had makers old fashion for drink and it was really good, not many options for vegetarian like me but there are few. I had Linguine Pesto and Mushroom Risotto. Must try their Bruschetta.

The atmosphere is really classy and intimate. The servers and host are also extremely kind. For instance, I came with a group of six, and they were willing to split the check six ways despite the hassle. I ordered an arugula salad and tasted some of the pasta - the food was presented in somewhat of a tacky way and tasted okay. Overall, nice place for a date night or serious dinner, but the food is mediocre.

Service was excellent and the vibe was very classy. The food was pretty good though, considering the price, I wouldn't consider the dishes to be worth the money especially desserts. I highly recommended the salmon appetizer though! That was worth it.

Pampered experience Tuscan style Busy Thursday evening in Harvard Square and glad to have attended a private event, as walk-ins were regrettably turned away. I can appreciate why with the sumptuous offerings. As our menu was pre-selected, i cannot recall the wonderful options but the certainly came in waves, well presented and deftly served. kudos to the attentiveness of the staff. Wine glasses always topped and dishes cleared quickly, it was an experience to participate.

Overall we had a very good experience. The service was great. The staff was very friendly. The atmosphere was good. We ordered the bruschetta, salad and margarita pizza. The bruschetta and salad were very good. The margarita pizza, however had too much basil, and it overpowered the the other flavors.

The hostess is very rude. Our waiter and busser were incredible! They brought extra parm just because! But the hostess needs to warm up a little, I found her tone borderline rude.

Mediocre Italian food but nice setting. Avoid the pizza. The pastas and meat dishes are better. Our side of broccolini was excellent.

Great location and well set out restaurant. Totally Amazing service though I may have just picked the wrong dish hence the rating. Service rating is definitely 5/5!! The waiter couldn’t do enough to make me feel welcome. The place looked very clean and was very busy with full bustle around me. the place was in fact packed!! I ordered the pasta with mushrooms and they just didn’t taste as I would expect. I would still go back though and give it another try when next in town so not totally dismissing the place. Well worth going to try.

😎 Time Visited: 1 👩🏻‍💼 Summary: My first visit to Toscano in Harvard Square offered a pleasant atmosphere but the culinary experience didn’t quite live up to expectations, especially in terms of the pasta dishes. 🍝Food: I opted for the vongole pasta, while my friend chose the scampi. We also shared an eggplant dish. While the meals were decent, the pasta lacked the al dente texture and the rich, flavorful sauce I’ve come to appreciate in Italian cuisine. 💬Service: The server performed well, providing attentive service throughout our meal. 💁🏻‍♀️Would I revisit this place? Considering the overall experience, I am not inclined to make a special trip back to Cambridge for another visit to Toscano. The ambiance was good, but the food did not impress enough to warrant a return journey.

Came here on a Tuesday for dinner, they took reservations same day for 7 people, ordered some appetizers and then main dishes, the apps were not spectacular, very basic on the flavor nothing special. I ordered the shrimp in moscato white sauce, the shrimp size was large, but the sauce needed more flavor, probably needed to also be thickened a bit, it was served with some potatoes which I didn’t finish. The service was good though.

The food was of average quality, not worth the high price. The cocktails however were really good. Would only return if someone else wished to pay honestly. There's better food to be found in Boston for this price.

I dined at Toscano in Harvard Square and it was a disappointing experience. I ordered the Rigatoni Norcina, hoping for a comforting pasta dish, but it was a letdown. The dish was excessively heavy, with the truffle oil overpowering every bite, masking any nuance in the sausage or cream sauce. It felt like a one-note, unenjoyable slog to get through. The atmosphere didn’t help—it was so loud with so many people packed in that I could barely hear my dining companions. The service was equally off-putting; our waiter seemed rushed and careless, practically throwing plates—like the bread—onto the table without a word. To top it off, I ordered a glass of rosé wine, only to find out it was $15 a glass—a pure ripoff for what tasted like a mediocre pour. The whole experience felt odd and unwelcoming, especially given Toscano's reputation. I feel deceived by the glowing reviews I’d read online, as this dinner was far from the enjoyable evening I’d expected.

For me, Toscano was truly a disappointing experience. All food left us feeling dissatisfied. To start, appetizers were very poorly done. The Caesar salad had barely any dressing and the Eggplant Parmesan was severely under-seasoned. As a special, the restaurant was offering a Stir Fried Mushroom dish that was quite literally mushrooms on romaine lettuce, again, flavorless. In fact, all the food was in need of salt. The entrees were just as disappointing. The Pesto Linguini had a not so appetizing pesto sauce that was overly chunky. The pizza was truly disgusting. A sheet of cheese and soperasata on literal cardboard. All other meals were under-salted, under-seasoned, or dry. It is super surprising because of the really beautiful interior of the restaurant and the nice staff. However when it comes to the food, the quality isn’t there. Not to mention, the prices are similar to top tier fine dining restaurants in Boston. In my opinion, this restaurant is for those who would like to think they’re dining at a quality Italian restaurant. The photos here on Google don’t even look appetizing which is saying something. If you care about food that is authentic or has a nice flavor, don’t come here. Stay away and choose a better Italian restaurant in the Boston area.

Had a visit with my friend here today. Really bad experience. How can someone make Italian food so bad. Me being an Italian food lover, have tasted in so many restaurants but this is a big disappointment. 1) Bruschetta - well you can see that clearly how bad it was in the picture. How did the chef think the toppings would go to the biscuit they have put on the plate. 2) four cheese pizza - We specifically told we wanted chicken as a topping but did not get that, otherwise not a good pizza. Tasted very bad. Honestly felt the frozen one was much better 3) RAVIOLI - How can anyone - anyone go wrong with ravioli. this was a big disappointment honestly. If you think you are an ambience person, this is a great place. Otherwise do not waste money here. Much better Italian places which offer tastier food for better price in Boston. I feel bad for this experience with my friend who was new to Boston.

This was Bertuccis quality food at fine dining prices. They served the exact same squishy white mass produced rolls as any fast casual chain restaurant, but didn't even bother heating them up. Appetizers were unremarkable at best. I asked for a medium rare steak and it came out bloody in the middle. Generic potatoes and wilted spinach did not help. All in all it would have been a satisfying if unremarkable meal if we had paid $12-15 an entree, but in the $30+ range they should be held to a much higher standard. This was a ripoff. The service was excellent though.