Cafeography
Boston · Kendall Square & East Cambridge

Cafés in Kendall Square & East Cambridge

Lab-district coffee bars beside MIT, a Copenhagen-style café on Ames Street, French pastry on Third Street and a baking-supply café on Cambridge Street.

Photo: Mo Qian, Pexels License

Kendall Square is in Cambridge, a separate city across the Longfellow Bridge from Boston. It took its name from the Kendall Boiler and Tank Company, one of the factories that filled the area, and since MIT moved next door in 1916 it has turned into a research district called “the most innovative square mile on the planet”; by 2011 it housed more than 150 biotech and IT firms.1

This area also takes in East Cambridge, the old canal and industrial quarter to the north, where Cambridge Street is the shopping street and Irish and Portuguese families made up much of the population.2

Local tip: For coffee after 18:00 in Kendall Square, go to Cafe Beatrice on North First Street (until 21:00, Tuesday to Saturday) or Third Time Together on Binney Street (until 21:00 daily).

At a glance

19Cafés listed
6With opening hours
07:00Earliest opening
21:00Latest closing
  • Opens earliest: Cafe Beatrice, from 07:00 (Mon 07:00–17:00 · Tue–Fri 07:00–21:00 · Sat 08:00–21:00 · Sun 08:00–17:00).
  • Most listed streets: Cambridge St (3), Cambridge Street (2).
  • Most common features: outdoor seating (21%), wi-fi (16%), wheelchair access (11%).

Nothing matches those filters here. See all cafés in Boston.

Coffee chains in Kendall Square & East Cambridge

Getting to Kendall Square

Kendall/MIT station on the Red Line sits under Main Street; the first station there opened in 1912.1 The Longfellow Bridge, which replaced the West Boston Bridge in 1907 and was built with room for a subway, links Kendall to Boston across the Charles.1 For East Cambridge, Lechmere station on the Green Line reopened on a new site on March 21, 2022.2

Coffee in the lab district

Vester, at 73 Ames Street, takes its name and idea from Vesterbro, a former meatpacking district in Copenhagen revived by restaurants and cafés, and mostly serves sandwiches and salads with its coffee.3 It opens 07:00–18:00 on weekdays and 09:00–15:00 on Saturdays. Ripple Cafe at 314 Main Street opens 07:00–17:00 on weekdays and has outdoor tables.

The customers are mostly lab and office staff. Biogen moved to Cambridge in 1982, MIT owns much of the commercial property around the square, and Google, Facebook and IBM run research labs in or beside it.1

Blue Bottle and Tatte both have cafés near Ames Street and Third Street. Most independents here close on Sundays or keep shorter weekend hours.

Third Street and the Broad Canal

The Broad Canal, dug by 1810, was part of a network of small canals serving the East Cambridge waterfront.1 PRB Boulangerie opened at 295 Third Street in October 2023, next to Batifol, a French brasserie under the same ownership, with sister bakeries on Harrison Avenue in Boston’s South End and in Somerville.4

Cafe Beatrice at 100 North First Street stays open until 21:00 from Tuesday to Saturday, with Wi-Fi, air conditioning and outdoor tables, and Third Time Together on Binney Street keeps the same closing hour every day.

Cambridge Street in East Cambridge

Elmendorf Baking Supplies opened at 594 Cambridge Street in November 2018: a shop for baking equipment and flour with a café counter, run by Teddy and Alyssa Applebaum and named after a bakery her great-great-grandparents owned in Germany. Two countertop mills grind grain on site, and at the opening the café poured coffee from Barrington Coffee Roasting Company and tea from Jasmine Pearl.5 It opens Tuesday to Sunday and has Wi-Fi.

Call Me Honey at 441 Cambridge Street opens at 07:00 on weekdays and 08:00 at weekends, closing at 14:00.

Sources

  1. Kendall Square, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  2. East Cambridge, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  3. Vester Cafe smashburger (Madeleine Aitken, November 20, 2024), Cambridge Day, accessed October 2026
  4. PRB Boulangerie opens in Cambridge's Kendall Square (October 24, 2023), Boston Restaurant Talk, accessed October 2026
  5. This new shop sells cookbooks, tortilla presses, and so many baked goods (Erin Kuschner, November 9, 2018), Boston.com, accessed October 2026
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In Kendall Square & East Cambridge, also browse: Wi-Fi Outdoor seating Bakery cafés

FAQ

Kendall Square & East Cambridge cafés: questions

Is Kendall Square in Boston or in Cambridge?

Kendall Square is in Cambridge, a separate city across the Charles River from Boston. It sits next to MIT, which moved there in 1916, and is reached on the MBTA Red Line at Kendall/MIT station or on foot across the Longfellow Bridge from Boston.

Which Kendall Square cafés in Cambridge stay open in the evening?

Cafe Beatrice at 100 North First Street stays open until 21:00 from Tuesday to Saturday and has Wi-Fi and outdoor seating. Third Time Together on Binney Street is open until 21:00 every day. Most other Kendall cafés close by 18:00.

What is Elmendorf Baking Supplies in East Cambridge?

Elmendorf Baking Supplies at 594 Cambridge Street is a baking-supply shop with a café counter, opened in November 2018 by Teddy and Alyssa Applebaum. Two countertop mills grind grain on site, and the name comes from a bakery Alyssa’s great-great-grandparents owned in Germany.

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