Climbing

You dine, the restaurant climbs. Climbing on Resy is the only data-driven list powered by your reservations. Consider it a curated guide by locals, for locals.

Listings

Waypoint

• Rating: 4.3 (102 reviews)
• Cuisine: Seafood
• Price: $
• Description: Seafood lovers, rejoice: At this instant Cambridge classic from chef Michael Scelfo (Alden & Harlow, Josephine), the menu teems with oysters, shellfish towers, and crudos; lobster pasta and chopped clam pizza; seared and fried fish (plus a steak and a burger if you insist) — and the wine list is brilliantly chosen and best of all, fairly priced.

Bosso Ramen Tavern

• Rating: 4.5 (1.1K reviews)
• Cuisine: Japanese
• Price: $
• Description: You’ll want to settle in at one of the wood-slab tables at this modern-style Japanese establishment on Harvard Square for the alternating ramen specials, the innovative sushi offerings, and the imaginative izakaya-style snacks (edamame hummus, anyone?).

Darling

• Rating: 4.7 (922 reviews)
• Cuisine: Dim Sum
• Price: $
• Description: It’s a dark cocktail lounge from longtime industry veterans Brian Callahan and Zimu Chen, with an inventive, daily-changing cocktail menu that plays with Chinese flavors. Fittingly, bar bites come in the form of a dim sum-inspired menu dispensing everything from braised pork ribs to “Filet O’ Fish” bao.

Saigon Babylon

• Rating: 4.6 (896 reviews)
• Cuisine: Vietnamese
• Price: $$
• Description: Husband-and-wife team Vinh Le and Duong Huynh (of Cicada Coffee Bar and The Eaves) have taken over the site of the lamented Blue Owl, atop Sonder 907 Main in Cambridge, to install a restaurant, bar, and “coffee garden” serving colorful cocktails and Vietnamese-accented fare that you won’t want to miss.

Dear Annie

• Rating: 4.4 (464 reviews)
• Cuisine: Seafood
• Price: $$
• Description: There’s a lightness to this Cambridge wine bar, and it’s not just because of the effervescent natural wines on the list. Maybe it’s the fresh-cut flowers and greenery, the shimmer of cut glass or the neon signage. It’s more likely the fun and frolicking menu, snackables like pickled mussels or spicy seafood fumet, plus enough wines by the glass to try to keep things interesting.

Mae Asian Eatery

• Rating: 4.9 (148 reviews)
• Cuisine: Thai
• Price: $$
• Description: You’ll definitely want to reserve a table at this 20-seat jewel box of a place, where chef-owner Yuri Asawasittikit draws on her mother’s recipes to produce a treasury of traditional Thai dishes, along with a scattering of Japanese and Chinese treats.

Gufo

• Rating: 4.7 (2.9K reviews)
• Cuisine: Italian
• Price: $
• Description: The team behind SRV and The Salty Pig have another winner, this time it’s mortadella-stuffed cappelletti with corn, snap pea Caesar salads, and merguez sausage pizzas for East Cambridge. You’ll note the stylish owl motif everywhere — gufo means “owl” in Italian.

Mestizo Modern Mexican

• Rating: 3.5 (69 reviews)
• Cuisine: Modern Mexican
• Price: $
• Description: Mestizo’s mission is to bring the flavors of Oaxaca to Cambridge, which it does with a menu of classic plates including mole, carne asada, and tetelas stuffed with chorizo and Oaxacan cheese. All of its corn tortillas are made in-house, and the salsa is prepared tableside from fresh ingredients including roasted tomatoes, green tomatillos and garlic.

Cafe Sushi

• Rating: 4.9 (470 reviews)
• Cuisine: Sushi
• Price: $
• Description: The nondescriptly named Café Sushi, ensconced in a strip mall between Central and Harvard Squares, is a textbook case of don’t-judge-a-book-by-its-cover. Because hidden in plain sight is one of the city’s best sushi programs, featuring fresh fish options from sushi and hand rolls to ceviche.

Fallow Kin

• Rating: 4.8 (290 reviews)
• Cuisine: Farm to Table
• Price: $$$
• Description: Fallow Kin is a veritable brain trust of local culinary talent. Restaurateurs Conor Dennehy and Danielle Ayer of Talulla, along with chef Marcos Sanchez, bank on their close ties to local farmers to serve a season-specific menu that puts vegetables at the center (but doesn’t shy away from meat and fish).