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Restaurant wants to stay open 24 hours in Central Square

By adamg on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 8:43am

Cambridge Day reports Clover is seeking city permission to serve food around the clock in the space left vacant when Hi-Fi Pizza lost its lease.

Neighborhoods: 
Cambridge
Topics: 
Dining
Free tagging: 
Central Square
Vegetarian food


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Comments

By anon on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 9:07am.

I occasionally get Clover for lunch, but I had warm feelings about Hi-Fi, and I don't like to see Clover come in and profit from the misery of others (a Cambridge institution being forced out).

And, at 3am, a pricey Clover dry chickpea fritter in a pita pocket (i.e., subpar falafel wrap) is no substitute for a Hi-Fi $2.10 big hot slice of mushroom pizza with all the parmesan you want to shake on top.

The new students and new biotech employees won't know what they're missing with Hi-Fi gone, but a lot of us longer-term residents do, and the empire expansion of folksy Clover is starting to look at little douchey.

By JCK on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 9:26am.

But I'd still like to see more 24 hour places to eat and less freaking out about such establishments.

If it's Clover, so be it.

By Scratchie on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 9:31am.

won't know what they're missing with Hi-Fi gone, but a lot of us longer-term residents do

Mediocre, greasy pizza, surly counter help and lots of drunks?

By johnmcboston on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 9:40am.

Pretty much what you want at 2-3am, no??? I certainly don't have cravings for nutrition at that point in the day. :)

By Scratchie on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 9:58am.

I'd rather walk down the street to Moody's for a falafel, myself. Don't get me wrong, I've got a great love for greasy, post-gig eats, but Hi-Fi was pretty grim even by that standard.

By Chris Rich on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 10:36am.

He was a cook at the Middle before he got that funny little old joint going.

He is an actual Syrian hippie, assuming he's still with us.

Drive By was always a handful.

By kvn on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 12:32pm.

Shades of the Aegean Fare in Kenmore Square and it's most delicious gyro, mmmmm !

By anon on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 5:52pm.

Moody's has gone downhill in the last few years. The food isn't as good, the staff is rude, and prices went up (and they often overcharge you on top of that). Plus they took away all the seating for some reason, except the outdoor tables.

By Kilgore on Wed, 07/23/2014 - 10:50am.

This is abject nonsense. The recipes have changed for the better- the panini-pressed wraps were time-consuming and ruined a perfectly good soft pita. The lamb is now far more tender than it was prior to the switch. Some things stay the same, thankfully. The chicken is as excellent as it always was. The pomegranate hot sauce remains a revelation.

And the staff is incredibly friendly. Khaled is a great guy. SO is his brother. The staff at the counter work almost full time these days, and thus the plates are much more consistent. They're friendly too. Maybe you need to treat them better.

Also The chairs in the indoor cramped space were removed because it's a cramped space where chairs didn't really fit. Many more people can comfortably stand and eat on the counters now than previously. And it gets rid of the awful people (of whom you may be one) who sat in them for hours on end and inconvenienced everyone around them.

Also, a lot of people think they're getting overcharged when they order something, and then while it's being prepared, they tell the staff to throw a ton of other shit into their food that isn't in what they ordered, and then bitch about not being free. This circumstance is not properly defined as "being overcharged"; a more apt description would be "a stupid person ordering food."

Cheers.

By Kilgore on Wed, 07/23/2014 - 10:53am.

The recipes have changed for the better- the panini-pressed wraps were time-consuming and ruined a perfectly good soft pita. The lamb is now far more tender than it was prior to the switch. Some things stay the same, thankfully. The chicken is as excellent as it always was. The pomegranate hot sauce remains a revelation.

And the staff is incredibly friendly. Khaled is a great guy. SO is his brother. The staff at the counter work almost full time these days, and thus the plates are much more consistent. They're friendly too. Maybe you need to treat them better.

Also The chairs in the indoor cramped space were removed because it's a cramped space where chairs didn't really fit. Many more people can comfortably stand and eat on the counters now than previously. And it gets rid of the awful people (of whom you may be one) who sat in them for hours on end and inconvenienced everyone around them.

Also, a lot of people think they're getting overcharged when they order something, and then while it's being prepared, they tell the staff to throw a ton of other shit into their food that isn't in what they ordered, and then bitch about not being free. This circumstance is not properly defined as "being overcharged"; a more apt description would be "a stupid person ordering food."

Cheers.

By anon on Wed, 07/23/2014 - 2:30pm.

Food: They no longer slice meat off the rotisserie. It's already sitting in little pieces in the steam table.

Seating: The stand-up space is the same as before. They removed the table and chairs, and put the register there.

Overcharging and rudeness: I got overcharged for a soda. I pointed out the price on the menu board. They didn't care.

Your baseless insults about me: unwarranted

By tape on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 9:42am.

Say what you want about the objective quality of Hi-Fi's pizza, staff and clientele, but at 1am when you just got out of a show at the Middle East or T.T.'s, there was no food more perfect.

By anon on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 11:16am.

When you worked past midnight at the lab, passing through Hi-Fi on the walk home was a nice, fast pickmeup.

Pizza or diner food with fast takeout is the way to go. No, I don't want to be dining in with Central Sq. drunks and excitement, but being able to quickly grab hot, rich, greasy comfort food on my way home after midnight, like Hi-Fi let me, is a big win.

Clover is OK, but not comfort food. When I want that kind of food, Moody's seems tastier Clover. I wonder what Moody's thinks about Clover opening up in a nearby but better location, rather than some more complementary restaurant.

By ian on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 10:08am.

I miss Hi-Fi as much as the next guy (ok, probably not actually) but I don't really think you can blame this on Clover in any way - Hi-Fi was forced out long before Clover moved in. I don't really see how this is douchey any more than literally any other establishment moving in - at least Clover is local, interesting, looking to stay open late at night, and Not A Bank.

By geep9 on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 11:53am.

HiFi lost it's lease and Clover was announced within a couple of weeks, so I don't know where you get "long before" from.

By Cliff Clavin on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 10:43am.

Amen brotha.

By anon on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 5:49pm.

Rather than Hi-Fi, I'd prefer a cheap slice of pizza that isn't old and rubbery, and a seating area where most of the seats aren't broken and filthy, and employees who aren't rude to customers and understand basic sanitation.

About all Hi-Fi had going for it was that it was open late. Central deserves something better.

By anon on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 9:17am.

it might interfere with The Children getting a good nights sleep. Won't somebody please think of The Children?!

By Robert Winters on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 10:07am.

I'd love to see a 24-hour diner appear somewhere in Cambridge, and Central Square is probably the best location. I'm talking about a classic greasy spoon diner here, not some trendy restaurant that serves pricey gluten-free, politically correct fare.

Of course we all know that it really comes down to the waitresses.

By Scratchie on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 10:13am.

That would be great. Even a Tasty Burger would be step up from Hi-Fi.

By M on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 11:43am.

I mourn for the Tasty Burger that was supposed to go into the old Lyndell's on Prospect Street.

By Ari O on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 10:20am.

Ooh, gluten-free pita! Yeah.

To wit, Clover is Cambridge-based, and as much as Hifi was good for a slice of pizza in a drunken daze at 1:30 a.m., it was unfit for human consumption at most other times of day. Clover is not perfect—I prefer Life Alive for my hippie-inspired, vegetarian fare—but it's relatively cheap, fried and for $6 the egg-and-eggplant sandwich is pretty damn good. I have a love-hate relationship with Moody's (love: food, hate: food poisoning) but they're another good option. Perhaps Clover would have some kind of late night menu in Kendall with fries and onion rings and the like (their fries are quite good).

And their food is edible when the sun is up, too.

By Chris Rich on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 10:32am.

It would be perfect.

It might not be easy to find an old guy with a loose toupee to work the grill but you gotta start somewhere.

At least we still have that wonderful little place on Magazine street.

By Scratchie on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 10:46am.

Now you're going to make me cry.

Also: What place on Magazine Street?

By Chris Rich on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 2:38pm.

It's at 114 Magazine st.

I've been going there for years and was a regular when I lived at Billy Ruane's place.

It's a classic old school Greek Sub shop. Their fish sub is outstanding.

I looked at the various crap review things and noticed one had the place listed as closed and had a wrong number.

But I called and the old familiar 'Village"... welled up from the other end of the phone, ,(to my immense relief).

The various upscale reviewers couldn't find any arugula or whatevs so they dissed it but that's fine.

Leones in Somerville is another that used to make its own red sauce from scratch. It's down on Broadway near McGrath 292 Broadway Somerville, MA 02145.

And Medford had a few places on Main st that marinate their steak tips for several days in Italian salad dressing.. yikes.

These are bastions of civilization.

By Scratchie on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 2:52pm.

Are these places open all night?

By Chris Rich on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 8:02pm.

I'm thrilled they still survive by day.

Kay and Chips was interesting. Somerville had strange laws that forbade 24 hour establishments so Chip decided to be king of the night slot.

It does suggest an array of well placed night food spots in the urban core would be a godsend.

Tavern nightlife extension may be a crap shoot, but these other places could have a go of it. Hell, I'd get up at 3am to go have diner food at a place like K and C.

By Sock_Puppet on Thu, 07/24/2014 - 5:42am.

With all you can eat pancake specials - for dinner.

By Annika on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 12:52pm.

I mostly have bad feelings about Clover because the owner doesn't believe in tipping. That's all well and good if employees are making a living wage before tips -- but they aren't! (And yes I'm well aware that most fine fast food joints don't allow or encourage tipping).

Also the lack of compensation for working interviews (a sandwich doesn't count) is really shady.

By anon on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 5:54pm.

How much do Clover employees get paid, and how much do you think they should get paid? They always seem to be happy, and good at their jobs.

By theszak on Thu, 07/24/2014 - 4:56am.

No readily available telephone contact for Clover. Clover won't hear customer feedback by telephone!

By anon on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 1:35pm.

It's sad that places wanting to stay open later is considered news here. Feels less like a city and more like living in your parent's basement.

By Scumquistador on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 8:41pm.

idk my moms basement has 24/7 hot pockets & all the cheetos you can eat so it wouldnt be news there either

By theszak on Thu, 07/24/2014 - 6:08am.

No Clover itemized receipt w/ tax calculated for your order at Kendall Square Clover! It's easier to check the Clover calculation with an itemized receipt.