Om Restaurant and Lounge in Cambridge Falls Shy of Expectations

After a stroll down JFK Street in Harvard Square I was struck by just how much things had changed, but never so much as at our dining destination, OM Restaurant and Lounge.

Just through the impressive wooden door on Winthrop Street lies one of Cambridge's hippest and most diverse drinking and dining spots to date. Flowing modern wall art meets Asian traditional in this artfully designed restaurant.

The lounge, dark and funky, sports a fantastic cocktail list tempting the senses with tastes not so commonly found in a glass. My husband and I enjoyed the Lychee Martini, light and sweet. This nicely balanced fruit cocktail threatens to put the dusty old Cosmo in the attic.

The current Chef, Youssef Boujana has crafted an interesting menu, not particularly seasonal, but as fun to look at as eat. An inventive collection of ingredients skillfully combined, to mostly, good result. A pretty little salad of Beets and Goat Cheese arrived perfectly dressed although the goat cheese had been chilled, assumedly to assist its spherical shape, and was too cold to really taste with rest of the salad. Oddly the restaurant has elected not to offer bread. Too bad, it would have been a nice match for our salad and Moules Frite. It seems incongruous to offer such standards, then skip the traditional accompaniments.

The problems with the restaurant lie mostly with the service. Our waitress, pleasant and genuine, failed to bring our wine until we had completed our first course. The winelist I should mention, has no offerings for less than 40 a bottle. After ordering the Rib Eye (Medium Rare), and the Hanger Steak (Medium), two beautiful steaks arrived with perfectly cooked vegetables and lovely rich sides. The Truffled Mac-n-Cheese, though not particularly appropriate for the heat of a Boston Summer, was a meal all in itself. The steaks were also of very high quality and perfectly seasoned. Unfortunately, the Rib Eye was nearly medium well and at $32 not really acceptable. The waitress happily informed the kitchen that a new steak was necessary but left us with our two plates to eat what we could while the steak cooked. Usually in a restaurant commanding this price point, it would be customary to remove both plates and re-serve the entire course after the new steak was finished. Alas, a new, perfectly medium rare steak did arrive 15 minutes later, but by then we had eaten our sides and the other entree and were too full to enjoy it. A melting Chocolate Cake was delicious but neither melting, nor even warm.

While crawling over the stack of beer kegs to get to the restroom, the $200 bill still stinging a little, I wished the lounge scene didn't so threaten to overshadow the work of a serious chef. Strewn with toilet paper and debris, I quickly remembered this was the bathroom of a very hip lounge and the restaurant felt like noise in the back round.

Despite the rookie service, Om is worth a trip. The kool space and funky menu are a breath of fresh air in the old school collection of Harvard Square. Hopefully the service will come up to a more polished level providing the business with a nice long run as a cutting edge food spot.