Saw this cafe pop up inside one of the new office buildings nearby. Bright and spacious seating area, and the cafe wasn’t too crowded on my past two visits.
Most of their drinks were centered on ube. As someone who loves ube, I was excited, but the flavors were fairly weak. They clearly avoided the syrupy-sweet shortcut, which I respect, but the natural ube presence wasn’t enough in most drinks. In the latte, coffee drowned it out completely, and the ube milk was more like a lightly sweetened milk. Ube matcha was the most decent, but it was mostly due to the caramelized banana foam I added.
Thankfully, the food was great. One of the owners is Filipino, so dishes like the longganisa sausage were perfectly executed, and the ube waffles were genuinely satisfying.
Would return for the food, but unless the drinks get dialed up, I probably wouldn’t give them another shot.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
J.R. Abueg
I was really excited to see a Filipino inspired café open in Cambridge. Filipino food is hard to find in Boston, and I went in with high hopes.
The experience was disappointing. The dishes leaned on shortcuts, using ube extract/powder and food coloring instead of real ube, and the flavors just were not there. Much of the food was bland, greasy, and overpriced for what it was. The pancit canton was so oily it made my wife and me feel sick afterward. The drinks were overwhelmingly sweet, more sugar than anything else.
I want to support Filipino food businesses, but we also have to hold them to a higher standard. Filipino cuisine is rich, nuanced, and soulful. It deserves to be represented with care, not watered down or turned into stereotypes. If we settle for less, Boston will keep getting overpriced, mediocre pop ups that do not do justice to the culture.
Kuya Jay’s is marketed as a Filipino café, but it is not run by a Filipino. That alone is not a problem and I can appreciate that our food inspires others. But paired with the quality of what is being served, the whole place felt less like a celebration of Filipino cuisine and more like a caricature of it.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
Amina Cassis
I went to Kuya Jays on opening day and instantly fell in love. I have always loved ube and heard so many good things about filipino cuisine especially from my pinoy friends! And they have a glimpse of some of the most loved dishes from the region. Every time I’ve gone I have always had a great experience with the workers, the wait time, and the quality of their food and drinks. I highly recommend this place!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Selena
Went on a Saturday afternoon and there was no line. So many ube snacks I wanted to try, but I opted for their ube matcha. It was pretty good, but slightly overpriced at $8.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Lu Wang
My sister and I got a halo halo and the ube matcha. Both were delicious - balanced, fragrant, and of course most importantly, not too sweet!
The ingredients and flavors were respected and therefore my stomach was respected.
Also, they have savory food. I had a whole meal!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Amy Li
I got some of their Filipino snacks and an iced tea and it was pretty mediocre for the long wait during lunch time. Maybe their ube drinks were better
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
joshua charneco
Visually the food, environment are great and the owners are super nice but the food lacks value, Lumpia, rice, steam bun, skewers are all small portions and expensive if you go to a authentic Filipino restaurant you’ll get more food for your dollar. Left the place still hungry also the flavor of the food wasn’t the best either but not horrible. The drinks looked good and tasted good at first but soon turn water not sure if they added half a squirt of sweetener and that’s why it turned bland after a couple of sips but was disappointing. My wife is Filipino and she was disappointed with the flavor and quality for dollar. The place is a nice location and food looks presentable but isn’t enough for the amount you are going to spend better to look somewhere else for Filipino food.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 5
Raffaele Colucci
Very good empanadas and really good rice crispy ube treat!!! Cant wait to go back and try the lattes! Very friendly staff!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
白凯明
Really yummy matcha and great location where you can hang out and get work done. Spacious, not noisy, good vibes. Matcha was $9 which is a bit pricy but it’s really good size and quality so I’d say it’s worth it
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Giankno 7
Amazing. The flavor profile on the matcha and the latte were top notch. I also had the steamed bun and krispy. Delicious.
Catered an event for us and everything was absolutely amazing!! I LOVED the Ube Biko the best 🤩
Food: 5
Service: 5
Kristine
never really do reviews but unfortunately we’re disappointed and want to share why.
We visited last weekend because we wanted to try it, but first impression: it was a nice menu and nice staff. but we saw a little kid (assuming it was an employee’s kid) was on the counter near the register, with socks on near serving utensils. it made us question the sanitation itself.
Wait time was okay. but we had to wait almost an hour for longganisa that we didnt get so they offered for us to choose another item. The pancit was disappointing, it tasted like lo mein and barely a veggie pancit like the filipino cuisine. The skewers and rice was definitely the most disappointing as the portion was basically a scoop of rice and mini skewers. Though the price is cheap and it may justify the serving, and it was labeled as filipino street food. but as a filipino, our skewers are never that small.
The drinks were okay. The filipino lemonade tasted more like black tea and black tea only with a hint of calamansi. the ube matcha was good, i liked the sweetness but unfortunately had powdery texture.
the banana cue is basically brown sugar on top on the banana. normally we coat it with sugar and it should be in the crispier side.
Definitely has room for improvement, but staff was friendly. Just wanted to share this feedback and hoping it will be useful
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 2
Jennifer Ngo
The Filipino lemonade is SO refreshing and light. It’s fresh, not from concentrate. This is my fav, I love citrus drinks. The iced Ube Matcha is delicious. Add the fresh ube cold foam, it is A1. Doesn’t have the fake ube taste. Food is yummy, legit home cooked vibe and makes you feel like you’re in your tita’s house. The facility is clean and really beautiful. Parking is on street and a couple local garages. We didn’t have issues finding a spot but expect to walk.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
JJ Jordan
Really cute place! I would say it's somewhat pricey, but more or less expected for Cambridge. I was pleasantly surprised with the ube flavor in the coffee. Doesn't taste super artificial in comparison to other ube drinks I've had. I got the cold foam with it, but in the future I would probably go without it. Staff was friendly as well. Very excited to have some Filipino representation in the area, and would love to come back to try more in the future!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Sandy Huang
We went on a Sunday afternoon. $50 for chicken breast adobo& garlic rice (add.$) , Lumpia, skewer, Canton pancit & 2 coffee drinks.
This was probably most tasteless Filipino food place. The iced ube latte had a powder taste after it too.
If you know .. you know Filipino food shouldn’t be tasteless LOL
Fun spot to try everything ube.
Saw this cafe pop up inside one of the new office buildings nearby. Bright and spacious seating area, and the cafe wasn’t too crowded on my past two visits.
Most of their drinks were centered on ube. As someone who loves ube, I was excited, but the flavors were fairly weak. They clearly avoided the syrupy-sweet shortcut, which I respect, but the natural ube presence wasn’t enough in most drinks. In the latte, coffee drowned it out completely, and the ube milk was more like a lightly sweetened milk. Ube matcha was the most decent, but it was mostly due to the caramelized banana foam I added.
Thankfully, the food was great. One of the owners is Filipino, so dishes like the longganisa sausage were perfectly executed, and the ube waffles were genuinely satisfying.
Would return for the food, but unless the drinks get dialed up, I probably wouldn’t give them another shot.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
I was really excited to see a Filipino inspired café open in Cambridge. Filipino food is hard to find in Boston, and I went in with high hopes.
The experience was disappointing. The dishes leaned on shortcuts, using ube extract/powder and food coloring instead of real ube, and the flavors just were not there. Much of the food was bland, greasy, and overpriced for what it was. The pancit canton was so oily it made my wife and me feel sick afterward. The drinks were overwhelmingly sweet, more sugar than anything else.
I want to support Filipino food businesses, but we also have to hold them to a higher standard. Filipino cuisine is rich, nuanced, and soulful. It deserves to be represented with care, not watered down or turned into stereotypes. If we settle for less, Boston will keep getting overpriced, mediocre pop ups that do not do justice to the culture.
Kuya Jay’s is marketed as a Filipino café, but it is not run by a Filipino. That alone is not a problem and I can appreciate that our food inspires others. But paired with the quality of what is being served, the whole place felt less like a celebration of Filipino cuisine and more like a caricature of it.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
I went to Kuya Jays on opening day and instantly fell in love. I have always loved ube and heard so many good things about filipino cuisine especially from my pinoy friends! And they have a glimpse of some of the most loved dishes from the region. Every time I’ve gone I have always had a great experience with the workers, the wait time, and the quality of their food and drinks. I highly recommend this place!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Went on a Saturday afternoon and there was no line. So many ube snacks I wanted to try, but I opted for their ube matcha. It was pretty good, but slightly overpriced at $8.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
My sister and I got a halo halo and the ube matcha. Both were delicious - balanced, fragrant, and of course most importantly, not too sweet!
The ingredients and flavors were respected and therefore my stomach was respected.
Also, they have savory food. I had a whole meal!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I got some of their Filipino snacks and an iced tea and it was pretty mediocre for the long wait during lunch time. Maybe their ube drinks were better
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Visually the food, environment are great and the owners are super nice but the food lacks value, Lumpia, rice, steam bun, skewers are all small portions and expensive if you go to a authentic Filipino restaurant you’ll get more food for your dollar. Left the place still hungry also the flavor of the food wasn’t the best either but not horrible. The drinks looked good and tasted good at first but soon turn water not sure if they added half a squirt of sweetener and that’s why it turned bland after a couple of sips but was disappointing. My wife is Filipino and she was disappointed with the flavor and quality for dollar. The place is a nice location and food looks presentable but isn’t enough for the amount you are going to spend better to look somewhere else for Filipino food.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 5
Very good empanadas and really good rice crispy ube treat!!! Cant wait to go back and try the lattes! Very friendly staff!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Really yummy matcha and great location where you can hang out and get work done. Spacious, not noisy, good vibes. Matcha was $9 which is a bit pricy but it’s really good size and quality so I’d say it’s worth it
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Amazing. The flavor profile on the matcha and the latte were top notch. I also had the steamed bun and krispy. Delicious.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Catered an event for us and everything was absolutely amazing!! I LOVED the Ube Biko the best 🤩
Food: 5
Service: 5
never really do reviews but unfortunately we’re disappointed and want to share why.
We visited last weekend because we wanted to try it, but first impression: it was a nice menu and nice staff. but we saw a little kid (assuming it was an employee’s kid) was on the counter near the register, with socks on near serving utensils. it made us question the sanitation itself.
Wait time was okay. but we had to wait almost an hour for longganisa that we didnt get so they offered for us to choose another item. The pancit was disappointing, it tasted like lo mein and barely a veggie pancit like the filipino cuisine. The skewers and rice was definitely the most disappointing as the portion was basically a scoop of rice and mini skewers. Though the price is cheap and it may justify the serving, and it was labeled as filipino street food. but as a filipino, our skewers are never that small.
The drinks were okay. The filipino lemonade tasted more like black tea and black tea only with a hint of calamansi. the ube matcha was good, i liked the sweetness but unfortunately had powdery texture.
the banana cue is basically brown sugar on top on the banana. normally we coat it with sugar and it should be in the crispier side.
Definitely has room for improvement, but staff was friendly. Just wanted to share this feedback and hoping it will be useful
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 2
The Filipino lemonade is SO refreshing and light. It’s fresh, not from concentrate. This is my fav, I love citrus drinks. The iced Ube Matcha is delicious. Add the fresh ube cold foam, it is A1. Doesn’t have the fake ube taste. Food is yummy, legit home cooked vibe and makes you feel like you’re in your tita’s house. The facility is clean and really beautiful. Parking is on street and a couple local garages. We didn’t have issues finding a spot but expect to walk.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Really cute place! I would say it's somewhat pricey, but more or less expected for Cambridge. I was pleasantly surprised with the ube flavor in the coffee. Doesn't taste super artificial in comparison to other ube drinks I've had. I got the cold foam with it, but in the future I would probably go without it. Staff was friendly as well. Very excited to have some Filipino representation in the area, and would love to come back to try more in the future!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
We went on a Sunday afternoon. $50 for chicken breast adobo& garlic rice (add.$) , Lumpia, skewer, Canton pancit & 2 coffee drinks.
This was probably most tasteless Filipino food place. The iced ube latte had a powder taste after it too.
If you know .. you know Filipino food shouldn’t be tasteless LOL
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 2
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