Orinoco Harvard Square

"Everything ordered was good. Small and quaint. It’s in Harvard Square so keep in mind street parking is not the easiest. Only reason I didn’t give 5 stars is because they don’t have chicha on the menu :-). It’s like not having horchata at a Mexican restaurant."

"My small group had a serendipitous experience at Orinoco. We walked around and happened to stumble on this place for dinner - it's definitely a hidden gem. I loved the atmosphere; quiet so that I could talk to my group and not too bright or too dark. We ordered the tequenos, plantains, and ribs for appetizers; the latter two were totally delicious. Service was good but nothing spectacular and unfortunately they did not have Arepas that night. For the main course I got the lamb chops and quinoa. Both were mind-blowingly delicious and cooked to perfection. This was the tastiest quinoa I ever had and a top-tier lamb dish with a delicious mint sauce. The prices were also very reasonable! Overall highly satisfied with the meal and will definitely come back to try the Arepas."

"We recently dined at this quaint spot in Harvard Square. We tried the Steak, the ribs, and the guava flatbread. The guava flatbread was a standout, however, the ribs and the steak didn't quite meet our expectations. The ribs were a bit tough to cut through, and the BBQ sauce, which was the same for both dishes, didn't quite hit the mark for us. We had ordered the steak cooked to medium, but it turned out a bit too chewy and overcooked. The staff kindly replaced it, and the second one came out cooked to a perfect medium, which we appreciated. In terms of beverage options, the selection was somewhat limited, with only wine and beer available. On a less positive note, we did observe a rat scurrying through the dining area, which was quite surprising and definitely detracted from the overall experience. Edit based on owners question: Appreciate your prompt response. We were seated indoors in the dining room and saw what would be a “mouse”, still pretty disturbing to see it run indoors along the outside wall of the bar Also yeah, getting a heads up about our order would have been nice. All the 3 items we had ordered had some of the sauce, wish we got a heads up."

"Love this place! Found via Off the Beaten Path Food Tours, our group loved Orinoco. The atmosphere is really intimate, and the food is fresh and tasty. We tried cheese covered plantains and yummy bacon wrapped dates that were out of this world. The sangria was also incredible and our server was so kind! Highly recommend."

"There are stairs and the smell of trash that you must pass to enter the restaurant. As other have said, the restaurant was out of arepas when we went. The website is misleading as it talks about prices potentially differing from the website but the tables just have QR codes that take you to another website with pricing that shows everything the restaurant is out of stock. The meat plate was a good value but the steak on it was cooked medium well instead of medium rare. The cachapa wasn’t super filling. The re at air and was clean and had a nice laid back vibe. I went in with high expectations but found it just okay."