• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About Me
  • Travel
  • Recipes
  • Michelin
  • Subscribe
  • Taiwanese

Tiny Urban Kitchen

menu icon
go to homepage
  • About Me
  • Travel
  • Recipes
  • Michelin
  • Subscribe
  • Taiwanese
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • About Me
    • Travel
    • Recipes
    • Michelin
    • Subscribe
    • Taiwanese
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • ×
    • Ecriture Hong Kong
      Unexpectedly Closed: Écriture Hong Kong (2 Michelin Stars)
    • 凹糟管 Aozao Restaurant
      Aozao Guan 凹糟館 - Modern Yunnan Cuisine in Kunming, China
    • Kunming China
      Two Days in Kunming Yunnan China
    • Xishuangbanna Yunnan China
      Xishuangbanna: Hani Minority Food
    • Gaozhuang Night Market Xishuangbanna 告莊夜市
    • Xishuangbanna Yunnan China
      Xishuangbanna - Dai Cuisine & Culture
    • Restaurant 摩 Mora, Hong Kong - Vicky Lau
      Restaurant Mora 摩 Hong Kong by Vicky Lau
    • Guilin Yangshuo China
      Guilin Yangshuo Food + Lodging Report
    • Guilin Yangshuo China
      Guilin & Yangshuo China Trip Report
    • Hangzhou West Lake China
      Hangzhou China Trip Report
    • Wild Mushroom Hot Pot Yunnan
      Poisonous(?) Mushroom Hot Pot in Yunnan
    • jian Shui Yunnan China
      Foreigners Navigating Post-Pandemic Travel in China During Chinese New Year
    Home » US Travel » Boston » Cambridge » Central Square

    Published: May 1, 2007 · Modified: Oct 29, 2014 by Jennifer Che

    Il Panino Express {NOW CLOSED}

    Il Panino Express is a casual, Italian restaurant right across the street from our condo. The food is fast, consistently good, and cheap. If we're short on time, it's definitely our favorite place to eat. You order food at the counter and then they call your name when it's ready - which is usually within 5 minutes. There's usually plenty of seating available.

    Sandwiches
    Their sandwiches are very good only cost $5.95. Their namesake sandwich, the Il Panino, contains proscuitto (imported from Italy), tomatoes, basil, and fresh homemade mozarella. It is probably the sandwich I order the most often. If you're vegetarian, you can opt for the Il Panino Lady, which omits the proscuitto. Their chicken parmesan sub is awesome - probably my favorite chicken parm sandwich in the city. The tomato sauce that accompanies the breaded chicken is fresh and not too acidic, adding balanced moisture to the sandwich. The chicken is piping hot and also tender and juicy. It's truly an amazing sandwich.

    Salads
    We always get the same salad when we go - the tomato basil and mozarella salad (Insalata Caprese at other restaurants). It's a simple salad - sliced tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, their own fresh homemade mozarella slices, and olive oil. I absolutely love their mozarella. Sometimes I wish the tomatoes were a bit more ripe - it feels like they use hard, refrigerated tomatoes. Besides that, however, the salad is quite enjoyable.

    Pizzas
    They also have excellent pizzas. We actually slightly prefer their pizzas to those at Basta Pasta, another restaurant that we love. Our favorite pizza is the artichoke, proscuitto, and mushroom pizza.

    Pastas and Main Dishes
    Of course, the hot dishes are excellent. Our favorite meat dish is the veal calabresello, which is breaded veal, spinach, and fontina cheese cooked with a fragrant marsala sauce over pasta. It's very flavorful. We also like the pesto gnocchi a lot. The texture of the gnocchi is nice and chewy and the pesto sauce has good flavor. They also offer a variety of seafood, such as clams, mussels, and shrimp. We've had the mussels with liguini, which was good.

    Their lunch specials are usually a good value at $6.25. Bryan will often get those when he is working from home.

    Over all, Il Panino is a great place to get good food at a great value. Although they don't have fresh pasta nor waitstaff, we still enjoy going there because the dishes are tasty, the food comes quickly, and the prices are very reasonable . . . oh, and it's a 3 minute walk from our house. 😛

    Il Panino on Urbanspoon

    ©2009-2014 Tiny Urban Kitchen
    All Rights Reserved

    More Cambridge

    • Jen's Top Restaurants to visit in Boston - 2023 Update
    • Farewell Bergamot
    • Urban Hearth Cambridge - Cafe by day, Supper Club by night
    • (Partial) Solar Eclipse Fun! Solar Eclipse 2017

    Recent Posts

    • Unexpectedly Closed: Écriture Hong Kong (2 Michelin Stars) October 10, 2023
    • Aozao Guan 凹糟館 - Modern Yunnan Cuisine in Kunming, China October 8, 2023
    • Two Days in Kunming Yunnan China October 7, 2023
    • Xishuangbanna: Hani Minority Food September 10, 2023
    • Gaozhuang Night Market Xishuangbanna 告莊夜市 September 7, 2023
    • Xishuangbanna - Dai Cuisine & Culture September 4, 2023
    • Restaurant Mora 摩 Hong Kong by Vicky Lau August 31, 2023
    • Guilin Yangshuo Food + Lodging Report August 26, 2023

    Primary Sidebar

    Jennifer Che Tiny Urban Kitchen
    Jennifer Che Tiny Urban Kitchen

    Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am an expat who moved from Boston to Hong Kong 5 years ago. Born and raised in Ohio to Taiwanese immigrant parents, I am a chemistry nerd, patent attorney by day, blogger by night, church musician on weekends, and food enthusiast always. Feel free to explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!

    More about me →

    logo
    Food Advertisements by

    Explore

    • Recipe
    • Restaurant
    • US Travel
    • World Travel

    Popular Posts

    • jian Shui Yunnan China
      Jian Shui Yunnan Trip Report
    • I'm Featured in the South China Morning Post! (SCMP)
    • Restaurant Table Paris France
      Restaurant Table Bruno Verjus Paris
    • Impronte Bergamo Italy
      Impronte Bergamo Italy

    Recipes

    • Appetizer
    • Snacks
    • Meat
    • Vegetables
    • Soup
    • Salad
    • Seafood
    • Noodles

    Recently Traveled

    • Hong Kong
    • France
    • Belgium
    • Boston
    • California
    • United Kingdom
    • Germany
    • Spain

    Support Us

    Recognition


    Featured on the front page
    of the FOOD Section: 2015

    Best Food Blog Awards:
    Restaurant & Dining 2012
    logo
    Food Advertisements by

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • About Me
    • My Equipment
    • In the Press
    • Project Food Blog
    • Privacy Policy

    Eating Guides!

    Eating & Travel Guides
    Trip Reports
    "Kawaii" (Cute Foods)
    Around the World

    • Pinterest
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • YouTube
    • Mail
    • RSS Feed

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Shop at Amazon

    Copyright © 2022 Tiny Urban Kitchen