‘A Loss for the Community’: Cambridge’s Dudley Cafe Shuts its Doors

Dudley Cafe’s Cambridge location has closed permanently, according to a sign on the building’s now-shuttered window.

The chain, founded in 2015 by Solmon and Rokeya Chowdury, now only operates out of its Roxbury location. Its Cambridge branch was on the corner of Wendell Street and Massachusetts Avenue, located near Lesley University and Harvard Law School.

“It was popular. I would see people there every day. I just bet they didn’t make enough money from those people,” said Megan K. Zamora, a barista at a Starbucks location across the street.

Neither Solmon nor Rokeya Chowdury responded to multiple requests for comment.

Zamora said that she noticed that much of the Cafe’s clientele were students – often buying a cup of coffee or tea and staying there to study for hours.

“I’ve been to the Dudley Cafe once or twice. I’ve had their French toast and it was really good,” Jaila C. Mabry ’27 said.

“I live in the Quad, so I walk over here very frequently,” Mabry, a former Crimson Editorial editor, added.

Felicia D. Garbarino, the general manager at Cambridge Common — a restaurant and bar located just down the street from Dudley Cafe — said she was disappointed by the closure.

“We really liked having a nice neighborhood coffee shop,” Garbarino said.

“I know we have Starbucks across the street, but I always like to give money to the little guys,” she said. “It’s definitely sad to see them go.”

Garbarino also said her restaurant’s staff “relied on getting coffee and snacks there, so it’s unfortunate for us in that regard.”

“It’s always sad to see a little pop shop go out of business,” she added.

William C. Skinner ’18, a Harvard Law School student and former Crimson News editor who visited the cafe more than half a dozen times, said that its closure is “devastating.”

“I used to walk by here every day on the way to class, and one day I looked to my left on the way to evidence class, and it just disappeared — just permanently closed,” Skinner said. “It’s a loss for the community, especially this part of Cambridge.”

“A lot of law students like myself are quite, quite, sad and we’ll miss it dearly,” he added.

However, Skinner admitted that the closure was not surprising to him. He described the food as “good but not great,” yet said he valued the Cafe’s ambiance.

“There was a certain cache that it had because it felt unique and different from the more commercial options, like Starbucks across the street,” Skinner noted.

“You were doing a public service by supporting Dudley Cafe,” he added. “It was more philanthropic than commercial.”