We will be in Boston on May 8th, staying at the Holiday Inn Express in Cambridge on Mon. Obrian Hway. Please suggest dining in the area - walking distance if possible. Looking for seafood or steak type place. Will dining late evening be a problem in this area? Thanks

Not much (plenty of fast food) within walking distance, but you can always hop on the T and go to Harvard Square, a virtual dining mecca. We love Sandrine's, Upstairs at the Pudding, Casablanca, Fire & Ice, among others. Best bet is to wander around and see what you find most appealing. For a Friday or Saturday night, reservations are essential. You may want to go to www.boston.citysearch.com and www.phantomgourmet.com for recommendations and suggestions. There are plenty of late night choices in the Harvard Square area. You may want to check at the hotel - most have shuttle service to Harvard Square.

There is a similar posting here somewhere. I recommend the East Coast Grill on Cambridge Street for fresh seafood and wonderful ribs; it's a noisy place, but the food and drinks are great. I can't remember if they take reservations or not, but the stand in line is worth the wait. And Donna' recommendations are right on too.

Donna is right, in this area you will find primarily fast food places. Rather than Harvard Square, which is on the red line subway and will involve changing lines since the closest stop to your hotel will be the green line, I would suggest dinner in the North End, hundreds of italian restaurants to choose from, and it's just a couple of stops on the subway.

Hey, what a coincidence, I'm staying in Cambridge that week too! Thanks for all the dining ideas.

I don't actually have any Cambridge dining recs. of my own, but would like to add another idea to the restaurant tip website list: chowhound.com. (Like with any such website, I've learned to take some of the comments with many grains of salt. However some of their posters are actually quite sane and know a lot about good food.)

Their Boston area page is not as extensive as their NYC one, but I gleaned a great list of N. End Italian restaurants. It's too long to post here, maybe later on I'll just extract the names & post a summary.