Beloved Middle Eastern Restaurant Moona Debuts New Location

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The acclaimed Middle Eastern restaurant triples in size with a new Central Square home—plus za’atar croissants and orange blossom soft serve for good measure.

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A spread of dishes at Moona, including several dips. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

After nine years in a cozy 30-seat Inman Square space, Moona is tripling its footprint in Cambridge. One of Greater Boston’s best Middle Eastern restaurants opens its doors next week in Central Square, trading intimacy with ambition in the form of a big new space. A mile from its original location, the new restaurant expands owner Mohamad El Zein’s vision: think Levantine-inspired croissants and soft serve; flavorful mezze and hearty entrees; and a mostly Lebanese wine list. The expansion also adds a café and lounge space, and, soon, breakfast and lunch.

Modern restaurant interior with teal walls, large windows, and a bar area featuring a floral patterned backdrop. The seating includes a curved red velvet booth, black chairs around dark wooden tables, and yellow bar stools. Multiple white, cylindrical pendant lights hang from the ceiling, and an illuminated exit sign is visible above the bar. Tables are set with wine glasses and cutlery.

Moona. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Just like the Inman original location (which will close when its lease runs out in spring 2027), the new Moona—named after an Arabic term for food storage—is centered on the Middle Eastern pantry, from spices like sumac and za’atar to condiments like tahini and shatta, hot sauce. “What defines the restaurant is capturing seasonality with the best-sourced ingredients,” says owner Mohamad El Zein, “both from the Middle East and domestically, that create that flavor profile.” This passion for careful sourcing yields a menu that is reverential toward Eastern Mediterranean and Arabic cuisines but unafraid to go rogue: cheese-and-basturma croissants, say, or creamsicle (labneh and orange blossom) soft serve topped with blood orange Negroni jellies.

A ring-shaped red dip or spread garnished with fresh green herbs and pomegranate seeds, served on a white plate with a pink floral pattern, placed on a wooden table with a red cushioned background.

Moona’s muhammara with walnuts, Aleppo pepper, and pomegranate. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

The croissants and soft serve are new to the sunlit Central Square location, dreamt up alongside the all-day concept. (The original location only serves dinner.) The challenge in designing this restaurant, says El Zein, was to take the coziness of the Inman location and “maintain that intimacy” in a much larger space. His solution? A portion of the new restaurant functions as a café dubbed Sawa (“together” in Arabic) by day and a relaxed lounge called Sahra (a “night out” or “soirée”) by night.

A bowl of creamy hummus topped with sautéed mixed mushrooms, dollops of green herb pesto, small white cream drops, and garnished with fresh parsley leaves. The hummus has a smooth texture with a pool of olive oil in the center.

Moona’s mushroom hummus with green shatta. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

When the café section is open, customers can enjoy wifi and quiet background music alongside various snack, breakfast, and lunch options. Pastry chef Giselle Miller—a James Beard Award semifinalist for her work at Menton and an alum of Deuxave, Café ArtScience, and more—is in the kitchen, so you’re going to want to try a baked good. The headliner is the Levantine-inspired croissants; always six on offer, some savory and some sweet, in flavors like halawa, za’atar, or orange blossom-glazed with almond filling. Watch for flatbreads like sfiha and lahm bi ajeen, too, topped with seasonal ingredients. To drink, classic espresso options are joined by Middle Eastern-inspired offerings: goat milk cortados, Yemeni coffee, and loose-leaf teas representing seasonal flavors from the region, says El Zein, like mint in the summer and sage in the winter.

A cozy seating area with a long, tufted red velvet bench against a wall covered in a geometric diamond-patterned wallpaper. Above the bench hangs a framed painting of a person sitting with a hookah. Two wall sconces with warm lighting flank the painting. In front of the bench are wooden tables and black chairs.

Moona’s café-by-day, lounge-by-night space. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Peer into the spacious kitchen from the café counter, and you’ll catch a glimpse of the Carpigiani soft serve machine, which churns out a “whimsical” rotation of sweet, creamy treats available on-the-go all day or in retro stemmed stainless steel bowls after dinner. “What’s the Middle Eastern place doing with croissants and soft serve, right?” says El Zein, with a laugh. “We’re not authentic; we’re trying to push boundaries. So [for the soft serve] we’re taking something near and dear to our childhood and having it make its way into the [Levantine] pantry.” Base flavors will rotate monthly—like preserved lemon or dark chocolate-cardamom-coffee with an orange swirl—plus toppings that run the gamut from baklava bits, sour cherries, and crushed pistachios to toasted phyllo, passionfruit caramel, and the like.

Grilled squid tentacles served on a white plate with a textured pattern, garnished with chopped herbs and spices, and drizzled with olive oil, placed on a wooden table.

Moona’s squid with black shatta, parsnip-garlic sauce, and basil. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

In the evening, the café space transitions into Sahra Lounge, a relaxed area for people looking for a vibe, but not a full dinner. “Grab some coffee, finish some work, have dessert or maybe a plate of hummus,” says El Zein.

A plate of roasted chicken seasoned with spices, garnished with pine nuts and fresh parsley, served on a bed of creamy mash with a drizzle of olive oil. The dish is presented on a light-colored ceramic plate placed on a wooden table with a red cushioned background.

Moona’s msakhan: half chicken with sumac onions, khubz, and pine nuts. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

But if you came to feast, head into the high-ceilinged main dining room—nearly 60 seats, plus a 10-seat bar—for a taste of what makes Moona a fixture on our annual top 50 restaurants list. Here, executive chef Scott Ryan builds on the Inman menu of dips, mezze, and a handful of bigger entrees with an expanded selection, leaning into larger-format dishes perfect for family-style feasts. “Because the space and tables are bigger, because the seating is more comfortable, people don’t need to feel rushed,” says El Zein. “Enjoy your time, meet with friends, catch up, and let it be your sanctuary.”

A modern dining area with wooden tables and black chairs, featuring a blue upholstered bench in the foreground. The wall has decorative wooden arches with white panels and small round lights beneath a strip of warm yellow lighting. Several large, white, cylindrical hanging lanterns illuminate the space, and there are framed artworks on the adjacent wall.

Moona. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Some familiar dishes, or spins on them, make the jump from Inman to Central; the old location’s popular eggplant fatteh, with grape molasses and yogurt, becomes Brussels sprouts fatteh at the new spot. You’ll see a seasonal fattoush, a bread salad, at both, and some of the dips carry over, like a hummus with mushrooms and green shatta. But at the new location, be sure to delve into new territory, like “a whole array of kebabs,” says El Zein, such as monkfish shish with saffron rice. (Alas, no sign of our favorite fancy steak tips—please bring them back!)

Two decorative plates on a wooden surface, each with an assortment of desserts. The left plate has a powdered sugar-dusted thumbprint cookie with jam, a sesame-coated round treat, a chocolate truffle, and a square red jelly candy dusted with powdered sugar. The right plate holds a piece of baklava, a yellow square cake topped with nuts, and a cracked chocolate cookie dusted with sugar.

Moona confections. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

El Zein is quick to point out the experienced team of hospitality professionals he has brought onboard, and the bench is particularly deep in the beverage department. General manager Robert Taylor, a certified sommelier, led now-closed Italian restaurant Benedetto to win a Best of Boston award for its wine program in 2018. Beverage manager Hassan Sawly’s resume includes roles at Chickadee and Les Sablons; assistant general manager Nick Kazizian was head bartender at Branch Line. The result is a wine program that’s almost entirely Lebanese, says El Zein, from smaller natural wines to Bekaa Valley classics. He cites a decrease in “training and dedication to wine programs” at restaurants as part of the reason wine consumption is down, so he wanted to go “super, super hyper-focused” here to do something a little different and try to draw attention back to wine. There are cocktails, too, and the team is putting a lot of effort into spirit-free drinks, with the mocktail list “really reflecting seasonally” and using lots of scratch-made components, says El Zein.

A white ribbed bowl containing a light yellow dessert garnished with thin orange melon ribbons, green leaves, and a crumbly topping. The bowl is placed on a white surface with a yellow background below.

Moona’s Meyer lemon posset with jasmine, mint, and winter melon. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

For El Zein, whose hospitality career started at Aquitaine in the South End nearly 30 years ago, it’s the perfect time to launch Moona into its next era. “I think [the Greater Boston culinary scene] is moving at a pretty fast trajectory to get up there with other cities in the United States,” he says, “and I’d like to join the group in doing that.”

Stacks of small decorative plates with intricate patterns in green and brown, placed on a white countertop against a blue geometric patterned tiled wall.

Moona. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

The new Moona is accepting dinner reservations from December 30 on, with café service beginning around February or March 2026. 750 Main St., Central Square, Cambridge, moonarestaurant.com.

A wooden table set with a basket of pita bread, a plate of red dip garnished with herbs and pomegranate seeds, a bowl of hummus topped with herbs and pine nuts, a glass of white wine, an empty tall glass, and neatly folded napkins with silverware. Several empty wine glasses are also visible in the background.

Moona. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal