Sarma Somerville: Boston-Area Meze Menu, Prices and Tips

Sarma in Somerville is a meze restaurant and bar at 249 Pearl Street, a short walk from the Gilman Square Green Line stop, where chef-owner Cassie Piuma serves dozens of small, shareable plates rooted in Turkish and Eastern Mediterranean cooking. It opened in October 2013 and remains one of the hardest reservations to land in the Boston area.

The restaurant describes itself as a place where food, drink and music come together, modeled on the meyhanes of Turkey, the casual taverns where people linger over small plates and drinks. Its name means “wrapped” or “rolled up,” a nod to the bite-sized bundles served as meze. This guide draws on the menu Sarma posted on Oct. 15, 2026, its own published policies, and outside reviews. It is not based on a paid or anonymous visit.

Who Runs Sarma: Cassie Piuma and the Oleana Connection

Piuma grew up in Duxbury and trained at Johnson & Wales University, according to the restaurant’s team page. She cooked at Al Forno in Providence, then returned to Boston in 2002 to work at Sel de la Terre and as a sausage maker at Barbara Lynch’s Butcher Shop. She went on to spend 11 years under chef Ana Sortun at Oleana in Cambridge before opening Sarma in 2013. Sortun is Sarma’s co-owner, and Piuma’s husband, Matthew Piuma, is her business partner. Chef de cuisine Liz Barwick joined the opening team as a line cook and worked her way up.

Piuma was a James Beard Award nominee for Best Chef: Northeast in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2020, the restaurant says. When the Boston Globe resumed restaurant reviews after its pandemic pause in 2022, Sarma was the first of five restaurants to receive five stars, the paper’s highest rating; its critic wrote of having yet to meet anyone who did not like the place. If you know Sortun’s cooking, our profile of Oleana in Inman Square covers the restaurant where Piuma learned Middle Eastern cooking.

Sarma Menu Highlights and Prices for Fall 2026

The menu changes often, and the version dated Oct. 15, 2026 is split into breads and spreads, “meyhane snacks,” vegetables, pasta, fish, sandwiches and grilled shish plates. Prices below come from that menu.

• Breads and spreads: warm gyro bread with Lebanese za’atar is $6. Black Sea cornbread with jalapeño, feta, honey and sesame is $19, Persian onion dip with sumac potato chips is $17, and brown-buttered hummus with tiny beef kebabs, olives and pine nuts is $30.
• Meyhane snacks: lentil nachos with feta queso are $24, red curry chicken wings with lemongrass ranch are $26, Tunisian brik tacos filled with tuna tartare are $27, and delicata squash tempura with mole tahini is $21.
• Vegetables: nearly a dozen plates, including spicy Lebanese carrots with whipped lentils and ginger labne ($21), Brussels sprout bravas ($18) and fairytale eggplant with tomato grits ($22).
• Pasta and fish: feta cheese gnocchi with lamb stifado is $38, merguez manti with a poached egg is $34, and miso-glazed salmon and blackened swordfish are $38 each.
• Shish: the harissa barbecue duck with carrot brown butter is $40, octopus souvlaki is $35 and pork tenderloin with cranberry caponata is $36.

The duck is the dish outside critics mention most. Eater Boston said never to skip it in a review marking Sarma’s dozen years, and Time Out Boston listed it among the menu’s regular draws. Desserts run $7 to $12 and include ricotta loukoumades, a spiced pumpkin boureka and cookie butter baklava. The bar pours cocktails built on Mediterranean spices, such as a pisco drink with spiced pear and raki, plus beer and a short wine list.

Because so many plates cost $20 to $40, a full meal adds up quickly. A Harvard Crimson reviewer estimated dinner for two with some overordering at around $175 in 2024. Boston Magazine’s 2014 review made a similar point when most plates still cost $5 to $17, and it also described servers carrying trays of off-menu specials through the room, dim sum style.

Atmosphere and Dining Room

Sarma is loud and busy by design. Time Out Boston described a boisterous, fast-paced room that can feel tight at peak hours, with patio seating on warmer nights. Boston Magazine noted blue mosaic glass lanterns at the entrance and a wall of colorful plates from an Istanbul bazaar. The 20-seat bar and its high-top tables are held for walk-ins and serve the full dinner menu, which makes the bar the most realistic option without a booking. For another take on Eastern Mediterranean small plates in Boston, read our profile of Krasi in Back Bay, or browse our guide to Persian restaurants in the Boston area.

Reservations, Hours and Practical Info

• Address: 249 Pearl Street, Somerville, MA 02145.
• Phone: 617-764-4464.
• Hours: the bar opens at 5 p.m. every day. The dining room serves from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5:30 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, according to the restaurant’s website.
• Holiday closures: Sarma lists closures on Nov. 26, Dec. 24 through Dec. 28, and Jan. 1.
• Reservations: parties of up to six can book online up to 30 days ahead, with a new day released each morning at 10 a.m. Eastern. Groups of seven or more go through a request form and must order a fixed menu at $150 per person before tax, drinks and a 20% gratuity. Parties of 13 or more can book only Sunday through Thursday.
• Dietary notes: the kitchen says it can accommodate dairy, gluten, shellfish and nut restrictions, but not allergies to alliums, individual spices, honey, nightshades or certain oils, and it does not take menu modifications.
• Getting there: parking is limited. The restaurant suggests street parking on Dana Street, the Medford Street bridge or metered spots on Broadway, and asks guests not to use the private lot next door. The MBTA’s Gilman Square station is the closest transit stop.

A 20% gratuity is added for parties of six or more. Sarma also runs a monthly supper club through the Table22 subscription service, with a waitlist linked from its website.

Featured photo: a mixed Turkish meze plate (illustrative, not taken at Sarma). Photo by Dr. Bernd Gross, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Sources

• Sarma — official website (menu dated Oct. 15, 2026, hours, reservations, team)
• The Boston Globe — Five stars for Sarma, the universal favorite (2022)
• Eater Boston — A Dozen Years Later, This Somerville Turkish Spot Still Satisfies
• Time Out Boston — Sarma
• The Harvard Crimson — Sarma Review: An Experimentalist’s Dream (2024)
• Boston Magazine — Restaurant Review: Sarma in Somerville (2014)
• Wikimedia Commons — Karisik Meze Tabagi, photo by Dr. Bernd Gross (CC BY-SA 3.0)