A couple of rooms and some patio space on Arrow Street in Harvard Square, Faro Café is open for traditional coffee shop fare until 4 or 5 p.m. through the week and reopens as a wine bar in the evenings from Thursday to Saturday, trading its central communal table for a dance floor and a DJ booth.
On a recent Friday, music came in the form of a set from Brooklyn-based Radio Ramsés and NXN, who spun records from around the world with primarily tropical and psychedelic grooves. Victor, a Brighton resident originally from Brazil, was at Faro for the first time. In addition to his affinity for the music, Victor noted that the café differed from other Boston bars: It was much “cozier” and more intimate, “like a house party.” The size is a limitation – the café reached capacity early – but also much of the appeal. The crowd spills out onto the street toward the end of the night.
Faro late nights skew slightly younger but are diverse, fashionable and international. Emma, a recent college graduate and Somerville resident, attributed this to the “European vibe” – dark lighting, low ceilings, dance music and large patio reminiscent of establishments in Paris or Madrid. Beyond the simple pursuit of intoxication, “there’s a commonality here that people are interested in: atmosphere,” Emma said.
A self-proclaimed “laptop-free café” during the day, Faro has an aversion to technology that carries into the evening hours. There is no explicit ban on phone use, but one isn’t really needed. There’s some collective commitment to remaining present.
The hybrid café-bar does not have a website and promotes itself only via Instagram, posting stories of upcoming events that remain on its page until the day of and are then promptly removed – like documenting the experience would not do it justice; you just had to be there. It is a place that may not want an article written about it.
Word has spread, though. The Friday crowd used up all of the wine glasses. Baristas turned to mason jars. Even those needed to be returned promptly to keep the bar – serving a selection of five wines – functioning. That might be a sign of growing pains somewhere; here it’s indicative of a rawness and authenticity built into the foundation of a business that seems to have little interest in expansion. Among the many promotions on Faro walls for local events and causes is a biographical flyer: “Faro strives in some small way to counter-act the trend of disappearing real, independently owned spaces,” it says, “at the cold hand of (infinite) economic growth.”
Faro Cafe, 5 Arrow St., Harvard Square, Cambridge
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