The Middle East is an entertainment complex consisting of five adjacent dining and live music venues in the Central Square neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Its three dedicated concert spaces, Upstairs, Downstairs, and Sonia, sit alongside ZuZu and The Corner, two restaurants that also host live music.

It gradually expanded into a full-fledged entertainment complex as the owners purchased nearby properties and incorporated them into The Middle East brand, most recently turning T.T.

In 1975, after brothers Joseph and Nabil Sater Habib purchased the establishment, they expanded into a store front at 472 Massachusetts Avenue.

The brothers maintained the ethnic food and, in keeping with the theme of the restaurant, they had Arab-language bands, music and belly dancers.

In 2001 the Sater brothers took over the lease of the last remaining portion of the current Middle East complex positioned between the Front and the Corner which was an Indian restaurant at the time.

[4] In March 2017, the Sater brothers opened the fifth Middle East venue called Sonia, a nightclub in the former location of T.T.

The Middle East is pretty much the only friendly venue for us -- meaning not corporate-controlled and that doesn’t have a bunch of insane curtailment policies in place that prevent you from behaving like a normal band.

[11]The Middle East is also a venue for artists in other genres including "jazz, blues, funk, reggae, ska, pop, punk, and various combinations thereof".

[14] Massachusetts bands that played at The Middle East include Aerosmith in 1995, Dick Dale in '95, Guster in '96, Powerman 5000 in '97, Staind in '97, Godsmack in '97 Dropkick Murphys in '98, American Hi-Fi in '09, and Ice Nine Kills in 2017.

In 1992, the Oakland artist Daniel Galvez painted a large-scale mural on the outer wall of the Middle East, which celebrates the cultural diversity of Cambridge, Massachusetts.