Columbus Café

Great food, great drinks, great atmosphere. Cozy neighborhood bar that is just as friendly to new customers as the regulars. While they don’t have a kids menu and I would consider this more of an adult restaurant/​bar, the staff is very friendly to kids. It’s basically a very laid back place with good conversation and interesting dishes and drinks. I ask Jim to «make me something special» and he mixes up all kinds of concoctions — I like the apple pie martini which the waitress told me «tastes just like a piece of apple pie» — it was amazing. We have been waited on by several staff members and have sat at the bar with various bartenders and everyone has always been super friendly which isn’t that common in Boston restaurants.

Went on a warm evening when wanted to sit outside– which worked out well, because there was no AC/​fan inside the place. Got a mojito and it just tasted like lemon juice. Asked the waiter for a recommendation on the meal and he recommended the seafood stew, so I got it. After waiting about an hour for our meals, we got them and the stew was tasteless and basically all potato. Needless to say, very disappointing.
It’s in my neighborhood and I’m still thinking of writing it off my list– but I think I may give it another chance only for brunch.

When my girlfriend and I aren’t over at Parish Café — we will gladly love to come here!
On summer or warm nights, this place has a great little area for seating outside. Beers are decently cheap and the food is also inexpensive compared to other restaurants around the close vicinity.
Salads are big and entrees are good size as well. I like this place and it is priced very reasonably. Our checks are generally $ 20 – 30 less here than over at Parish which is great. The service is alway so friendly and they welcome you in with open arms. I would highly recommend this place for dinner or anytime really. We will definitely be frequenting CC more often once the weather turns!
Just a hint — the Mac and Cheese here is far less superior to Parish’s version — don’t be told otherwise.

I’ve been to Columbus Café a bunch of times, for dinner, brunch, evening drinks, I’ve seen it all. It’s definitely A-​OK: nothing super special, but decent enough to return for several reasons.
It’s conveniently located in the South End, I wouldn’t quite call it «tucked away», but its far enough away from the top of Tremont that it’s usually quieter. It can get really crowded if the weather’s nice, because they have a pretty nice and pretty big patio, so people pile in. Still, the ambiance is pleasant.
The service is never spectacular, but they’re nice and do their best to please — can’t blame ‘em if its packed full and someone didn’t show up on time.
The food can be really good, or not so much, it’s kinda hit or miss. I had a delicious burger there one night, cooked exactly medium rare the way I ordered it. But then I ordered the same burger two days later and it was overcooked almost to inedible-​ness. The breakfast is usually pretty good.
There are three taps, and a respectable selection of bottles. Sometimes they run out of Hendricks, and sometimes the beer on a Saturday morning is flat, but the bar is tiny and always looks closed even when its open, so it’s a great place to hide out for a few beers. They usually have something good on the tv, too. I watched most of Reservoir Dogs there the other day.

Thanks to the rockstars over at
my friends and I were able to enjoy a late night meal on a chilly Saturday. I walked by this place a gazillion times and never gave a second though to it, yet when I arrived that night I was super surprised by how tiny and «standard» looking it was… but it was cute and cozy so I was still intrigued.
The cute waiter guy was very… cute and personable and stopped by out table more than enough times to see how we were doing, I love great customer service!
The menu itself is very interesting with quirky items such as spicy calamari with spinach as an appetizer… again, I was expecting something deep fried and crunchy, but kn the contrary it was grilled, spicy and delicious! The dry spinach really complimented the calamari wonderfully. Now I’m excited!
For an entrees I ordered the lamb with lentils. One word. Lambheaven. It was soooo moist, hearty and beautifully seasoned that I couldn’t stop eating for a breather even if I tried! The lentils were great too.
Everyone else seemed to have enjoyed their meals as well. I like this place!

Came here for an early dinner. We had some good drinks and tasty food in a warm and intimate atmosphere on a cold, winter night.
Tables we close and service was slow, but the delicious food and friendly waiters will probably have us back for another dinner. Or perhaps brunch– since that seems popular here.

Food was fantastic. We had calamari as an appetizer, it wasn’t fried so different but still tasty. We had the meatloaf and catfish. Both were cooked to perfection. We split a huge portion of tiramisu which was delicious to. It has a romantic atmosphere, wait staff was limited but we went earlier in the evening. I would’ve given 5 stars if the waiter was more attentive, but excellent food and I would go back.

I went for brunch, this place has been a going concern for many years.
Living on Tremont I guess I never made the 5 minute trek.
My friend had great hash & eggs and I had the omelet of the day, also very good.
Servers first day, our first visit. I have friends visiting in April, I know where I’m taking them. Really some mixed reviews here, I hope my second trip goes well!

Whomever made the food must have been extremely thirsty… or MIchael Phelps. Because everything I had was watery except the tiramisu. You want your sangria to be liquid, but it’d be nice if all your food wasn’t forced to swim.
The Sangria was fine, a quality which seemed to set the tone for the rest of the night. The Polenta appetizer miraculously managed to retain its creamy-​grainy texture without succumbing to the diluting effect of the tomato liquid on top. On a more positive note, the mushrooms were a tasty topper.
The veggies in the Pasta di Giardino were staying afloat, as was the al dente linguini, but the surrounding olive oily liquid was clearly neither broth nor soup. And imagine my disappointment when I saw the Moroccan Lamb Shank topped with the less complementary spinach leaves instead of the dark bitter promise of collard greens. The lentils and au jus was more like a thick soup, which gave it a satisfying finish and tells me that Columbus Café still has untapped potential. If only that potential weren’t drowning…
To end on a more uplifting note, the service was clearly superior. Our server was friendly and knew the menu well. She deserved to be knighted for always responding to my indecisiveness with patience and a sweet smile. I’d consider coming back for her alone.

I had a Groupon I needed to use, so we went here for a Saturday dinner. The place is tiny, but we were able to make a reservation the day before.
The thing that is keeping me from giving this place 4 stars is the service.
The staff is disorganized. We waited forever for them to actually take our order. We each ordered a drink, which did not come until after we received our appetizers — and had to remind them.
Throughout the night, I looked around to see how they treated other customers. They were very friendly, but disorganized. They forgot a lady’s wine, and another lady sitting next to me had to send back her entrée after they brought her food the way she didn’t order.
I also noticed their menu is not consistent with their website and what they actually have in stock. I kept overhearing they were out of certain drinks or substituting foods for what they had listed (by the time we got to dessert, our server told us they were serving something else in place of the brownie sundae).
Speaking of the dessert menu, it was very basic and boring. Chocolate cake, tiramisu and cheese cake. Yawn.
I’ll give them credit for the main dishes. Try the Platanos Fritos — so, so good! My entrée was the Argentine Steak, which was good, juicy and cooked the way I wanted it.
One other plus: they overheard my bf talk about ordering the chocolate cake and brought it to him before he even ordered. That made up somewhat for the slow service we had that night.
I read an article that the Columbus Café was set to close last year, so I think the Groupon sales helped keep this place open. Owners, please hire some more experienced waitstaff… and update your website and enable online reservations! Like I said, there wasn’t an issue with rudeness, but I felt as if the staff was inexperienced. This place could be amazing.

I have been to Columbus Café twice, both times for brunch. It’s very close to my apartment, and I really wanted it to be my new go-​to brunch spot. Unfortunately, I cannot lower my standards enough to be a regular at this place.
The service isn’t horrible, but that might not be saying much considering it was pretty empty both times I was here. The waitresses were dressed down… almost like they just got out of bed or just came from the gym (oversized hoodies, sweats, running sneakers). Maybe they failed at pulling off the cute pajama brunch the waitstaff does at Tremont 647?
The food is nothing amazing either. Although the menu describes some appealing and interesting dishes, they aren’t as good as they sound. The Maine Eggs Benedict (poached eggs over crabcakes with hollandaise) is pretty good, but not good enough to come back for. My friend and I ordered the corned beef hash as a side; it didn’t come out as expected (it was a plate full of ham, undercooked potatoes, and green peppers – all cut up into perfect cubes). It was pretty much unseasoned and didn’t taste like anything special.
I’d rather walk a few extra blocks to Tremont St., where there are tons of better options for brunch.

Sorry to use this on a restaurant, but I just didn’t feel a connection. There was no spark, no chemistry, no je né sais quoi.
I guess you could say it all started when my GF and I arrived for our 7:30PM reservation. I understand restaurants can be packed and that reservations don’t guarantee a spot for any exact time. Hey, if anything, it’s a compliment to how much people enjoy the food, ambience, and service. What I didn’t like though, is that we weren’t even acknowledged for the first 7 – 10 minutes of our arrival. Some acknowledgement would have been apprecated, but I digress. I’ll talk to my therapist later about these feelings of neglect and maybe, time-​permitting, my daddy issues.
Anyhoo, the ambience of the restaurant was above average. It was a small, intimate space. Lights were dimmed nicedly. It was definitely a good dinner date place.
Service — our waiter was cool. Provided a couple recommendations and checked in here and there.
Food — was average. We started off with spinach and artichoke dip. The dip was lukewarm with big chunks of artichoke in it. The chips were actually pretty good though.
For the main couse, I had the half chicken with garlicky spinach and mashed potatoes. The flavor just wasn’t anything special.
Dessert was a cheese cake. Thankfully this was one part of the meal where average was something I looked forward too.
Overall, I can’t say that I’d come back again. I came here with a buywithme coupon and I’m definitely not coming back to pay full price for just average.

I’ve been here four times now. The first two times were pretty good, but the last two were so dissatisfying that i’m never going to come back here.
This place is way understaffed. The last two times I came here there was only 1 waitress serving the whole restaurant. We made reservations at 8:30pm, we got seated on an empty table with no drinks, no cutlery… and waited 20 min to order. After that we waited till 10:00 to actually get our entrees. SERIOUSLY? ON A WEDNESDAY NIGHT? I wasn’t even hungry anymore when the food arrived, i was ready to just go home. The food itself was below average… I was very unpleased. The waitress didn’t even apologize for the long wait, she was running frantically all over the place.
They also seem to run out of things all the time. They didn’t even have two of the dishes we wanted or enough Sprite OR Coke to fill our whole table.
In short: 2 hours and $ 80 wasted.

ive eaten here a few times and had a very average experience in general. recently though, i went to columbus café and waited at least 30 minutes after sitting before even getting offered water to drink. that pace continued for the entire meal, which in total took nearly 3 hours. the food in general was average, but it wasnt very memorable.
during the summer months, this, and other south end establishments, is a great place to get a meal or drink and eat outside… but not at the expense of having such long waits. i dont think ill be returning here very soon.

Closed

First, if you want to make a reservation, try calling after 4:30pm. Second, they weren’t all that busy on the Wednesday evening that we went, at least on the Café side, so if you didn’t get to call ahead for a reservation, stop by anyways.
There was one waitress handling the dinner shift the entire time we were there, and she was great! She even checked on the bathroom (single unisex with well placed mirrors, it just needs a purse hook) when we mentioned we were waiting for the gentleman to exit so we could wash up to eat the nice warm bread. (Somehow he had managed to leave the bathroom without us seeing him!)
The two of us decided to share a few dishes and were quite full by the time we were done! The slices of baguette were served warm with a crisp crust with a plate of seasoned olive oil.
Spinach and Goat Cheese Salad — Warm spinach salad with Vermont goat cheese and aged balsamic vinaigrette $ 6.95 was a good portion for 2, or maybe even for 3. I enjoyed spreading the goat cheese on the bread from the basket and treating the bread as self-​made croutons in the tasty salad.
I had spotted sweet potato fries listed on the Today’s Specials menu beside the Salmon Burger entrée. Oooo… sweet potato fries! Can we get a side of that? Yes! A whole basketful of the soft sweet sort of fry for $ 3.95.
Mini Taquitos — Corn tortillas stuffed with duck confit over an Asian slaw and tamarind drizzle $ 8.95 was pretty good after we removed some of the spicy dark sauce. The slaw was an interesting touch.
Plátano Frito — Lightly fried plantains served with guacamole and a chipotle crema $ 6.95 turned out to be the savory sort when we had assumed it to be the sweet type. Still good though, and the mound of fresh chopped tomato salsa was refreshing.
We finished off with a nice serving of Tiramisu $ 6 garnished with a floral swirl of a mixed berry sauce decorating the plate. Not the best we’ve tasted, but quite a decent version of the dessert.
I received a tip from our neighboring table to try the enchiladas next time.
(four stars)
*** ¹¹⁄₂₀₁₀ visit ***
Went back to try the brunch menu. First of all, the prices online are old. Second, they do not take reservations. Third, parking is tough on a Sunday late in the morning.
We shared:
. Farfalle all’ Pollo — Farfalle pasta tossed with chicken breast, kalamata olives, button mushrooms and roasted tomatoes
. Maine Eggs Benedict — Poached eggs, Maine crab cakes and Hollandaise
. Southern Breakfast — Fried eggs over southern-​style corned beef hash
The two breakfast items also came with a handful of greens and some diced tomatoes which arrived nicely chilled alongside the hot items. The homefries were surprisingly yellow inside and sadly not the crispy sort. The Hollandaise was rich, the crab cakes tasty but soft — I would have preferred a crispy exterior. (Hmmm… Do we sense a theme here?)
The hash wasn’t particularly flavorful, but it was okay. The Farfalle was okay, but pretty basic stuff on the whole.
I’d be willing to come back for brunch someday, but I’ll probably want to try some new places first.
Three stars… which average out to 3.5 stars for the two visits.

Just got back from brunch — came in around 11:15 and it was packed but luckily we got the last table. when we walked in no one came to greet us for a while so we had down and get a waitress attention to get a seat.
it is a cozy place, with a homey living room like décor. It’s small with about 20 tables and one waitress. however we didn’t have any problems with service, she seemed to always be around when we needed it .
one issue we had with the waitreess is when we asked for milk, she got a small pitcher of milk from the table that just left. it was a quarter full and probably had been sitting on their table as they ate for 30 minutes. not very professional.
the blody mary was good. the mimosas not so good. the huevos rancheros… ehh horrible. i’ve never had them this strange and unappetizing. it came with chorizo that was not edible because of the way it was spiced… everything was soggy and oily. luckily my friend got the goat cheese, spinach scrambled eggs which were really good so i ate half of her breakfast :)
probably won’t come back here again, especially because there are so many great brunch places in the south end at the same price.
oh and their coat stand had so many jackets that it fell over and almost killed me. hah quite an experience.

I can see myself sitting at the bar, sipping a cocktail, in the dark. Or snuggled next to my special someone, sharing a romantic dinner by candle light.
This place is small, dark and intimate. Unfortunately, I came for brunch and I wanted to see my menu and the food I was eating. Good thing was Caitlin C. and I were sitting next to the window which gave us some light.
I ordered french toast (see pic). Thick, fluffy bread, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, topped with berry compote. It was delicious. I was eyeing other plates around me, and it made me want to come back for more. Unfortunately, their prices, are on the high side for breakfast, which forces me to seek other breakfast options.
I will return, preferably in the summer. When theres sunlight, and heat.

The brunch here is SO GOOD. The morning after a night out with friends (in other words, we were tired and hungover), we stumbled upon Columbus Café. It was about 90 degrees out, so while they had a nice patio, we opted for the table in the deepest, darkest corner we could find away from the heat and sun.
I had the eggs benedict and my friend had eggs and some assortment of lots of meat. Pretty hearty portions and overall just delicious. Not sure if it was just because it was the morning post-​partying (i’m sure popcorn chicken would’ve satisfied us), but the food here was the bommmb.
Verdict: I’ve found a new favorite brunch spot.

First off: Allow me to apologize to *Phillip*. Not Mark. Phillip. This is the first time I have ever been called out upon the carpet for a Unilocal review. And even though called out I was, *Phillip* was very, very cool about it.
Too cool to later have to suffer through me being a drunk a-​hole. Sorry about that, too Phillip.
This place is cooler than any of you will ever be. They have coasters with pictures of famous Bobs in them. They do «Shatner Night». Phillip has an eidetic memory. Really — test him on it. OK, don’t test him. But he really does have a shocking recall for pretty much everything you say and do. Which is one of the reasons I’m apologizing for being a drunk loser. Because Phillip will remember, but I will brave the bar again, this time consuming less booze.
You should join me. Because the Columbus Café is that rad. You heard me. RAD.

I went to the Columbus Café on a whim one night. They had open patio seats and looked better than the dark café across the street.
The waiters were nice but we had about three different guys. They brought lots of water and bread which was nice.
I had the baked mac and cheese and my friend had a beef stew. It was moderately priced but a little bit much for my liking. The baked mac was $ 11 and the lowest entrée on the menu. It was definitely worth it though because it was so yummy! It was crunchy on the top with nice cheeses in the middle. However, it was one of two vegetarian options. It didn’t seem like a good spot for kids though as the couples who brought kids went to NY Pizza across to the street to get them food. The wait staff didn’t seem to mind which makes me think they don’t have anything for kids. It shouldn’t be hard to ask them to make grilled cheese or something if you do have kids though!
And as Purvi R. said, there is a ton of puppy watching! There are so many people walking by. I never realized this was such a big area to go but I will probably be back since it’s good food close by!

We need to talk about the Vermont Scramble for a moment.
Hot damn that is good.
So I came here this morning to finally give my dad his Father’s Day gift (aka I paid). I ended up having the aforementioned Vermont Scramble with a mimosa (if I’m going to be paying, I might as well have some fun with it :)). The mimosa was a perfect combination of champagne and orange juice: I could taste the champagne, but it wasn’t ridiculously strong.
And the scramble: mmmmmh. A perfect combination of well-​scrambled eggs, with goat cheese, tomatoes, and spinach, with a great salad garnish thing on the side that I mixed in, because it was fun. On top of this, the home fries were incredible, and the muffin, while a little burnt, was still yummy. The whole meal was relatively well-​priced, and still filled me up.
Service was quite good as well, even though it was crazy busy.
Overall a nice, little nook place to have a nice brunch in the South End!