Canal House Cafe

Only decent café around Harper’s ferry. good food.

The sense of being at home while eating delicious food is overwhelming at Canal House Café. I stopped in for chili after a hike at Harper’s Ferry and fell in love with the food, the atmosphere, and the simple pleasure of feeling comforted. Try the Mac N’ Cheese too!

CANAL HOUSE IS CLOSED. They are under new ownership and plan to reopen on April 22^nd as «Bisou Bistro», a New Orleans-​style restaurant.

All of our food for our family of four was sublime. Started off with the pimento dip which was really tasty. Open faced meatloaf sandwich (little cold) was on point and very tasty, my wife’s vegan shepherd’s pie was really tasty, my daughter’s farmhouse salad was a little boring and my son’s mac ‘n cheese was great! I can’t give you a five star because of the cost of your sodas that you serve… spent over $ 17 for soft drinks for the family. One tip-​Post the prices on soft drinks or offer fountain drinks. We’ll go back if in the area for sure.

Meat. Loaf. Also the mashed potatoes. Both greatness. Girlfriend got the vegan shepherds pie and was delicious also. Would come back for sure.

Services was good, food was good, ambiance was nice, desert was good, but a touch pricy. Portions were full. Meatloaf was amazing. Rosotto was a bit strong (maple) flavored. Bonus points for allowing you to bring your own wine for a $ 5 corking fee. Highly recommend for Harpers Ferry.

Wow, what a great restaurant, we will be back tomorrow. Portions were huge, waitress was great, food, oh the food, what amazing meatloaf, and the beet salad wow wow wow.
Thanks so much.

Excellent simple fresh food. I had the triple crown which was a BLT with cheese on some of the best bread I ever treated. And the vegetables were fresh and flavorful. Plus a Quaint historic building, great friendly service, and very reasonably priced. Would definitely go back next time in the area.

My friend and I stumbled upon this place after nearby tubing. It is so cute! It is like an etsy hipster cottage chic dream come to life. The service was good. My friend and I ordered Arnold Palmers which were kinda impossible here because the lemonade comes bottled but the waitress brought us each a bottle of lemonade and a cup of iced tea so we could make them ourselves (and only charged us one drink price). We started with the pimento cheese which was good, not the best I’ve ever had. The toast it was served with was just basic bread you might see at your supermarket which I was disappointed by. I got the Triple Crown sandwich which I liked; I liked it even more when I put some of the pimento cheese on it. I really like how it is farm to table and local. It is definitely the best choice for food in a section of town that has more touristy, uninteresting food. Worth checking out if you’re in town.

First my meatloaf was stone cold in the middle. Second I noticed they didn’t serve it on bread and it was supposed to be open faced. No biggie. I asked them to heat up the loaf, they did and when they brought it back all of a sudden the bread was there. They tore away pieces of it so it matched the pieces of meatloaf I already ate! Those tricksters! I expected more from this place… like a hot meal. To top it off the cheese on my sons cheesy toast wasn’t melted in the middle. Didn’t bother to ask for that to be reheated since he didn’t like it anyway. Maybe they had an off day, I dunno.

Stopped in for lunch and we’re pleasantly surprised. Had roasted eggplant with lentils and potato hash, and it was delicious. Great BLT to with fresh ingredients. Highly recommend for a good meal in Harper’s Ferry.

This is probably the best restaurant there is at Harpers Ferry. We were visiting for the a few days and after trying the other restaurants, we found ourselves back here several times for lunch and dinner. I loved all the dishes, especially the stuffed peppers and the garden egg. The waitress were great! I wish the weather was better to sit at the patio but it was very humid at the time. Regardless, the food was spectacular! My father is selective to vegetarian and healthy choices, and he loved the canal house!

This is a BYOB restaurant that serves very fresh, well prepared, modern food. I loved the Triple Crown (imagine a fancy BLT), my wife loved her Garden Egg and our guest loved her eggplant lasagna. We sat outside on a warm summer evening and the bugs weren’t too bad. The desserts were excellent also.
Service is on the leisurely side, but it just gave us more time to enjoy the wine we brought.
I would here again and recommend it.

Let it be known: Aunt Bea left Mayberry, attended a French culinary school, relocated to West Virginia and opened an elegant yet cozy and informal restaurant in some nice old widow’s home.
Canal House specializes in Southern comfort food with more refinement than one is likely to find at Cracker Barrel or another comparable chain. Adhering to a farm to table culinary philosophy, the restaurant offers such delectable meals as scallops atop a bed of rice, peppers stuffed with black beans and rice, cheesy pasta with chicken, and, my favorite, meatloaf served on a thick slice of bread and covered in a tasty tomato sauce. Though it could use a small bump in flavor (a little more salt perhaps) all the food I ate here was satisfying. The desserts are impressive here but my absolute favorite was the chocolate pot de crème served in a small mason jar. Be greedy with it and don’t apologize.
Canal House was, indeed, a house once, and its ambiance is quaint and homey, recalling Sunday dinners surrounded by family and friends. Expect to listen to tunes by Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and other jazz greats while you dine. Staff are amiable and accommodating (even after flubbing my order, but no harm). Anyone can dine here – couples, families, small groups – but no rowdiness or slovenliness, please. Dine with manners and graciousness, as if Aunt Bea herself or some other sweet old lady (maybe your grandmother) is cooking for you straight from her heart.

Very cozy and simple restaurant in a very small town. Like others have said, most of the food is said to be locally sourced, which is always a positive. The food was very tasty, and healthy with no excess oils used.
The restaurant itself is beautiful and the building has that very historic feel, both inside and out. The menu options are somewhat limited, which is nice and isn’t overwhelming. The owners were very kind and the service was top notch. The Canal House is about a 10 minute walk to the historic downtown section of Harpers Ferry where most of the other restaurants/​shops are located. We look forward to eating here again during our next visit to Harpers Ferry.

I feel conflicted about the Canal House Café. On one hand, the food was really good. It all tasted fresh, great flavors, quality ingredients. On the other hand, the portions were tiny. I’m not saying I need Cheese Cake Factory style mountains of food, but the $ 10 pizza was literally the size and thickness of a taco shell. A very tasty taco shell, but no where close to enough. We also got a bowl of really good black bean soup and a delicious sandwich (also small). The other complaint is it took forever. We were there for over hour and a half, with most of that time spent waiting for food. If they were busy I understand but we were one of three tables when we got there.
So I guess if you aren’t too hungry and you have time, go, the food is tasty. But if you’re wanting a substantial meal after hiking the AT all day, find another place.

I’ve been here on several different occassions, this was the first bad experience. Came in with the family, waited over 1hr for our food this Saturday around noon. Only one server working, every table was full. There’s only six tables in this room. I guess the upstairs is just for parties? The ham and bean soup was very salty, uh! The canenbert cheese on The Blue Ridge sandwhich was so potent it was unetiable. Much stronger than goat cheese! It overpowered every other flavor. The side of pasta noodles that we got with the sandwhich was bland and flavorless. Plain noodles with maybe a little butter. The Johnny cake appatizer was average in taste, very small portion, not recommended.
The lady at the table next to me sent whatever she ordered back. It looked like chicken in a white sauce. She was very nice about it but I heard her say, it was way too salty!
What was good? The C&O Canal wrap with a side of poatoto salad was our best choice. The Jefferson pasta dish was also good. The Triple Crown sandwhich was average but I wouldn’t get it again.
It took almost 20min just to process our check. We spent $ 70 on bad food and service. We left starving, ended up at a pizza shop down the road.
Sorry to say, we won’t be back to The Canal House for a long time. Overall, this was a horriable experience!

Food taste was excellent and this would be a 4 star review if we stopped there… However the issues started before we got to eat it…
My wife has Celiac disease and we were impressed that some items stated Gluten Free… But then when we asked specifics on the specials the waitress had no idea and had to go ask the chef each time… Then when our plates came the wrong items arrived for my wife and it took another 7 – 10 minutes to get a new salad?
Then when we ordered desert, my dish came out wrong… Instead of remaking it they put my ice cream in a new bowl and added the cookie crumble and hot fudge but by this time my ice cream was soup…
Finally, my wife had expressed several times about her gluten allergy and ordered the Canal House Banoffee Pie… The ingredients on the menu stated that the graham cracker crust was gluten free, however there was something that had Gluten in it… Five minutes down the road she was writing in stomach pain… This was the straw that broke the camels back…
If I’m ever in the area again we will try a different place…

This is a great place for a lunch on a day trip from NoVA or DC. I came out here because if the review and it lived up to expectations.
It’s run by a British guy and his wife who are obviously pouring their hearts in to. It’s a beautiful old building right on the main drag in Bolivar about a mile from Harpers Ferry.
The food was delicious with a great selection of seasonable meats and veggies. The hot apple cider is incredible, made from real apples. The Triple Crown sandwich has a delicious chutney on it and my sandwich had some great apple butter.
Price is decent and what you would expect, just slightly slightly small portions.
Friendly wait staff, great vibe, great food and seems to attract a crowd searching things a little off the beaten path.
Don’t miss out on visiting this amazing place.

We rolled in on a late Sunday morning for lunch while visiting town for the first time. The neighborhood is off the touristy beaten path down near the water. It was serene. We sat outside on the patio in the backyard and had a very relaxing and pleasant meal. The Harpers Ferry and John Brown sandwiches we ordered were both fresh and good; the portion was also reasonable, with a side of potato salad or greens. My friends also got ice cream with cookies for dessert. They came in ramekins, each with a cookie on top. I believe one of them was blueberry. Sounds yummy.
The house itself is quaint and lovely. Definitely reminds me of a b&b. It may be a little antiquated (my friend also commented on the floor upstairs which appeared t be crooked). A good place to stop by and refuel with some baked goods, coffee, or simple lunch. They now also take reservations for two on the balcony upstairs. I’d definitely love to return next on my next visit to town and find a quieter haven away from the crowds downhill.