Cafe Bartlett Sq

I like this spot — to be honest, the space is what brings me in. For food, Ula and Canto 6 are better, but harder to find parking/​sitting room. Here the food is pretty good (ice cream is great!), but I like that I know if I come there will be space for me/​my computer.
I will say one problematic thing is the temperature control — in the summer they won’t always have AC on so even with the windows open it gets stuffy. And in the fall, sometimes they had windows open even though it was chilly.

I truly do enjoy the food and drinks here but I had a very negative experience with a female employee there recently that left me feeling really bummed out about this place. She was rude and made me feel uncomfortable.

Rude staff. Mediocre coffee. Lots of seating and good food choices including smoothies and ice cream, which is cool. Eye rolling baristas and incomprehensible mumbling from cashier… Could do without that.

I want to like this place, I really do. It’s around the corner from my work and it has a nice atmosphere. However they are excruciatingly slow, particularly when it comes to food. It takes 30 mins to get a basic sandwich. Every single time. I always think oh I’ll just run over and grab something, and no fail I leave irritated. Obviously I need to go somewhere new but I’m stubborn and it’s so convenient hah They also seem to forget things often — like to put my food order in. I would probably give them a few more stars if this was not such a problem. Ps the guy with the beard is great.

This is such an adorable little café — they seriously have almost anything.
I usually go here for lunch or when I want to study because it’s a convenient eight minute walk from my house and it’s right across from the Green Street T Stop. How awesome is that?
The inside is bright and clean, with industrial elements mixed in with warm marble and wood. There’s two sections of the café — the ice cream parlor and the café. I’ve only had the food so far, but I’m looking forward to the day when I try their ice cream.
Menu-​wise, everything is pretty tasty and well-​priced. It also seems very fresh. The first time I tried them out, I had the pizza; the second time, I had their Pesto Chicken Panini. I’ve also tried out their teas and drinks. I don’t recommend the pizza as much because it tastes kind of dry and stale (it sits in the display, and they just reheat it); but the sandwich is the bomb! It’s delightfully warm and is absolutely pesto-​licious. If you can, try to eat-​in because then they give you chips with your meal; if you order to-​go, they don’t come with chips (more on that later). Their drinks have also never let me down — I feel refreshed every time.
My only complaint about the place is the uneven service. My first time, the guy behind the counter was so awesome! He was really accommodating and friendly; my roommates and I loved him. The second time around, the girls behind the counter were a little snippy and rude. My co-​worker had ordered a special sandwich that they’d listed (it even specifically said that they came with chips), but when the time came, there weren’t any chips with the sandwich. It honestly wasn’t a big deal at that point, but when we asked about them — she got really defensive and snappy. If they had worded it more clearly on the menu, we wouldn’t have had to ask.
All in all, I definitely recommend and I’ll probably be back.

I really try not to give food service workers bad reviews because I am a waitress. Sometimes I have off days and I mess things up or I’m anxious about something in my personal life and it’s all over my face and my tables think I’m being rude or standoffish. We are all human it happens.
I guess my point in saying that is that I hope management looks at this and sees I’m not some angry reviewer trying to take out my life frustrations on baristas, but I’m genuinely trying to point out something that is hurting the café. the last couple times I went here I was served by both a girl and guy and they were both SO rude that (the first time) I asked my husband what I had said that may have come off wrong or offensive. I seriously thought there was a miscommunication because the server was not merely aloof… she was downright mean.
Any way there are plenty of places in JP that have really friendly service and honestly I do like Café BSQ better… I just end up skipping it because I don’t want to have to deal with some hipster being rude to me. I mean its not just me, I could see the confusion on a few customer’s faces, like, hey wait did I say something wrong? There is nothing cool about being mean and I hope management figures that out soon.

Yeah they may have a great vegan breakfast sandwich but their overpriced bullshit lattes are ridiculous. I watched the girl pour an entire cup of soy milk in and give me one single shot of espresso. They should be ashamed of themselves for calling THAT a latte.

I want to like this place, but I’m giving it 2 stars for the service and prices. Their menu is clearly too big for the chef, as the wait here is always extensive even when there is no one else in the restaurant.
Their staff is slow and doesn’t take care of you’ve been waiting. I’m writing this review while waiting for a sandwich for over 15 minutes. I’ve only seen 2 items come out of the kitchen in that time.
This place needs a smaller menu, a faster kitchen, and better trained staff with urgency.

It’s just ok. Nothing more or less nothing bad or particularly good. I guess I’m a purist when it comes to the Cubano sandwich and when someone calls a sandwich a Cubano I expect it to be a Cubano the sandwich i had was not a Cubano did I say Cubano enough? Anywho nice spot, really clean and friendly staff. I had the Olive Oyl smoothie and it was yummy and everyone I work with raves about their turkey melt sandwich which I’ll try someday. I’ve had their quesadilla and it was just ok. But their Mexican hot chocolate was muy delicioso!

So it’s been a year and the kinks I mentioned in my previous review have not been worked out.
The food quality and quantity isn’t worth the price, and that now includes the pastries too.
They still keep trying new things without perfecting what they currently have going on. Now there’s a kiosk outside where you can get coffee and a muffin in the morning, but I don’t think it’s any faster than going inside for the same.
What I’m really knocking a star for is the service. It’s not unreasonable to expect better trained staff more than a year after opening. These people are TERRIBLE. They are slow, forgetful, and occasionally rude. When there’s no line, I find myself standing at the counter for several awkward moments waiting for a jaded barista to come out of the kitchen so I can order. The other day I waited 10 minutes after ordering for a bagel & cream cheese that turned out to be so toasted one side was black. A few weeks ago I saw a customer wait 45 minutes for a salad. When the barista brought it out, he defended the place by saying that everything is prepared fresh. He should’ve given her a refund.
Do yourself a favor and walk the extra bit to Canto 6 for infinitely better food or Ula for the workspace/​atmosphere.

If it weren’t for it’s location, I would never come here. The food is inconsistent, overpriced-​especially for its mediocrity and the service is absurdly terrible. Every time I come here I leave annoyed with myself for wasting my time and money.
Some examples:
Last week I was paying in cash and was looking through my wallet to find exact change– there was nobody behind me in line and the woman taking my order snapped at me to hurry! Great service.
Today I came in and ordered a salad. 20 minutes later I asked how much longer it would be and they seemed to have lost my ticket. There was barely an apology, no refund or discount on my next purchase– and what’s worse is there was another person waiting ahead of me. I was really taken aback by the lack of humility and apologies.
Today was the breaking point– they have officially lost a customer.

Café Bartlett Sq. I like everyone I meet in your café, and I hope that your business succeeds.
Your food is not good, and so inconsistent. Would you please, please pay attention to that? Are you just dismissing the critiques you see here? Try searching Unilocal for «café» in JP. Your place has the lowest rating. That seems accurate to me. If I really believed that 2 starts only means «meh, I’ve had better» I’d be giving you two stars.
I’ve been in your restaurant about 20 times since you opened, I work two blocks away. Coffee? hot drip coffee often tastes burned. Whereas Canto and 7 pond — reliably good.
Food — first off — putting hot food on your counter for display purposes, and then letting it brown and congeal and provide an awesome attraction for houseflies and fruit flies… how could you believe that’s attractive?
Food to order? Every sandwich that I’ve ordered, aside from the simple veggie breakfast sandwich, has been off. Today I got your chicken pesto paninni. The sandwich was served cold (how can that be a Panini) and with some kind of greens and tomato… dripping in olive oil. The menu says it’s pesto chicken with provolone and peppers. No peppers, and if there was provolone… hard to notice it. Where’d those tomatoes and lettuce come from? They definitly were nice and crisp and cold which, again, belies the idea that there was any kind of paninni iron involved in the making of that sandwich. That’s an $ 8 sandwich? Not again, for me.
Check out your refrigerator case to see how wilted and unappealing the salads there look.
Egg sandwich? You are the only spot, (aside from Dunkin’s) that serves and egg sandwich within a 15 minute walk of Green St. T stop. Points for that. The sandwich itself… how do you make it so flavor free? More importantly, why does it sometimes come with the vegetables described on the menu, but just as often not?
Service? 98 out of a hundred for friendly. Skilled? no. You always seem to have trainees behind the counter, people trying to figure out what they are doing, people getting frustrated, people getting distracted by a desire to chat with each other.
I imagine your rent costs a mint. How van you afford to be so lackluster? Why not go for a simpler menu, one that you can actually master? What are you thinking Bartlett Square?

Good hot coffee. Amazing chocolate chip cookies. My pesto sandwich was a bit cold and pretty sure it ever actually went into a panini. Flavor was good though! Good place to read with a book. Staff is good and efficient but not overly friendly, which is quite ok with me.

Service is terrible. Tragically slow. Staff is not friendly. Way too expensive.
The worst place I’ve been to in JP. Walk up the street to Canto 6. Well worth it!

Nice place to grab brunch or to stop in for a coffee date. My only criticism for the place is the unreliable wifi — it is always a hit or miss whether I can log on!

The café looked promising at the beginning– the atmosphere is pretty relaxed and the menu seemed interesting. When we went to order a smoothie, they said they couldn’t make it because it’s seasonal which, okay fine, I understand. But then as I went to order the vegan breakfast sandwich, they told me they ran out of the soy patty. They should probably update their menu or place a sign to let us know these things so that we wouldn’t be disappointed when we find out you don’t have anything that we want.
Then it gets worse. We wait for about 20 – 30 minutes for our food to come out, which I couldn’t wrap my head around because they turned out to be two dinky sandwiches that didn’t even fill us up. On top of that, my sandwich was supposed to come with lettuce but came with arugula instead, which is one of the vegetables I hate. I don’t think I will be coming back here after this experience.

As someone who likes to do a lot of work in a coffee shop, Café BSQ has what a person needs to spend some quality time. Relatively quite, PLENTY of outlets for plugging in laptops, private tables or long community tables and an outdoor patio for a change of pace. Oh, yeah, they also serve coffee. OK, its not the best coffee I’ve ever had. In fact it’s often served from big urns sitting next to the register. But it does the job. I’m just a coffee drinker so I can’t speak to their specialty drinks.
Café BSQ has a wide selection of sandwiches and other food, although many of the egg-​based sandwiches could use more seasoning; they’re all a little bland. Most don’t come with any sort of topping like aoli or something so they can seem a little dry if you don’t gobble them down right away. But they’re inventive, so that’s a plus. There are also pastry items, nuts, fruit, juices as well. They also apparently serve ice cream when its the season but I haven’t seen that happen yet. But as I stated, I come to drink coffee and work, so if the food is important, other reviewers might give you more insight.
The service can be a bit lax and — sorry — a little clueless but it I think it’s because they’re training new young people. There are new faces and I’ll grant them a learning curve. They’ve also updated to a iPad type payment system if you use a card.
Other features important to coffee shop workers: The wi-​fi can be unpredictable at times so be prepared to experience some breaks in the action. The chairs also double as weight lifting apparatus (they’re made of some solid metal and can be hard to move and adjust for those who aren’t strong like me! :). It’s right across the street from the Green Street station on the Orange Line. Parking can be a little tough if you drive but a walk will do you good!
I started coming here before it started drawing a decent crowd; it was an alternative to the loud and crowded Ula Café. It’s gotten a bit more popular now but as long as I can still find a seat and get a cup of coffee before working, it’ll do.

I’ve given this place multiple shots and every visit is just worse than the last. The service is unfriendly and unknowledgeable. I ordered a breakfast sandwich and the employee working the register asked me where I saw it on the menu. It was the first item. The staff REALLY seems like they hate being there and hate even more that you bothered to order anything.
After making herself a latte my ticket was finally given to the kitchen. 15 minutes later my sandwich was ready. There was literally no one else in the café.
Save yourself the aggravation and go to ANY of the other cafes in the neighborhood. I would hate for someone to think that this place is what a JP café actually is. Go to Canto or Ula for far superior baked goods and coffee.

It’s a bit painful to give this place 2 stars, since it’s a bright, pleasant, roomy space in an area that sorely needs rejuvenation of this sort.
Everything – from the coffee, to the sandwiches, to the breakfast – hovers between «meh» and okay. If you’re charging prices comparable to the ultra-​yuppie (but admittedly ultra-​yummy) places like Hi-​Rise in Cambridge, you need to improve the quality of your product. Train your staff on making coffee drinks worthy of the prices you charge (My $ 4 cappuccino’s milk was almost burnt this morning). Make better, fresher sandwiches (both incredible Canto 6 and pricey City Feed are far superior).
I appreciate that they’re trying out different menu items, but I’d rather see them tighten their focus and do a few things really well, rather than offering so many disparate things – coffee, ice cream, smoothies, breakfast, oysters (!?), Vietnamese and Cuban sandwiches – that are just okay.
I will say that the staff have usually been friendly and attentive. I hope to see some improvements in quality because I really do want to support this place.

I can’t speak to the food, but the coffee is great and the staff is even better. Bartlett Sq. is a great place to sit down and get some work done, with a friendly neighborhood feel (without the condescending attitude of many other cafes) and a convenient location.
I sat down to study on a Sunday afternoon because they have plenty of seating (and plenty electrical outlets!) without feeling cramped. They were pretty busy, but the atmosphere was still much quieter than ULA down the street.
I had to write this review after my time there today, though. Ten minutes before they were scheduled to close, they announced that since everyone seemed so engrossed in their work or conversations, they’d stay open for another hour while they cleaned up. Awesome! They made a last call for café drinks and offered free refills on coffee before dumping the pot. Double awesome!
I can’t recommend this place enough for a coffee date, study spot, or working remotely.