Canary Square

I don’t always venture to Jamaica Plain, but when I do, we brunch! Our friends who live in JP showed us this adorable local spot called Canary Square. Here we dined on traditional American food, over wooden tables and surrounded by brick walls and chalkboards. They even have Sunday Movie Nights, which sound super fun.
My scrambled egg plate was delicious, though I’m taking a star off since they were overly generous with the salt on the potatoes — especially since I always top mine off with salt-​filled ketchup anyway.
The burger was good too, though again we could visibly see how much excess salt they put on the fries. Next time we might ask to hold off on that extra salt.
Some may find one drawback of Canary Square to be the noise level. It’s a family neighborhood, so don’t be surprised by children running around and jumping on nearby benches. If you can get past that and some excess salt on your potatoes, you’ll be in for a treat!

Came here for brunch on a Sunday morning with a friend. We came exactly at the time they open so we didn’t have to wait. There were a few people already standing outside and as we were seated, the place filled up quick!
I felt like their brunch menu was very limited. I ordered their toast, eggs, bacon and hash. It was pretty good. The service was great, the waitress was definitely attentive and always knew when to refill our drinks.
I would definitely go back and try their brunch again.

Had Brussels last night and a spinach salad and an apple spice mocktail. I came home sick as a dog. It is morning now and I am still a bit sick bit on the mend… Which makes me pretty sure it was the food. First time I’ve been here in a year maybe so I am not too excited to try again.

I usually meet people here for drinks. It’s been awesome for that. Great meeting place for groups.
Great selection of beers and cocktails. And my fave is the Buffalo chicken!
I definitely need to come back for dinner.

This has to be one of, if not the worst, brunches I’ve ever had. Service was slow, but that can be forgiven. The food was truly awful. The pulled pork and root vegetables was sickeningly greasy. I literally was sick to my stomach. The croque monsieur (which is usually one of my favorite breakfast items) was tasteless and dry. So disappointing. I would have sent my food back but that would have taken another hour.
I’ve only ever written one other bad review in my life but this meal moved me to post. Brunchers be warned!

Great beer selection, decent food. Their veggie burger is particularly good. Some of the menu items are overpriced for what they are. Great if you live locally, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to go here.

We were seated last Weds night near a window that was cold. So the waiter was good and moved us to another table by the bar. The seating in the place is not well thought out because the there is no real seperation between bar and regular seating.
The spinach salad was good and dressed well. Opted for the cod entrée and shrimp and grit entrée per the the server’s recommendation both included chorizo and Tasso ham which gave both entrees a real salty flavor.
Also, the house made sausage tasted old and flat.
Service overall was fine but not too energetic.

I think enough can be said with me thinking Bobby Flay may be hiding in their kitchen.
Oh, and they got spicy pickles instead of bread! ;) *Points*

Hip, lively place for dinner and drinks. The restaurant is dimly lit, and there are both regular and bar-​style tables. Our server was friendly and engaged our table in conversation throughout the night. After being told the specials and ordering, he brought pickles to the table. For appetizers, we got the Deviled Eggs and Fries. I enjoyed the creaminess of the Deviled eggs, but the fries were just ok.
I ordered the Poached Salmon, which was super moist! It came with fingerling potatoes, green beans, and buerre blanc. The other two people in my party both ordered one of the specials for the night, Ravioli with Pork and Figs. Both of them seemed to enjoy it. The peas were a nice touch!

This place is alway a crap shoot. Some times it’s spot on, other times it completely misses the mark. It’s in a great location, and has a great selection of brews, but the food is always a bit of a gamble. It almost feels like I going to a different place every time I go there. I don’t know if it’s due to the nature of the business and there being high turnover, but consistency seems to be their biggest problem. I really want to like this place, but have had too many meals undercooked or not prepared correctly. I really hope they turn it around. It’s a far cry from what it was when it first opened.

The only reason I am giving more than one star is because the fries were actually great.
Now my experience may be different because I opted to order take out since I figured they’d be very busy on a Friday night. Still, when you order two burgers, one well done and one medium-​well you would expect to get your burgers «made-​to-​order» (as specified on their menu). Got home excited for my burger after reading the raving reviews only to find two CHARRED burgers. Upon first sight, I thought hmm maybe they give it a crispy outside, but as I continued eating into my charred «medium-​well» burger without seeing a drop of pink, I realized what I got was burnt-​to-​a-​crisp. My mom’s «well-​done» burger was equally as burnt. Not sure if they have a sliding scale of made to order. in which case maybe I should have ordered rare? Anyway. NEVER AGAIN. I hope those dining in have better experiences.

I asked if there was something I could substitute for the French fries that came w my hamburger (I’m allergic. Yes, totally weird, I’m a mutant, I know) Waitress said, «Sure side salad or spinach.» I went with spinach. The spinach is not a good choice BTW but I digress… Then when the bill comes, I was charged an extra $ 5. I didn’t get the spinach AND the fries, just the spinach, that’s what the word substitute means in a restaurant. If you’d like to get ripped off by surprise in a charming atmosphere I recommend Canary Sq in JP.

Great place to have dinner or drinks! Very nice atmosphere and laid back. Bartender knows their stuff. Gets packed quickly so make reservations.

We continue to go and the consistency of the front of the house and what comes from the kitchen demonstrates these folks are serious and again… on point. A very friendly group of people who genuinely are interested in knowing their clientele and neighbors. These are all hallmarks of people who care about what they do.
The summer menu has been delicious — some good updates that make the experience better. The chicken and the pork chop are always a win and there have been some excellent cheese boards lately — thoughtful and fun. Serving sizes remain well portion, food is well seasoned, always brought to the table hot. Cocktails are excellent. Really nice flights — and they’ve started to serve good quality rum that can be enjoyed like a scotch.
They’ve earned an extra star from me because this is the place we go to for our neighborhood place. We’re very glad it is in our neighborhood. They continue to outmatch their colleagues in all regards.

Edit: there are many beers on tap between $ 5.00 and $ 7. This was pointed out to me in a private message by the general manager. Yes, it’s still $ 5.00 for a Yuengling.
$ 4.50 for a Narragansett, $ 4 for PBR, and no drafts under $ 7? You’ve gotta be kidding me. What started out as a neighborhood restaurant has become an overpriced ripoff. The food portions have gotten smaller, the food prices have gone up, and the quality has gone down. Spend your money elsewhere.

This is my 3^rd brunch here in a row where the coffee has been massively over brewed. FYI not just my view, wasn’t eating alone. And this morning it also comes out cold. :(
One time I asked for a fresh pot and that also came out undrinkable. So it’s not the bean roast. It’s their brewing.
#ByoC #lastbrunchexpt

Great brunch… service was a little slow. Good spot for groups and low key patio sitting!
For vegetarians, pea green salad and black bean burger were great.

This was not our planned place to go but I am glad we did.
It was not too busy, they had seating at the bar, indoors or outdoors.
A wide selection of beers.
Not too many cocktails but everyone I was with ordered something different and had good comments about all.
The French toast was the Sugar Honey Ice Tea. I got it with be preservatives on the side and never used them & didn’t need them. It was fine without. Not too much syrup needed either but it was amazing. Hands down the best French toast I’ve eaten.

Two stars for an awesome beer selection. I would like to add another start because the food is actually pretty good, but the prices and service ruin it. I can not recommend this place at all because of the service. I’ve been in now about 10 times, and I think I’ve received «normal» service once out of the 10. Service at the bar is fine, and I would only head back to Canary Square for drinks at the bar only.
The food, while tasty and freshly made, is definitely overpriced for the portions. They put it on a big plate, and usually have it presented nice, but it’s smaller and more expensive than other places in the area. I have had brunch as well here, and have no complaints with the actual quality of the food, only that it’s pricey for what you get.
The shenanigans begin and end with the service here. The only people that seem to have any vested interest in doing their jobs in a timely manner are the bussers that fill your water glass. You WILL wait for noticeable, frustrating, and at times rude amounts of time to interact with your server. You WILL see them standing around and talking while your drinks are empty, or your plates are clear, or even if there is nothing on your table. It’s mind-​boggling to me how long it takes to pay your bill at this place. Each and every time I have gone here and sat at a table, the time in between asking for the bill and checking out has been comparable to the amount of time it took to get the food, which was not fast either.
I’m not sure if the staff is just so «chill» that they think people like sitting at a table with no drinks, food, or waiting to leave, but it sucks from a customer’s point of view. Do not expect to get in and out of this place, and in my experience, you can expect to leave here saying «jeez that was bad» and go somewhere else to get the bad vibes out.

Stopped in for an early dinner al fresco style this past weekend and this place was already booming around 5pm. For starters, we tried the potato chips and dip. Very crispy and tasty and the dipping sauce was a perfect accompaniment.
For entrees, we shared the veggie lasagna and sea trout. Both were good but the sea trout scored much higher in my book. The garlic yogurt sauce it was served in gave it that nice creamy taste while keeping it light and healthy and the fava beans were minced to the point where it looked and tasted more like cous cous.
All in all, a thumbs up. I would definitely come back.