Square One At the Boathouse

I love the Echo Park Lake and am happy there’s a good, easy lunch option in the park, where I can eat with my dog before taking a nice walk around the lake. I’m also a fan of Square One and I think they’ve done a lovely job with this quick stop boathouse eatery. I’ve been a couple of times and enjoyed myself, even if the food was not the main draw of either outing.
This Square One is inside the little boathouse, a feature that’s been part of this park since long before the renovation (there’s an Echo Park paddle boat scene in Chinatown!). It’s a simple operation, just a counter inside with some tables outside along the walkway, overlooking the lake. Service is good and friendly. One of the cashiers pets my basset hound – apparently he has a basset mix at home.
The menu is made up of breakfast food and the kind of California fresh fare that I can never get too excited about. It’s well executed, though, and the simple food is right for the casual, relaxed environment. I’d definitely recommend the cheddar grits, a paper boat tray of cheesy Anson Mill grits topped with a poached egg and tomato chutney, with bacon for a little bit extra. Get the bacon if you’re a meat eater – the portion was small enough that I feel like it would feel scant without it. The grits were excellent, creamy and salty, great with that lovely chutney and some shards of bacon. I got the breakfast salad my second time around, and though it was passable, I doubt I’ll get it again. It came with baby kale, pickled red onion, quinoa, brown rice, heirloom carrots, avocado, mint, poached egg, and micro greens with a champagne vinaigrette. Honestly, I was hoping it would be a rice bowl (that’s really all I ever want out of salads – for them not to be salads, but other, better meals in jungle camouflage), and it wasn’t. There were just some loose grains hanging out between the vegetables. The egg was good, though, and I liked the avocado and pickly bits and dressing. I ate the whole thing and was grumpy and hungry by dinner (Korean barbecue, hence the salad).
I’m guessing Square One also does brisk business as a drink stop, with fancy coffee and juices and the like. I enjoyed a blood orange lemonade on my first visit. Small and expensive, but a tasty indulgence. You can also get pastries and other walk-​around foods here, basically whatever fuel you need for your visit to the park.
I wouldn’t seek out this Square One outpost just for the food, but it’s a pleasant place to eat if you’re visiting Echo Park Lake. I look forward to my next meal here, mostly for the loop around the lake afterward. I’ll probably just stick with those cheesy grits from now on.

Found this because of a friend and I’m in love! I first came here last year and have been dreaming about it ever since. The brioche French toast is to die for! Very cute location with a lake. Parking is pretty easy if you park in a neighborhood and walk. Can’t wait until my next visit to LA just so I can come back here

The café is great and being by the lake is a plus. The problem is the bathroom situation is abysmal. The public toilets are disgusting and there is no soap, no paper towels, no lights in the bathroom. The café needs to take responsibility for this situation. Imagine taking your wife and kids or a new date to this charming café only to have facilities akin to an open sewer.

Dear Owner or Manager,
My boyfriend and I have been long time patrons of your restaurant. After an equally disappointing meal and encounter with customer service today, I can honestly say that I’m not interested in coming back. We ordered the French toast, which is usually 5 or 6 big puffy pieces that fill the plate, and we received 4 very flat (like pancakes), super soggy and very small pieces that basically lined the bottom of the plate. Probably a third of the normal portion. After notifying the sales clerk, he said he would let management know – but he did not offer to make another or give us our money back or to come back and try it again on the house.
As a customer walking out feeling like you overpaid for something you did not get served properly, and to not be offered compensation for paying for something you didn’t get, I can tell you that it really leaves a bad feeling about the restaurant.
Quality of food is important but so is customer service. If the restaurant makes a mistake, they need to make it right, with the customer directly. They could have offered us a free drink or muffin and that would have even been sufficient, but nothing was done.
And yes, I agree with the other posts here, paying $ 9 for a 4 inch long chorizo burrito is pretty expensive.
It seems this restaurant is making some changes that prioritize getting as much money out of people as opposed to quality and decent portion sizes. Very disappointed.

I came across this place while taking a stroll at Echo Park, who would have thought that there was a nice little restaurant next to the lake. It’s a pretty small restaurant with limited seating outside. They had a interesting menu that looked appealing by name, so decided to try out the Cheddar grits and Squash Blossom Breakfast Burrito with a Horchata Latte to sip on. Total cost for everything was around $ 21. After ordering, I was given a number and immediately looked for seating outside.
I really wanted to find seating next to the lake and enjoy the view but all the seats were taken! The Horchata Latte was surprisingly food, with lots of rich flavor, but costly for the small cup size at $ 5.25. After a while, the food was finally ready and brought out. I was extremely excited to try out the food after seeing pictures of it on Unilocal,and I can honestly say the food that I received was anything but that. The burrito was extremely small, and although it tasted decent with hot sauce, it wasn’t stuffed with eggs or big like some of the Unilocal pictures. The burrito costed $ 8.75, and really did not justify the cost of what I received. Similarly, the Cheddar grits tasted very bland, and looked like a bowl of mush for $ 9. I’ve had grits before in San Fran before and that tasted amazing, and full of flavor, but what I got here was similar to bowl of porridge that even hot sauce could not save.
I really tried hard to like this place, and kept thinking myself that this experience must be a mistake because prior Unilocal pictures really made it look tasty, but everything that I got here today was just overpriced for the quality of food. I probably should have gone to Silverlake Ramen instead of here, lesson learned.

Friendly service yummy food we will come back get the cucumber lemonade very refreshing

I’m a little disappointed. Sweet potato fries were delicious but we ordered the veggie sandwiches which cost about $ 9 and it was so tiny, way too tiny for $ 9. I just expected more. Get bigger bread! But coffee is good!

Did I seriously just spend $ 54 on lunch that I could have made every single thing in my kitchen at home? $ 5 hotdog on a stale bun? $ 6 grilled cheese? $ 6 fries? $ 9 for some veggies and cheese on bread? Cmon. It’s a quick service place next to a lake. Everything tastes fine but the prices are just ridiculous.
Oh and then they were out of ketchup… KETCHUP! Andddd then the 2 servings of sweet potato fries we ordered didn’t come with the sauces promised on the menu. So when we went back in to ask for the thousand island they were supposed to come with, it was a total hassle and when we finally did we were only given half of ONE small container to share. Give me break. It basically feels like they take advantage of being the only option to eat down there.

I live up the street and stop in for an occasional espresso drink. While the drinks are tasty, the service always seems a bit spotty. They appear to be chronically understaffed and the experience always feels rushed and mildly stressful. It’s great to have a café at the lake, but I think it could be run a bit better.

Really nice boathouse café, but without the full menu of the square one branch in Hollywood. I like this place but it’s weird dining next to homeless people sleeping on the grass. The gentrification of echo park is plain as day but I’m partly to blame for that. Anyway, if you can get past that, the café is great.
Food: Great taste, smaller café-​sized portions. We got the breakfast sandwich with bacon, sweet potato fries with garlic chili butter and a cucumber mjnt lemonade.
Price: cheap, $ 6 for a sandwich
Ambiance: it’s a boathouse with outside seating. It’s a great view of echo park so you get the good with the bad — ducks, geese, lake views, beggars, joggers, and screaming kids. Plenty of flies swarming if you sit under the awning.
Service: Nice and friendly — hipster style. The wait is usually long, average of 10 ppl on line at any given time

Between the boathouse itself, the quality of the food and drinks, the varieties and the waterside seating, there is literally nothing bad to say about this café.
I had a couple of cups here over the past few weeks, experimenting around their specials and my own favorites. Never a burnt shot, never a Dorty dish.
Their baked goods are wonderful. I had a sour cherry gluten-​free muffin that knocked my socks off. It was so good I had to fistfight a gang of pigeons and one intimidating duck to win the right to finish it… Bit I won out by force of loafer… And delighted in my muffin to the last crumb.
I don’t say this about too many businesses, but this spot appreciates the area a ton. I once made a regimen of running around the pond here, a few times a week. In those days, it was much less to look at, and rather than delights and java to soak up, you had to choose your adventure:
Dodge-​hobo or Goose-​mma.
Those days are gone… replaced by a feeling of community the keeps alive the gritty passion of Echo Park.

Such a cute little spot to grab a cup of coffee after a stroll around the lake or to have a sandwich/​cup of coffee with a view with a friend.
Note: there isn’t any parking but the street parking is copious and free.

Square One you can be so much more than an empty boathouse with a café stand. Sometimes, most of the time, I forget your name. Everyone on text understands me — where I’m referring to anyway — when I willfully call you ‘the boathouse café’. Square, that sounds more like the credit card app, One: I hope to always see something a bit more lake than a Square One Not On Fountain. But sigh. It’s no Jolly Roger here.
The cold brew is good as it’s fresh and has a punch. With a sign leading towards the plastic boats, I usually head the opposite way towards the greens of the park and sit with a friend there. The nights are becoming earlier, so your closing time may be more appropriate now than in the Summer when it closed while it was still light out. It is rare that I ever want more from a café than is offered, and that puts this place in a very special and rarified place: you could be a Jolly Roger, pirates on the lake.

The short and sweet of this spot:
– Tasty sandwich/​burger options and drinks
– Great spot for people watching
– Relaxing & chill environment
Give it a try. It’s all good.

Went here for my birthday breakfast! Boyfriend, pups and I sat at one of the outside tables — it was a beautiful day out and there was a LA scavenger hunt going on, so lots of people were asking directions on how to get to Chinatown.
I ordered the egg sandwich with sausage patty on the brioche bun. The brioche bun was delicious (but when is it not?!)! The sandwich had a thick slice of tomato, which tended to squish out the bottom with every bite — a little messy, but worth it. Boyfriend ordered the breakfast burrito with squash blossoms.
Will go back and try some of the other menu items!

Resting on Echo Park Lake, Square 1 is the luckiest house in L. A! Literally!!! But, aint nobody living in here!
Just eating a variety of sandwiches, biting french toast, and slurping watermelon mint lemonades… while peering on boats floating in the lake. Sounds like a much needed mini escape getaway. And it’s right smack down in the city! Who needs to go far far away for a vaca?! Head on over!
I had seen Square 1 on the TV show: Vista LA, as well as my many visits to Echo Park. I had learned from the show, that Square1 made speciality grab n go type of food. So you could either, eat there or walk around the lake munching and devouring. It was on the bookmark list, and I was ready to give it a try. So why not go with the Duchess of Echo Park Lake herself?
It was a day like any other, but here I stood early one morning next to Square 1, waiting for my much needed girlie date to arrive. I admired the boathouses outdoor seating, a few empty chairs, and tables that begged to be sat on. Except, I kept walking.
Nearby, another girlie date and an infant as a 3^rd wheel. A bench directly in front of café was occupied by a homeless man holding out a cup. I walked past him, slipping a dollar bill in his cup, and kept on walking till I spotted her. She looked gorgeous as always, dressed in her dark colored hoodie n sweats.
With quick greets and hugs… we walked back to the café. In we stepped. Nubia had been here many many times. She told me: «This is my barrio girl!» N I giggled. She was adorable, and just the company I needed this Monday morning. (*cracks knuckles/​moves neck side to side/​and takes a deep breath in, slowly letting it out*)
It was a cute, small house, with a few tables indoors. At the front counter, two gentlemen were ready to take our orders. She ordered the Watermelon Mint Lemonade! She loves anything mint. And, I was more in the mood for Iced Coffee. I settled for the Vanilla Latte Iced with Soy Milk.
Our drinks were made fairly quickly. We paid on the fancy shamancy IPad. A quick autograph, and done.
We agreed to play «ketchup,» outside on a nice table. We sat across from each other and chatted away while slurping. We ended our date with a few laps around the park.
Next time, Ill try the french toast strips! Or maybe the veggie sandwich.
Maybe even burn those calories by pedaling boats. We’ll see! ;)
Street parking :-0
Public Dirty restroom nearby :-/​
Great for a date, walk, quick bite!:-D
Friendly service! :-)

Ok, if you’re expecting everything to go perfectly here, you are an optimist or have gotten a bit too much sun. It’s a kitchen. In a boathouse. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, they might confuse your burger (100% Grass fed Patty Melt or the 100% Burger that you may have a choice of gruyère or white cheddar). They might forget how you requested everything on the burger to be On The Side. And, they may have run out of some of their specials, if you’re strolling in a Saturday afternoon… so best advice: come early and chill out.
Still, there’s a small but robust and tasty looking menu to work with. After ordering, find a seat (keep walking outside, to the left, and you’ll find some great views of the Lake. From there, you can take in a beautiful day. I had a special and for the life of me – it’s not on their online menu, so I can’t really say what the heck it was. Think wrap, think breakfast, think zesty and think big enough to share unless you’re starving.
Things are very split able — or not, if you’re feeling generous or not so much. The homemade potato chips you gotta share, and that’s that.
I do look forward to coming back. It’s a solid team there, though I think our main person was very new to the Boathouse. That’s OK. It was my first time, too.
The pastries look amazing — and seem worth their own review. And oh, the cheese grits that they were out of — sound well-​worth getting.
Cannot beat the location, specially as you disembark from the paddleboats or canoes.

I don’t understand these reviews! Are people in LA just devoid of taste buds or is it me?
This is the most tasteless dish I have ever attempted eating. The cheese grits should be called little balls of greasy yellow fluff that you’ll regret. We also sampled the breakfast sandwich which also left a bit to be desired and the taquitos which made me question my geography because there’s no way we can be this close to Mexico with whatever that was. The guacamole is good, though.
So…no. I would not recommend. But the watershed is nice.

Breakfast at the boathouse! Doesn’t that sound delightful? And, indeed, it is.
This would be the perfect place to meet a friend, pick up a cup of coffee and take in a lovely view. The coffee is top-​notch. The food (I had the cheesy-​grits with egg and tomato) was fine. And the view, of course, is fantastic!
Street parking only, but it’s free.

Echo Park has changed so much in the past decade that I’ve lived here. I could only imagine how it is for the natives. When Echo Park Lake got gutted out and was given a facelift, Square One At the Boathouse was born. Another confirmation that gentrification was up and running in Echo Parque.
Just an observation, not a complaint, I’m not sure if Square One At the Boathouse is connected to Square One Dining (which I also love) but this place definitely meets my breakfast needs. On the days that I rush out of the house to get to work without breakfast, Square One has come to the rescue. They have met my gluten-​free, dairy-​free needs with their breakfast sandwich on gluten-​free bread that I order with bacon (I said I was gluten-​free, not vegetarian, blush). I always wonder where they get their gluten-​free bread. It’s always so soft and fresh in comparison to other gluten-​free bread brands that I’ve tried. The eggs are fluffy and the bacon has a perfect crisp that makes the sandwich combination an enjoyable treat.
Their house coffee is always good. You could never go wrong with local Intelligentsia coffee. On another occasion, I was happy to see that they were selling Blood Orange San Pellegrino another kryptonite of mine (one of many). It was a great morning substitute to coffee and complimented my breakfast sandwich just fine.
I have never been disappointed by their service and it’s cute that they have outdoor seating along with a little bit of indoor seating. It’s an intimate spot so there’s not too many tables and chairs, but then again, you could always pack a blanket and make a picnic out of your meal. The lake is so beautiful to watch anyways.
Thank you Square One At the Boathouse for meeting my breakfast needs during the work week. I’ll definitely be a regular.