Canary Square

Too dark to easily read teh menus - either need to double the font size and use bold on the menu, or turn up the lights. And while yer at it, turn up the heat! We froze our little buns off over by the windows. Food was pretty good though. loved the cheese fries, salted radishes needed more salt and less cooking - not much snap. My SLT and greens was yum - could have been toasted more, but not much. Dinner companions liked their burgers, Guinness stew could have been more stew and less soup. Favorite item by far - everyone ended up having one - was the 'Mother's Ruin" gin cocktail. Loved it - will def be back for more of those, and hopefully they'll have the food down and the friggin heat and lights up!

So glad the boys from CODA made such and effort to bring life to this very special location and building. Any JP resident would admit the location is prime and the need is even greater. I really love the renovation and layout compared to the half baked effort of the previous owners. The bar is great, the sound sytem and room flow work well even on a packed night. I thought the food and service were good and know it can only get better in the weeks to come. The Alchemist was a flash in the pan and went down hill faster than a greased sled... I attempted to eat there over five times and was so dissapointed I wrote them off my foodie list. Who cares if the live music was so cool when you can't hear yourself think or get a drink from that minature bar, and in the wrong location! HIRE A DESIGNER, duh ! Go Team CODA make JP your new home.

First of all, the restaurant was too dark to read the menus. Second, the salt cod fritters had no cod that I could taste. They were just small popovers with cod powder(if there is such a thing) sprinkled on them. Third, the grilled skirt steak came out in strips with no chimichurri sauce as promised, with the accompanying mashed potatoes having no flavor-just salt. They would have tasted better with butter or mayonnaise mixed in. Finally, the drink that my fellow eater drank, a 'sangarita', had no oomph to it. As she said, ' my young granddaughter could have drank this with no ill effect.' All in all, Canary square needs to tweak their food and drink menu quite a bit if they expect me to visit again!

I really wish this place were better, and I'm willing to give it another shot, but this was a so-so first impression. The mussels were fishy with watery broth. Miss the homey dark vibe of the alchemist, but I dig the convertible bar area with the hide-away tvs. Kind of cool that it can go from a restaurant feel to a sports bar feel, depending on the time of night. Except that the bar is awkwardly small and pressed right up against the diners. I felt bad for the folks seated on the border - easy to get walked into, hard to hear. I'll give it another go, because its up the street, but all i can say is thank god we've got the haven.