Kitchen On Common

Absolutely ridiculously delicious food. I love that they have local sources. My favorites are the kale/​sausage soup, roasted potatoes, and they used to have this amazing stew (not sure if it’s still on the menu). Everything is cooked and seasoned to perfection. The staff is not-​so-​friendly which was a turn-​off my first couple of times, and the seating is not the most comfortable, but the food is so damn good, I just don’t care. Bring your own wine… and your appetite.

Don’t come here for ambiance or even great service. But DO come here if you love food. I am a meat eater, but I got the vegetarian plate and it was unbelievable. The mac n cheese and the maple carrots were the BEST I’ve ever tasted. My husbands pork and kale was also delicious. I came back the next day to get more macaroni gratin and carrots– truly addictive. The space isn’t all that great, no music, bland décor, but the people watching was actually pretty good. Overall, the food is what shines.

Ricotta gnocchi with meat sauce and Arctic char with grilled eggplant are both amazing! The beet salad is as tasty as usual. The lemon mousse is very good too! Love every single thing we had tonight.

A nice lunch place. Local ingredients. Fresh bread, white and whole grain.
I ordered kale & sausage soup with Roasted beet spinach salad. They were both delicious.
The restaurant is small and personable. There were 8 tables. There were a couple menu items that were sold out which speaks to the restaurants popularity. I would go again.

The food is ok on the smaller size what I like. The staff isn’t the most friendly, very short, and doesn’t make you feel very welcome. Not rude but not very friendly. Also, it was nice to go there and bring your own wine since they do not have a license. But now, they charge a fee for bringing your own wine and I don’t think this is a very good move for them. They are not a fancy restaurant and bringing your wine was a great way to make your meal more complete. Not sure they should charge when they are the one not having a license. Couple of glass to wash should not be $ 5…

Love this place. Had a really nice meal and you can sit outside, though its nothing fancy. BYOB is by far my favorite part.
FYI, you can bring an open bottle of something, its just harder for the restaurant to let you take something home open. Makes sense.

Great neighborhood place with great food. BYO makes is very affordable. They could definitely improve the ambience and the service very easily if those chose to. Mixing up the menu more often would be a great idea. LOVE THIS PLACE anyway.

A small gem of a place. The food is the star here — imaginatively prepared, creating local fresh and seasonal plates.
Our favorites: the Roasted Beet & Spinach Salad with candied pecans, blue Cheese, sliced red onion & shaved radishes, Farfalle with shiitake & oyster mushrooms, leeks, Chicken Salad with assorted greens, manchego and marinated mushrooms, Four-​Cheese Macaroni Gratin with buttered bread crumbs — I could actually list more!
We have never been disappointed. If you wish, it’s is BYOB with the convenient Spirited Gourmet right next door. Yes it is small, yes the décor is a bit plain, but the food so good — you won’t mind. The wait staff is very pleasant, efficient and knowledgeable. They do have a couple of umbrella tables outside the front of the restaurant as well.

The food is decent, but the service was horrible. The waitress was rude and gave all the other tables bread, but we had to ask for bread and water. Then we had to flag her down to get her to take our order. Plus the waitress added 20% tip on top of the bill because she knew she did a horrible job. I would have said something but we were there for a birthday dinner and didn’t want to cause a fuss.

I’m giving them 5 stars, not necessarily because they deserve it, but because I hope that they grow to deserve it.
Kind of like giving Obama the Nobel Peace Prize before he became president. It’s in anticipation of doing good things.
Dinner tonight was just «OK.» The menu was pretty limited, and the service was not all that great.
We received ONE pat of butter for the two of us with the bread that was nothing to write home about.
The waitress came by ONLY when I raised my hand to catch her eye.
The one beef course was pot roast good. It was served with too little sauce, and they graciously gave me more when I asked.
The mac and cheese app was delicious, as was the mussels appetizer. The toasted bread on that was MUCH better than the appetizer bread.
The tagliatelle was good, but needed salt and pepper. No biggie, and I’m guessing that they are trying to sell bland to New Englanders.
Ambiance wise they need serious help, and that’s biggest problem with this place. It’s too austere for the prices. They should rent some white linens and put a little background music on. If you want to charge over $ 20 per entrée, then act like you deserve it.
The waitstaff needs to be better trained to show that they care. Our NY waitress wasn’t actually rude, but I sure didn’t think that we were anything but a job to her.
I really want this restaurant to succeed. I live within walking distance and really WANT to be a regular. But with this limited menu and a lukewarm experience, it’s not happening yet.

What a great place! BYOB from the great wine shop next door is totally the way to go! The cork fee is $ 5 which beats anything around. We just had squash soup, beet salad and a side of mac/​cheee (HUGE PORTION) and with the fresh bread it was PLENTY for two of us (women). The mac was one of the best I have ever had — even beats the sides at Abe & Louie’s! The salad was great and fresh, and the soup as well — another large bowl for the price. The service was awesome too! Only thing that could be improved is some music. it was a but quiet and we felt we had to whsiper.

We found Kitchen on Common thanks to Unilocal and it was a serendipitous meal. There were five of us, and it was relatively early on a Saturday evening. We were seated promptly, and knew enough to BYOB from the store next door.
The meal was really fabulous — from the bread through the entrees. We had a ravage of items — two of the soups, a salad, the Mac and cheese, pasta entrée, chicken entrée, and two veggie plates. Every item was cooked perfectly — very comforting fare, but not boring. Loved the carrots and mac and cheese especially. Truly a wonderful meal for all of us.
Other reviews note the service and ambiance. It’s true, the meal took slightly longer to arrive than in some other restaurants. But it was worth every bite. And modest adjustments to the space would make it feel more formal as a restaurant (the way the space is set up now makes it feel a bit like a take-​out place where you can sit if you want).
But really, I judge first and foremost on the meal, and that was hands-​down fantastic!

The food was pretty good and it was nice that it was BYOB. The service was terrible. It was busy and we weren’t acknowledged for about 15 min when we walked in. Maybe it isn’t always like that, but it was the day that we went. With so many other places to choose from, they are gonna have to step up their game as far as service goes.

We found this place by searching for byob. The restaurant has instituted a $ 5 per bottle corkage fee starting Nov 1, 2014. When we arrived at 6:30pm, the place was full and we were told that the wait would be 45 minutes, and they don’t keep a list. So we went next door to Spirited Gourmet and came back in about 30 minutes. Worth the wait. The waiter recognized us and we were seated next. We had the steak and the char, with the mussels as starter. The mussels were delicious — in a light creamy, herb sauce. It took a while to get our entrees. This is definitely a place where you can’t rush and should expect to sit for a while. We would totally come back. They only take reservations for groups of 7 or more.

Great comfort food. We usually get their steak special and pasta gratin. Can take a good 30min for take out, but worth the wait. Atmosphere in the restaurant could easily be improved by removing the harsh fluorescent lights and replacing with warmer lights. One of our regulars in our takeout rotation. BYOB. As others have suggested grab a bottles at The Spirited Gourmet!

Great place. Food is simple but really well done! Had the sausage and kale soup! The nice little heat from it was perfect! I did add salt but I do not feel it was under seasoned. I would of given it a 5 star. But as most have already commented. The service is not amazing, but I think it being chef owned and so small. You have to kinda expect it. They were friendly enough, but they didn’t talk to much about the specials and one lady seemed really bored and not into it at all. We got the lemon mouse for dessert it was dead on. Hats off to you chef!

We just had dinner (Pork loin and steak) at this cute little neighborhood restaurant — The food was excellent with delicious sauces on both entrees and the atmosphere was casual and unpretentious, a perfect combination for a casual Friday evening dinner after a long week. The fact that it’s BYOB was an added bonus!

This is seriously one of the best restaurants in the area. They use local ingredients and know what they are doing. I really could taste the difference between this meal and dishes at regular restaurants. They are small and I think managed/​run by a family, but you should give it a try if you want to experience a nice meal. It’s BYOB and there’s a nice shop a few doors down.

Summary: Nice ambiance. Unique food. Small portions. Easy going (don’t be in a rush).
My dad loves this place, so my family goes here one notch below regular. Whether by necessity or not, I’ve come to grow fond of Kitchen on Common. I live about a 10 minute walk from Cushing Sq, and though I’ve grown up meandering through the streets of Belmont, I never noticed this place until my dad got a recommendation from a friend at work. It’s a quiet little place tucked into a corner in Cushing Sq, and you’re bound to miss it the first (maybe second, third, and fourth) time you drive by. The appearance tells you exactly what the restaurant is like: humble, quaint, but totally something to appreciate. Their menu/​selection is rather short, but all of their food is totally unique, home-​made recipes. Their lentil soup is soo good (the reason my dad loves this place so much). Because all of the food is organic and I believe — from local farms, it’s subject to scarcity — so have a backup pick if your first choice is unavailable. I recommend this place for lunch, because it’s expensive for dinner, and not as filling as I would like it to be. Definitely come here if you’re looking to have a nice quiet meal. Check it out and trust their recipes (i.e. Kale soup sounds gross, but it’s not half-​bad). If you’re looking for an experiment, give Kitchen on Common a shot.
Side note, I’m reading some reviews about poor service, and that’s never been my experience. I’ve been here a few times and the service is really nice, albeit somewhat reserved. The worst part about this place would be the parking, since it’s a force to park here.

I really like this place!
I’ve eaten here for both lunch and dinner a handful of times, and it is always quite good. The chicken is to die for, and I am a big fan of their commitment to local ingredients.
I agree with the other reviewers that the space is a little small and they could probably do something more interesting with it, and it’s also true that the service leaves something to be desired. (I’ve never had anyone be rude to me, but no waitress there has ever been particularly engaging or amiable) It’s a little confusing when you walk in, because there’s no host stand or anything so it’s hard to tell if you’re supposed to stay there and wait for someone to seat you or put you on the wait list or if you’re supposed to go to the far end (and side step dining customers and waitresses on the floor) to put your name in.
Despite this, I will continue to go because I really do think they do such a nice job on the food. I’d definitely bring friends here.