Upstairs On the Square

I can’t believe you guys closed. Upstairs was so unique to the Square. It was such a cool place with such a unique sense of style. I used to love coming here for bunch on the weekend. Great food, lovely décor, happy customers. It could get a little pricey, but similar to other fine establishments, you’re paying for the experience. Definitely one of the better brunch restaurants in the area. Perhaps you’ll re-​open one day???

Really unimpressive restaurant, indicating mismanagement. Overpriced for its low quality. Dinner for two (shared appetizer, 2 mains, 2 desserts, coffee, drinks) was $ 130 before tip– the food was nothing special.
Food:
The menu makes the reasonably okay food seem rather unappealing. Nothing jumped out from the menu. We ordered:
— Oyster starter. Way too much pepper; like literally getting a mouthful of pepper. Garnished with citrus beforehand, which you won’t find with a higher quality oyster dish, so they probably weren’t that fresh.
— Lobster pizza. Pretty good, nice crust, fresh lobster. Worth trying.
— Sea bass. Good flavor, but it seemed more like they didn’t mess up a good cut of fish than that they did anything special.
Dessert:
— Apple crumble. Warm, fresh, very good.
— Zebra cake. Pretty freaking bad. Seemed like they bought it a couple days earlier from a bakery. Not fresh at all, generally unappealing.
Cappuccino and Espresso– weak, bad coffee.
Drink:
— I ordered a cognac martini– they didn’t know how to make one, and they only had cognacs priced over $ 22; no Remy Martin, no Hennessy VSOP. I changed to a vodka martini instead, which was fine.
Atmosphere:
The tacky décor detracts from the atmosphere, so the prices ($ 20 – 40 $ mains) seemed high compared to the general feeling of the place. The service was good, nothing fantastic. Seems like they rely on tourist traffic due to their good location.

Love their whimsical quirky décor.
On my last visit in September 2013, they were running a very limited menu because they were about to shut down or renovate. The food on this menu was nothing like it used to be a couple of years ago.
A shame, this a very cool place once upon a time…

Arrived on time for an 8:30 PM reservation on my 51^st birthday and waited 40 min to be seated. No Reisling at the bar and one brand of cognac. I was forced to have cranberry juice for lack of a better selection. Bread was ice cold as was the butter. I decided to play it safe and ordered a salad and grilled shrimp. It’s now 30 min later and the food is not here. The only good thing about this restaurant is my beautiful date who chose this place to surprise me. Avoid at all cost. PS, no parking…
Frank

When you first walk in there are 2 dining rooms which can get a bit confusing but just keep an eye out for the signs. We went here on a Saturday night for a birthday party with a group of 10 or so. We had a reservation and when we arrived at 6pm everything was set up and our table was ready.
We order our drinks and apps in a timely fashion until we got to our friend who is a vegetarian. She wanted the pizza without the potatoes fried/​sauteed in duck fat. When she asked if she could have the pizza without them, the waiter responded with a firm no! No explanation or anything just a no.
We had three people in our party order hamburgers, two medium, one medium rare but we all got the same temperature, well done. The burgers were grey and dry. Not the best but from what everyone else said their meals were fair but the portions were good size. The service was terrible, our waiter was not friendly and when our water was refilled they never said excuse me, they just reached over us.
The dessert was slow to get to us but we were in no rush. The worst/​best part of the night, depending on who you ask was dessert when my friend next to me ordered the apple crumble and when one waitress walked over the ice cream fell off onto my back! She didnt say anything, just saw it hit the floor and walked to replace it. No apology or anything (maybe she didnt see it hit me). It doesnt shock me that this restaurant is closing, would not have gone back. Not enjoyable and the ambience is strange. Not worth trying before it closes.

Fuck this place. We came in with $ 100 gift certificate that they refused to honor. I spoke with the owner about it who refused to budge and said «we can argue about this all day but we are not going to take it.» What a fucking thief. I guess because they are closing in three months that they think they can just get away with this. Good riddance our community doesn’t need any more thieves

It’s my birthday. I just landed an awesome new job. It’s our anniversary.
When something big happens, and I have a fancy dinner coming to me, I come here. Upstairs in the square is a gem. It’s so unique, fun, and beautiful. The décor is unbelievable. This is where Harry Potter would take Cho Chang on a second date. It’s Alice’s favorite bar in Wonderland. The stripes, the zebra, the flying light bulbs. I’ve heard people say it’s tacky, but I just love it.
The food matches the décor. It’s beautifully presented and delicious. The wait staff is very knowledgeable about tastes, origins, and pairings. Love love love.

I recommend the drinks here – gin and tonics got raves; but portion size and taste of the peach schnapps make this the best place to order one. Should also say that the drink selection is limited. Asked for several other drinks before settling on what we could get (which ended up being very, very good).
The servers are pretty nice.
For Halloween they had karaōke which was brilliant.
Too bad they’re closing soon :(
Enjoy the fun events through the holidays.

Decent food. The mac and cheese used cavatelli and had a good crispy bread crumb crusting. Creamy and filling.
An order of the angry tater tots with fiery aioli and red peppers proved the win if the meal. The crisped chunks of potato were fried hard in fresh oil.
No fried chicken on the menu this time — a huge disappointment to all.
The tomato soup with grilled cheese was good as usual as we’re a salmon omelette, fish tacos and a hamburger.
No music this time and a ridiculously long wait — one hour — for our food with little or no apology and during a not particularly busy Saturday lunch.

The décor of this place reminds me of the Mad Hatter Tea Party from Alice in Wonderland.
I came here once for a Saturday Restaurant Week lunch and the service was quite slow that day. I did like the chilled asparagus soup for appetizer though not sure I liked the carrot cake (might just be a personal preference but there weren’t any other options for desserts). Since I can’t recall the entrée, I guess it wasn’t too memorable.
Overall, an unique place to experience and might be fun to dress up for tea, as the people next to us actually did. However, in terms of food, it’s probably not one of my top choices around Harvard Sq.

Disney meets tacky cruise line décor and less than attentive, professional service. I was greeted by a maitre d’ who repeated twice in response to my request for a table for one: «You’re just by yourself?!» My waitress introduced me to a new waiter who was training with her. I thought I might get twice the service as a result. No such luck: I was lucky to get anyone’s attention after the food was delivered.
Had the red pizza: it was okay, nothing to write home about. Nice wine selection though.

Stopped in for their patio on a Friday night. Was busy, but we still didn’t have to wait. Our server was new, but he was quite nice.
Got some beers (mmmm Pretty Things by Jack d’Or) and some food.
–complementary bread basket: good bread, plain, nothing special. But who doesn’t like free bread?
–Grilled cheese and tomato soup: tasty grilled cheese, except half of it seemed to miss the cheese. The tomato soup had cheese in it and was crazy good.
–Hamburger with green salad: side salad was plain and dressing was oil with garlic and somehow quite salty. The burger itself was full of cheese and bacon. I asked for medium and it was definitely well done though. That said, still a good burger.

New Years’ Day 2013 brunch.
i am giving this a fourth star because my husband lobbied for it. my general impression of our brunch was «underwhelming.» i would like to return for dinner though, because i realize that brunch on a holiday may not be the best barometer by which to judge a restaurant’s awesomeness.
the food itself was quite good, although sadly they were out of several things by the time of our reservation. service is definitely slow, so please don’t plan a meal here if you’re in a rush! the drinks were good — in particular the bloody marys were PERFECT.
…but something just didn’t sit with me quite right. can’t put my finger on it. i will give it a second chance though. if you’ve never been, i say give it a shot. new dining experiences are a good thing!

If you crossed Liberace and the Cheshire Cat, you’d give birth to Upstairs on the Square.
I didn’t quite get it. Food is tasty, but portions are ridiculously small for the prices we paid.
The decorations were like a Venice Beach tribute to Elvis… but while on an acid trip. The only thing missing was some guy in a turban on rollerblades playing jimmy hendrix…
I’ll have to go back (on someone else’s tab) to revisit my review, but seriously… I was, um… confused.

Tuna Tartare was good, but the pizza with spinach and that strong white cheese needed something to cut it, like tomatoes. Everything else I tried had a strong lemon taste. The eggless cauliflower pasta was really sour.
My friend’s brick chicken was overcooked, she says, and the presentation was unappealing:
Picture:
Jesse, I think was her name, was our server and she was really sweet. She knew the menu well and was patient with all of our questions — we couldn’t read a damn thing on the menu.
Thanks for the strong drinks, bartender!

I love Upstairs on the Square… from the pink zebra room to the funky Alice-​in-​Wonderland-​esque dining room to everything in between.
I first came here five years ago, for a birthday dinner my friend had planned for me. He was a Harvard student back then, so he told me he had the perfect place picked out for our group. I still remember how beautifully that entire experience played out – from the amazing food, to the lovely surprise flutes of champage and chocolate cake at the end of our meal. The service was impeccable, and it still remains one of my fondest birthday memories. Ever since, I’ve been a big fan, and have come here for dinner, drinks, and dessert, and, most recently, for Restaurant Week.
Every time I’ve dined here, I’ve been impressed by the flavourful and creative dishes – and the tartine («open faced sandwich») appetizer was no exception. The pickled vegetables with which the dish came were perfect… super tasty, to the point where I wish I could have had more! Because Upstairs on the Square isn’t afraid to be creative, some of the dishes are a bit hit-​or-​miss, but they’re mostly hits, and I love bringing visitors and friends alike to this quirky, lovely joint in the Square.

Somehow. Upstairs has a really unique environment. which makes me love here.
Didn’t realize it was Mother’s day and they only served the pre-​fix menu for 50 dollars… It’s so expensive and I don’t feel like having so much food in the morning… But the server said that if we dine outside, we can have a la carte. Appetizer for 10 dollars, entrée for 20, and dessert for 10… Is only 40 dollars??? might as well order a 3 course meal outside. since the weather is sunny and a little windy. just perfect to dine outside. a quiet sunday morning…
Looking at the menu. the waiter recommended us the roasted lamb. we took his recommendation and also ordered a smoked salmon. but instead of the salmon, we got the arctic char. the waiter apologized to us and said he will not charged us extra for that. well. since, we took a bite and it tasted extremely good. we decided to take that.
He refilled our bread basket without asking… and the highlight! Their BREAD BASKET!!! it’s unlike other bread basket… this bread basked is served with scones, mini poppy seeds lemon cupcake, and some other mini pastries… We almost finished the 2^nd basket as well… (yes. this is how much I love it)
Both entrée tasted good except it’s a little greasy. The potato that came with the lamb was cooked in a different way. the waiter told us it was soak in duck oil (something like that. lol). which I love it… the skin of the arctic char was crispy. I dislike eating the skin at first. but this was good enough and I just ate it.
The service. it was the best service I have ever had. I agreed with my friend that all of the waiter should learn from him… This is my first time feeling extremely good to tip extra. And I just realized that one entrée is only 15 dollars! Don’t I just love Upstairs??? :)

I’ve been meaning to come by this place for years and I finally decided to go during my latest trip up to Boston. I came here with my boyfriend, our friend, and her friend just this past weekend. The restaurant is quite large, with 2 different dining areas. We were seated in the soirée room, which was very pink.
We were a bit disappointed to realize that they were not doing their tasting menu on the day that we had gone. I was really looking forward to trying out their vegetarian tasting menu, too. Instead, I got their garlic bread appetizer to start (good but not absolutely amazing), the strozzapreti for my entrée (pretty good), and the zebra cake for my dessert (ugh, I was so full at this point). I also had their Graduate cocktail, which was okay.
I left feeling kind of underwhelmed, honestly. Maybe it was because I was expecting this place to be really amazing or maybe it was because I have dined at a number of fine dining establishments since I first heard about this place. Nevertheless, I would be willing to come here again for brunch or afternoon tea when I am next in town.