Let's find a cat to swallow this canary and start over. My review(s) of Canary Square, Jamaica Plain, MA

My first visit to Canary Square was shortly after their opening and thus chocked up my disappointment in the food as opening kinks to be worked out.  I haven't made much effort to return over the past year and a half or so until I began meeting friends for cocktails there a few times over the previous months.

My first review predates the launching of this blog and was actually posted on www.yelp.com account.  At that time (2011), I gave them 2 out of 5 stars which yelp lists as "Meh.  I've experienced better."

Here's that review:

"So, I finally made it to this place and I am a bit underwhelmed.  The dishes sound marvelous on paper (with a few misspellings which were more annoying than the absent-minded server), but our choices left me less than stimulated.

We decided to dine a la family style but didn't order very much.
I started with a glass of Prosecco (not proseco as the menu suggests) and we waited on our server to return to take our appetizer order for quite some time.
Since I had a feeling she was a bit slow, we simply placed our appetizer and entree orders together.
I had the Thai crispy pork belly which was tasty, though I would have preferred it served more savory than sweet (with pineapple salsa atop).  The presentation was lovely. My dinner guest had the wood-grilled beef skewers.  The beef was tender but could have used a bit more marinade (according to my guest)...the accompanying peanut dip left much to be desired.

Entrees:
I ordered the wood-roasted half chicken (I almost never order chicken dishes for my entree) with buttered summer beans and mashed potatoes.  The chicken was cooked to perfection...moist meat with a nicely roasted brown skin.  The beans however were SO buttered that the mash became 'watery' similar to instant mashed  potatoes.
My guest had the baked macaroni and cheese with ham...this is usually a mistake in my book when dining out.  Mac & cheese is a hit or miss and there are very few places where I actually recommend trying theirs (Marliave and Oceanaire are two I can think of).  The mac was soupy, lacked flavor, and the ham was diced and "tasted more like canned cubed ham" according to my guest.  I thought it was simply gross.  The food overall was a bit amateur.

By the way, the floor manager had to bring my second glass of ProsecCo because Miss Flighty server was missing in action again.

Overall, the ambiance was pretty terrific here. The drink menu was impressive (this may be my new occasional drinking well), the patrons were very JP-esque in that they were diverse in age, style, etc.

I'd go back just to hang at the bar and try some of their Rye cocktails!"

Since then, I have enjoyed the cocktails and the occasional cheese platter and dessert- the chocolate bread pudding was fantastic. 
On my last visit (January 2013), I met a girlfriend for dinner and decided to do my usual over ordering to get a good cross-section of food.

From what I can tell, they have had many good ideas in the past with poor or hit-or-miss ( a term used often in reviews of CS) execution.  It has been said that even the same dish can vary with multiple visits.  A friend and longtime patron of CS says she thinks the kitchen rotates cooks often.  This may be the culprit.

We started with the chicken nuggets- not a dish you find often on adult, non-fast food menus- so I was intrigued and wanted to give them a try.

Chicken nuggets with honey mustard and barbeque sauce.

 Yup!  Those square pieces above are Canary Square's chicken nuggets.  I thought the coating was nice and crisp, but neither my friend or I could put our finger on how to describe the strange textured chicken.  Having had some time to ponder it, the mouth feel was more like deep fried shredded paper towel.  There were just overall strange.

Cut surface of chicken nugget

 I know I am asking to be disappointed when ordering poutine stateside (with the exception of Vermont) and I have said this on a number of occasions- I've yet to find a good poutine outside of many experiences in Montreal, Quebec.  Canary Square hasn't changed this for me with cold "cheese curds" atop warm fries and topped with the most tasteless chicken gravy ever.  I placed cheese curds in quotations because it seems the cheese curds I've had on poutine in the Boston area, tend to not resemble those I've had from Wisconsin or Montreal.  Cheese curds tend to have a consistency and texture similar to mozzarella cheese and each curd firm.  It is not typically the texture of whipped, pulled cheese.  The tiny air pockets in curds cause them to "squeak" when bitten into which is one reason they have lovingly been called "squeaky cheese".  I couldn't tolerate more than a couple of bites.

Poutine

 I did enjoy the "crispy" cauliflower, though the name would lead one to believe they would be fried.  Instead, they were nicely roasted (perhaps pan-roasted) and smartly served with capers and pine nuts which added nice salinity and crunch, respectively.

"Crispy" cauliflower with capers and pine nuts

The potato gnocchi was nicely made and served with tender shreds of short rib ragout.  I would have liked a bit more liquid incorporated into this ragout dish.

Potato gnocchi with short rib ragout and parmesan

 I had a taste of my friend's black bean burger and found the consistency to be a bit gummy, but the Grafton cheddar, chive sour cream and spicy salsa made for a nicely flavored sandwich.

Black bean burger

 I decided to take the chicken roulade home.  Now, I do not expect an aesthetic presentation with to go entrees, but I was extremely disappointed with the measly tablespoon and a half of pureed potatoes that was served as a side to this dish.  It was quite especially unfortunate because they were very tasty.  The Brussels sprouts were cooked well, but the I just couldn't reconcile, yet another seemingly obvious misnomer.  With a chicken "roulade", I expected to cut into the perfectly cooked rolled meat and observe clear fillings.  A typical roulade will contain obvious 'stuffing' of soft cheese and spinach or the like layered between rolls, similar to a Little Debbie Swiss Rolls cake.  I dismissed this due to the delicious, moist chicken that was served.  One thing is for sure- cooks at Canary Square can cook a good chicken.