Yelp's Top 10 JP Restaurants: Do You Agree?

Check out the top 10 rated restaurants in Jamaica Plain based on Yelp! reviews. Did your neighbors get it right?

Websites like Yelp! have empowered the everyday eater to become their local neighborhood's food critic, praising and damning behind the anonymity of a computer screen. So what do your neighbors have to say on Yelp? Based on Yelp!'s highest-rated star ranking, here are the top 10 restaurants in Jamaica Plain. 1. Whisk 2. Ten Tables 3. Blue Nile 4. Tres Gatos 5. Jamaica Plain House of Pizza 6. Café Beirut 7. El Oriental de Cuba 8. Vee Vee 9. Same Old Place 10. The Dogwood Cafe  *Whisk, which is a group of chefs who do "pop up" menus and tastings around the state. Do you agree or disagree with the Yelp! top 10 list? Let us know in the comments' section.

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Steve Backman

7:46 am on Sunday, April 14, 2013

I agree with many of the other comments about omissions. I also am glad for Cafe Beirut's mention. It has done well since its renaming and reorganization.   more ›

Tonic Closes Again...This Time For Good?

The restaurant is “done,” according to a source.

Tonic has had a brief history in Jamaica Plain. The Forest Hills restaurant launched in April 2012, closed in August amid various rumors, reopened in November, and closed again in December. Though there was a sign on the restaurant’s door in December saying the staff was taking time off over the holidays, the restaurant never re-opened. Readers have begun to ask: What happened with Tonic? A source tells Jamaica Plain Patch they are “done” but they’ve surprised the community before. Do you think Tonic will re-open?

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Is Centre Street Sanctuary About to Open?

A message board post looking for a chef could be a clue.

Centre Street Sanctuary, a restaurant slated to open at the Blessed Sacrament site by October, is still not open. But are they close? The restaurant is looking to hire a chef/executive sous chef, according to a post asking for resumes on BostonChefs.com Monday. “Centre Street Sanctuary, a new restaurant opening soon in Jamaica Plain, is looking for the right fit to run their culinary operations as a Chef/Executive Sous Chef,” the post says. When do you think it will open?

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JP Eats!: Coco's Lounge Opens in Egleston Square

A Latin-themed lounge replaces a dive bar on Washington Street.

The former Old Stag Tavern in Egleston Square was a dive bar legend: cheap beer enhanced and made bearable (and enjoyable) by an insufferable jukebox selection, X-rated video games, tacky velvet paintings and pool table heroes. When it closed earlier this year—rat infestations, noise complaints, seedy bathrooms and all—many wondered who would take over the Washington Street space that once hosted raucous drag queen nights and ironic Beyoncé sing-alongs. And puzzled how they’d ever get the stale smoke stank out of the place. Coco’s Lounge opened its doors this summer. Impressively displaying little remnants of its former tenant, the spiffed-up spot plays up brick-exposed walls with sleek wooden flooring, shiny fixtures and simple (generic) …

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Boston Restauranteurs Largely Against Lifting Happy Hour Ban

“Happy hour is a very bad thing for our industry," says one.

CORRECTION: The position of the Restaurant and Business Alliance was misrepresented in the previous version of this article. Their true position is reported below. The state's alcohol control board is looking at lifting the ban on happy hour but Massachusetts restauranteurs are largely against the idea.  About two dozen of them showed up to a hearing on the topic in Boston Tuesday, and all but one spoke against legalizing cheap drinks. "The majority of them were in favor of maintaining the happy hour ban," Jon Carlisle, spokesman for the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, told Patch. What the board heard in Boston largely mirrors what it has heard in other parts of the state at the three previous hearings on happy hour, Carlisle said…

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POLL ENDS AUG. 17: What's Jamaica Plain's Best Pizza Shop?

Our Best of Patch Readers' Choice Jamaica Plain contests (in 25 categories) end Aug. 17.

Sanctuary, a New Restaurant for Hyde Square, Gets Nod from JP Community Group

Members of the JP Neighborhood Council Public Service Committee unanimously approved increased liquor and entertainment licenses for two Hyde Square area dining establishments: the new Sanctuary and the established Tres Gatos.

Hyde Square’s dining scene could get a lot livelier in the coming months. Enthusiastically supporting the area’s restaurant culture, the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council Public Service Committee unanimously approved licensing measures for two eateries during its monthly meeting Tuesday night at Curtis Hall.   Boston: 'Sanctuary' City The people behind plans for a big new restaurant, christened "Sanctuary," aim to open in the new retail space on the Blessed Sacrament campus by the corner of Centre and Creighton. This American-style bistro would serve wine, beer, and some liquor. It would remain open until 1 a.m. on weekends under the committee’s recommendations. With the new restaurant opening in a brand new retail space, members of the …

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Slice O' Pie Pizza in Jamaica Plain Shuts Abruptly

A sign in the window indicates the pizza parlor will reopen soon.

Hyde Square pizza joint Slice O' Pie closed abruptly this week. Signs in the windows indicate the 378 Centre St. pizza, sub and pasta restaurant is closed for renovations and will reopen soon. Slice O' Pie, which opened in February 2011, recently ran into trouble with the city over its license. The JP Neighborhood Council took up the matter in its Tuesday meeting, voting unanimously to affirm the restaurant's license. It isn't clear if the problem was actually on the city end. Over the past year, many JP restaurants that were open for months or years were surprised to find out that parts of the city bureacracy considered them as not having the proper licenses. A source told JP Patch that employees showed up for work Thursday to find the …

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Fiore's Seeks to Add Nighttime Italian Restaurant, Patio Seating

Fiore's Bakery would change its identity after 7 p.m. each night, transforming into a casual Italian restaurant, under plans by owner Charlie Fiore.

Charlie Fiore hopes to add a little more nightlife to South Street by turning his popular bakery into an Italian restaurant during the evenings. Fiore's is well known for their vegan baked goods and coffee. Recently, they have been turning over their space in the evenings to Whisk, a pop-up restaurant. The bakery's owner has started the process to obtain a beer and wine license and patio seating license to launch a casual Italian restaurant. The dishes would be less expensive than at Whisk. Fiore described the potential menu as five-six entrees of Italian "comfort food." The bakery would shut down at 6 each night for one hour, then reopen at 7 p.m. in its Italian restaurant configuration. Fiore also hopes to add patio seating during the …

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Homegrown

El Oriental de Cuba's Nobel Garcia — "Give Us Some Parking And We'll Continue to Grow."

Nobel Garcia, proprietor of El Oriental de Cuba, talks about continuing Cuban culture in Jamaica Plain.

Nobel Garcia came to Boston by way of Santa Clara, Cuba in 1956 at the age of 9 and watched his family’s businesses take root in Jamaica Plain: his uncles' Miami Sub and El Oriental de Cuba, and his parents’ Garcia’s Superette. As a teenager in the '60s, he worked at Tropical Foods, a small shop he had a hand in introducing Spanish food to back when it wasn’t yet sold in Boston, and then helped his parents run Garcia's. While working as a supervisor at a Framingham paper mill in the ’90s, Garcia would help out his uncle Evaristo Cambara and his daughter Emia at Oriental de Cuba in the evening and later came on full-time. Garcia took over the business in 2003 and saw it through a renovation following a devastating fire in 2005. He takes …

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