Boxwood Cafe – We could, so we should, call Boxwood quite Good.

3.8/5 on the Foodie Foursome Index
3.7/5 on the Hip Eateries Scale

Jenna’s Review:  
Now I know what you are thinking, what is this box of wood everyone keeps talking about. Well, I asked myself the same question until the day came where I saw, smelt, and tasted for myself. Now I can’t help but think the name is related to the overall nature-esq-ness of the restaurant. It is quite small in size and they don’t take reservations unless you are a party of 8 or more so you will want to go when you have time to wait (luckily we went in the midst of a hail storm and got in promptly). One thing I loved was their drinks. I had the sparkling ginger and the kale aid which were both wonderful and fresh, they a also came with little flowers!… It’s the little things. Everything there tasted natural; from the bruschetta to the chickpea fritters and even my lamb fricasse. They all tasted like they came straight from mother nature’s womb. The good thing was that it’s one of those places where no mater how much you eat and how full you get you don’t feel sick after. My only complaint was that the lamb fricasse was fairly bland which was unfortunate. Then came the dessert, natural goat cheese cheesecake, which was definitely a new take on cheesecake. Overall I quite enjoyed the boxwood. Between the food and the view of the park, I would definitely give it another try.

Mike’s Review: 😍😊😋📦🌲
Upon first entering Boxwood Cafe one gets the impression that they are entering into one of Dexter’s Kill rooms (The 2006 showtime hit), but thats not a bad thing. Any fans of the show know Dexter perfectly picked his kill rooms for the victims… and the Boxwood has perfectly picked its environment for its food. “simple”, “homey”, “natural”, “fresh”, “could maybe find a bug in there but wouldn’t care cause it feels like you are camping”, are all expressions I would use to describe this little gem. It appears to us that The Boxwood has decided to make itself a vigilante for the citizens of Calgary against processed, mass produced, and boring foods. My main (The Rotisserie Chicken) was a little on the dry side, but what it lacked in juices it made up for in volume, I definitely left full. For a simple guy like me the “Prince’s Island Iced Tea with cardamom orange tonic and Chic Choc Spiced rum” was a great addition to the meal! Somewhere between “lively and bland”, “boring and divine”, and “new and old”, rests the Boxwood… and how the hell did they get permitting to build on a park?

Chris and Kate’s Experience/Review:
I’ve never done this before so I thought, “hey self, make it easy and stick to a theme. Themes make everything easy. Themes run the world. No that’s Beyonce or girls or something.”
So Chris and I were up half the night. We really wanted to get this right, ya know. What if Jenna and Mike never invited us back? We couldn’t live with that looming over our heads for the rest of our otherwise blissful lives. Then it struck us, we were in too deep. We needed to simplify. That’s it! Simplistic. That is a perfect way to describe our meal at this adorable box made of wood, of a restaurant, on the corner of a park. Some people might look at that and think it has negative connotations but trust me – I mean it in the best way possible. We went full court with the meal: appetizers, entrée, side, and dessert. Every dish felt simple in the sense that you could probably guess each ingredient and according to their website they source local, which is nice if you care about that sort of thing. For me, knowing what I’m eating adds a level of comfort that makes the overall dining experience feel more authentic. Chris’ favourite was the White Gold Ricotta and Heirloom Tomato Bruschetta with arugula and nasturtium pistou. Mine was the Fairwinds Farm Chevre Cheesecake made with organic goat cheese, wild lingonberry compote, vanilla bean and a graham cookie. The Organic Corn Mac and Cheese with Sylvan Star gouda and roasted tomato was pretty good, and the Za-tar Roasted Heirloom Cauliflower with almonds, toasted onion and cauliflower puree was delicious. The food was simplistic, authentic comfort food and nothing more than that, but maybe it isn’t meant to be and that’s okay. Overall, the atmosphere would bring us back to Boxwood more than anything else.