Have food halls timed out?

Last week, when it looked like Time out Boston’s time had come, it raised the question: has the food court run its course, and what would that mean for the ones here in Camberville?

The answer is both nuanced and complex. Bow Market and CanalSide Food + Drink, the two commercial ventures on this side of the Charles, are night and day in vibe, concept and execution. So are the two university eatery rows, Harvard’s Smith Hall and the Japanese food court in the Porter Square Exchange Building owned by Lesley. Meanwhile, Eastern Edge, which calls itself a globally-inspired “culinary collider,” is scheduled to open in Kendall Square this month. 

From a numbers perspective, then, the food hall concept seems strong, and perhaps the problem is Time Out’s execution. Quality was what made Time Out a phenomenon in 2014 when its first food hall opened in Lisbon. But that was driven by Michelin-tier vendors who were invited to join. Time Out Boston was fast fine (Anoush’ella is there, but so is Ms. Cluck’s Deluxe, Cusser’s Roast Beef & Seafood and Craigie Burger) in an area with a lot of dining options (Sweet Cheeks, Eastern Standard, MIDA and Wahlburgers to name a few). It didn’t help that the Regal Fenway movie theater closed in 2023. 

CanalSide in CambridgeSide (formerly the Cambridgeside Galleria) is probably the Camberville place that’s closest to Time Out Boston. CanalSide recently revamped, replacing Dunkin’ Donuts and Sbarro in favor of more upscale offerings (Caffe Nero, Anoush’ella and Dalmoros Fresh Pasta To Go). It also added a center bar (the C-Side Bar). 

At CanalSide, as with Time Out, every stall has the same facade and there’s a central dining area that is vast, spare and sterile. It’s fine for a quick grab-and-go as you are passing through, but it feels more like an amenity in a mall and business complex that has struggled over the past few years.

Bow Market, on the backside of Somerville’s Union Square, is already a destination in its own right. Some of that may be its local focus – when it was founded in 2018, partners Zachary Baum and Matthew Boyes-Watson worked with the City of Somerville to create an incubator space for local eateries and retailers, renting affordable pop-up stalls with the prospect of graduating to a more traditional storefront. One such success story is the excellent Egyptian vegetarian eatery Koshari Mama, now located a few hundred yards up Somerville Ave. There are long-term tenants too: Remnant Brewery, Rebel Rebel wine bar, Mike & Patty’s, Saus (another vegetarian place) and the Eaves. 

That formula seems to work – Bow Market has grown from just six stores back in 2018 to around 30 now, and it recently purchased an adjacent property with six more storefronts. In an email, Baum said that foot traffic has returned to its pre-pandemic high and then some. 

The Lesley and Harvard food hall stories too, are very different tales. The eateries in Smith Hall (Pavement, Bon Me and Black Bird Doughnuts / Sally’s Sandwiches among them) have a symbiotic relationship with Harvard, offering students affordability and convenience on their way to the Harvard health service. 

The Porter Square Exchange bodegas were for decades a hidden gem, “Little Japan” to those in the know. It offered a dense collection of diverse, affordable Asian fare that was difficult to find elsewhere. But it has been in flux since Lesley announced plans in 2022 to relocate the eateries to the street side restaurant space that once housed the Shaking Crab and the Tavern on the Square sports bar. That plan was scrapped a year later when the Shaking Crab’s owners put two other restaurants, Izakaya Ittoku and udon darling Yume Ga Arukara, into the Shaking Crab location. Around the same time, ChoCho’s Korean (really fantastic bi-bim bap and soondubu tofu) announced plans to close, and Sapporo Ramen, the longest-running restaurant in the space, relocated to CanalSide—a move that broke my heart, because now I have to trek across town to experience their culinary genius.  

Also seemingly gone is I Love Sushi, which shut down last year ostensibly for remodeling, but whose signage is no longer on display. Xian Cool Noodle will open soon in the space that was Sapporo, but Tampopo, the tempura and donburi spot that was second in tenure to Sapporo, has announced it is closing come June (more on that soon). That will leave only Xian and Mami’s Cafe, which specializes in katsu cutlets and curry, operating in the eight-stall space. 

It’s disheartening to see what has happened here. Lesley did not respond to multiple queries about the future of the bodegas. I fear we won’t see a return to its diverse, high-caliber food offered at reasonable prices.

For food halls, then, it seems like the lesson is to know your community and give it the food it wants. The gents at Bow Market get that. As far as the CanalSide reboot goes, time will tell — since it’s still primarily a shopping destination, I do wonder if taking out lower-priced dining options might be a turn off for some patrons. If Eastern Edge and its planned six restaurants can be something akin to the Smith Center — serving the MIT community and tech adjacent workforce, it should be a success.

Edits were made to captions of photos in this article to ensure accuracy.

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