Bee’s Knees Supply Company

This is mostly to let the management /​baristas know that either something went wrong with their chai the other day or they just have the worst chai in the world. It was nothing short of terrible. Mostly milk, barely had any semblance of chai flavor. My bf asked for an extra shot in his and neither of us could taste the coffee. It was so terrible that both of us threw ours away as soon as we walked out. (Got MUCH better chai at 4A Coffee).
On the plus side, their coffee (iced and hot) is usually good and the cashiers are nice. Would be willing to come back if they fix their goddamn chai.

They were out of cold brew and nitro cold brew but offered ice coffee instead which I happily grabbed. It tasted over extracted or burnt, maybe there were grounds still hanging out? I guess I should just keep to the Stumptown that they carry and don’t make.
The salad was really just whatever. Nothing exciting at all.
The space is beautiful though!

Was immediately drawn to this place for its aesthetic — it’s the perfect hipster brunch spot. Thankfully, the food (both on the menu and those items in the grocery sections) did not disappoint. The breakfast sliders and coffee blew me away, as well as the french toast and produce selection. Would be a great place to come back and hang, read, or study. I look forward to trying their juices or smoothies or lunch sandwiches in the future!

I love this place. I come every weekend and they never fail me. Their breakfast specials are normally pretty good and if I don’t get that I enjoy the crispy chicken sandwich with a strawberry smoothie. Spicy and sweet! Highly recommend.

We had the Porky fig and the hot pastrami. Both were absolutely delicious! The staff is awesome and so great/​helpful. Definitely a need to visit spot! Ask for Tiffany!

I really wanted to like this place and gave it an exorbitant number of chances, but I’ve officially given up. Service is consistently poor and coffee/​food is mediocre at best. I can honestly say that every single time I’ve gone here, there is at least one issue with my order (food coming out cold, drink tastes funny, ingredient missing from smoothie, etc). Plus, it doesn’t help that 80% of the stores products are insanely overpriced. Sorry bees knees… I understand the hipster-​esque concept that you’re trying (too hard) to convey, but overall terrible execution.

Pros: Great atmosphere! Good food.
Cons: The staff appears to work here mainly part time, when they aren’t performing there acts at the circus. There is serious fly problem. And good luck placing an order early they never answer the phone

I came for the nitro cold brew, which they were out of, so I got the regular cold brew (but still paid for the nitro and was not offered a refund for the price difference), I got a sandwich on a baguette that was only sliced halfway through so it was pretty, but hard to eat, awkwardly silent with no background music, and SO MANY FLIES EVERYWHERE! Shooing flies away from my food and face constantly when I’m indoors, it’s still only 50 degrees outside, and just way overpaid for food and drink is not acceptable.

This place tries so hard to be the tip of the hipster spear that it could star in the next episode of Portlandia.
Exorbitant prices? Check.
Tattoo covered, mustachioed cashier? Check.
Service an attitude? Checkaroo !
Don’t waste your money here (or should I say, your parents money, to the college crowd supporting this joint).

So cute! I like this better than the one in Fort Point. Definitely on the expensive side — I wouldn’t go grocery shopping here but it’s a great spot to have breakfast or lunch. The egg white wrap was delicious and the ambiance was nice.

This place is close to where I live so I thought it’d be my hangout place.
I usually go there to study or just grab a quick healthy bite. I like the food. Everything I tried so far has been tasty, I like the ambience of the place and the music is nice.
But yes unfortunately, they have to get the flies situation under control.

Please kill your flies they are everywhere, flying in our food and on our necks/​hair. Good breakfast but… Please kill flies!

Drinks are good here.
HOWEVER,
Flies are everywhere. So disgusting!
Please do something.

I am tempted to write a three word review. «No. Just don’t.» But it’s your lucky day. I’m avoiding doing my taxes, so here goes. Upon first glance, Bee’s Knees appears to be a trendy, fun place to partake of some unique eats in a hip, appealing environment. Upon second glance, it is none of those things.
My husband ordered a «yellow juice,» tomato basil soup, a cuban sandwich and a vegan carrot muffin for me. We waited about a half an hour for the food which was served sporadically and without utensils. Is this a hip, new trend? Eating soup with one’s hands? The food was mediocre. The muffin was dry, the soup was laden with cream and cheese (not in a good way) and the cheese on the cuban sand was dry and crusty.
And the flies. Have I mentioned the flies? There were a biblical amount of flies in the place. But they are free, so there’s that. More horror awaited me when I descended the stairs to the bathroom, which looked like it had never been cleaned. Ever. Never ever. It was bad.
So, in summary… No. Just don’t.

Bee’s Knees seems a bit late to the party. This place would have been chic 10 years ago. From what I’ve experienced — about 3 or 4 visits — it’s overpriced and offers a limited selection of items, but maintains a high level of poorly motivated and/​or incompetent employees.
I left Williamsburg in Brooklyn in part because I was tired of dealing with workers more interested in fraternizing than providing adequate service. Fortunately Bee’s Knees seems to be the exception rather than the rule in Boston.
There’s plenty alternative options for coffee and organic items in the Allston/​Brighton area. I suggest looking elsewhere.

Really cool place! Atmosphere, food, and staff are great. However, it seems to be a trend that they don’t have toilet paper in their bathrooms…

Didn’t get a chance to order anything but I can say that’s a really hip place.
It seems like a small grocery store with a bar in the center of the store. They don’t have a plethora of items to be purchased. Seems like most of the food items are organic, healthy, and expensive items… Wouldn’t come here to buy groceries.
They do have wine and beer and Kombucha on tap.
Food wise — the sandwiches and salads seem a bit overpriced. Reading through the reviews, the food doesn’t seem to leave a lasting impression.
The only reason I would come here would be to grab coffee or a small snack and study. The study space is large and really hip. There is seating in the front of the store, as well as a back table near the cheese area.

Their breakfast sammys are out of control! Great beer selection, wine, coffee, and cheeses. Has some crazy expensive high end stuff so be careful if it’s not priced. Great spot

Lavender Fomu is amazing! Quinoa Salad is very good as well. Smoked salmon sandwich is meh. Love the atmosphere/​environment & all the products! Couldn’t get the wifi to connect though… wonder if it was just slow?

Great spot. Very good coffee. Good vibe. Lots of food options, nice location. Will definitely be back.

I bought some cheese yesterday, opened it today to find it covered in pink and orange mold. This type of mold can be very dangerous because it has the potential to be toxic. I don’t think this place is worth the money.

This might be an issue with missed expectations for me, but I was looking for more of a restaurant-​y lunch and less of a deli-​y lunch. The menu had some great choices but seating is limited. And there’s no alcohol but you can pick some up downstairs? Odd!

Was not impressed at all. While I’ve been before and have enjoyed looking at the (pricey!!!) unique items in the store, I decided to try their food this time.
I got the tuna nicoise salad. Normally, I’m all for seared tuna, but I cannot say this enough… stay away from this one. The tuna tasted and looked like it was cooked yesterday with old fish. As I was cutting into it, I found that it was extremely rubbery and confirmed that suspicion when I bit into it. I had to leave most of the fish on there because it tasted so bad. Thank goodness for the kombucha I purchased or this would’ve been an even more tragic situation.
This was one of those situations where I had to try it just once to form an opinion. And this is one of those situations where I will most definitely not try it again.

This shop is a beautiful hip spot in Allston. It is a restaurant and deli all in one. I’ve recently been obsessed with quality and this place gives me just that! Great Coffee, and food plus a nice atmosphere. They have a nitro-​cold brew coffee which is worth trying. Great place to study, with lots of seating and an abundance of outlets. Their customer service deserves a shout out, got greeted with free cheese and wine tasting. Open from 8am to 10pm all week! #coffeebeantown
follow my instagram: @coffeebeantown

Pros: Great food. Great atmosphere. Great music. Gorgeous, unique, well-​priced flowers and plants. Fun with record players! Steak and cheese sandwich is the
.
Cons: Expensive, nothing-​special produce.
Bottom line: Go for the coffee and made-​to-​order food for a yummy, relaxing meal. Hang out for a while, read the paper, do some work. Don’t go if you need groceries.

Bee’s Knees is the depiction of what my imagination goes to… except it is real life… I don’t have to imagine it. The atmosphere is very «urban chic», with subway tile on the walls, funky retro décor, old record players and records, cozy leather couches, unique lights, interesting art, reading nooks… the creativity factor truly gets a ¹⁰⁄₁₀. It is inviting, friendly, and most of all comfortable. My favorite part is the outdoor patio with the overhead strung lights that make you forget your in rat city Allston, and makes you imagine you are in your neighbors backyard just enjoying a bottle of wine. They expanded the basement to have a huge selection of wine, beer, and a cozy place to snuggle with a book.
The grocery food selection is variable. In terms of groceries, the produce and dairy are perfect for if I need something to finish a recipe, but isn’t enough to grocery shop on. The frozen and prepared foods are a nice surprise, and will definitely offer me unique options as opposed to my normal grocer, but also isn’t something that I would go there to do my daily shopping. The selection is minimal, specific and unique, all with organic/​natural or local brands. It’s the type of place where I will try one thing a week to splurge on and try new flavors and ideas.
The prepared/​ordered food is excellent. They have a menu that changes daily that ranges from fried chicken, roast beef, mac n cheese, enchiladas, etc etc. you can never know what to expect, but each meal I have had has been enjoyable. Additionally, the salads, soups, smoothies, and grilled cheeses are unique, flavorful, exciting and very tasty. I have liked every meal I have ordered.
All in all, I am in love with Bee’s Knees, and happy to have it one door down from me. My only qualm, which is actually a significant factor to my decision to go there or not, is the price. Everything is about $ 2 – 3 more than I would like to pay for. Especially for a place like Allston, I feel that the price needs to be representative of what the locals can afford. However, the charm, elegance, unique and exquisite taste in the atmosphere still draws me to come in just about every day.

Um, it’s fine. As soon as you walk in, you know exactly what you’re getting into. A pricey hipstery lunch place. I joke with my friends that this place LOVES to tell you «Oh, sorry, we actually aren’t serving that right now.» I go in for a sandwich at 12 and they aren’t serving them until 2. Alright. I try to order a brunch food but they only serve that on the weekend. Alright. I try to order a type of coffee and they’re done with that for the season. Alright. I wouldn’t mind any of this if it was labeled at all on their sign. All of these things you just have to KNOW. I hate places that aren’t newbie friendly. It’s just very awkward ordering food here.
On the bright side, the food is actually quite tasty (if a little greasy…). It better be. Picking up your food is awkward as heck, though. You get your drinks from the coffee bar counter and your take away food from the deli counter. So you have to stand awkwardly between both counters listening for your name to be called in two places. There’s just nowhere to stand.
Stuff like this and the EXTREMELY expensive grocery food just makes this whole operation feel poorly thought out and designed.

No place illustrates more the gentrification of Allston more than this place, right next to a new Starbucks and nestled in among the new luxury condo buildings. It reminds me of City Feed in JP but with fewer annoying hipsters blocking every aisle.
That being said, the food is great. A little pricey, perhaps, for what I’d like to spend on lunch, but good. Their version of the «egg mcmuffin» is superb. Their FoMu smoothies are amazing. Their food is fresh, locally sourced, relatively healthy, and delicious.

Not sure if Allston was the right location for this café/​grocery store. The décor is nice and I enjoyed the layout. The place is dressed up nice and has a cozy but modern feel.
However, the prices of this joint are a bit high. The coffee and sandwiches are slightly over priced but are of solid quality.
The grocery items must be part of the decoration too because they couldn’t possibly be for people actually grocery shopping. $ 6.99 for a small box of cereal? $ 12 for butter? Or perhaps a $ 5.99 can of tuna fish? Most of the items are things you might buy for a Christmas present or a gift for your boss’s birthday but not for everyday consumption.
Overall, the Knees is a little disappointing. My only hope is that this is not a trend because most of the folks who live in Allston that I know can’t afford to do their shopping at a place like this.
Oh yea, and the wifi is slow and made it difficult to get any work done here.

The superfood salad nicely corrected my diet after a weekend binge of beer and pizza during NFL games. The salad’s kale flavor was nicely cut with a light lemon wash and pomegranate seeds. As other reviewers mentioned, nitro cold brew coffee is worth trying for its novelty factor.
Staff were friendly and helpful, especially as the menu can be confusing with brunch only available on the weekend. I’ll definitely return for more weekday lunches — great atmosphere and not too busy.

It’s a pretty good deli, with a clean décor and a nice selection. The menu is not flexible yet, but they’re still finding their footing after opening a few weeks ago it’s super nice to sit by their oversized windows rain or shine (when they open them up).
I favor their pastrami sandwich. It’s been good the dozen or so times ordered it.

We have been several times and each visit is better than the previous! This time was for breakfast, and had the bacon & egg sandwich. It was outstanding. It’s like a slice of soufflé with crispy bacon on top, and the stone n skillet English muffin was super rich.
Also had the vanilla yogurt and granola with fruit. It was excellent as well. My favorite though is the cold brew nitro coffee… it’s so smooth and tastes as if there is a splash of cream even though there’s not — amazing.
We sat at a little table by the open, folding floor-​to-​ceiling windows. The whole experience reminded us of being in Europe.
On our way out, we picked up some imported grape seed oil, dried porcini mushrooms, dried oregano on the stem and a few other artisan specialty items that you just don’t find anywhere else.
Have seen some complaining about prices, but it’s definitely a «you get what you pay for» kind of place — and you get awesomeness :-)

I happily wrote my review when I was shopping for wine, cheese, and non-​everyday essentials (well I suppose wine and cheese is for me). I loved the selection (P.S. they sell pâté by the pound in the back), and I stand by it.
DO NOT come here for breakfast (expensive, slow, madness).
I eagerly brought my boyfriend back here for breakfast on a Saturday and it was a madhouse. There’s only one line for both food and to purchase goods, so this poor girl who was trying to buy peanut butter had to wait 20 or so minutes to get to the front of the line. The line goes right into the door, which makes the space seem small and chaotic.
If you get your breakfast to stay, they’ll give you a thing to put on your table and we were told someone would deliver the food to us. It came out fairly quickly, but we didn’t realize we’d have to wait for our coffee (also they ran out of cold brew at around 8am, and one of their two coffees) at the separate to-​go bar, which had around 15 people crowded around it.
People complaining left and right they had been waiting 20 minutes for their juice, etc.
There’s also a bar area but I’m not entirely sure if you can get served food there, or if it’s just for drinks?
No obvious garbage can, so a poor employee had to go around bussing the tables.
Bee’s Knees has a lot of potential, but they really need to work out the flow of their space. And maybe not run out of coffee on an weekend morning.

After walking by this place a few weeks ago, I was very intrigued. I had never heard of this store’s other location, so based on the name and design of the storefront, I had concluded it may be one of those natural, earth-​crunchy, non-​GMO products only store type of store. Welp, today on a 90 degree midsummer’s day, I heard it was finally open and made the scenic journey down Harvard Ave.
As soon as I walk in, I was greeted by a cross between a Whole Foods-​esque and typical local food/​product chic shoppe atmosphere. There were a few sections to the store. To the right, produce. The back: a deli. The Left: meat. And the middle: a sandwich, bar, seating area, cashier, etc. station. Between each section were various local high quality products as well, such as pasta and snacks, as well as more seating areas near the entrance.
I walked through each section as if it were a toy store. Carefully analyzing products and companies I’ve never seen or heard over before. Specially in the meat section. Dogfish Head makes Sausages… Everything seemed to fit my expectations except the produce. It was very expensive and the quality was sub-​par to wholefoods, that can arguably charge those exorbitant prices.
Anyway, the real reason I came here was for lunch. They had a plethora of grilled cheese sandwiches, and about 6 deli sandwiches to choose from, plus one special. For today, it was the Cubano. Considering I’ve never had one before (i know, how have I not?) so it seemed like the right time.
Turnaround time was very reasonable. About 5 minutes? It was constructed of pulled pork, spicy mayo, pickles, and i’m sure all the other typical cubano fixings, in between some nice artisan bread.
Now, with keeping in mind this was my first Cubano, I will avoid being too judgmental. BUT, there’s always a but. The sandwich was SO GREASY. I felt disgusting while eating the entire thing. If you didn’t know I was eating a Cubano, you’d think I was a mechanic. There were also noticeably large chunks of hard fat mixed throughout the sandwich. I absolutely hate the texture of fat, so this was very off putting. However, maybe this was a sign of the freshness of meat? Maybe they cut it off a larger slab that was delivered that morning, and shredded moments prior? Either way, wasn’t a fan of that part.
The overall taste of the sandwich was good. I will admit that. The Cubano was also panini pressed, providing a very crunchy bites. Another win. But with all things considered, I’m not so sure the pro’s outweigh the cons.
All in all, I did like coming to this place. I liked the service, and it’s air conditioning. It’s also nice having something other than a Korean or Asian-​fusion restaurant move in. If I could have, I would have rated this pace a 3.5, but I can’t. So I will give it the benefit of the doubt, and assume I will be back at some point in time, to try something a bit less creative.

Was looking for nitro cold brew coffee. they have it. So that’s exciting!
Pleasantly surprised by the Kombucha on tap. Need to come back for the fried cheese curds and small bites.
Love the décor, chairs, atmosphere. I guess lucky to be there when it wasn’t super crowded. Definitely seems fun, I’ll be back: D

Very hip new addition to Allston! The former J Tree has gotten a total makeover in the form of local/​unique/​expensive chocolate, wine, meats, and cheese. Love the cool design details, but will probably not be a regular here for groceries.
I ordered one of the grilled cheeses from the café – pesto, mozzarella & tomato ($ 8.56) and it came in about 5 minutes. Although you order at the front counter you have to listen for your name to be called by the deli counter in the back (a bit hard to see depending on where you’re sitting).
It was a super long and skinny pressed sandwich (quite a departure from the small, greasy, stuffed with ingredients fare from Allston’s reigning GC masters Roxy’s), but made for a delightfully toasted bite. Good flavor although there definitely wasn’t much pesto in there. For the price, I hoped it would last two meals but although long and skinny it was a very light sandwich.
I wouldn’t recommend this place as a grocery store, but seems like a decent (but slightly pricey) café.

So far Bee’s Knees Supply Co. is a bit of a mess; it recently opened and is disorganized.
I understand the store just opened but workers were clearly frazzled; other local grocers in the neighborhood are just as busy but seem less aloof. Staff was in disarray and it was hard to get their attention. For example, I asked for half and half for my coffee, a staff member said she was refilling the container, I waited at the counter for 10 minutes, noticed the staff member was servicing a new customer, asked a 2^nd staff member who informed me they’d run out — the original staff member just left me waiting at the counter. Mind you, this is a grocery store — they literally have half and half on the store shelves and could have put some by the coffee stand.
Otherwise, useful option for Allston with grocery items, sandwiches, prepared food, beer and wine. Pretty pricey. At the moment, the Bee’s Knees is more style than substance — sandwiches are around $ 10 and don’t really hit the spot. The breakfast sandwich is $ 6; definitely not your average weekday breakfast bite, and I wouldn’t necessarily go here for brunch either. Croissant looked great but was very dry.
Definitely convenient (particularly in winter and bad weather) but more of an option when you’re in a pinch; otherwise it makes Whole Foods look like a discount shop in comparison.

3 Stars for the first experience. The food was good but I wasn’t blasted out of my seat with excitement which is what I always expect to do while eating :)
We ordered the Quinoa Salad, Fried Cheese curds (very small portion), the Turkey and Salumi Deli Sandwich and two juices.
And friend I was with also ordered the Turkey and Salumi because we saw a person at a table with it and it looked amazing. HOWEVER the employee working at the register did not tell us there were two different versions and when ours arrived we were confused because it was hot and was on different bread and our friends had the cold one we really wanted. I would never think a traditional deli sandwich even had a hot option? But they were busy and it took almost 20 mins to get the sandwich so we just ate it. It was ok but just not what we wanted.
The market part is cute and I am glad there is another wine/​beer location. The décor is trendy and fresh. I will be back to check out a few more of their sandwiches.

Allston has a vibrant and wonderful lunch selection. Between about 30 superb Asian restaurants, bar foods of any sort, 20 pizza places and number of other eclectic eateries, it really has everything you could want. It’s very competitive. I can get a number of divine and inexpensive lunches all over the neighborhood. For this reason I always look forward to eating lunch out in Allston’s awesome restaurant scene.
Because of this state of the lunch-​scene in Allston, I was surprised to see the offerings at our new BEE’S KNEES location come up way too small, and way too expensive. Maybe $ 14 for a deli sandwich and a fountain soda flies for the tech hipster crowd, «information economy» workers, or the BRA bribing property speculators down at Fort Point, but I feel like it doesn’t fly so well in Allston for lunch.
I will interject here that I am very much in the target market for this store. I am 30ish, cook something awesome at least once a day. I am obsessed with amazing food, and always having yummy things in my life. I have money to spend on these yummy things. I am really not even remotely opposed to paying $ 20 or $ 30 for a mind blowing sandwich. I only drink craft beer. I live in Allston, I vote in Allston. I am 100% the demographic for this store. I am not some pizza-​box-​diving beirut-​playing BU student who doesn’t know what a good sandwich is.
SO that say, I am going ot come out and say it: my pastrami sandwich was incredibly underwhelming. It had two small (but thick) slices of pastrami on it. The meat was not very flavorful. IT was fatty (good) but very very grisly. I had to chew through some thick connective tissues to fight the sandwich for maybe 4 or 5 bites. The pastrami was presumably some of that lifeless nitrate free sort? It tasted dead, and underwhelming. The sandwich was a bit greasy. The marble rye bread was OK at best. Maybe an Iggy’s loaf? It wasn’t stellar. Sandwich was $ 9.71?. Money I’d happily pay for something truly divine like you find at MIKE’S DELI with 5 times the meat on it.
Major problem with the store, the super nice cashier asked me if I wanted a drink with my sandwich, and I told her yes… but then looking around to the walls of this 4,000 sq foot sales floor with all the drinks in assorted mystery areas around me, I had no idea what to get and no idea what they even had. I had to peruse the store for 5 minutes to even find the drink sections? Just to get the underwhelming and expensive soda I ended up with. The store should obviously just have some drinks at the register. If Mcdonalds can manage this ok, so you can you Bee’s Knees! Get a freaking cooler and put a drink it in near the register. Put the top 10 drinks in there. BAM.
Bee’s knees does seem to have a fully good (although really expensive) selection of top-​shelf hipster groceries plastered with with every expensive grocery buzz-​word you could ever imagine (organic nitrate free happy cow free range blah blah blah). The selection of fairly pricey mundane cuts of meat seems like it’s alright.
The craft beer and selection was super underwhelming. They may have had ¹⁄₈ what Marty’s has. I’m pretty positive that if they just pushed some of the ironic broken 1950’s refrigerators out of the way they would have had room for a lot more room on the sales floor for good beer. Realistically if I wanted a beer I’d just walk to Blanchard’s, even if the owner did end up in that video jumping on that puppy-​cage a few years ago.
Side note, the hipster-​lightbulbs in the majority of the store are almost forgivable, but the lighting in the bathroom is HORRENDOUS. Glare ridden and dark colored, it would make the most beautiful person the world look like a walking corpse. that’s what I’m always looking for when I go into the bathroom. The baby changing table was a good thought maybe, but not really in Allston. People who have babies in Allston should be brought to the back of Tavern in the Square (for sheer embarassment factor) and hung.
I was really excited for this store to move in, but I am really underwhelmed by it like crazy now. I feel like for everything they offer, there is a better alternative (or three) in Allston already. At least the BU BRAHHH date-​rape-​bar that was Joshua Tree is now gone forever. I don’t find my self smiling though, despite the fact that bee’s knees is still somehow a vast improvement. They’re both owned by the same guy, so I guess this really is a case of shit in, shit out.