Knight Moves Cafe

I can spend hours here without realizing the time. The BEST place in Boston for you and your friends to have a blast! (And maybe lose some friendships based on the games you play lol) Also- shoutout to Azaar, who assisted us and was simply amazing!

Love this place! Best place to have games night! They give recs if you have no idea. And intention is community based and not for the $ like Tavern game place.

AVOID THIS CAFE ON SATURDAYS AT ALL COSTS! I've been hesitating to leave a review, but I feel that I have to, after my past two experiences, both on a Saturday, with an older woman working at the cafe. My girlfriend and I are new to the neighborhood and we were very excited to find such a fun place as a board game cafe. We'd been in a couple of times and never had an issue. Then, one Saturday in late-November, we go in and we're told by the older woman with glasses and dark hair that we can only sit in the far back, or at the table next to the door. That door was propped open, despite the cold. We asked to sit at the next table down, which is literally identical to the table by the door, and we're told no because it's only for parties of 3 or more. Within an hour, a party of 2 was allowed to sit at the very table which we were specifically denied sitting at, because we were a party of 2. I asked why we weren't allowed to sit there when they were, and the older woman just said "it's unpredictable". That makes no sense, she's simply showing preference to customers who weren't even there, over people who just paid $40 for a table and two coffees, and were there first. If the tables are so specific, then they should be marked off with signs for how many people are allowed to sit there. A few weeks later in late-December, we returned again on a Saturday, and saw the same older woman working. We almost decided to not go in, but figured we won't have the same problem twice. How wrong we were! Immediately, the woman tells us to go sit in the far back again. We ask if we can just sit at the smaller tables along the front near the door and the windows, and she says no, it's for parties of 3. Meanwhile, there is literally a party of 2 sitting at one of the same tables that she's telling us is only for 3 people. I asked her why she's telling us this when there's 2 people right there, and she says "oh, I remember you, you were very upset last time." This is a very weird and unsettling thing to tell a customer. I was not "very upset", I was confused and I asked questions about her policies. If I was upset, I would have been much louder. And so we went to the back, just to avoid having an issue. We chose the smallest available table, and the woman CAME AND FOUND US and MADE US GET UP AND MOVE. She tells us to go to the big, huge table for parties of 8 or more. I asked her why would we go to the big table when we're only a party of 2, and again she goes on her tangent about how many people or not are allowed to sit at the table we chose- after she TOLD US TO GO TO THE BACK. She simply wouldn't stop babbling and rambling. I finally got to the point where I straight up asked her, if we go sit there, will we be allowed to sit and play a game, and drink coffee in peace, or not? And so my girlfriend and I played one single game, and then we left because we felt so uncomfortable. We were there less than an hour, and paid $40 for the "privilege". At this point, we might go back on a day that isn't a Saturday, but quite frankly the entire experience was so uncomfortable that we've simply started buying our own board games to play at home. I'm not going to pay $40 again just to be constantly harassed by the staff who are blatantly inventing policies on the spot. I want my $40 back, and I advise everyone else who reads this review to avoid visiting Knight Moves on a Saturday.

Azar, our server, was lovely; and the venue is excellent. We came in on a hot chocolate crawl (though we’ve been here several times for the games and they were great), and Azar handled us excellently. We just wanted to note that the hot chocolate mix, while tasty, is a little on the sweet side, and that Azar deserves a raise.

We had so much fun! Sadie did a wonderful job helping us with games and food. The atmosphere was perfect—a lute player! This was truly a highlight of our trip. We will definitely be back! Thanks! 🙏