Beaver And Bulldog Critique

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Hi Everyone!
This week I went for lunch at a local place called The Beaver And Bulldog. First off I'd like to say this is my favourite place for wings. They are huge and come in 31 awesome flavours. I need not say more. Anyway, they got a new menu so I figured I'd check it out....

The restaurant is open concept with a bar in the middle and tables surrounding. LCD T.V.'s are hung everywhere as it is typically a sports bar. Music was 90's pop, but there is a juke box that you can put money into and choose your tunes.

Our server was a young girl, very friendly but not too knowledgeable. She was a little flustered it seemed but it was ok with me. The order was correct, the food arrived in a timely manner and she checked up and took care of our wishes. Thats all I expect. Good job.

The food was good! We started with Bruschetta, its hard to mess up I know but the pieces were substantial with lots of topping and that made me happy. The meals were the "Buckeye BBQ Pork" sandwich which was quite tasty. The pork was very good quality, (not boiled in a bag like some) cut thick and tender and smothered in a spicy bbq sauce and topped with field greens. The only problem here was that it was very messy to eat. The side was a spinach salad with bacon, egg, mushroom, onion, a lemon wedge and a sesame dressing. Very pleased. The other meal was a "Shanghai Sesame Stirfry" which consisted of a saucy ginger and sesame stirfry with mixed veg served over a bed of mixed grain rice and asian noodles. We were pleased with this dish. It was spicy sweet and quite filling. Pleasantly surprised for asian influence in a pub.

All in all lunch was enjoyable and ill probably be back on mon or tues for half price wings.

My Rating:

Atmosphere- 4/5
Service- 3/5
Food- 4/5

Canyon Creek Chophouse Critique

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Hello! It's your friendly neighbourhood restaurant critic here with a breakdown of another meal. This time around I went to a place I visit every now and again but this time I was not too impressed...Canyon Creek.

We sat ourselves in the bar area, cozy lounge style with lots of booths, dim candlelight lighting and a mix of mellow beats and soft jazz music.

After some time we were greeted by the bartender who took our order and eventually got drinks to our table. I noticed that she was a little busy with eight people at her bar, three tables of two and the responsibility of making drinks for everyone dining in the restaurant. One can expect service to be a bit slower in a busy pub or bar but I was disappointed to see that nobody stepped in to help her out, especially in a restaurant that caters to a slightly more sophisticated crowd. Unfortunately the service remained the same from start to finish. The appetizers took a long time to arrive, almost immediately followed by our luke warm mains that were dropped off by a food runner. This gave me the impression that we had been forgotten about. We finished our meals and we did not received a quality check. To top it off, I also had to go to the bar to ask for another beverage that had been empty since before that appetizers had arrived. After finishing our meals we stacked our plates at the end of the table waiting 10 mins before they were removed, again waited some time for the bill and after being so fed up with the waiting game, I went to the bar to swipe my debit card so we could finally leave.

The food was sub-par. The starter salads were good, a garden and a chop house (tomato with crumbled blue cheese and raspberry vinaigrette). Mains consisted of an ultimate cheeseburger which was a medley of smoked mozzarella, aged cheddar and asiago cheese with a horseradish mayo and dressed with all the regular burger garnish. The mayo was the prominent flavour of the dish and frankly left a lot to be desired from a gourmet burger. The other was a Chipotle Sirloin topped with a goat cheese butter paired with sour cream and chives mashed potatoes (when I go to Canyon Creek, this is usually what I eat). Except for being a little on the cold side I can't really complain about this one. My steak was cooked to my liking and I got what I expected.

Ultimately I usually enjoy my experiences at Canyon Creek and will return. It was just bad luck for me on this particular visit and bad luck for the restaurant that I was planning to write a review.

My Rating:
Atmosphere: 4/5
Service: 1/5
Food: 3/5