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| - It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
I went to the new National pub with some ex-coworkers for lunch. It's right beside the Ship & Anchor, which I thought was a pretty bold move. But as another reviewer pointed out, the Ship is always full so might as well be there to capitalize on those extra people and carve out a name for yourself.
The best of times:
- The space is just beautiful. It's got floor to ceiling windows and wraps around the corner onto 5 St. Tons of light. There is a nice large outdoor wrap around patio, with south and west exposure. There is a long wraparound bar on the inside, as well as big communal seating in the middle. It sort of reminds me of Wurst, except upstairs and with natural light. It's very inviting. The decor is kind of farmhouse-chic, it reminds me of the restaurant Farm. There is a large oyster bar which caught my eye.
- The beer menu is extensive and delicious, with a large number of rotating seasonal beers.
- I had the Pulled Maple Hill Chicken sandwich with a side-order of fries. It was very tasty, on fresh ciabatta. Good flavour. The menu didn't look overwhelming and had a number of appealing options.
The worst of times:
- The service was *really* bad. I will grant that there were about 10 of us, so I guess it can be hard to coordinate that logistically. My beer didn't come out for a good 20 mins. Lunch didn't come out for close to an hour.
- The waitress messed up our bills, putting some of my items on another person's bill. This is despite the numbers carved into the table, so the wait staff knows who ordered what.
- Very expensive. My pulled chicken sandwich was $14, and only comes with the sandwich. To get fries with the sandwich, I had to pay $3 for a tiny side of fries in a cup. $17 is just too much for that. The beer was expensive too, 8.5 for an imperial pint. These are in unfortunate contrast to the Ship, where both the food and the beer are reasonably priced and delicious.
I'm hoping National can iron out some of these kinks because I really liked the space. I'm definitely going to give it another shot.
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