This is a nice gastropub with old-school flavour...downstairs is more of a restaurant with a street-level patio and upstairs is a parlour room lounge (very cool place to drink) with a second-floor patio. Cocktails are good, beer selection is nice, and the menu is definitely of the gastro variety...expect to find some fairly unusual offerings, such as rabbit jowl and ox cheek.
But I didn't try any of that chi-chi; I went straight for the "hand-chopped" burger. And I have to say, it left me remarkably disappointed.
Craving a gourmet cheeseburger, I debated over trying the $18 version at Marben (Wellington) versus the $18 version at Queen & Beaver. Both burgers have had good magazine write-ups and reviews on yelp. I chose Q&B and was served a burger patty that was not ground, but chopped into large chunks (probably sirloin/chuck mix but I'm not sure). I ordered it medium with cheddar and bacon. The meat itself was fatty and not so tasty and the whole burger was just kinda bleh. I needed to dress it up with condiments. Compared to the $18 burger at Harbord Room, which is RIDICUTARDEDLY GOOD (so good I had to invent a new adverb to describe it) and is RTB (ready to bite) without any extra condiments, the Q&B version just isn't in the same league. But on the upside, the fries were great!