| rev:text
| - I get the feeling that a lot of people downvoting this place are way too snooty when it comes to expectations.
While the Beer Hall may not set the world on fire, I found my experience there last night to be great across the board. Sure, there are a few minor quibbles, but I judge restaurants and businesses based on a combination of factors. That a restaurant may have overpriced food is a minor point if the location, service and ambiance makes up for it.
My friends and I were searching for a restaurant in the Distillery District when we happened upon this place. Faced with some ridiculous wait times to get into some of the other restaurants (2 hours? REALLY?), we settled for a 45-minute waitlist and loitered around for a friend to show up. It became clear that it was worth the wait as soon as we got inside.
I will point out that while some of the food may be overpriced, I've been to plenty of restaurants (including two days ago, as of this writing) that try to charge upwards of $30 just for apps, so having entrees that run from $20-40 is not surprising in the least. Everyone was well taken care of, and despite the concerns I've read here about the service, our waiter was a helpful individual who even put up with us switching seats on occasion (throwing the delicate numbering system he had for each diner out of whack).
After all, this is the Distillery District. You're paying to sit in a heritage site, just down the street from Soulpepper Theatre (shout-out to my boy William Webster). It's just part of the area.
I ended up going for the Raspberry Lemonade ($9) and the Hopped-Up Mac'n Cheese ($14). The portion sizes are big, and the lemonade is deceptively strong - I was feeling extremely buzzed even after sipping it. Don't shotgun that one. The Mac'n Cheese was impressively messy, and I soon understood why they serve it with a spoon. It's incredibly difficult to scoop the long pasta noodles out with a fork. The garlic butter biscuit it was served with tasted stale, though I'm not sure if it was intended to be that way or it had sat out too long.
My friends had a mix of flatbreads and salads, and all reported them to be excellent. I also had the chance to try some of the peach cider, which was also deceptively strong. It tastes like iced tea but is much more powerful than it lets on.
This may quickly become a favored destination in the Distillery if the staff can keep the quality of service as high as they did last night. The experience was great overall, and I've been left with lingering memories of the pleasant atmosphere as the sun set and the great times with friends.
The Beer Hall is well worth a look if you're in the area.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)