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| - The Ceili Cottage is the kind of place I want to love. Unfortunately there is also a lot not to love about it as well. I was thrilled to hear that there was finally someone shucking oysters in Leslieville because to the best of my knowledge there is no one offering them up on the eastern side of Queen Street. I was so looking forward to checking out this quaint, charming new alcove for libations. They've only been open 14 days and the hiccups and the road bumps are showing big time.
I arrived only to discover that I couldn't sit out on the patio since it was only licensed for 40 even though the patio can accommodate much more than that. So I sat inside waiting until someone left the patio before I could join the Yelpers outside. That is where I got a first hand look at the chaos that is plaguing this brand new establishment. The owner, Paddy, who cut his chops shucking oysters over at Rodney's and is also the owner of Starfish, is the only person shucking which means that oyster orders are backed up big time. I sat at the bar near him to watch him do his thing but moved after I'd had enough oyster water sprayed at me.
Moving to the other end of the bar I sat next to a really lovely couple who complained about the curry mutton of the day which literally had two small pieces of mutton in it. She said they should have called it "Hint 'o Mutton" curry stew. It was primarily chick peas with curry and rice. She dolloped out a sample on to her bread plate for me and it was bland with a capital B. As well they tried the Mushrooms & Blue Cheese on toast and said it was ok, lots of bread, little cheese and fewer mushrooms. Servers were wandering around trying to find out where food orders belonged and at one point Paddy just yelled out "who ordered bread and butter!" Most of the staff are inexperienced and it showed. Many were the girls from the Irish Dance School next door.
I found the menu to be chaotic. Is this pub food? Is this snack food? Is this comfort food? Hard boiled egg with salt or an order of bread and butter? A PB&J at a pub? What the hell is up with that. This is actually listed on the menu. The mains in my opinion don't come close to being mains at all. The mac & cheese looked really disappointing. I didn't taste it at all but it sure looked dull and average.
By the way, my oysters which finally did show up were ok. But my first comment after sucking back the first oyster was "oh, this tastes fishy", that is never good with fresh oysters. A couple oysters were just downright gritty and I just plain old hate that. Three sauces accompanying the oysters were all average and one of them was so acidic that they just made the back of my throat burn. Paddy should do himself and the bar a favour and hire another shucker and that'll free him up to actually run the establishment properly.
I tried the house drink, the Ceili Cottage Punch. It was some red liquor concoction with some sparking wine served in a flute glass. That took me 20 minutes of sitting at the bar to get. I ordered a half dozen oysters and some pub chips (homemade kettle chips with roasted rosemary on them) while sitting there. Neither showed up before I finally got moved to the patio, the bill, however did show up. It billed me for the food that I hadn't been served yet. That order took another half hour to show up after my long awaited seat on the patio became available.
That being said my kind words about the Ceili Cottage are this. The setting, both inside and out, is charming. The bare brick and exposed patina walls inside create a very special atmosphere. It is so minimal yet there is something so authentic about it. They have a great taps menu so if you like to drink beer this is your kind of place. I think if they slim down their menu it'll simplify the kitchen chaos. They need to give their chef a big kick in the pants to get his cooking Mojo going and put some flavour into the food. Paddy needs to leave the match making to the Zaidy's get another shucker showman much like himself and the Caili Cottage will become a benchmark spot in Leslieville for oysters and beer. That'll be its saving grace.
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