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Rating [-1] · 1 thumbs up · 2 thumbs down

Tags: British · Canadian · City South · Eating · Pub

Foods from The Arrow and the Loon
Reviews
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RestaurantThing review
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2007 Jun 17
I have never liked this restaurant. And I live in the Glebe. I have had bad experiences everytime I have been there.

I go there for their Sunday night $4.99 steak and fries special and that's fine.... jazz band is free....

It's an interesting bad experience every time. This time, my beer glass had a hugh crack on the bottom. Maybe complementary would be nice...? And the cute waitress then had the audacity to try to sell me the 12oz steak with a brandy sauce on it..... when I asked how much.. she had to go look... it was $15.99... wow... is it a sales job or what!

They also have wings on special Tuesdays at 35c each.

The beer is great of course.. besides the cracks...
 
2007 Mar 14
That's pretty crazy (as in bizarre) with the food allergies! If you want to go for breakfast at a place that really listens to you what you want and will cook you just about anything as long as they have the ingredients for it, see my comments for Gina's Cafe vendor 336
 
2007 Mar 14
Used to be a huge fan of the Loon, but the quality has been on a steady decline since the new owners took over. With so many other good pubs in the Glebe (Oak, Clocktower, and the new Corner Grill), we haven't been back in months.
 
2007 Feb 22
Just as a warning to those with food allergies or vegans interested in eating here, I've had several bad experiences. I go many weeks with my ultimate team and have repeatedly had to send dishes back because they disregarded my requests for meat or dairy to be omitted. During one visit, I reordered the same dish 3 times. The owner eventually got things sorted out for me on another occasion that I had to reorder. I no longer order food here.
 

Beer [4]
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Showing comments 1 to 3
2007 Mar 14
EDIT : this really has more to do with "beer at A&L" than just "A&L" so I've deleted it from the general section and pasted it here verbatim.

---snip---

Well, I just called to ask them to rhyme off the beer menu for me so I could update my previous post with the name of the beer that my buddy had that was cloudy. OK, admittedly an odd request. so I wasn't starting out on the right foot here.

But I got into an argument with the woman on the phone about how many beers are on tap. She insisted they have 25 and it would be too much to rhyme off. OK, I'll accept that. But I asked why if they have 25 on tap did the beer menu I had last night only list about 12 (I didn't count, but there was no way that was 25 or anywhere even close). I pointed out that there were only about 12 on the chalk board, and that the beer menu that stands on the table listed the same selection of about a dozen. She insisted the beer card lists all 25 and to "nevermind the chalk board" (OK, so why is it there?)

Obviously I'm not questioning how many taps they have - I'm sure she knows that well. I'm just wondering whether or not they are all connected to anything at the moment. And if they are why they were not all listed.

Anyway, one of us is obviously wrong. I'll admit there is a small chance it is me but I'll count that as extremely unlikely. Beer is my 7th sense (balance is all of our 6th sense).

I will try to get back there tonight just to figure out whether or not I'm crazy.

EDIT : Went over around 6:20 to check the menu and discovered several important things : (1) they had 18 beers on the card at the table so my estimating skills are not as good as I would like to think, and (2) the beer my buddy had was not on the list. This means that (3) at least they ARE keeping their beer list up-to-date (a very good thing in any pub) because it seems the beer my buddy had must have been emptied. That means that the cloudiness was likely just end-of-keg protein, and since my buddy Klaus is Schwaebisch and really loves Hefeweizen it probably tasted fine to him. This BTW also means that there very well could have only been 12 on the list last night when we were there.

There were BTW 16 on the chalk board tonight with 2 half wiped out.

Even with 16 beers I suppose it was not realistic for me to have them read to me over the phone. But it's not hard to keep a website updated as any of we should know. Knowing what's on tap ahead of time can be an important part of making a decision on where to go. On their website they do have a long list of beers they carry in rotation which at least gives you an idea, I'll admit. Which is why I like brewpubs because you always can be assured of at least 1 or 2 reliable mainstays :-)

EDIT : btw, this also suggests that my 'foul' Arkell Best Bitter may well have been the cask conditioned by mistake. But still unlike most beer geeks I really don't like a lot of cask ale just because so many pubs don't know how to do it properly ... A&L used to, not sure they still do but I'll at least be back once or twice to determine whether or not that's the case just because their beer selection is still one of the best in the city. And that burger menu pretty much seals their title as "best burger in the city". See my post under "Hamburgers at A&L" for details.
 
2007 Mar 14
Went last night for supper. The beer selection is not quite a eclectic as I recall it being (it's been a couple of years since I've been here), but they still had about 10 or 12 beers on tap, with 4 from Wellington, 2 from McAuslan, another Ontario Micro whose name I forget (ug), along with more mainstream like Upper Canada (Sleeman), Moosehead, Keith's and Creemore (recently bought by Molson)

I started with one of my old standbys Wellington Arkell Best Bitter, and I was fairly disappointed with it. It was cloudy and going off, and very undercarbed. Yes, I am well aware that some beers are supposed to be cloudy and that cloudy is not necessarily a bad thing. In this case it was. I will entertain the idea that someone accidentally served me the cask conditioned version since they also had that on tap. So either they aren't taking proper care of their beer, or they aren't paying enough attention to the customer's order.

My friend had a light lager from the Micro whose name I forget (I'll call them and update this afterwards) and it was also cloudy, though obviously I did not taste it.

I followed up with the McAuslan Pale Ale and it certainly did not disappoint. Great combination of malt and hops balanced a bit towards the latter, and not cloudy thank goodness.
 
2006 Oct 29
Just went back to this place for the first time in years to discover they have several cask ales on tap. Two of these were done by local brewery Scotch Irish Brewing Company: Dry Hop Boarder Bitter, and Sgt. Major's IPA. The other was by Wellington Brewery: Arkell Best Bitter.

There are a number of places in Ottawa you can get these beers, but most offer it in the bottle, which gives a very different flavour and experience. Trying it on tap recommended for the beer connoisseurs among us!
 


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2007 Mar 14
These guys easily have the best selection of burgers in the city. Hands-down. And they do them very well!

Their burger selection is in the form of a matrix. Down the left you have about 15 different combinations of toppings with some very wild and original combos like the "Feta Burger" which I had, with feta cheese, salsa and lots of black olives.

Along the top you have your choice of 5 different types of meat : beef, chicken, bison, salmon and one other which I forget. (EDIT: I think it was actually 'Veggie' so they are not all meats). I had the bison.

So you have a choice of about 75 different kinds of burger!!!

Mine was extremely tasty and was served on a bun which looked to possibly be home made. My friend commented that he wouldn't be able to get his burger into his mouth, at which point I squished mine down hard with the palm of my hand. It was still difficult to get in there and I've got a big mouth :-) But that's a good thing - lots of eating! Very well done A&L!
 


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2007 Mar 14
The side of fries I had on my burger were done to perfection. Every single one of them was perfectly crisp on the outside and nice and tender on the inside.
 


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May 1
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago for a different restaurant : there are 2 types of veggies burgers - those which try to look and taste like a hamburger, and those which do not. The ones which do try, usually are terrible. The ones which do not, are often pretty good.

This one did not try, and was therefore pretty good. It was not the colour of meat - was actually different colours with various grains in there. Not the best veggie burger I've ever had, but pretty far from the worst as well. I'd definitely order it again.

Like any burger at the Arrow and the Loon, there are about a dozen different ways to order it.