I see I was the last one to comment on this spot. I really don't go often downtown and rarely for brunch since I can't eat eggs. We ended up here again without planning to go here and it ended up being an excellent choice. Hubby and I had eaten breakfast hours earlier so really weren't into breakfast foods. Though the Standard only serves the brunch menu on weekends we did have 3 other options. There were 5 of us and 2 of us chose breakfast options (buttermilk blueberry pancakes and florentine eggs benedict). Both dishes were declared great and were very nice in presentation. Our daughter said the hollaindaise was yummy and light. Pancakes were served with real maple syrup. Hubby and I shared the grilled cheese (smoked gouda and old cheddar with pear-delicious but rich!), also ordered was the large "protein" salad including egg, almonds, beans and greens, and then a pizza-brie cheese with bacon and tomatoes. The pizza was really great!
The food was delicious, fresh (they offer home sausage patties and the potatoes are delicious (served with our benedict). I thought the food was delicious and better than Lt's Pump's I had tried about a year ago.
Servers were very friendly-drinks were replenished regularly and we were never left unattended.
We ended up here on a Monday night by default-Manx couldn't fit in a group of 6 at 6pm and Town and Oz are closed on Mondays. So we started with the $5 mojitos. I tried a sip of 4 types and the champagne was my fav. We proceeded to order mostly from the half price apps. Excellent choices included the soup of the day (pear & celery),calamari,2 kinds of wings, sweet potato fries. So-so, kind of bland (ok for the 1/2 price)were the quesadillas. The beef ribs were pretty fatty and awkward to eat-probably wouldn't order these again. One of our party ordered the tavern burger platter and declared it delicious but it was huge. We had alot of drinks (1 tea, 5 mojitos, 3 glasses of wine, 2 beer, 2 soft drinks and 1 martini) and lots of food for 6 people-about $170 including tips and tax. I don't know if I would choose it as a destination but the food was hot and pretty good, drinks were great and the service was prompt and efficient. The ambience was upscale bar. I do think its probably best to stick to the special of the night. Also--they do not use peanut oil so allergy sufferer was ok.
What saddens me is that i posted essentially the same review two years or so ago over on Restaurantthing. The Standard will never be more than a bad dead last alternative for brunch when the Pump, the Diner and the Manx are all too busy. Sad really. If they got their act together they would be in a great position to actually compete with other places offering brunch on Elgin.
Brunch - Went to the Standard for Brunch after we couldn't get a spot across the street at Lieutenants Pump.
Although the service was fine, the food was not. Eggs were overcooked and had that brown burnt taste. Toast was literally soggy. Homefries could be squeezed to bring out the drips of grease from the deepfryer. I asked for a side of hollandaise sauce. What was presented appeared to be a mix of chicken bisto gravy and dish-water. By far the worst worst worst hollandaise I've ever had. I didn't even know it was possible to mess it up that bad--there are only like three ingredients (none of which appeared to be present)! I've never been a huge fan of this place, but that really was the last time I'll ever go.
Last week, my friend and I had hair appointments at the Loft on Elgin Street, which you can read about here.
Since our appointment was after work, we decided to kill some time and have $5 cosmo and half price Nachos at the Standard. These were probably the best nachos I have ever had... and I have had the ones at the Royal Oak lots of times. They had home made colourful chips, delicious chicken, loads of good cheese and home made salsa (cut up tomatoes).
Oh ya, don't have more than one drink before you get your hair done... it's not a great idea. Thankfully it wore off :S
Bless happy hour and the good conversation it comes with!
This was no standard place. Great location and decor. Friendly and helpful staff. But most of all delicious food and drinks!
Decided to try The Standard last night for a birthday celebration. We were a party of 6 and had made a reservation for 6pm (Tuesday night). We had tickets to a show at the Civic Center set to start at 8pm. Our table was ready when we arrived however the bartender just said go ahead and sit over there (instead of being shown to a table). Drink orders were taken promptly. We ordered around 6:20 a selection of appetizers and mains. We waited well over 30 minutes for our apps (nachos, wings and calamari)at which point I asked our server to leave no delay for the mains - because it was already after 7. She said she would put in our order right away (great so the ticket wasn't even in yet!). The nachos weren't bad (we did not get the chicken for an extra $4, the calamari was 'chewy' which is disgusting and the wings with the jerk spice were ok - but I've had much better and the jerk spice wasn't very spicy as it should be). Finally our mains came out (2 Angry Burgers, 1 Tavern Burger, 1 mini-burgers , 1 Diavolo Pizza, 1 Carnivore Pizza). These were actually all great (sweet potato fries were great!) - too bad we had to rush to eat them to get out of there on time. Extensive drink menu -- this would be a great place for after work drinks but I wasn't pleased with the amount of time it took for the food. Service overall was good. I just think they need to work on the speed of getting the appetizers out (35-40 min is way too long)- I probably wouldn't eat there again though. I may be a newbie to this forum but I LOVE food and remember trips by what I ate and where and how good it was.
Went on a Wednesday night, before heading to an event at the NAC. Surprisingly busy for 6pm! Because of this, service was a bit slow so we felt rushed to finish our meals before we had to leave, but our server was most accomodating.
I thought the menu a bit pricey. My partner had the nachos ($10), which he upgraded with chicken ($4) and sour cream ($1). Before they arrived he dreamed of how wonderful $15 nachos would be. Disappointing! Very dry, with a scattering of cheese, tomatoes and green onions, with maybe a tablespoon of tiny chicken pieces in the middle. The salsa was served cold on the side.
I opted for the special that night, and had a Mill Street Red with a veggie pizza. For the price ($13) I thought it was a pretty good deal! Thin crispy crust with generous toppings (including fresh basil - yum!)
I'd like to try it again, as the atmosphere was great, the booths comfy, and the menu looks interesting. However, I'll probably stick to the nightly specials, as it seems to be the best value.
I've been to The Standard a couple of times and have enjoyed it thoroughly. The food's pretty good, particularly when it's half-price appetizer night. Killer lobster/crab dip, when it's on the menu. We had a whole friggin' claw in ours one time.
Beer price is OK; you can save a bit by getting the tavern tray of ten eight-ounce glasses.
We went to the standard yesterday (a Monday) for a celebratory drink and appetizer. They have an interesting drink menu and my selection was "the pinapple drink" which is a whole pinapple, cored, muddled and mixed with 3oz of rums and other fruit juices then served inside the pineapple. Excessive? Yes. Delicious? Yes!
For app's we ordered the tuna tartare which was sushi-grade tuna mixed with sesame oil and served with toasted baguette and house-made guacamole. It was delicious and the tuna really was extremely fresh.
We also ordered their calamari. The calamari came with house-made cocktail sauce which was so good you should ask for an extra. The calamari itself was some of the best I've had and in addition to the usual calamari rings, there were a few baby squid (or baby octopus, not sure but I'm thinking squid) which were a little unusual to look at but equally delicious.
We also learned that on Monday nights, the bartender Jeff and one of the chefs do "Iron Jeff" (a take on Iron Chef for those who do not watch the foodnetwork) and use a different "secret ingredient" each week. This week, it was coconut and Jeff made an absolutely wonderful martini with vanilla vodka and young coconut juice that was rimmed with toasted coconut and sugar. We ordered one to sample between us, thinking it would be quite rich but it was actually a wonderfully refreshing and smooth drinking martini and the toasted coconut was delicious.
The chef creation was shrimp marinated in lime, pinapple and mango juices costed in coconut and fried (sadly we didn't try these so I can't vouch for them).
We will definitely be back on Mondays to come since it was nice to try something different/special and be treated like regulars right away. Oh yeah, and the food was delicious!
W.C.
The food was delicious, fresh (they offer home sausage patties and the potatoes are delicious (served with our benedict). I thought the food was delicious and better than Lt's Pump's I had tried about a year ago.
Servers were very friendly-drinks were replenished regularly and we were never left unattended.