Foods from The Berryman Pub
Comments
2012 Jun 24
I went here for a friend's birthday recently. We were a group of 16 people. The food is seriously below average.
I have to admit that sports pubs are just not my thing but I was willing to give this place a shot. I ordered a chicken sandwich thinking it would be hard to screw up bc I tend to order 'safe foods' at establishments with tvs on the walls. It was inedible. Other people at the table had various dishes of mediocre food. Oddly enough, the salad dressing accompanying my sandwich was lovely, though my greens had seen much better days.
I think this place is fine if all you are planning on doing is watching a game - having a pint. If you're thinking of eating, I'd recommend thinking twice.
I have to admit that sports pubs are just not my thing but I was willing to give this place a shot. I ordered a chicken sandwich thinking it would be hard to screw up bc I tend to order 'safe foods' at establishments with tvs on the walls. It was inedible. Other people at the table had various dishes of mediocre food. Oddly enough, the salad dressing accompanying my sandwich was lovely, though my greens had seen much better days.
I think this place is fine if all you are planning on doing is watching a game - having a pint. If you're thinking of eating, I'd recommend thinking twice.
2011 Oct 8
Went here Friday ~9pm. Not very busy. Nice trendy dark wood interior. Also makes for a huge echo box, as the cheering for the Sens 5-3 loss was deafening.
Had the Cracked Canoe. Beers are ~$1 more expensive vs other sports bars in the area.
Ordered the tower-o-rings for $7. This dish was a tower-o-rip-off. Plate had only a handful of very thin onion rings in a thin batter. It is nothing like the rings at the works.
Had the Lamb-o-gini Lamb burger (topped with brie and spinach) with a side of seasonal vegetables for $14. The burger was bland and pink in the middle, and the spinach had grit in it. The seasonal vegetables (broccoli florets stir fried with diced green peppers and zucchini) were the best part of the dinner, although the portion was small (probably 1/4C) and the vegetables reminded me of the frozen pre-packaged variety.
Conclusion: Not worth it. Small portions, low quality ingredients, bland taste yet huge prices. Not at all gastropub quality but will charge you for it. If in the area, better to go to the James Street Pub (5 mins down the street)or even the Royal Oak! Could have had a better 3 course dining experience at Big Daddy's on Elgin for almost the same price.
Had the Cracked Canoe. Beers are ~$1 more expensive vs other sports bars in the area.
Ordered the tower-o-rings for $7. This dish was a tower-o-rip-off. Plate had only a handful of very thin onion rings in a thin batter. It is nothing like the rings at the works.
Had the Lamb-o-gini Lamb burger (topped with brie and spinach) with a side of seasonal vegetables for $14. The burger was bland and pink in the middle, and the spinach had grit in it. The seasonal vegetables (broccoli florets stir fried with diced green peppers and zucchini) were the best part of the dinner, although the portion was small (probably 1/4C) and the vegetables reminded me of the frozen pre-packaged variety.
Conclusion: Not worth it. Small portions, low quality ingredients, bland taste yet huge prices. Not at all gastropub quality but will charge you for it. If in the area, better to go to the James Street Pub (5 mins down the street)or even the Royal Oak! Could have had a better 3 course dining experience at Big Daddy's on Elgin for almost the same price.
2011 Aug 12
Went last week to try it out. It's in the place of the old (and personally lamented) vietnamese bistro between Tommy & Lefebvre and the pawn shop, two streets south of Gladstone on Bank.
Very airy pub, maybe smaller than it looks but not cramped at all. Comfortable booth backing (I didn't try the chairs). Very agreeable service, though maybe a little overzealous or else I was not clear - when mentioning that the food was getting cold too quickly because the air conditioning was directly on me, they both turned it off and opened the front windows when it was hot and humid out. Just lowering the cold was my intent...
This said, I tried the sink-or-swim pub try: Fish and Chips. And I liked it. A lot.
The batter is THIN, crispy, and not at all greasy; I can't recognise the coating, but it's not the standard 'frozen grease' look or feel. It's very light and does not overly intrude on the taste of the fish itself. The fish was cooked very well, tender flakes with actual TASTE, not overtaken by the batter. The lemon squeezed on it brought it out a bit quite nicely. The "tartar sauce", alas, was the usual mayo with almost absent pieces of relish or anything else. Could be home-made, but come on, it's meant to have something in it.
The fries were very thin, very brown, and very limpy - that style. Well-cooked, and with a flavour of their own, again not overly greasy. Nothing to rave about, but I liked them well enough.
Along with the pint of Irish Magners cider on tap, with tax and tip it was $27.
The menu has several interesting options, the pulled pork being one to try. I'll go back.
Very airy pub, maybe smaller than it looks but not cramped at all. Comfortable booth backing (I didn't try the chairs). Very agreeable service, though maybe a little overzealous or else I was not clear - when mentioning that the food was getting cold too quickly because the air conditioning was directly on me, they both turned it off and opened the front windows when it was hot and humid out. Just lowering the cold was my intent...
This said, I tried the sink-or-swim pub try: Fish and Chips. And I liked it. A lot.
The batter is THIN, crispy, and not at all greasy; I can't recognise the coating, but it's not the standard 'frozen grease' look or feel. It's very light and does not overly intrude on the taste of the fish itself. The fish was cooked very well, tender flakes with actual TASTE, not overtaken by the batter. The lemon squeezed on it brought it out a bit quite nicely. The "tartar sauce", alas, was the usual mayo with almost absent pieces of relish or anything else. Could be home-made, but come on, it's meant to have something in it.
The fries were very thin, very brown, and very limpy - that style. Well-cooked, and with a flavour of their own, again not overly greasy. Nothing to rave about, but I liked them well enough.
Along with the pint of Irish Magners cider on tap, with tax and tip it was $27.
The menu has several interesting options, the pulled pork being one to try. I'll go back.
2011 Nov 21
Tried the Berryman for the first time, Sunday am mid Nov 2011... and I do so enjoy when a place exceeds one's expectations.
We tried Jak's, Elgin Street Diner, Manx, the Pump... all had lineups out the door at 11am'ish on a Sunday. Not entirely surprising, but we were hungry and not feeling like a wait.
We remembered the Berryman from having watched as it replaced the old vietnamese place with what looked like a fairly stylish pub as these things go... exposed brick, nice wood furniture, more flatscreen tvs than a Best Buy... anyhow, our expectations for pub grub brunch were fairly low and it had a nice look, so in we went.
It was nearly empty and the entirely pleasant waitress sat us and came back with coffe in about a minute.
The brunch menu was short... about five items, two egg breakfast, pancakes, a benedict. The benedict drew my eye... daringly switching pulled pork for the usual ham or spinach. Dining companion went for the classic two eggs meat hashbrowns etc.
Food took no time at all and arrived hot. On the egg plate, everything was done as ordered... look, if you're the kind of bruncher who can't accept paying $7 for two eggs, toast, sausage and hashbrowns, this isn't your place. If however, you enjoy your eggs done exactly as ordered, a better quality of breakfast link, marble rye and awesome hashbrowns, this was a treat.
A word about the hashbrowns... they're this shredded conconction of onions and potatoes in almost a 50/50 split and absolutely delicious.
The benedict... i wasn't sure about pulled pork with hollandaise sauce... but in the end it won me over. The catch was that the sweet sauce on the pulled pork with the relatively also sweet hollandaise made for an overall sweeter benedict than i might prefer... but that was some really, really tasty pulled pork. I think that i would order it again but keep the h'sauce on the side.
Third person had the pancakes. The buttermilk pancakes. Aka proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy at brunchtime on Sundays in Ottawa. These were delicious. Clearly made to order (not rewarmed as some places cheat), delicious taste, not too dense, not too fluffy. Totally a treat.
Cost was about $10pp, totally worth it. Service was great throughout coffee refilled no problems. By the time we left the place was almost full.... apprently we just got ahead of the almost-crowd.
Will be back, will send others.
We tried Jak's, Elgin Street Diner, Manx, the Pump... all had lineups out the door at 11am'ish on a Sunday. Not entirely surprising, but we were hungry and not feeling like a wait.
We remembered the Berryman from having watched as it replaced the old vietnamese place with what looked like a fairly stylish pub as these things go... exposed brick, nice wood furniture, more flatscreen tvs than a Best Buy... anyhow, our expectations for pub grub brunch were fairly low and it had a nice look, so in we went.
It was nearly empty and the entirely pleasant waitress sat us and came back with coffe in about a minute.
The brunch menu was short... about five items, two egg breakfast, pancakes, a benedict. The benedict drew my eye... daringly switching pulled pork for the usual ham or spinach. Dining companion went for the classic two eggs meat hashbrowns etc.
Food took no time at all and arrived hot. On the egg plate, everything was done as ordered... look, if you're the kind of bruncher who can't accept paying $7 for two eggs, toast, sausage and hashbrowns, this isn't your place. If however, you enjoy your eggs done exactly as ordered, a better quality of breakfast link, marble rye and awesome hashbrowns, this was a treat.
A word about the hashbrowns... they're this shredded conconction of onions and potatoes in almost a 50/50 split and absolutely delicious.
The benedict... i wasn't sure about pulled pork with hollandaise sauce... but in the end it won me over. The catch was that the sweet sauce on the pulled pork with the relatively also sweet hollandaise made for an overall sweeter benedict than i might prefer... but that was some really, really tasty pulled pork. I think that i would order it again but keep the h'sauce on the side.
Third person had the pancakes. The buttermilk pancakes. Aka proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy at brunchtime on Sundays in Ottawa. These were delicious. Clearly made to order (not rewarmed as some places cheat), delicious taste, not too dense, not too fluffy. Totally a treat.
Cost was about $10pp, totally worth it. Service was great throughout coffee refilled no problems. By the time we left the place was almost full.... apprently we just got ahead of the almost-crowd.
Will be back, will send others.
loves.eating