Elmdale Oyster House and Tavern
Elmdale Oyster House and Tavern
Elmdale Oyster House and Tavern
Elmdale Oyster House and Tavern
Elmdale Oyster House and Tavern
Elmdale Oyster House and Tavern
Foods from Elmdale Oyster House and Tavern

Comments

2015 May 27
I was invited here on Monday evening to an industry and social media event showcasing their new Spring menu. Promising stuff!

Offerings are mostly in the domain of high end bar snacks, with a seafood focus -- no surprise given their co-ownership with The Whalesbone Bank. The various raw and cooked seafood dishes were well presented and combined with tasty and appropriate ingredients. The most deliciously succulent dish overall was the Jerked Cornish Hen.

Thinly sliced smoked oysters with horseradish, creme fraiche, and breadcrumbs made for a really nice bar snack. The roasted veggies were also exceptionally good.

The butter poached lobster with tomatoes was luxuriously served on a split lobster tail shell but the tomatoes overwhelmed the lobster so much that it could have been whitefish and I wouldn't really have noticed. The ultra rich "chicken mousse" was in fact chicken liver pate, so be warned if you aren't a liver fan. If you are a liver fan, you'll enjoy the house mustard and shallot jam that accompanies it. And the grilled bread is superb.

I found the bread and butter service to be totally addictive here... in-house burnt butter infused whipped butter with top-notch sourdough that tasted a LOT like (and probably was) the Bread By Us product from across the street.

If you like a good stout, I can highly recommend the Clocktower brewed Whalesbone Oyster Stout! It might even edge out my other favourite local beer, Kichesippi 1855, which they also serve here.

Unfortunately, I missed the opportunity to try the saltfish fritters, but I'll be back to get at them another time.

2015 Apr 7
Dropped in with friend last weekend for dinner and the place was packed. Love the tavern feel and the dj's on weekends are always spinning good tunes.

What I love about the oysters at Whalesbone is the variety and the rare types of oysters they offer.

Apps were delicious especially the mussels...the curry broth was probably some of the best ive ever had...really something to try if you visit.

The mackerel/lentil dish (not in picture) was cooked perfectly but over seasoned. Really unfortunate because the rest of the dish was very good.

Lobster grits was amazing...broth had a nice seafood taste with the buttery grits.

Only downside are the prices which I think they are quite high, most of the appetizers are in the $20 mark which is quite high when the mains are in the $30's...


2014 Aug 8
Went in this evening for a quick bite. The only thing on the menu that was not seafood was a $35 steak. No thanks.

Blah

I don't recall this being the case - I was there in June and don't recall what I had but am certain it was not seafood. Maybe it is a Friday night thing I dunno.

By then I had my beer poured so I finished it quickly and went across the street to ZaZaZa for food.

2014 May 27
Had lunch at Elmdale Tavern. I had the fish and chips which weren’t that great actually. The fish was good but I thought they could have maybe included another piece. Everyone at the table at fries which were extremely popular except I didn’t enjoy them. They are of the shoe string variety and I think they were twice fried – which generally works but given the thinness of the cut already, it just made them hard.

And to be fair, I had fish and chips from Ad Mare (food truck) the prior day and was surprisingly blown away by how good it was (fish, slaw, tartar and root veggie chips).

I also had an oyster Rockefeller and we shared raw ones.

The service was great. I’d return.

2014 Feb 3
My colleague's order of the salmon burger came with a heaping amount of salad and fries! The sheer amount of food got the rest of us all offering to help him out... which he politely declined :P

2014 Feb 3
Every time I'm at Elmdale, I dig in too rapidly to take any pictures, but being with polite (workplace) company this past Friday, I thought the best way to keep myself from devouring my lunch immediately after it was placed in front of me was to take some nice pictures. Plus, my plate of tuna tataki was so gorgeous, a photo was duly warranted. The tuna was incredible, served on a bed of kale and chickpeas with a soft-boiled egg and a smear of crème fraîche. I regularly dislike chickpeas (something about the texture isn't right!), but I gladly ate the entire plate, probably making my colleagues jealous they hadn't ordered them same; not to say the clam chowder or the salmon burgers didn't look delicious as well!

Because we were a larger table (10 I think?), the service was slower than usual, but the waiter was attentive and apologetic. If you want to avoid the crowds and wait lines consistently seen at dinner, a lunch time visit to Elmdale is highly recommended.

2013 Nov 30
I first came here with a little group of friends and we all thought the food and service was great. We all had drinks, couple glasses of red wine and ordered every item on the menu, some we ordered twice actually. We tried every kind of oysters they had and the quality and taste of them were all delicious.
The presentation of the cabbage salad I thought was so nice and creative, something I don't see all the time.
Our server was very friendly, always checking up on us and see if we're enjoying the food.
Overall I thought it was a good time, loved how fresh all the seafood was, every item on the menu was good and service was good.

2013 Jun 28
I went here today for the first time since the new owners and I have to say two thumbs up for the new interior. It is definitely an improvement yet stays true to the Elmdale! Well done!

Fantastic selection of beer, especially locals.

The hot beef sammy was superb!

2013 Jun 27
Finally got around to trying the newly renovated Elmdale. Ordered oysters, mussels, pasta, salad.

Oysters were oysters, no comments there.

The sauce that the mussels were served in was fantastic... when you use bread. Sadly, no flavour was transferred to the meat at all. Plain and boring.

Pasta were flavourless. Cooked noodles on top of plain clams. No sauce.

The salad was a quarter of a head of lettuce drizzled with blue cheese dressing. As baby's first salad: a good effort.

Finished with the sundae, which was just cherry pie filling covered in whipped cream.

Service was ATROCIOUS. We were ignored by our server the whole meal.

Not recommended. I certainly won't be going back.

2013 Apr 27
Made a reservation here for last night and eagerly awaited our visit all week.

We had a good time overall mostly due to the great atmosphere of this place. Loved the casual decor and the very spacious feel. Never once did we feel cramped or crowded (a big plus for me).

There were some highs and some lows:

Service was extremely slow and disjointed (yes they were very busy so I will go back on a Sun - Wed and give it another try).

Food was hit and miss.

Starters: oysters - very fresh with a great assortment of toppings to choose from

Pickled eggs - foodgasmic according to those who ate them

Fries - no one was impressed with the fries - they were pretty limp - no crispiness at all and no creative dipping sauces, just ketchup and mayo

Mains:

Fish and (fries replaced with coleslaw) - Fish was all batter with very little fish inside and batter was tasteless

Coleslaw was delicious and tangy

Beef sandwich was enjoyed

Mussels (coconut curry)- while they tasted good, there was literally NO sauce AT ALL in the pot? The best part of mussels is soaking up the sauce with your bread - the person who ordered it was sorely disappointed by this

I had the lobster roll and was underwhelmed. A few little pieces of lobster and that was it - way overpriced at $22 - not impressed at all. Side salad was tasty, fries were limp.

We had to go elsewhere after for dessert and coffee because they do not serve anything but regular brewed coffee and everyone wanted a cappuccino. That seems a bit behind the times to me?

So we would return on a less busy night to see if the service and food improve. If not it will be our last visit.


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