Craft brewery and sports bar in the location of the former Hard Rock Cafe .

Lowertown Brewery
Lowertown Brewery
Lowertown Brewery
Foods from Lowertown Brewery

Comments

2018 Jun 16
The Fish on a Bun ($15.75) was good enough to eat. Top marks for the crispy fish but the bun was unremarkable and dryish in that old brioche sort of way. The accompanying spinach salad added some welcome greenery to the meal.

Excited to see a rare nitrogenated local beer, I had a pint of their Nitro Dry Stout. Not bad at all!

2015 Feb 7
Finally made it out to this place.

First things first, the beer isn't good. I had the "bock" and it was dull. My wife had the "Dark" and, frankly, it was a hell of a time telling the difference between the two! With the beer scene where it is, they really need to get this sorted.

That said, I was impressed by the food. This is a pub that offers meaty sandwiches. Period. Don't expect anything more and you won't be disappointed.

I had the smoked meat and thought it was excellent. Big juicy slices of meat with nice seasoning on the edges. Though there's an awful lot of bread and mustard in the way. Get this figured out and they'd have the best smoked meat in Ottawa.

Wife had the brisket, which may have been better than the smoked meat. Tasty meat with melt-in-your-mouth bits of fat and, like the smoked meat, nice seasoning around the edges. Red pepper spread was good on it.

Potato wedges are really tasty as well. Super crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, quite nice.

I think this place has gotten a hard time in some reviews because of the corporate feel (and actual background), but that's not fair. They're offering a good product. The meat is almost on par with Smoque Shack. I think they recognize the issue with the beer too. When I was there they had BOTP on tap, which suggests they're not entirely confident with their own brews.

I'll be back.

2015 Jan 12
I really liked the atmosphere/decor of this place, unfortunately the food and service left much to be desired.
To begin, our entrees were brought out at the same time as our appetizers. This made for a very crowded tabletop and left us feeling rushed. We had to pile some of the appetizers onto our dinner plates in order to clear some space on the table.

For $20 I was served a very small piece of porchetta which consisted mostly of inedible fat, some dry and flavourless potato wedges and equally bland coleslaw.

I'd go back for a beer (the raspberry wheat was enjoyable), but would definitely think twice about ordering food again.

2014 Oct 4
Finally tried this place out for dinner Friday. The place has not got their onsite brewery going yet so only two of their house beers are available that come from Toronto. I had their Lowertown Lager that was a tad on the light side but refreshing for those who want to consume a few. I also got a taste of their Lowertown Dark that was much better. Our server was at a bit of a loss when it came to the IBU's of their beers since they are not listed on the menu. We ordered the Butcher Platter to get a good gauge on the food. Quarter pound of brisket, porchetta, sausage, corned beef with a half chicken and two large sides. The chicken was rotisserie and on the bland side with the corned beef being the star of the platter. Stay away from the sausage as they were very dry and lacked seasoning. Brisket and porchetta were moist and tasty with mustard, ketchup and hot sauce to dip with. Our platter came warm a bit of a mystery since they touted no freezer and how fresh everything is. I was told meats were smoked on site but I could not detect any smoke profile. Brewery is said to be ready within a week or so and growlers will be available soon. We will be back just for the corned beef and the Lowertown Dark.

2014 Jul 18
My wife and I came here for lunch in late June, at which point they had been open for just over a week.

I tried the Lowertown Dark beer and found it to be pretty good. They currently offer just two house-made beers; I expect that selection will increase for the better.

The Maple Peanut Candied Bacon was excellent and a perfect accompaniment to beer. I tried the Butcher Gravy Poutine and found it to be most satisfactory (and satisfying). It consists mostly of potato wedges, but they're good ones.

My wife opted for the Kale & Seed Salad. This was most disappointing as the kale was raw and rough (neither blanched nor bruised), the dressing was sweet and bland, and there was exactly one pumpkin seed in the entire salad. Of course I quipped to my wife that "the menu said 'Seed' not 'Seeds'." She was not amused. :-) Another WTF with this salad was that it contained chunks of granola. This smacks of trying to be different for the sake of being different rather than for reasons of culinary merit.

So hit and miss overall. I expect the quality of that kale salad to skyrocket if Chef Kyle Mortimer-Proulx is given control of the menu. NOTE: the salad we tried predated Chef Mortimer-Proulx's time at Lowertown.