cascade room

there's been a lot of summertime drinking going on chez moi, but it's been a while since i've posted a happy hour and it's also been a painfully long time since i've been tryi ng (and failing) to get to the cascade room . we can all breathe a collective s

the cascade room is the place to go to be seen in the soma area. people think you can only lounge and bar hop in downtown but the east side can hold its own.

bottom line: the last time i was at cascade was maybe 10 years ago, before that, probably 15 years. so it's generally a good sign that a restaurant is still here for that long on main st. when everything else is closing. i ordered the cascade burger and a beer. the burger was a bit flat from where i was sitting but the first impression was... this burger is gamey. not in a horrendous way but just different. the fries were good and the beer was nice (it was a porter if i recall or port).

we have made reservation online before hands. when we got there, the place was more than half empty. the hostess tried to sit us at the high bar table/chair with another couple sitting pretty close so i've asked to be sit at another regular height table. then she asked me to pick a table that sit two people only as they will get busy soon. i do not think that was a necessary advise/suggestion but whatever. it just seems like giving us the order not to take up their seats. drink list on the board should be updated as soon as something ran out. took us three times to be able to order a beer as the first couple ones were not available. other than that, overall was good. we ordered roast beef poutine for appy and i had chicken tikka masala for dinner.

this wasn’t our first choice for some after dinner snacks and drinks. we, like a handful of others, found our way here when our first choice, next door, required a wait. rewind to about a year ago, and i was oddly in a similar situation for my first visit, but then i was in for a dessert to sober up with. so this evening i would be able to give a better assessment of the place with a couple of plates.

love the dimmed interior like many other pubs/ lounge within the area. must try : cascade burger and their earl gray creme brulee.

friendly service on all my visits.

stopped by cascade room on the way to the heritage hall market. it is right next door to its sister restaurant charlie's little italian. it's a cool restaurant, although i wouldn't really say it is british...more like an inexplicable british-canadian cuisine. i love the low lighting, although it won't be really all that good during dinnertime. it seems way too dark even at midday! the walls are a deep shade of, well, black and they have an extensive variety of cocktails.

the service is very good (the waitress came round a few times to check on us), and the food came faster than i expected, but maybe that was just because there were few customers.

i came for a late brunch at around 1 pm. i wouldn't say it is classic pub food. i found the food items reasonably priced, all around $13-19. i ordered the steak and eggs ($19), which was actually pretty good. the scrambled eggs were not special, but for some reason i like the crispy wings at the edges of the egg. the heap of fried potatoes seemed like a bit of an overload, but the potatoes were the best fried taters i'd had for a long time, i would say! the outside was crunchy and the inside was fluffy, and the outside was a perfect rich golden brown hue...oh man! the toast was crunchy and packed with grains, but the star was the steak. i asked for medium rare and it was cooked perfectly, with a slight pink centre and charred dark brown edges. the steak was juicy, tender, and flavorful. the steak was crunchy on the outside yet retaining a layer of deep red-brown softness. for some reason there was hollandaise sauce which didn't go with anything in my dish...so i asked for ketchup instead for my taters, egg, and steak. the plate was cool (a black shade, like many other things around the restaurant.) i also asked for a light green salad, which was drizzled with what seemed like an e.v.o.o and balsamic vinaigrette.

cascade room is another typical brunch place, but with slightly limited choices, so pick wisely!

expensive pub food that's really not worth the money. probably a good place to go for beer when you're hanging out with friends but the food menu ain't worth it.

came here for dinner and drinks with a friend. the server was awesome. really made our experience that much better. i was excited to have a burger and treat myself after so long, however found the burger bland. it's so simple to under season i suppose. the cocktails were great. loved the soju sour. prices are reasonable and for a trendy restaurant on main it's one of the last restaurants you can just walk into without a restaurant. suppose because it's such a big space. fills up though foe sure.

one of my biggest pet peeves is flakiness. specifically when you’ve arranged to meet someone, and they wind up canceling on you at the very last minute. i find this especially annoying since i tend to take transit most places, which means that by the time i get the inevitable text i’m already on my way to meet them. unfortunately this happened to me recently. i was supposed to be meeting seven friends for dinner at the cascade room for a pre-christmas celebration, and arrived a half hour early so decided to grab a drink at the bar and chat with the bartender while i waited for the others to arrive. sure enough within fifteen minutes of our appointed meeting time, i received texts from four different friends canceling last minute. the excuses ranged from “double booking dinner” to “having a headache”. suffice to say i was not impressed.

i came here to meet a friend for a drink. they had some food on the table that they weren't eating. i didn't have any either. i did order a drink. it was $12... the restaurant itself looked nice. our waitress seemed to be in a bad mood or something. she didn't really say much and didn't seem too excited to be there. oh well though. i don't really care about that. seemed to be kind of a classy place in my opinion. overall i don't really have anything good or bad to say about it. i probably won't come back though, just because the drinks cost an arm and a leg and i'm assuming a first born child for the top shelf selection.

good beer & cocktail list and tasty food. can be a bit pricy, but i've never had bad food here. we often opt for the snacks to save a buck. love the brussel sprouts and polenta fries!

we've had mixed service here. some days it's amazing, other days it is slow. when it's busy, it seems to worsen. however, there is a great atmosphere here and it's a great place to grab a fancy drink.

just meh. really don't know why this place is so popular. service is slow and food is just meh. had a burger last week and it tasted like a meatloaf with tons of filler. the fries are excellent but the salad was again just meh.

absolutely. delicious. oh my word. i've only been once, but i've dreamed about the dish i had so i need to go again. the menu is small, but that means anything you order will be delicious. the atmosphere is fun and casual, the service was great, and of course, the food was fantastic. a must-try!

sunday night dinner - james bond theme. i was invited to a bday dinner on sunday night at cascade room. my initial reaction was that it was a cool social setting in a hip area like main and 12th. i did find the place quite loud but maybe it was because we were seated at the back of the restaurant close to the speakers. in any case i went through the menu and thought it was quite small but did notice they change it seasonally. this is quite nice to see but i would have preferred more option. reading past reviews it looked like hand cut fries were quite popular but while perusing the menu what peaked my interest was the polenta fries. for $7 i thought this was a great deal due to the rosemary savory taste, the delicious yet mild curry aioli sauce that accompanied the dish and of course the quantity that was offered to me. i also decided to order the roasted beef dip (more because i was craving beef but also because i wanted to try the hand cut fries). personally i didn't care for the beef dip. even though the sandwich had a few slices of thick beef i thought the meat was quite dry and the au jus was thinned out. my friend ordered the veggie burger with an upsell from the server to have it with cheese. well the cheese didn't help with the veggie burger and it did not look that appealing and based on her comments and how she left part of the burger on her plate she was not happy with the item. all in all other then the polenta fries and friendly staff members i don't have much else to say about this restaurant. i wish they put at least another 3-4 more items on the menu if it is going to keep changing seasonally.