mill street brew pub

i keep going back but i don't know why. i go to mill st probably once every couple of months with friends and/or family. it's hit and miss. i usually stick to the nachos since the rest of the food has not been very great, but even those tend to be dry once the first layer of toppings are picked off.

the service is usually kind of meh, but last week was terrible. our waitress came out straight up high. she dropped her payment machine, stumbled around, and came out on the patio going, "so... you're on the patio... it's nice out here... yeahhhh....". it was so awkward and i would be horrified if i wasn't with my husband who found it hilarious (in a sad way). the bathroom was filthy. there was no toilet paper, all the seats were dirty. i informed the girls at the front who said, "oh.. ummm.. okaaaay".

it sucks because it's such a nice building and has the potential, but the slow/bad service, mediocre food, and often long wait dampens the experience.

may 14-13. to whom it may concern,

i was in on the evening of may 14 this week to try to catch some of the sens game.
i had been in with a group sometime last summer and swore i would never go back.
my friends managed to convince me to visit mill st. again for some drinks.

this time we sat at the bar. pete was taking care of us. he was awesome! very down to earth, entertaining and efficient. we didn't end up taking a table that we were wait-listed on because we were content with the great service pete was able to provide!

we will be back for pete!


-----01 may, 2012-----

if i wanted to have a 4 hour dinner i would go to beckta!. i did not enjoy my experience at all...
we had a 5pm reservation. the hostess had us going around in circles because she was clueless to what was going on and didn't know where our table was. please note it wasn't even busy yet.
i don't even like beer and the wine choices could have been much better.
i tried the french onion soup....it was ok but not hot enough, and the cheese could've been melted more. i went for the sunday special prime rib dinner, server said he hadn't heard anything bad about it...liar!
meat was medium rare on one side(how i asked for it) and well done on the other side...it looked like they pan seared it on the one-side. 5 people at our table ordered and they were all the same, nobody was happy. the meat was so tough...i couldn't eat it. the yorkshire pudding was barely edible...also tough. service was slow, ordering took forever, drinks took forever, no quality checks and food was awful! when i asked for a spoon i was given a dirty spoon. when i asked for a clean one....it was like i was being a pain. what's wrong with expecting clean cutlery? i would never recommend this place and i will never be back!
if you want a good prime rib....try lieutenant's pub!

great spot to stop for a drink. this is a perfect spot to stop for a drink if you are following the waterfront trail to downtown. lovely patio, really pretty old building, views of the river, great beer.

great service. just wanted to say our server, guillaume was great.

great experience. my wife and i visited the mill st. brew pub on a saturday afternoon a couple weeks ago. one of the best kept secrets about this place is how easy it is to get too by using the bike paths! we took our bikes all the way down and they had plenty of bike racks for us to park. (note to pedestrians, there is a path under the bridge, don’t try and cross the parkway!)

the location itself is very nice. one of the patios overlooks the ottawa river. the inside makes you feel like you’re in an old mill. very nice art hung everywhere with pictures from ottawa’s days as a logging town (you really must take a second to look around). the wood floors are nice and the open brick walls contribute to the rustic mill feeling.

as soon as we walked in the door we were greeted with a smile by a young hostess who did inform us that there would be a short wait. she took our name and we headed to the bar. after a short wait a hostess came over took us and our drinks over to our table.

our server was a gentleman by the name of ryan, i don’t usually remember our waiters name but the service was so exceptional that i had to write it down for this short review. he was very courteous and quite funny. he was extremely knowledgeable about the menu and offered several suggestions for beer.

the food was good, but i think the food and the kitchen would benefit from a smaller, more focused menu. it just seems like that there is a lot to choose from and it’s hard to make everything fantastic when there are so many different items. the highlight of course was the beer! from the classic tank house to the ottawa-only brewed portage ale, all the beers we tried were home runs.

i really enjoyed our trip to mill st. brew pub and we have returned many times since and will continue to go back as long as they keep the beer cold and the service friendly.

my take on my first visit to the mill street brew pub is that they have a couple of bugs to work out, which often comes with territory of creating something new. once the trendiness wears off and it settles into a nice comfortable groove, i believe mill street will find a steady stream of locals comfortable in it's historic walls.

food was great but service was horrible. server was out of it and food took forever. won't be going back.

so good. my first trip to the brew pub was just for a beer on a monday night with some friends. service was amazing: smiles from the girls at the front and great service from the bartenders while i was waiting for a table. the pagers are awesome!

we didn't mean to stay for the food, but our friendly server informed us that there was a $5 appetizer special on monday nights. the carnitas were delicious but my favourite was the calamari. goes great with a pint of stock ale!

one of the managers made a point to come over to our table and introduce himself. mike was courteous and friendly and made the experience very personal. nice touch!

the atmosphere was loud at times but no worse than any other bar on a busy night.
all in all, amazing location, great service and delicious food! i'll be back and i'll be bringing friends!

absolutely horrible service. waited at the bar for about 30 minutes to be seated (this is to be expected in a busy restaurant). while waiting for the table we ordered some beer with a glass of water. the beer arrived promptly but the water never made it. when we (party of 4) were seated the table didn't have utensils. we asked 3 different people / servers for some but were ignored. our appetizers arrived and we had to wait an additional 10 minutes before we finally found someone who finally gave us some utensils / napkins. from the time our appetizer was served until the time our entrees arrived it was a little over 2 hours. we were on the verge of leaving when the food arrived. nothing complicated - 2 burgers and 2 beef dips. at least 2 other tables around us left while waiting to either be served or for their food. the server never came back to check on the food once the entrees were brought out. near the end of our meal we ordered some water which also never made it. there are plenty of better places to eat in ottawa with far superior service!!

great food if you don't mind the wait!. we came here for lunch mid-week and sat on the packed patio. the atmosphere was lovely but we waited about 10 minutes before our waiter came to greet us. we ordered the beer mustard mussels as an appetizer and a couple pints of their organic. the beer arrived after our mussels did, but the mussels were some of the best i've ever had. for 12$ we got a large bucket of the largest best tasting mussels i've ever had. highly recommended. for our mains we ordered the vegetarian flatbread and the chicken club sandwich, very tasty but nowhere near as tasty as the mussels. for dessert we ended with the scrumptious red velvet cake. the food was great but the service was less then desirable. i can only hope that because they're a newer restaraunt they haven't weeded out the weaker servers/bartenders yet....only time will tell.

great place!!!. i love this pub. great vegetarian options, all delicious. kudos to the chef and kitchen staff. the restaurant is beautiful and pete (bartender) goes out of his way to welcome you and ensure you are happy with everything. on my last visit pete took the time to make me a drink based on my likes and dislikes and it turned out amazing. big thanks to him!

great beer but service wasn't great. server wasn't overly friendly, service was very slow, waited 15 min for drinks, table maintenance was awful and had to request many times to have water refilled.

really not worth it!. we went for a friend's 50th birthday. granted there were 10 of us so waiting a bit is a reality on a saturday at 6:00pm. but almost two hours to get a table then having to sit at two separate tables in different sections with different servers was a bit much. when we mentioned something we were told this is the table and if we don't want it we can wait longer for another table to sit all of us together or go. it was not my decision. we stayed.

the beer is overpriced when a pint is over $10. i don't care if it is a micro brewery spending $40 for three pints with tip is highway robbery and nothing else. the scotch (chivas regal) is overpriced at $20.00 for a 2 oz shot while a bottle at the lcbo costs just over $45.00 for 26 oz...the mark up on that is a little ridiculous. then there is the wine. $15.00 for a 9oz. glass of merlot when the entire bottle is about that price at the lcbo...there's mark up then there is just plain greedy.

when we finally got our separate tables the waitress we had took a drink order for me and ignored the other four people at the table then was annoyed when she brought my drink and surprise surprise the other four people at the table wanted a drink. when she finally appeared ten minutes later and slammed the drinks on the table spilling the overpriced brew without an apology she begrudgingly took our order for dinner.

the menu is pedestrian at best for a pub of...well let's just say its own reputation. the table ordered a variety of food from the fish & chips to the steak to the flatbread and finally a burger. three out of the five dishes arrived after over a 1/2 hour wait then ten minutes later the other two dishes arrived. my friend said the burger was just ok. the burger was half the size of the burnt bun it was served on with cold fries. the steak i had was just ok. not really any flavour and a bit salty but it was at least cooked to a good medium-rare but not a vegetable to be had just a few mushrooms and some fried onions. the flat bread was very good and the fish & chips were reported to be good as well. i had to go to the bar and retrieve the one pepper mill in the entire place and was told that it could not stay at the table because it was the only one they had. so it was promptly snatched back by the manager and returned to the bar to sit idle and not to be touched by any other service staff at all. believe me i watched.

did i mention we still had not seen our original server? the food was delivered sporadically by other service staff and trying to get a drink...well we really just gave up entirely. when the table was finished we had to ask for the plates to be cleared and still no sign of our original server.

finally we had had enough. we had arrived at 5:30pm and it was now pushing onto 9:00pm. then we had to go find the server to get the bills which she had to do again because she put the wrong drinks and food on the wrong bills depsite asking from the beginning who was on what bill and writing it down!!!

we had just finished a mediocre at best dinner with some of the worst service i have ever had drinking overpriced beer and wine. even the diviest pub at least acknowledges that you are spending money at their establishment and thanks you for it. at the mill st. brew pub it is as if the management and staff deigned to allow us to dine there and we should have been thanking them for privilege of entry into their precious establishment.

the only thing i can say is i've been there. i will never go again. not that anyone from management will bother to call to discuss the experience as they really did not seem to have any interest to do so while we were there. i did try and i left a comment card…nothing!

nice atmosphere. love the place, food and beer!

yes, guillaume was great.

good times!!. great times at mill street! as good as the toronto airport location if not better. we were served by guillaume and he recommended the mill street cobblestone stout to me. if you're a fan of this kind of beer, you definitely want get a six-pack from their adjoining store before heading out!