mill street brew pub

great experience. my wife and i visited the mill st. brewpubon 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. brewpuband 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 brewpubis 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.

so good. my first trip to the brewpubwas 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!

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 apubof...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 diviestpubat least acknowledges that you are spending money at their establishment and thanks you for it. at the mill st. brewpubit 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!

had a good meal here. the beer was all very good, all of our meals were tasty. i had the indian meal, the people i was with had the salmon and duck sandwich and were all happy with it. the service was good. it was noisy but it was very busy. people need to realize that it is a brewpub withpubfood and not the old mill.

my family along with two of our friends attended the mill street brewpubon saturday, july 16.  from start to finish it was probably the worse dining experience i ever had.  we called and were advised that they didn't take reservations. nevertheless we decided to take a chance and when we arrived at the pub, we asked if we could sit near the water.  we were told that wasn't possible because they didn't have a waiter/waitress for that section.  however, we noticed that there was only one table of six people in there that night with plenty of empty tables.

we all ordered drinks and then ordered our meals and that's where it started to really go downhill fast.  we waited over an  hour for simple meals like fish and chips and wings.  no one came to our table to explain the delay.  the place wasn't even that busy.  in the meantime, we had different servers come and replenish our drinks.  when we asked them what was happening with our meal, they advised that they didn't know.  finally, our original waitress came back and advised that there had been a problem with the deep fryer and she hadn't been informed.  an hour later we received our meal - probably the worse fish and chips i have ever had - the chips were cold and the fish, when you cut into the hard coating, oozed oil.  i ate it, because by this time i was starving.  my son ordered mild wings and when he received his order, they were extra spicy and he couldn't eat them.  he reordered his wings - took about 15 minutes and when he received them half looked like they weren't cooked and the other half were burnt.  

the waitress said that the manager would be coming over to speak to us but later she advised that he had told her to handle it.  a 30% discount was applied to our bill.  

when my friend tried to talk to the manager about the service we received, he made the comment that he wasn't even aware of the situation - but who authorized the 30% discount then? 

we had just finished a two week tour of the east coast and everywhere we went, the service was great and the food was fantastic.  only at mill streetpubdid we experience rudeness, ineptness and a total disrespect for the customer.

we won't be going back there and will be telling our friends to definitely find another restaurant!!!

this is the place for good beers and good snacks. great views in a nice old building. tourtière was good and fresh with peas and ok mashed potatoes. typical british stylepubfood but with some more sophisticated options. many crave the elk burger here.

went to the mill street brewpubfor lunch on a monday...monday's special is their angus burger for $5!!! great value and very, very delicious yukon gold fries! got a flight of beer and felt relaxed and ready to tackle my afternoon! couldn't get a seat by the river-view because of many reservations but overall i was very pleased!

won't be back soon. we went to mill st brewpublast night because of their beautiful patio. we waited at the bar for about 40 minutes or more for a table outside, which was ok, we chose to wait. when we finally got out there and ordered our food, we were of course very hungry by then. the waitress was pleasant enough, but didn't seem very happy. the food was timely enough in arriving. i had the vegetarian flatbread which was ok but have had much better, although i was satisfied enough with it. my husband ordered chicken schnitzel and was extremely disappointed! he ate most of it because he was so hungry, as we had waited so long. i tasted it and agreed, it was terrible. the cabbage and pasta that came with it were also terrible. i actually had to ask what it was because we couldn't tell by the taste. we had ordered another round of beers and kept waiting. finally when we were done (trying to) eat, the drinks still had not arrived so we decided to leave. the waitress was on her way over with the beer but was all too happy for us to leave and take the beer back. i agree with most of the reviews here. beautiful patio, great beer. service is hit and miss. food mediocre at best. overpriced for what you get. i guess you pay for the patio, which is pretty, but crowded and loud, like most of the patios in the market anyway. no reason to return.

so very disappointing. expected much more from a brew pub. is the bar of expectation so very low in ottawa that one can't find decentpubfare that doesn't taste like it was prepared in a factory?

overpriced "vanilla". went for a lunch with work colleagues and was a bit disappointed with my experience. while the service was decent and, cute girls in cute fake kilts easy on the eye, the quality of the good for what they charge for it is absolutely outrageous.

i had an average quality burgerpubburger that had the price tag of an actual, savory restaurant burger (and no, mill st. is not a restaurant but a pub). perhaps they are trying to brand themselves as a gastopub, but if that is the case, they are failing quite badly in that regard.

bottom line:decent, cleanpubwith reasonable beer selection and ambience. go for the drinks and stay away from the menu- unless you want to overpay for food of course.

blah. we went to mill street tonight in hopes of a tastypubsupper. had not been there in a few months and was disappointed to see the menu had changed - and not for the better. we ordered sweet potato fries to split as starter and they were tasty. smoked chicken flatbread as our main - here's where it went downhill fast. flatbread arrived warm on top and cold underneath the cheese - tasted like a frozen pizza that had not quite cooked all the way through. our very apologetic server took it back to the kitchen. few minutes later, fresh flatbreads arrived - again, took a bite and cold underneath the melted cheese. we asked for the bill (and to the server's credit, he only charged us for the beer my husband had) and got outta there fast. nice atmosphere and beer, but uninspired menu and poor cooking - don't think we will be returning!

had a great time at the mill st brewpubtonight. the chipotle beer was awesome! our server laura was very friendly, we'll definitely be back.

just below average. the food at the mill streetpubis fair. the menu is creative, but sometimes the menu description is not represented in the food itself (in my experience over or under cooked for the most part!). the environment is very noisy, and the service exceptionally slow (we waited 20 minutes for our orders to be taken, and another 25 for food to be delivered, and once we had finished eating, another 15 minutes to resolve our bills! they did offer us a server's discount to compensate, but the $6.25 discount really didn't make up for the lost time). the location is somewhat unique, but then again it's hard to get to, and you can't see the nearby falls from most locations in the restaurant. the other problem, is that they do not accept debit cards. they directed us to a private bank machine in the lobby, but that would have added another $3 in charges onto my experience. i think debit transactions are pretty much the norm these days, and i am surprised that they haven't caught onto that fact. overall, i'd choose to spend my money somewhere else next time.

went to mill street brewpubon june 15th. we wanted to do the tour but it was already full. had a table and the patio and the restaurant looks amazing and had a great location. the beer was quite good. our server was friendly and knowledgeable. everything was pretty good until the food...

our appetizer was the "taste of the middle east" and the bread came out to us cold and hardened. none of the three dips were especially good or flavourful. my main course was the fish and chips. the french fries were terrible and the fish was very, very greasy. i understand itspubstyle food but i found it just wasn't good and i actually didn't feel good for the rest of the night. sadly, the food is also very expensive, however, the portions are quite large.

overall, the atmosphere, location and beer was great and sadly the food just wasn't good enough to recommend it. it gets a very marginal "don't like" from me but i'd go back sometime and give it another chance.