the portside

hello friends! i was invited to the salty’s lobster shack pop-up opening and the portside’s 7th anniversary party last weekend. the whole event was a blast and i can’t wait to tell you all about it!. we were greeted with champagne when we walked in which was awesome. i’m not much of a drinker but i don’t mind having some when i’m at an event. nat, kamila and grayson indulged in a couple of glasses as well.

i went i went there a few times to have some snacks and drinks. i spent a very amazing time at this place.
it is the most recommended place for other people also to try

the portside pub in gastown is holding a fun event on wednesday evenings in collaboration with jollybrain productions in the form of a rock, paper, scissors tournament. the winner takes the pot and it’s $5 to enter. i brought nathalie, josh and adrian with me that evening to not only partake in the rock paper scissors competition but also to check out the food and drink selection at the portside pub.

the portside has a solid selection of local craft beer on tap and a good range of different styles of beer. i really liked the house lager they have on tap. it was refreshing and light and i would recommend trying it. i have never had garlic fingers before, but essentially it is a flatbread topped with garlic, cheese, and halifax donair sauce

i had a great time with my friends here on a wednesday evening. if you’re looking for something to do, grab a few drinks, share a plate of nacho, and enter the rock, paper, scissors tournament. the rest of the food is pretty average, but most people come here for the drinks.

what is there to do on a wednesday night in the gastown area? the portside has a rock, paper , scissors tournament every wednesday. there is a $5 entry fee to participate but if you want to just sit in your seats and laugh your ass off, you can do that too. they also have $4 jameson shots on special too.

i have been to “portside” once before. when, in the evenings they function as a two story night club. here is where i spent a night dancing along side friends, each with beers in hand. but today we wanted to stop in more casually, for a pint. previously, in the dark of a dimly lit dance floor, i couldn’t make out the layout. today i was getting the full picture. the tiny details and the big effort they put into a cohesive railway theme.

awful customer service and terrible establishment. i came here for my birthday. i emailed for a guestlist about 3 weeks in advance. i didn't get a respone for 1 week so i emailed again to all 3 of the contact emails on the website. i finally got a response and had guestlist set up for 11:00pm for 15 people. we get there at 10:30 and they let 3 of us in and when i asked them about the rest of my party they told me 5 minutes. i kept coming back up to check and after 45 minutes in line i finally asked the bouncer what the situation was. the bouncer was rude, disorganized and completely disrespectful lacking all and any customer service skills and calling me names. they didn't have a contact person for the guestlists at all leaving it the bouncers who were clearly unable to handle it. there was no manager to be found anywhere. overall the experience was horrible. inside smelled awful and was dirty. this place is completely overrated and is completely incompetent in customer service. wouldn't recommend it at all.

... baguette not garlicky at all, but soft w a lovely crisp on the outside; beef juicy and tender, but would have loved some jus to go with it...

wandered into portside pub while waiting for alibi room to open on a thursday afternoon and saw that they changed their menu to a more nova scotia-focused one... it wouldn’t be a nova scotia menu without halifax donair sauce!

fun bar. bad staff.. i've been here a couple nights. the bar is really great. you can hang out more pub style at sweet table and drink good beer or you can dance your ass off club style on the dance floor.

only thing wrong... the staff is quite terrible. pretty much everyone is rude. they all half ignore you and make you wait forever even when they are not super busy. not very cool.

great service! bartenders asia and alex gave up great tips about city and wonderful service, very knowledgeable about beers. very unique bar loved it!

not a pub. at least not past 730 on a fri/sat night. less a beer bar and more a beer...club. cover and a line as usual for the area on those nights and umpfy music to boot. will go back earlier on or another nights as the interior was good and the beer selection was alright, but not again on a weekend.

now, i still have some questions about portside. is it a pub, or a nightclub? are there going to be more tables during normal operating hours? is there going to be live music on a regular basis? are both bars going to be in use in off-peak hours? how about those food counters; are they going to be able to deal with volume and actual orders rather than roaming hors d’ouvres service? all these questions should be answered in short order, or with another visit.

boasting 24 beers on tap (6 local, 6 canadian, 6 american, 6 international), the portside has gone full hog with the nautical and wood crafted theme.