Brick N Fire — Restaurant in Bradford West Gwillimbury

We recently visited Brick n Fire while in Bradford, drawn by its high recommendation as a top non-franchise dining spot, and we were immediately impressed.

The exterior appearance is a classic example of "don't judge a book by its cover." Stepping inside, the ambiance is a delightful surprise: a beautiful, fresh, and thoughtfully decorated dining room that immediately sets a great tone for the meal.

The Food: Highs and Lows The menu is an appealing mix of Italian and French dishes. We tried a selection of appetizers and sides, and the kitchen's potential for excellence was clear in several dishes:

French Onion Soup (9/10) A Must-Try. This was, hands down, the star of the meal. The broth had a perfect balance of savoury, herby flavours (thyme, bay leaf, parsley) and good-sized, tender onions. The crostini and the mix of Gruyère and mozzarella cheese were spot-on.

Baked Eggplant (7/10) A very solid and well-executed dish. The thin, even slices of eggplant, mixed with ricotta and topped with an herby tomato sauce and mozzarella, were quite good.

However, a couple of dishes missed the mark, particularly the main protein:

Wild Mushroom Pizza (6/10) The crust was thin but slightly crispy, which we personally wished was a little softer to complement the toppings. The roasted garlic and medley of mushrooms were great. However, the pesto sauce was slightly overpowering and had an unusual flavour, making some of the slices taste like wilted basil. A lighter, fresher-tasting pesto would allow the other great ingredients to truly shine.

Chicken Parmesan (4/10): The Main Concern. While the dish was visually appealing and the accompanying linguine with Alfredo sauce was excellent, the chicken itself was disappointing. The meat was unusually soft and lacked any distinct chicken flavour, tasting only of the breading, sauce, and cheese. This is likely due to either a high level of moisture retention from brining/tenderizing, or the chicken simply wasn't seasoned sufficiently before being breaded and cooked. A firmer texture and more flavour within the chicken itself would dramatically improve this otherwise well-presented dish.

Service and Overall Experience The staff worked hard to manage the dining room, and our server was friendly. We did note a couple of minor service hiccups. Specifically, there was a miscommunication regarding the baked eggplant, which we had requested as an appetizer but was delivered with the main courses instead. We also experienced a slight delay in getting our drinks. While these things can happen on a busy night, ensuring order clarity and prompt drink service is key to elevating the overall experience.

On a positive note, the restrooms were spotless and well-stocked, which reflects a great level of care for the facility.

Overall, our experience was "good" when it could have been "great." We saw the passion and quality in dishes like the French Onion Soup and the excellent pasta on the Chicken Parmesan plate. We are not deterred from returning and hope that focusing on consistency—especially refining the seasoning and texture of the main proteins and tightening up the service flow—will turn this promising spot into a truly...

Heard a lot of good reviews so decided to try this place out for myself. Decided on a nice Friday evening dinner with my wife. Ambiance was nice, décor was nice and the restaurant was much bigger than it looked from the outside which was a surprise. My issue came more with food preparation/consistency. We ordered wine, my wife had steak, and I had pasta. This is where it kind of went downhill. Food took a while to come out, which is somewhat understandable because it was quite busy. My wife had a steak (rare) which she said tasted somewhat "lemony". I could taste that as well, but I thought it was fine. Apparently, on the menu, it states that they can't guarantee they can meet "special requests" on weekends/or if it's busy? Which I have mixed thoughts about this. Either way, I did not see this message and when I placed my order, the waitress did not mention this when I made a request. Essentially, I ordered the pasta and I asked if I could have the noodles, al dente. When the food finally arrived, the noodles were way overdone. I tried to get the waitresses attention a few times to address that, but it was so busy that she never came back to even ask how the food was. I just decided to start eating because I couldn't wait any longer. It was not enjoyable. By the time she finally arrived to check up on us, I was almost done. She asked how the food was and I kindly said, "honestly, the noodles was way overdone." She apologized and said they can't guarantee special requests on weekends. This is where it kind of annoyed me because, when is "al dente noodles" a special request. If one of your specialties are pastas, then this should be a standard request. Like the "doneness" of your steaks. Next, if they can't guarantee this, I should have been informed this when I made that request because to me, this is a basic request, not "special" and I probably would not have ordered the pasta. For the price we paid that night, if they can't even cook pasta noodles to order, it's not a place I'll be...

I feel obligated to leave a review as things are not sitting right with me. We dined in and inquired about wine used in the cooking process in one of our dishes. While I realize to many this is not an issue, I want to make clear, for others, for religious reasons, this is important. We were told one of the dishes would be made without wine, custom to our order. Another dish that was ordered did not have it listed anywhere in the menu that wine was used. I will say it should never be assumed a customer should know if a dish traditionally has wine in it. It was clear, after eating my dish, and tasting the very telltale taste of white wine, this was indeed the case. Upon inquiring, we were told that due to one of the other meal requests, both dishes were made without wine. I have 2 issues with this. As someone who is ok with consuming alcohol myself, I found it odd that my dish was changed as we were told, to something I never requested. More importantly, I feel we were very much lied to, to appease us in saying the chef made my dish with no wine when it is very clear it was. It was overpowering in fact. Due to no description in the menu of this ingredient, my spouse tasted and ate some of my meal which goes against his religion beliefs. Again, as a non Muslim, I am aware of the arguments that alcohol is cooked off in the process, etc but this is not a valid excuse for Muslims. I am concerned with the dishonesty in the restaurant and wonder if food allergies would be handled the same way. This restaurant came highly recommended and although the service from our waitress was top notch I wish we weren't lied to. I would have found it more acceptable if they just told us there was wine in the sauce (even though it was not listed on the menu) rather than say it was omitted when I know without a...