Squires Gastro Pub — Restaurant in Burlington

The first time I've visited since the reopening! Apparently it happened last month, but hey... who knew. The Squires was a go-to for my family and I when I visit town so we decided to visit since its renovation! Always had great food, great service and good atmosphere :)

So the family and I went today to check it out, and from the outside it didn't look like too much had changed. When we went inside though, oh boy... the whole place was different! Clean, welcoming and the staff were in upscale uniforms from the chef, to the bartender to the servers.

So, we had a great server. Welcoming, funny and looked after our needs - it made us feel a little more welcome in an establishment that made us feel under dressed for a "pub house". I put that in quotes, because in reality... this place isn't a pub house any longer. It's a restaurant, who's menu is half Indian / food based with a couple of UK options. Now now, don't get me wrong - I love indian food, but it's not really what one expects when visiting a pub lol.

Now onto the food! Aside from portions being smaller than they used to be, and for the same price... we had no real complaints. I suppose shrinkflation affects every one as its usually passed on down to the consumer.

Now onto a controversial topic about this place... a message to the owner - Stop making tipping mandatory at your establishment. We had a great server tonight, and we were going to tip well above the normal - until we saw that tipping was mandatory.

The table beside us, and we were commenting about how tipping was mandatory if you were paying electronically through the machine, and that we all thought the tipping was based on the overall price including taxes, and not before taxes. We started up a conversation about how wrong it was that we were being made to tip on top of HST, instead of on the amount before it. Considering how we just had to pay the same price for less food than we used to get made us feel fleeced at the restaurant. Keep your good servers and they'll get great tips, and repeat business.

Overall, the food and service was good! The place looks nice. Not sure we'll be back though with the menu /...

The renovations are amazing, the place looks great. However the food has really gone downhill. I had 2 bad experiences now. A week ago I called in an order to pick up on my way home. I order 3 meals for my family off the Brittish favorites. All meals we have had before from here and loved. I was told on the phone 20mins it would be ready, so I arrived after 20 mins and waited another 40mins. When I got home my Steak & Guinness pie was missing the puff pastry (the best bit) plus I asked for fries and it came with a small portion of mash potatoes. So no fries and no pastry. My husband ordered the roast beef & yorkshire pudding which was total overkill on the salt and came with no vegetables. Very dissapointing. I called to advise of the mistake with my pie and the nice bartender apologized and offered me a full refund. She said she would leave a note behind the bar with my refund for next time I came in. Last nite I returned with a friend and there was no note or refund and no one was aware of it. However the bar tender kindly offered me a $25 gift card. I was excited to enjoy a meal with my friend eating in the restaurant this time and hoped for a better experience. I had butter chicken which I enjoyed but my friend had chicken wings which were pink inside and not cooked properly. The server was great and removed them from our bill. I wasn't going to complain again as i felt the staff handled it really well. However, even though I enjoyed the butter chicken it did not agree with me and I spent most of the nite in the bathroom and could not go to work today as my stomach is so bad. So I am now wondering if perhaps my chicken was not cooked properly either. These 2 experiences have left a really poor impression on me now and I won't return. Which is a shame as being an ex-pat Brit this was always one of my favorite places in Burlington for proper British pub grub. The kitchen needs to do better for the prices they charge and for what appears to be a high quality gastro pub now. I won't...

I was really looking forward to trying this space out with my partner as our 2nd year anniversary was just yesterday! On our way in, we spotted this “introductory offer” and were excited to try all 3 items. That enthusiasm quickly subsided. The hostess prioritized taking a call over checking the patio for availability for us and we ended up being seated inside the restaurant. After ordering 2 alcoholic drinks and a soda (which came to over $38 with tax and a 15% tip), we tried to order the special which was on the board outside the door. We were then informed by our waitress it was limited to dining on the patio (which wasn’t stipulated on the sign). She gave us time to look at the menu as our drinks were being prepared. When they returned with our drinks we asked if there was a waiting list for the patio and were informed that the promotion actually ended at 8:00pm (which the sign outside also made no mention of) and it was 8:02pm. For extra context, we arrived at this restaurant at 7:37pm. My partner cancelled his appetizer order, we paid our bill and finished our drinks. The server who mentioned it was their 2nd shift at the restaurant cracked a joke about “remembering to be seated on the patio before 8:00pm next time”. I left disappointed with absolutely no intention of coming back. The promotional sign is incredibly misleading, the staff seems very disorganized (the hostess should have explained the promotion limitations before seating us inside) and no matter how pretty a restaurant may seem, it isn’t a pleasant atmosphere if you leave hungry and with a bitter taste...