The Griffin Pub — Restaurant in District Municipality of Muskoka

I am a new local to the Bracebridge area and my husband and I have gone to this pub a few times and really loved the atmosphere and food. It was very unfortunate that we had the experience we did last night when we arrived in the evening for a drink. There was a table of young woman screaming at the top of their lungs repeatedly to the point where we could not hear ourselves in conversation and for reference we were located on opposite sides of the bar. Not one of the bartenders addressed this during our 1hr stay. Our male server/bartender made sure to only speak and make eye contact to my husband, even when I responded to questions on both of our behalf he would wait for my husband to answer to give recognition that something was said. I’m not ultra sensitive, this was just very obvious. The last thing of this visit that just didn’t sit right is that a group of young woman sat down beside my husband and I (around say 10:40) and were waiting to be seen for a little while. By the time the female bartender tended to them, she told them in good earshot of us that she wouldn’t serve them because they closed at 11– I’m not sure if the hours were different this night, but i was certain they closed at 11:30 as per their online listed hours (June 28 was the night this occurred) I can’t be sure why these customers were not served, they were a large group of about 6-8 young women and in my opinion as a former bartender/server in the restaurant industry, this was just poor business seeing as this could have been an easy 150$ tab… It just felt strange that the table of screaming belligerent people were allowed to carry on, but this group of woman were not served at all well before closing time. A very unfortunate interaction, especially for locals who would have continued to return to this business year round otherwise. I also recognize some nights are long and tough in the industry, and will say, this place has amazing food and we have had a few times as customers where this was not the case at all.. perhaps just an off night for the bartenders. Sadly with things being as costly as they are these days, we will very likely take our...

Visited Aug 9th around 12:15 pm, small pub off the main road. We waited over 15 min just to be acknowledged. No offer to get drinks first, finally got a menu. It took another 15 min before the waiter took our order and then we waited 45 min to get a flat bread. Before ordering, the waiter described it as about 8-10 inches long . It was presented to us as a very small thin crust pizza. Very disappointing. We ate it and left as we had to be somewhere. Another gentleman, who had been waiting longer than we had been, was then told the waiter forgot to punch in his order. He was offered free drinks but he needed to be somewhere as well and left without his lunch. If you can’t handle the capacity of your restaurant then change the capacity (“busy” isn’t an acceptable reason). You’re in a summer tourist town, no excuses, short of power outage, are acceptable. At the very least your customers should be told upon arrival there could be an hour’s wait once your place your order.

Follow up to owner Ben’s review Aug 12: I don’t know who you spoke to but it wasn’t us. You didn’t speak to us “several times” nor were we offered a discount.

I could add a lot more detail here but it wouldn’t make any difference. As I suggested, if you had large groups arrive before us, this should have been pointed out upon arrival and before seating, thereby allowing us to make the decision to stay or not.

We were expected at friends by a certain time. The other gentleman I refer to in the review wanted to see a movie at the theatre. A heads up on the wait time would have made all the difference. I attempted to email you but the email...

This is Bracebridge's best hideaway pub. Known for their craft beer selection and cozy atmosphere. The super quaint restaurant area is all you need for an intimate night out, that turns into a lively community gathering spot Thursday-Saturday nights for their live music. Make sure you get there early for larger groups since seating is limited and they don't take reservations. They also have an amazing outdoor patio lined with flower boxes and draping ivy plants. The staff are incredible and make this place so special. The owners themselves are known to be jamming away on Thursday nights or chatting with customers. Heather is one of the bar tenders and she does a fantastic job as do they all. They recently went through a menu change and I haven't had the chance to explore much of it yet but the dishes I've had have been on point. Great pub style food with some unique ingredients. I would recommend this spot to anyone in or visiting Bracebridge that loves beer, good food, great music and connecting...