Beertown Public House Guelph — Restaurant in Guelph

I’ve always had great experiences at Beertown, especially enjoying the dog-friendly patio in the warmer months. That’s why I was really looking forward to my visit this evening, the first patio day of the season for us. Earlier in the day, I called ahead to ask about reserving a dog-friendly patio table. The person who answered was incredibly helpful, explaining the process even though reservations for specific spots aren’t possible.

When we arrived later, we were able to get a patio table and enjoyed some drinks. My older dog, as usual, settled in right away. I was also looking after a 10-month-old puppy who was excited for her first outing on a patio. She did quite well overall, but did bark briefly, for less than a minute, in short bursts, when another puppy arrived. I was actively managing the situation, redirecting her and calming her down, and she responded quickly.

However, the manager (I think?) came out almost immediately, speaking sharply and saying there could be no barking on the patio as it would disturb other guests and gestured to the rest of the restaurant. She also made the same comment to the other table, whose puppy had only let out one or two barks and was extremely young. Her tone came off as curt and unempathetic, especially considering I was clearly working to manage the situation. Her immediate reaction and concern towards the rest of the restaurant versus the dog section felt quite unfair and discriminatory, despite us also being there to purchase food and drinks like everyone else.

I explained that it was the puppy’s first experience on a patio and that I was doing my best to keep things under control, but the interaction still left me feeling quite unwelcome. As my friend pointed out, it felt similar to how a parent might feel if a child had an outburst and was immediately told to keep them quiet — it’s not always something you can control in the moment, but you're doing your best. She quickly backtracked and explained that she didn't see there was another puppy arriving and maybe should I offer her a snack to keep her quiet.

When I paid, I apologized again to our server, who said she wasn’t even aware of any issue and that our dogs had been very well-behaved. The same manager later came by and made a fuss over my older dog, saying “we love dogs here,” which felt inconsistent with the earlier interaction.

I completely understand that excessive noise isn’t acceptable on a patio, but I was clearly taking steps to manage the situation, and the tone and approach used could have been much more respectful and understanding.

It’s disappointing, as I’ve always spoken highly of Beertown as a dog-friendly place to friends, but after this experience, I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable bringing my dogs again. Especially if sitting on the dog friendly patio leads to being treated...

Racist Profiling at its best! It's taken me almost a week to digest and still stunned by the treatment my date encountered at Beertown last week Friday. I've been going to Beertown Guelph with friends and family for years...at least once a month and on several occasions to their other locations in Oakville/Mississauga. Now what we experienced last Friday was quite unbelievable. Was supposed to be there at 7pm to meet up with a friend. He got there before I did, went in to use the washroom and came out to wait for me. By the time I got there he asked that we go somewhere else to eat. Here's why...the manager said he can't come into the restaurant because he's making other guests uncomfortable! She said the guests saw him in the ladies washroom. 😳 Now that was a blatant lie! Because This is not our first rodeo at this restaurant so we both know the bathrooms. My friend confirmed there was no one in the mens washroom when he was in there. He said to me...Unless the women's washroom have the wallunit standing piss pots then he may have been in the wrong washroom. My friend confirmed there was no one at the tables by the washroom. You can't see inside the washroom from the tables. Now did the manager bother to confirm what happened and how whomever complained came up with this story? No she didn't! I went in to speak with her and realized she did not even investigate and simply said to me that she had to respect the guest's concern. "My question was why their word over his?" The reasoning was nonexistent, excuses did not make any sense and seemed targeted. And her face said it all...Minority! A black man! Without a doubt why not take the easy route and just believe the white guys! Now I'm a well traveled African Canadian living in Canada for 25 years with a career and strong background in luxury travel, tourism & hospitality; and I can say I'm well experienced enough to recognize a racist and incompetent person in many environments. My friend on the other hand who has only been in Canada for 2 years took it quite hard and could not believe how and why a complete stranger would fabricate such a story! Shame on your Manager! Will I ever step there again? No! While all my other experiences at Beertown has been 💯 stellar...this one time nonsense has surely left a bitter taste in my mouth and even WORSE...

Updated Review: We are regulars here and after what happened last night we won't dine here again. We had taken a break for some months as we were busy and they were having calamari supply issues and the Calamari is what I go for as I have a gluten intolerance. Last night my daughter and her friends went and she got her usual Plant Based truffle fries and Calamari with plant based dill ranch. She informed the server that she had a dairy allergy, as she always does. Her calamari comes and she eats most of it, and almost all of the 2 dill ranch sauces she has and ger plant based truffle fries come and the guy informs her they ran out of dill ranch a while ago so they subbed regular ranch. They did not tell her that when they delivered the calamari. The ranch has dairy. She is allergic, its not an instant anaphlactic reaction for her, it takes a few hours and ends with severe GI issues and severe inflammation. The server felt awful and informed Emily that she was not told and then later found out that the dill ranch is no longer plant based and she did not know that either as she had just returned from maternity leave. My daughter called me having a panic attack as she knew what would be happening in a few hours. The manager came over and said he was sorry and comp'd her meal but that was it...no empathy..no what can we do to make this right..no plan to make sure this never happens again. He made her feel like this was not a big deal and that he didn't really care. This is NOT the servers fault, there is obviously very broken communication and they have clearly become much more lax about how they care about food allergies. This was one of the only places in Guelph that my daughter felt safe eating and now that is gone as well. A manager was supposed to call me this morning and that didn't happen either. So DO NOT go here if you have food allergies as they seemingly no longer take...