Aberdeen Tavern — Restaurant in Hamilton

I would avoid the Aberdeen tavern if you have allergies.

My fiance took me to the Aberdeen tavern to celebrate my birthday on Saturday evening, (January 20) for Dinner. The night started off nicely, we had a drink at the bar and seen to our table after arriving. Here, we were greeted by our waitress who asked if we were ready to order. My Fiance has a few food allergies (among them being a tree nut allergy) which she relayed to our server. After hearing them, the waitress went to get a piece of paper to write them down and verbally repeated them back after writing them down.

We were hoping to order the spinach dip as an appetizer and asked if it was okay to eat with her allergies. The waitress said yes and that she would check with the kitchen if it was safe to eat and returned saying we could order the spinach dip no problem. We then place our order for the appetizer long with our mains. About 10 minutes later our spinach dip arrived and upon eating 2 bites of the dish my fiance immediately stated she was allergic to something in the dish. Assuming it was perhaps cross contamination or an unforeseen circumstance we let the waiter know who went to go get some Benadryl upon request. At this time my fiance realized that she was having an anaphylactic reaction and needed to go to the hospital. While I was getting the car the waitress said to her "you aren't allergic to cashews are you?" which is definitely a tree nut. After hearing that it was apparent this was not a cross contamination issue, that we were served a dish that knowingly contained cashews (Her most severe allergy). This was alarming.

Luckily the hospital was very close and after being treat and supervised for hours in the emergency room under IV, cuff, etc she was okay enough to return home where she is still feeling the symptoms of the allergen now. I would hate to think of what might have happened if she had eaten more of the dish, or if the hospital was not as close as it was. The fact that something as serious as a tree nut allergy could be overlooked and served to a patron with that allergy... a dish that knowingly had cashews in it shows either a lack of knowledge or care for customers with allergies at this establishment (or both). While the restaurant looked very nice, I would definitely recommend anyone with allergies look elsewhere to dine, in order to insure something like this does not happen to anyone else. Our night went from a joyful birthday celebration to a scary rush to the hospital because we chose to eat at the Aberdeen Tavern. I sincerely hope that no one else has to go through a similar experience. So happy that...

It was a cold Sunday morning in Ancaster when my boyfriend, his sister and myself decide to go for brunch at Aberdeen Tavern. We called ahead because we assumed many people had the same idea as us. The host informed us that there was plenty of tables available. We arrived at a half empty restaurant and a host with little to no idea what was going on. She told us that the restaurant was fully booked with only space available at the bar. We agreed to sit at the bar even though there was over half the restaurant empty. We were greeted by the bartender who had a bit of an attitude during the entire brunch service. We he realised that I was not ordering alcohol or coffee seemed to be annoyed. My boyfriend’s coffee had grounds on the entire bottom of the cup, the bartender looked at the cup did not apologize, poured him another cup of coffee in a different cup. We shared the cherry chocolate scone which was fantastic, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The scone was served warm with tons of butter on the side. We were asked to move down the bar to accommodate other guests sitting beside us, even though half the restaurant was still empty. We sensed a bit of an attitude coming from our bartender when our water jug would be empty quite often throughout the service. He smacked the bottom of the jug and said, “ok once again” after the third time we drank the entire jug. I ordered the Tostada Rancheros which was great, lots of fresh flavours and a creamy lime sauce on top. The black beans were great and the wrap was crunchy. Unfortunately, the salad had basically no dressing on top which was kind of a downfall. My boyfriend had the cheesecake French toast which was delicious! I wish I ordered that instead. When it came down to paying the bill my boyfriend and I paid for our meal and his sister paid for herself. I tipped $5.00 in cash for a 36.00-dollar meal with tax. He gave me an awkward look and did not say thank you. He clearly wanted a bigger tip, but the service was not up to par. We left the Aberdeen Tavern after 1 hour of crappy service, good food, and a half empty fully...

As someone who has worked in the kitchen there all I'll say is this... If you "valued customers" so they say... Saw the kitchen and the prep area.. unlabeled containers no date or product info. Unsafe storage of food. Cooked meats next to raw and meat just sitting openly unwrapped in the fridge. Meat being marinated in open top bins or just a thin piece of plastic wrap poorly covering container's sitting on the ground in the walk in fridge not even raised on milk crates. (The mice are more then pleased about this) Chicken being processed already starting to spoil (giving off rotten egg smell). The beef grilled cheese sometimes the meat is being served past a week and a half old I had to hold my breath when ever I dealt with either. Poor management and it's clear it flows to the kitchen. I could keep going on but the list would be endless. O one more thing. Soups instead of tossing the last unused portion they will serve it till it is gone bad or not. (Heat kills everything right? Ahh hech let's serve the last 2 litres of the week and a half old soup) If they think it's okay they will just add new ingredients to the old and call it the soup of the day. Misleading... it's the soup from last week that we added ingredients to today. You make your judgement. The only time I ever ate anything from there was when my hands prepared it fresh otherwise I was weary being that the majority of things are unlabeled. Customers deserve to know their food is being prepared proper right from the start using proper protocol which is definately not the case. You all have the right to inquire and even see where and how your food is being prepared. Ask for a tour of the kitchen and fridges no need to go down to the prep hall seeing as the front of house kitchen will be a good indicator of how poor a state the downstairs is aswell. It's alot...