The Oakville Pump & Patio — Restaurant in Oakville

We couldn't believe it when we heard there were a number of bad reviews of The Pump. Since I generally don't look at this type of media, I needed to see for myself what was being said and scanned through all 100. Some of these comments are utterly ridiculous and from our experience at The Pump plain out lying or exaggerations at best. Hey complainers, if you have a legitimate issue, the time to voice your concern is while you're at any business, any business, where there's an opportunity for management to try and make it right. Isn't giving management that opportunity the fair thing to do for both you and the business? We've had imperfect meals over the years, a simple pleasant conversation with our server always gets us satisfaction and the establishment feels confident we'll return in the future and not bad mouth them in the mean time. All business owners take criticism seriously and personally because they have their soles and money invested in their business so they absolutely care what their customers experiences are. Having owned businesses in can state that as fact. The Pump is no different. We were fairly regulars at the Niblick for a number of years until the last two or three years, the place became so tired and the food inconsistent. We were happy to see change coming to our neighbourhood. I will say we always had great service at the Niblick, good job to the staff. We've gone a few times now to The Pump and couldn't be happier about the environment, all the staff, especially Hilary and the food is fantastic. Some are commenting on the price, me too the first time I went. But stop for one second and look at the size of the portion being served and the quality. For us the Chef's specials are a real treat. We're both the kind that finds a restaurant and typically orders the same one or two options. At The Pump I don't look at the menu, just the specials. The specials aren't what you'd expect at a neighbourhood pub but more at the next level of dinning. The portions are large enough but what's most interesting is the flavours the Chef creates, it's almost like multiple levels of flavour on a plate. Not sure how to describe it. I basically eat to live, food for the most part is boring to me so finding something I enjoy like this is new to me. Our recommendation is don't just go for the easy burger, explore a little, try the specials. Last thing, thanks for reading my rant, definitely try the Cajun wings and the salt and pepper ribs, oh my gosh the ribs are fall off the bone, flavourful, over the top good. We will be back and have been telling our friends about The Pump. Try it for yourself before you listen to these one star critics. We are not in any way involved with The Pump nor do we personally know anybody there. This review is to counter some unfair posts based on our experiences and to try and bring...

It's been a while since I've been so put off by the food I've been served by a restaurant/pub/fast food joint/literally anywhere ever that I've felt compelled to leave a review about it, but...

I ordered a smashed guac starter and fried chicken sandwich -- the sandwich wasn't terrible. It was just fine. They did manage the impressive feat of somehow keeping the bun from getting soggy on a delivery order, and the chicken was a good portion and seemed fresh, but seemed as though they went for the cheapest possible frozen stick fries and some canned gravy for the side. Fine for pub food, but not for pub food at this price point -- this place is WAY too expensive for the quality you get.

But the starter. Wow, was it ever awful -- should be a law against calling what I was given "guacamole". It had a really weird oozing wet consistency, and I could see little puddles of liquid -- since this was a takeout order and I couldn't exactly send it back to the kitchen, I gave it a go, and it was sour to the point I was concerned it had actually gone off -- not that far off from just directly sucking on a lemon. Had to abandon it because it was just inedible. Came back to it the next day, and disturbingly, it looked almost the same except for a small amount of browning oxidization and more of the liquid had separated out. The picture included is from sitting out 19 hours later... I might just do a reproduction of the infamous time lapse McDonald's hamburger photos with this stuff.

This cost me $15 dollars. Since I'm not ill the next day, I think what actually happened is this is not even close to made fresh -- instead, they've loaded it up with some sort of citrus additive (and possibly even oil? I'm a bit at a loss to explain the bizarre texture of this stuff otherwise) to keep it from browning. I wouldn't eat here again, but if you must, skip the guac -- you can get a tub of grocery store guac for half the price, and it'll at least be the right creamy texture and you'd actually be able to taste...

The moment we were all waiting for "Saturday and Sunday Brunch" finally came. A friend of mine and I attended at on Sunday, November 20th. We were very very disappointed in the food as compared to how Sunday Brunch was before Covid. We ordered the Smashed Guac and the GUAC WAS TO DIE FOR - A MUST ORDER AS FAR AS WE WERE CONCERNED, but the chips were cold and did not appear to be salted - not sure if you use unsalted chips, but worth a check. BUT THE GUAC WAS TO DIE - did I already say that. I had the Chicken and Waffles and my friend had the Caprese Toast. The chicken and syrup were very good but I would not order the waffles ever as they were hard as a rock and really had no taste unless you piled the maple bourbon sauce on them and they were cold. We told our server about this and she apologized and we said she was not the cook but she need to pass it on to the line chef as the waffles should NOT be cooked before the chicken and left there to get cold. My friend who had the Caprese Toast said the topping on the rye toast was delicious with the balsamic reduction but the rye toast could not be cut with a knife and she tried to pick it up and bite it but put it down for fear of breaking her teeth. Again we advised our server and she told the line chef and she came back with white bread which was toasted - and this was just as cold and hard and needless to say was not eaten. The deep fried home fries were good with ketchup. Would we order either of these two entrees again - a big fat NO. We will stick to ordering our normal chicken avocado salad and fajitas - hopefully these are still the same. Our server was great and we would give her a 5+ but the food was very poor. Not sure if you have new chefs or what but if your line cooks are toasting the waffles and rye or white toast before the hot food to be placed on them is ready, then it is time to go back to school, or do not leave them under the warming lights...