Sawyer's Craft BBQ — Restaurant in Ontario

I really really wanted to love this place but, unfortunately, it was just meh, and barely.

I dined in on an early Friday afternoon. There was one other person dining in when I got there. Idk what he ordered but he was raving about it so I was optimistic and excited that I had finally had an opportunity to try the place out.

I was greeted/ seated/ given water & menu pretty quickly after I arrived. A few folks came by for take out and others came to dine in so it wasn’t “dead” but not terribly busy either.

I had a little trouble choosing so I asked the server what their favourite item on the menu was and they replied the Brisket Fried Rice which seemed weird to me for some reason so I went with my own selection of brisket sandwich and the potato salad.

Perhaps I should have gone with the recommendation because my choice was clearly not a good choice. The brisket was like 80% fat and the one or two pieces of meat that I did get were, oddly enough, really dry. It came at room temperature. The dill potato salad had tons of fresh dill, which barely saved the salad. Without the dill the salad had zero flavour - no seasoning or even salt. I did get a couple of pieces of apple but they were so small that they had barely any noticeable impact on the taste.

The meal was disappointing and I ate very little of it - was offered a to-go container which I refused. Taking it home wasn’t going to make it taste any better - although, admittedly now I realize I could have taken the potato salad home and doctored it up. Oh well!

Like I said, I really really wanted to love this place and I wanted to leave not feeling so disappointed so, although I wouldn’t normally order desert & since I ate very little of my meal, I decided to try the banana cream pie which only added to the disappointment.

There was no description on the menu for the banana cream pie so I assumed, as I suspect most would, that I would get a slice of banana cream pie. Wrong. Idk if this is supposed to be some “new pie” thing but I basically received a plastic to-go container filled with cream and bits of banana on top. It was weird. I did not like it. As I dug into it I discovered the “crust” was an arrowroot cookie. The cream was a bit heavy on cinnamon or nutmeg, which wasn’t unpleasant, but definitely not banana cream pie. The banana bits on top were obviously banana chips that became semi rehydrated leaving them with a weird unpleasant chewy unchewy texture.

The server came by pretty quick with my bill but I was planning to sit there catching up on emails etc for a little bit so didn’t bother to get up to go pay but then they came by in short time with the debit machine. I felt like I was being rushed out. There was still plenty of seats and not as though they needed my seat but this just added to my disappointing experience so I just decided to be on my way.

This feels like brutal review but it’s an honest one. I have never written such a poor review and especially for a small neighborhood establishment.

I even considered not writing a review at all but after some contemplation, I decided that given how poor my lunch was & how ridiculously expensive it was, I had a responsibility to give my honest review for others.

It’s not like it was a cheap meal that I could just figure “oh well” and chalk it up as live and learn and never go back - which I probably won’t do anyway - it was a terribly expensive...

Went with 3 buddies and was pretty disappointed. I will say off the bat the drinks were perfect and by far the best part of our trip here, bartender was very personable as well.

Service was terrible. Everytime we ordered a round of drinks server would forget something that was ordered and come back to ask again. Told her we were all sharing and wanted to try different things, so we ordered some items and asked if this would be enough food for 4 (weren’t worried about price, just hungry) to which she said that’s more than enough. Also told her we were excited to try all the sauces.

When our food was brought out we were shocked to see that the small platter that arrived was all the food we ordered, portions were enough for maybe 2 people. Would have ordered more but the wait times were quite long at the time so we just ate what we got. Only 3 of the 4 sauces were given in tiny 1 oz containers for 4 guys. Asked if we could get more sauce and ketchup for the fries right when she dropped off the food and our waitress never returned.

Brisket was delicious but unfortunately dry, same with the Mac. Burnt ends were a complete flop, fat wasn’t trimmed nearly enough on these and literally half of each piece was hard, unrendered fat (inedible), so each one was one small bite per, and there was enough burnt ends to have 2 small bites each per person. The sauces we did have were very good, but I was most excited to try the coffee one but we never got to try it. Cornbread was also very good and dipping it in the blueberry sauce was very good.

Since not returning after dropping our food, eventually our waitress sent the hostess/busgirl to see if we were ready for the bill and boxes and we said yes. Then the server had to make 3 trips back to our table to make sure everything was right (we just split the food cost evenly 4 ways and wanted our own drinks on our own bills).

Overall not the best experience but I am definitely going to give them another chance because it is important for local business to succeed and every new place has...

Order Date July 9 2023, just after restaurant's grand opening.

We ordered a cross section of the menu. Pork Side ribs, brisket sandwich, brisket burger and a pulled pork sandwich that they call a pork butt sandwich, which is correct, maybe tongue-in-cheek naming, I don't know.

The meats were across the board very good. The ribs were PERFECTLY cooked if you like them done competition style. Bite-meat pulls cleanly off the bone, not falling off the bone, but so juicy. The rub was basic, but thats all it needs, salt, pepper and garlic, maybe some onion. The smoke is treated as an ingredient, not the dominant note. It was a little under-represented however. No sauce on the ribs. My wife absolutely loved the pork sandwich. My boys inhaled their brisket sandwich/burger respectively. Big hits.

The sides: Mac and cheese, coleslaw.

I didn't try the mac and cheese, but both boys did, and they agreed that it wasn't cheesy enough, but I suspect they meant it wasn't creamy enough, kind of dry. The crushed pork rind crust was enjoyed though.

My wife and I had the coleslaw, and she thought it ok. I thought it fantastic. Not sure if it was buttermilk in the mix, but there was a tang to the slaw that I found delicious.

Desserts:

Banana Pudding and Bourbon Pineapple Upside Down Cake

The banana pudding was good, not great -not as good as others I have tried in town.

The Cake was one of the best deserts I have ever tried. Just great. I would definitely order that again, perhaps an entire cake not just a slice. It was that good.

Will I order again? Sure will. Maybe some of these smaller things were because of being so new in business, I will revisit things in a few months and see where they are...