Publican House Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Peterborough

Big craft brewer and home brewer so I was pretty excited that I was finally trying this place out. I'll give a breakdown of my rating to start.

Food: 3/5 Atmosphere: 4/5 Publican Beer: 2/5 Service: 5/5 Cleanliness: 5/5 Price: 4/5

Food: The food we got was fantastic. The KFC (Kawartha Fried Cauliflower) was a pleasant surprise and the dipping sauce was great. Food came out hot and perfectly cooked. My gripe about the food was how polarizing it was. It's not a menu catered for Joe the public as it's missing even the most basic pub fare that one would expect to have with beer. The place generally seems busy but I think that will drop off with time due to the limited menu alone.

Atmosphere: Pretty interesting inside that can cater to small and large groups without feeling cramped at all. The open kitchen and wood fired pizza oven really helped with the overall atmosphere. There was only one other couple dining with us so it was relatively quiet. The second floor offers a similar feel with a bar and seating area. Wouldn't mind seeing one of two floors having televisions that would be hooked up with local sports so that it could be a hangout for casual beer and appetizers on game nights.

Publican Beer: Please please please make a beer that actually tastes good! This has been ongoing ever since The Publican opened up. I have gone in streaks trying the beer, really disliking it, and then going long periods without trying it again. I figured that they would clean up the recipes but it still tastes really unrefined and inconsistent. The Square Nail Pale Ale still tops out as my #1 least favorite craft beer and I've tried almost every craft beer that I can grab off the LCBO shelves over the last 10 years. The High Noon is the only beer I can really tolerate, the Paddlers is tolerable as well.

Service: No issues here, our server was fantastic and the food came out in a timely manner. Staff appeared to enjoy working in the establishment.

Cleanliness: Again no issues here either. Lots of wood surfaces that would show dust, dirt, or uncleaned tables. Everything looked squeaky clean inside and out.

Price: Prices were on par with the quality of food provided and the level of service. Nothing really out of the ordinary.

Overall I would go back again if they could guarantee that any of the guest beer taps were in stock. I simply cannot drink Publican Beer but was interested in the guest taps they had on the menu (which were all out of stock).

Food is really good and really well cooked but the menu is limited. Not a place to go if you've got a picky eater in your party or someone who only likes light beers like Coors or Bud Lite with dinner.

Hoping to try out the patio this summer and will add my...

I had reserved a large party table for 20+ people three weeks in advance, the day before my sister’s wedding as a welcome dinner for her bridal party. I was informed of the 18% gratuity that is required for a party of that size. I understand that it is a large party and extra work is required for the servers and kitchen, this was not an issue.

When we arrived at the restaurant, there was only one server for our entire table. I am giving this restaurant a 1 star review because of their extremely poor customer service. Our server did not introduce herself to the table, she was unfriendly and she did not go over the menu with us. She then took over 30 minutes to start taking dinner orders and I even had to ask her to start taking everyone’s orders.

She came back once to check on our food but was inattentive and cold. When it is expected to provide an 18% tip for a bill of almost $1000, I would have expected much better customer service. When I provided her with the mandatory tip, she simply looked at the cash, did not bother to say thank you and then walked off.

Additionally, when I had booked this dinner I was not informed of a live musician playing directly at the head of our table. When we asked to have the music turned down or moved, we were told that by the server “this is where the musician always plays.”

Their food was okay but like most other reviews indicated - it is overpriced.

Management needs to work with their servers on their professionalism and should have at least 2 servers for larger parties.

The customer service, lack of communication, live music at the head of the table and overall experience is why I would not recommend this restaurant to family and friends...

What an awful experience. We will never go there again! Where to start?...

First of all. The bathrooms dont lock. I was walked in on by an older women who was so flustered left the door open. So that was fun....considering its right in front of the bar

The service was Sub-par at best. We ordered drinks and appetizers while waiting for the rest of our party to arrive. 25 minutes for chips and guacamole with only one visit from the waitress within the first 5 minutes of that.

Our waitress was un informative of the food that was not available but on the menu until one of us ordered it.. on a Saturday night.

When a hair was found in one of our meals the response from our waitress was "eww" then she walked away and in no way did she apologize or attempt to solve the issue by replacing the food.

After I ordered a $26 Steak that was un believably small and only came with a small Portion of fries. (Rip Off!) I then ordered a plain hamburger to help fill me up. She asked "just a plain burger"? I said yes... Almost 20 minutes later she brings me a cheeseburger which I didn't want or i would have asked for cheese. She said sorry and would bring me a plain burger... 5 minutes later she brings me a burger that she said was originally for someone else but she got the chefs to make another for them. This burger was still 90% raw. So disgusting to serve uncooked ground meat.

I will never be going back there again.

I would never recommend...