Ganaraska Brewing Company — Restaurant in Port Hope

Ganaraska Brewing Co. leaves a lot of room for improvement, and hopefully they do. This review is of a very bizarre and disappointing experience.

We first sat on the downstairs patio, and had a very lovely server who ensured we were able to move to the rooftop patio when a table became available. Downstairs we served our two beer flights plus a pint of the Watermelon Sour. The flights came out of order so we weren't really sure what we were drinking. As a review of the beer, the subtle differences in the beer composition were not enough to distinguish flavours between any of them (except for the Watermelon Sour, which none of us tasted watermelon, it was just sour). I would expect more from a craft brewery.

We settled our bill downstairs to move to the rooftop patio. We immediately noticed the hush tone of the roof - no music, tables were whispering, and service was lacking. We were thankful that our downstairs server was able to arrange for our appetizers we had ordered to be brought upstairs, unlike another table who we saw moved upstairs and were told to go back downstairs because items they ordered were not served upstairs. We still aren't entirely sure why, but there are some rules about upstairs/downstairs drinks and food that made no sense to us and could use some clarification upon entry.

We ordered some food off the "rooftop menu," and none of it really matched what was served. The "Grilled Cheese," nary a description on the menu, was served as two pieces of naan bread with which there was mozzarella, pesto, and tomato - there is a clear disconnect of item name and item served. We also ordered what was described as three "lime fish tacos" with carrot coleslaw. We were brought three tacos, which clearly had a curry sauce, no lime, with the slaw. When we asked the server if these were curry, she asked the person behind the grill who shrugged and was unsure. The server then came and told us there is chipotle on the tacos, which if there was, it was hidden completely by curry. Note that there are tandoori cauliflower tacos on the menu, which may be what they served us, or garnished ours as such: either way, the curry is not palatable, so I don't recommend really any of the tacos.

Service was very slow upstairs, I won't speculate on how busy the staff is at any given time, but I would suggest to the owners to make sure you have staff able to serve tables. We watched a number of tables sit and either leave to downstairs or wait upwards of 10 minutes for service.

I would not recommend this establishment. The whole experience was bizarre and read as if it had been opened by someone who has little to no restaurant experience or knowledge. We spent about $150, money we would have been better off...

My husband and I have been to this brewery quite a few times and the service is usually on par (and we love the beer). However, today it was not great. We came in at about noon with our baby and ordered 2 beers and a wrap to split. The beers came out right away, however we noticed it was taking an unusually long for our food to come out. But our waitress had walked by our table and assured us that our food would be right out. 10-15 minutes go by and still nothing. At this point we have been at the restaurant for almost an hour and our baby was starting to fuss so we asked our waitress if she could just cancel the order. She then went to the kitchen to look into what was going on and comes back with the bill for our 2 beers, and apologized to us because apparently our order had gotten lost. She then told us she removed the food off the bill as if that was a favour to us? I asked her if she could remove one beer off for the bill for the inconvenience to us and she did, but imo I shouldn’t have had to ask. Other than that she was pleasant and attentive but it seemed like she might had too many tables on the go for her to handle… maybe a...

I decided to stop in after work since I pass by the brewery every morning and evening. It did not disappoint in any way! I ordered the "hot chicken" which was a spicy chicken mac and cheese. Delicious isn't a descriptive enough word for it. It's clearly not a prepackaged or frozen meal. The flavours and textures are all very fresh. I'm a huge fan of spice and if you are too, I highly recommend it. It has a kick!!!

I was helped at the bar by Ian. Such a friendly and approachable guy. His passion for what he does was clear and added to the vibrant environment. I ordered a beer flight and I enjoyed each of the beers I ordered. Each had their highlights and I was astonished that muscles from Brussels (9% ABV) was very smooth and even had a hint of sweetness to the flavour.

Before leaving I decided to buy a 6 pack. All beers are craft and there's a really large selection of options. Before leaving, Ian mentioned that they have a rooftop patio. I'm planning to come back with some friends on a nice day to check that out.

If you're in Port Hope, add this as a stable...