CrossRoads Brewing & Distillery — Restaurant in Prince George

On the surface, it might be strange comparing a pizzeria to a brewhouse, but let’s be honest, it’s going to happen. They’re the only two locations in Prince George featuring traditional wood-burning pizza ovens (Betulla’s is notably larger). Both menus are dominated by dishes emerging from the fiery depths of said ovens. They both boast rustic decors, with Crossroads taking the extra mile with functioning garage doors offering access to the aforementioned concrete patio. Both are commanded by two of the best chefs this town has ever seen. Comparisons will be made. Infiltrators from both sides attempted incursion to glean valuable intelligence on dough recipes and cooking techniques. And even among my group of five, without prompt, they began discussing which of the two were superior. My stance is complicated given the differences that still separate them. Betulla is defined by its pizza oven. With Crossroads, it’s a gimmick; their purpose is in their pints…beer pints that is. Fermentation tanks occupy more than half the complex, all shiny and chrome, visible from the windows dominating one wall of the restaurant. Their pizza oven is nudged in the corner, almost forlorn.

However, it’s in the menu where everything snaps back into the competition. Pizzas characterize both businesses, or at least for now, as Crossroads has yet to finalize their dinner menu. Seriously? We were presented wrinkled and stained loose sheets with claims a locked menu to be ready by June 10th, and we were almost two weeks past that. There was one dinner entrée, gnocchi. This place has been open since March. I had held out until reports spilled in that the menu had been set. Since I already decided on the review, I’ll offer that as a proviso, but the truth is, they’re open, a review is coming, finalized menu or not.

As said earlier, the décor is impressive, with polished natural wood tables, corrugated sheet metal fringing the bar, and that adorable pizza oven sitting in the corner like an oversized Chinese steamed bun. A counter runs along the glass wall with uncomfortable chairs for people to sit, though credit is given for offering both traditional and USB power ports for those stopping for lunch. I tip my hat; that’s a damn good idea. The tables were obviously expensive, but they still resembled picnic tables.

Two friends ordered beer while extolling the quality of the Crossroads brand. They never leave without picking up growlers. I don’t drink beer, believing it a joke passed on from the Sumerians to the rest of time. I found one brand at Crossroads that didn’t make me vomit, and that’s as high a praise you are ever going to get. It was called the Mother Heffer, which I couldn’t help thinking sounded dirty. As for the food, we opened with the share platter, a spotlight of all the other snacks, including olives, beer nuts, stuffed dates, flat bread, and biltong (South African jerky). Although all fantastic, high points go to the dates and flat bread.

As for pizza, we oredered four, the Italian Deli (salami, capicola, garlic parmesan), the Angry (Grana Padano cheese and fleur de lait, roasted garlic and spicy tomato sauce), the mushroom (mushrooms, it has mushrooms), and the Off the Grid (chorizo, pepperoni, farmer salami, mozzarella, and aged cheddar). These pizzas all read and look, very westernized. There isn’t much at Crossroads deviating from what you’d expect from franchise pizzerias, though with considerable more gusto. Betulla still has the claim on fancier pizzas. Then there are the prices; when Crossroads first opened, they were on par with Betulla. So, in a fair match, Betulla would take the belt. However, since then, Betulla has increased their prices by nearly 20%, while Crossroads has remained flat, an important factor to consider. Crossroad pizza is fantastic, far better than any of the tried and tested examples offered by...

I came down to PG in September to do my wedding dress shopping. My mother, MOH and I were staying at the Ramada, across the street. We stayed for a 3 day weekend, and ended up here each of the three days. One of the hosts, I wish that I had gotten her name, was AWESOME. She was happy, had a good sense of humor and consistently busy. On my first night there, I was by myself, as I arrived an hour before my family. I sat at the bar and had a butternut squash soup. It was amazing, with just a hint of spice, it was well rounded! The host sat next to me at the bar when she was finished her shift and we chatted a bit. I was working on my wedding planning and we talked a bit about that and her studies.

The second night, the host recognized me, which was very nice, considering she had only met me once! Our little group came here for dinner, tried a few of the pizzas and several of the beers. All were quite good. Our Server was a little inattentive, but all other aspects were pleasant. We tried the Big Sur Pizza and a few others.

We came in the last time and had requested a table with power. They informed us that all of them were taken, but we could move once a table opened up and was cleaned. That was followed through. About 30 min into our visit, we grabbed the new table, and got down to planning. The server changed twice, but we found that with any of the 3 they were a little inattentive.

In regards to the health protocols at the time, there was lots of Plexiglas, the sanitizers were being changed, tables were consistently clean, and there was provided sanitizer for the guests. Overall pleased with their respect for following health recommendations. At the time, face masks were also worn...

I’m very saddened by my experience this time at crossroads. So saddened that I felt compelled to write this review. I went there for a friend’s birthday and she brought her friends who were visiting. We got there at 8:30pm we managed to be seated and waited for 15 minutes to be asked for our drink order. Meanwhile a father and son that came after us were taken care of first. No one came until I being the only vocal one in the group went to the bar and told the bar tender who was very nice that we have been waiting for that long. I would have understood if the restaurant was busy but it wasn’t. We were a group of four of visible minority and being ignored made us feel unwanted and unworthy of being served. When the server finally made it to our table it felt like he was forced to serve us and we still kept our cool and stayed. Our meal arrived at 9:27pm. Everyone wanted to just leave but I didn’t want anyone to be disappointed especially because we had a birthday to celebrate. Because of this experience we weren’t able to enjoy the food and we probably will never go there again. Although this experience was very bad and sad, we still left a tip for those that work hard without knowing who they were serving. I side note for the servers, although we are brown skinned people, we’re also public servants and peace officers. Unlike you we will always protect and serve you with pride...