The Canadian Brewhouse & Grill (Richmond) — Restaurant in Richmond

I'm not entirely sure where to begin with for this review as it was a comedy of errors.

We arrive about 230pm on Sunday afternoon, in the middle of NFL Sunday. I think there was music playing but nothing too loud but there were lots of TVs of varying sizes that had all of the games that were playing.

The Food:

We ordered off the happy hour food menu which should have been straightforward which it was not. We opted for kactus cut chips and a medium cheese pizza to share. Despite the cutesy spelling of the chips, I do not believe they were made in house which you'd expect these to have been, but they were fine. The cheese pizza was worse than something you'd have bought in the frozen section at a sketchy chinese convenience store. No part of the pizza was worth 8 or 9 bucks that it cost. My friend and I both left it sitting for quite some time but ate it anyways. My friend had also ordered the sliders that were donair meat but when he lifted the buns on them I said I'd support him in making a complaint because the meat was almost nonexistent. We weren't off to a good start lol.

The drinks: We ordered tankards of beer for 9.99 Bud light. How can you mess up mugs of bud light right? Well, despite the fact that the mugs were frosted, which just makes the beer flat, something was off about them. The beer tasted like you'd expect more or less. We ordered bottles of beer which is disappointing in this day and age because most places will serve craft beer on tap but no mention of anything resembling craft was mentioned, nor was it on any of the specials. When I asked for a pint of Canadian, which my friend also ordered, it was the exact same size of the mug of 9.99 beer that was on special... something was rotten in Denmark! The server didn't know what she was talking about and tried to explain away the difference between the pint and the taller tankard, 2 whole ounces larger, which was somehow two extra dollars. The mugs for both were the exact same size but we didn't measure. Although I was the one who changed my order from a bottle to a pint, my friend ended up receiving the bottle but didn't bother to complain because he was just happy that we received our drinks but it wasn't funny or cute anymore. Even if we would have been encouraged to drink more by faster service the beer selection was less than desirable, but we were meeting halfway between where my friend and I lived so we were happy to catch up. My friend thought some shots or flavoured shooters would love things up but we were sadly wrong. The "shooter" came out in a small glass full of ice and another conversation ensued about what we thought we ordered and whay we actually ordered but we have up trying to use reason as our server, as lovely as she was, didn't know anymore than whatever was on the menu, which is kind of sad.

Later in the afternoon sound was turned on for the Grey Cup which is odd, because we hadn't had sound all day yet for the games. Some use of this scoring siren was used but almost nonexistent, until the anthem was played when they switched it to the Canucks game and it was quite obnoxious. The server could have let us know that this was used a lot for Canucks games.

This should be extremely simple: have some decent beer and food specials on a Sunday for sports fans to stick around and hang out. At some point through the afternoon my friend and I were stunned and it was no longer funny how many things kept happening at this place. Of the three pillars of an establishment, food, drinks, service and maybe the atmosphere (which was extremely dark for the first couple hours when we arrived), I'm shocked that this place was a) still in business and b) had any guests in it at all. Choose another venue for your...

UPDATED REVIEW AUG 2023 What used to be our favorite neighborhood pub has us questioning more and more of our choice.

Our 3x/month barrel of loaded nachos (+ brisket) has been INconsistent and has also been echoed by friends at the Richmond Olympic Oval in recent weeks. Some days / evenings, the chips are crunchy, and other times are completely soft...as in "stale" chips. I'm not talking about soft from the heat steam either. We all know how nachos are made. Heck, a couple of our friend's kids make them at other restaurants.

Last night's evening out there was no different. Unfortunately, her Tankard of Blue Moon was a little cool (not cold) despite being served in a beautifully iced Tankard. My Tankard of Stella was perfect. When I politely raised a concern about her coolish beer, the waitress replied, "That's not possible." Yes, in theory, she may be right, but in reality, no. Our waitress shared our observation with the bartender, and she too commented on the same incident the previous night. I suggested they both taste a sampler but to no avail. We are not one to waste food, so I asked for a glass of ice to be added to her beer to make it COLD.

We were offered another Blue Moon (replacement), but we declined because if they were not going to taste it themselves, then I did not want to risk being served another "coolish" beer.

For the first time in many years of supporting this establishment, we did not finish the barrel of nachos. It was also a 1st that I didn't order my usual 2nd Tankard. 1/3 of the nachos remained. We packed it to go, and instead of snacking on it later, the experience had us adding it to the compost bag. It's such a shame.

I will somewhat continue to support this establishment but now with a different and limited frequency.

REVIEW FROM LAST YEAR Great neighborhood sports bar. Love the variety on tap, and I love their daily specials. Good pub food matched with attentive and friendly staff. Wings can be improved, but that's subjective.

My all-time favorite Sports Bar with insane # of flat screens everywhere.

All good. Limited free 90-minute parking outside. Daytime...

FANTASTIC experience on all counts. When my husband and I walked in, we instantly loved the atmosphere. Big space, lots of TVs for watching sports, great music choices, and of course, nothing beats that intimate bar lighting. We were seated quickly and were immediately impressed with the details. The napkins had printed logos, the forks looked like hockey sticks on the end, (meaning the end you hold and not the end you eat with), and the coasters were rubber and looked like hockey pucks. However, we were honestly even MORE impressed with the food and drinks. My husband and I aren't drinkers, (despite loving bar scenes), so we shared a dirty strawberry soda mocktail. It was EXCELLENT, sweet, creamy, and bubbly. Also, since we're from the States, we decided to give the poutine a shot as our appetizer. It, too, was excellent and a great introduction to Canadian cuisine. For my main course, I got the drunken fish 'n chips, and it was truly the best fish 'n chips I've ever had. The fish was fresh and moist, the breading was crispy and left me with a euphoric crunch in every bite, and the tartar sauce was seasoned to perfection. My husband selected the brisket grilled cheese sandwich. At first, I thought he was crazy - we're from Texas, and we're very proud of our brisket - so I thought it would be subpar. But honestly, the sandwich could not have been more OPPOSITE. First, they weren't shy with the brisket, so my husband was happy with his Texas-sized portion. Second, the brisket was the consistency and tenderness of pulled pork, which showed us that it was cooked very well. Third, the barbecue sauce was the perfect mix of sweet and tangy. My compliments to the chef. Lastly, a huge shout-out to our server, Nicholas. He was polite, knowledgeable, offered great suggestions, and was personable, which goes a very long way in our book. If we ever find ourselves in this neck of the woods again, we'd come back here and ask for him to be our server without a doubt. This was definitely a stop on our trip worth remembering. 5 STARS...