Bigtide Brewing Co. — Restaurant in Saint John

The beer was great, and fresh. I had an Irish Red Ale and my dining companion had a stout. The beer was very delicious and had a good head and flavour.

The nachos were about a 6/10. Perhaps a few more minutes under the salamander to get the cheese crisped up. Chips were corn and thicker which is good because it helps them stand up rather than get really mushy. Big points there.

I got this pub recommended to me as one of the best burgers in SJ.

I had the bigger tide burger with bacon and cheese. It also comes with sauteed mushrooms which I opted against.

Pros: hand formed, fair size portion, fresh veggies, and the pickle was good. The tomatoes were fresh though lacking a tiny bit of salt to release their flavour. The lettuce was julienne which really makes the presentation on the bun which was served open faced.

The cheese was good and the bacon was flavourful.

Cons: it seems they handle the beef for a long time while forming the burgers.

Therefore the beef was far too firm and compacted in texture. Loose beef allows for juices to remain, this was very tightly packed like extremely processed foods which is a shame for in house food.

It also felt like they didn't pat the meat dry before cooking meaning there was steam introduced reducing the maillard reaction for beautiful crispy browning.

The bun seemed to also have been pressed to a thin crepe rather than the fluffy luxurious one it likely started out as.

Finally although seasoned well they seem to have put oregano in the mix which detracts from the beefiness of the hand formed patty when a nice sea salt and pepper open would really allow the beef to speak for itself.

I'm also confounded that restaurants seem to continue to choose the Costco style egg wash french fries when we have access to beautiful New Brunswick dark russet potatoes grown right here in our province. Please I'll pay an extra $1 for the labour if you cut and prep potatoes to make fresh fries.

I post this with the extreme hope that they take on the challenge to be the best burger in Saint John as they have a fantastic location, delicious beer and a friendly staff.

My search for the best burger in SJ continues.

P.S. my concerns were heard by my server who took my feedback seriously and was professional in...

EDIT 2025 We revisited this establishment and was just as pleased as last time. I would highly suggest checking it out!!!

We were on a cruise, and Saint John, NB, was port of call. We headed in for a quick drink and some appetizers. The establishment offers an option to pick a number of appetizers. Example pick 2 for $22, pick 3 for $34, etc. We went with a pick 3 and selected wings, Scotch Egg, and Chillie Maple Meatballs. We got 6 wings, but we requested sauce on the side since my wife and I couldn't decide on one. I believe if you pick one sauce, the wings are coated and NOT served plain like ours. The sauces had good taste and had a bit of sweetness. These were not what I could call a Buffalo hot wing with a butter base. The sauces were sweet and tangy. The Scotch Eggs were served, and we each got one egg. Just a note, the Scotch egg is served cold and it is done intentionally by this establishment. The hardboiled egg is wrapped in sausage, then coated in seasoning/coating and fried. The egg was cooked nicely, and the sausage had a little spice to it, but it was very good. This was my first time trying this dish, and I was quite pleased. The final selection was the Chili Maple Bacon meatballs. This was my wife's favorite of the dishes. There was what seemed to be a beef/pork meat ball wrapped in bacon, then coated with Chili Maple sauce. I enjoyed dipping it into the hot sauce provided from the wings as well, but the presented sauce was very good. I also enjoyed the house amber ale. We talked with the staff and they were very accomadating. We also trained currencies, so we would have some Canadian currency as a souvenir. I would highly recommend this location for a few drinks, a bite to eat, and talk with the...

My mom was in town and we met some people at big tide. Mom and I decided to get fish and chips. The service was fast despite the chefs interest in running out every 15 minutes to smoke and text across the street. Probably that was the reason for 2 almost burned pieces of fish on fries with a lake of oil on the bottom. other ppl on our table ordered their food at the same time but waited at least 35 minutes even though the restaurant was empty. The beer of course was good as always, just a tip the Koelsch is terrible please take it off it doesn't even taste close to Koelsch, call it Carnival Pale Ale.

4 stars for the beer + 1 barley 1 star for the food. I give you 3 stars because you...