1954 Bourbon & Smoke — Restaurant in St. Catharines

Yup it's me, the one that rounded up the bill and only tipped $4.80 and here is why... Coming from the service industry I will say that it is NOT in my nature to not tip or tip below par. However, having been to this restaurant twice before my expectations were high.

To start off the restaurant was not busy, and we were not in a rush. It took awhile to order first drinks but they had one large table and when he did come take the order the server was helpful and recommended a drink based on personal tastes. After our drinks were brought over, we mentioned 1 more might join us but we would start with the onion dip. Onion dip came and it was great with the fried Pitas. The dish had too much dip (not a bad problem to have). Sounds like a good start thus far, but then it went downhill quick. By the time our third person arrived we waited and waited and waited for someone to come back over to take our order. Finally he came back and asked to take our order. We all had something different from the menu and oh boy did it miss the mark. I had the special which was supposed to be a pork belly BLT with Boston lettuce. The pork was cooked ok, a bit dry and my lettuce was not crispy at all, it was hot and soggy. My friend got the 2 piece plate with brisket and chicken, they gave her pulled pork and chicken instead (they did fix this) so she got to try all 3 meats. Chicken was ok, brisket was dry, thick and the pulled pork was bland. Oh and the cornbread... dry and completely flavorless. Don't mess up cornbread at a BBQ place, just don't. The last plate was a burger with a side poutine, and all we could say was "should have gone to Harvey's". This dish looked like it was off the kids menu with regards to the size. I wouldnt call that poutine an upgrade either. During all this the person that was last to arrive was still waiting on the water he ordered. Finally got some more water for the table and it wasn't until we were done eating that they returned to ask if we wanted anymore alcoholic beverages, which had I been asked before my food was brought out and my glass sat empty at the far end of the table I probably would have spent more money. In hindsight, I'm not mad about that, final bills were outrageous for what we got. We were here for 2 hours, and like I said we weren't in a rush, but our table was definitely neglected... offered 1 drink in that entire time. When we were done we waited such a long time for someone to come ask if we were done, I felt like I could have fallen asleep at the table. Finally the staff ended their convo by the bar to come top up our waters when we were clearly done and just looking for the bill. Even our third guest had to get going so the staff had to have seen them leave. Definitely a clue as to when I table is ready to go.

Had the food just been the issue I would have tipped accordingly because we all know that isn't the servers fault. In this case the entire experience was off and this very much included the service we got.

Service was lacking, timing was terrible. Food was underwhelming and tasteless. Will...

We had high hopes for this place and I really do hate leaving bad reviews but we needed to provide feedback in hopes that this restaurant will try to improve. My fiancé and I both ordered the same thing, 2 piece platter with brisket, pulled pork and 2 sides. Presentation was okay.

-As you can see in the photo attached, the brisket had a TON of fat on either side, making for a very small amount of edible meat. My fiancés piece of brisket was even worse and completely inedible. We smoke meat at home including brisket and I wouldn’t serve that piece to a dog. The server told us they apparently have people that specifically “request” fatty pieces. I believe that they have a serious misunderstanding of a “fatty” piece of brisket. Therefore I don’t really buy that. Nonetheless, he made it right and brought us new pieces of brisket - which were not as fatty but still not good…dry and rubbery and cut very thick. -Pulled pork was the best thing on the plate, a bit more flavourful and the sauce on the side was decent. My fiancé said he had a “chemical” taste from it though - we saw this mentioned in another review. -The sides were mediocre: corn bread was flavourless and hard on the outside, wasn’t buttered. “Baked beans” was not baked beans. It was basically Chili and had heat to it, so it took away from the entire flavour and concept of baked beans.

Overall, we did not taste any smoke at all in any of the meats. Our server was friendly and personable, but the food was just really disappointing. They are definitely trying to please a wide crowd with their diverse menu options, but are missing the mark on the BBQ and smoke aspect. We won’t come back.

Side note - they don’t have burnt ends on the menu. Any legit bbq place would have that on their menu...

So the wife and I tried getting some takeout from 1954 Bourbon, and our experience was mixed. We ordered the B.Y.O.P BBQ platter with 3 meats, the brisket, the sausage and the Nashville chicken. For sides we grabbed the waffle cut fries and the baked beans As well as one order of the Mac Con Queso, and finished it up with 2 orders of Cornbread.

First and foremost we both felt the cost was a little too high for the amount of food we received. Running about $75 in total, with only a small amount of food to show for it.

As for the food, I'll start with what we liked. The Nashville chicken, done with a dry rub, was absolutely fantastic. If I were to order here again that is what I would get, along with the waffle fries. The cornbread is another item i would certainly order again, and the Mac Con Queso was also pretty delicious.

However, the majority of the meal was quite the dissatisfaction. The one sausage we received was over smoked, to the point you could only taste smoke and no sausage. The Brisket was quite tasty, unfortunately of the very small portion we received of it, only about 10% was Meat. The rest was pure fat, so we did not really get more then 2 or 3 bites. Which was very disappointing, given that it did taste good. The baked beans while not bad, were not to my taste. They are a super spicy sweet baked bean, as opposed to a BBQ baked bean, my wife however did enjoy them in small amounts.

All in all we were fairly disappointed with 1954. But I would be willing to try dining in and see if the experience would be a bit different. We'd probably only buy the fried chicken, and maybe try one of the cocktails.

Attached is a photo of the brisket and sausage link, taken after I had eaten a good chunk of...