Braxton's Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Town of Saint Andrews

This place does not live up to what it should be, or what it used to be. It's clear this "resort" is lacking adequately trained staff due to the current employment challenges, and the remoteness of this location.

However, it doesn't excuse the service they continue to provide. The service and quality have continued to drop year after year, and this was probably the last time we will visit this restaurant. And perhaps, the hotel.

We were a group of 10, which included 4 kids. We had no problem with our reservation, nor with the person who greeted us and sat us. Very kind and friendly.

However, that quickly changed when our server arrived. His demeanor was just a little too casual for his audience.

He took our order for drinks, which came back to the table and were placed in the incorrect spots (no big deal). One of the kids with us ordered a drink which we found out later wasn't available. He brought a replacement soft drink and said "I hope they don't mind"... not a big deal, but another option could have been offered instead of an assumption.

Three kids ordered chicken fingers off the kid's menu. ALL three orders arrived with raw chicken. Now, it was nice to know they were using real chicken; however, the one meat that shouldn't be undercooked and served was served on three plates.

I ordered the steak, medium rare, which came out more on the rare side than anything. Not a problem for me, just not my preference. However, I ordered a side shrimp skewer, which came out so overcooked, that the shrimp was so tightly curled up, that you had to pull hard to get it off the skewer, leaving most of the shrimp still attached. On top of that, the meal came with seasonal vegetables, which I guess were fries....

Now, the server corrected the orders that were undercooked for the kids and took the shrimp off the bill (as only one was partially eaten). That was a nice gesture. Unfortunately, the rest of our table were underwhelmed with their meals but chose not to say anything.

But, I need to go back to the server's overall demeanor which put things over the top. When he went to clear my plate and noticed the shrimp he commented "I guess they weren't cooked to your liking either?" Not sure if this was a failed joke at the undercooked chicken or he was just generally annoyed at the time... but, that was confirmed when I returned to the bar about 30mins after we had left, to grab a glass for our room and was greeted with "well, I'm surprised to see you back here".

Needless to say, that will probably be the last time I go back there.

The following morning, we were in a crunch for time and chose to eat at the buffet. A buffet is what it is. My only critique would be the server's choice to refill coffee cups on the table, and reaching/passing full cups of coffee over a 2-year-old at the table. No accident, but certainly setting...

Feeling a great need to escape following a hard winter locked in the house, we escaped to the Algonquin Resort in picturesque St. Andrews, NB. Needing time to relax, we didn’t even leave the hotel and ate all of our meals at the hotel’s restaurant/bar.

As there were relatively few people in the hotel, it was easy to just drop in without reservations. We chose to eat in the bar as we needed a “baño de gente” as my Spanish spouse calls it. Literally a “bath of people”, we needed to feel the atmosphere with people around. Also, the bar had a nice fireplace. Gas but realistic feeling.

First, the staff are incredibly with the polish one would expect from a restaurant of this nature. Friendly and engaging wish just the right amount of attention without feeling over bearing.

Meals arrived with good timing and nice presentation. Quality was good. Not great like I would have expected for the place and price. However, we were not disappointed with the meals.

So while all was well with the meal, I feel the prices were too high relative to fine dining in other locations. Yes, I understand hotel restaurant have an added markup and many times I opt to pay rather than leave the hotel. However, it was just a little higher than I felt it merited. For example, my $40 seafood risotto was good. Not great as I expected for this price. The bottle of wine we ordered one night was about triple the cost from the liquor store.

The other negative for me was to see two tip lines on the bill. One just labeled tip and the other labelled something like kitchen tip. It is a well known fact that in North America restaurants are trying to up the percentages of tips as a way to supplement wages paid, not for rewarding good service, as a tip should be. If a restaurant wants to recognize cook staff, then have tips split. However, the best way to recognize all staff, especially chefs, is to pay them well. In a tourist country like Spain, hardly anyone tips. It is because they pay their staff a good wage and the service there is still spectacular. Anyway, this sat very badly with me and is not a change in custom that I will support.

So all in all a great experience but with the little distractions noted, I could not support a 5...

A nice, upscale restaurant nestled in the sleepy town of St Andrews and located conveniently inside of the Algonquin Resort. The interior feels very open, with large glass windows looking out into the gardens on one side and similarly large windows on the other that open up to the large hallway on the ground floor of the hotel.

Their drink menu is quite large, and the food menu is smaller but focused on dishes they excel at. Pretty plating, but sometimes questionable adornments that may feel a little wasteful (our bao bun pork dish had burnt lime on the side that was too dry to squeeze juice out of, and some dishes came with a large pile of spring greens with no dressing). That being said, their salads are hearty and the fish and chips were very generous.

I will say, make sure to confirm the menu before coming if you have dietary restrictions. We conveniently arrived just before the switch over from lunch to dinner and were given the option of ordering from one or the other, thankfully, as the lunch menu had far more vegetarian options compared to dinner. Disappointed that the oft-raved about crab cakes were not available when we visited, though maybe they were out of season? Be mindful of that if that is a dish you're looking for.

Would like to see some further flexibility with vegetarian options provided at dinner aside from roasted (frozen-thawed) broccoli and...