Brazen Hall Kitchen & Brewery — Restaurant in Winnipeg

Returned recently.

Nashville crispy chicken sandwich 4 stars It had a nice flavor to it, but being drowned in the sauce, it lost its crispiness.

Vegan chicken wings 3.5-4.5 stars I'm not huge into fake meat because often I find there's an off taste to it. This was one of the better versions, but for myself, I would go with the regular wings. My vegan friend however thought it was fantastic.

Service was excellent on this visit. Absolutely no complaints there.

Previous review: Atmosphere is beautiful. They did a stellar job on the renovations. Service was a mixture of awesome to mediocre. When we first got there they were on top of things, with some small miscommunication. As it got busier, the service became absent. The service was, however, always friendly and polite.

There were a number of stand out dishes, but also mediocre items. Tried the winner of the best burger of the week: farmer Jon burger and fries. It was good. The blueberry maple ketchup was interesting. The bread held itself up and didn't disintegrate which can often happen on a moist burger. I've had similarly good burgers at other higher end restaurants (I can think of 2 off hand). Would I order this again? Yes. The price point is a bit high, but you did get a good amount of fries so you won't leave hungry.

The home made ravioli with wild mushrooms, caramelized onions, ricotta rose sauce: Found this to be an exceptional dish. The flavors were great. The cost for this dish was high, but I think it was worth it even though you don't get full. Pizza pop (hand made with cheese, pepp and bacon): This was recommended but I wouldn't personally go for this again. It was good, but it wasn't a standout. Filling if you are hungry and want something cheaper on the menu. Wings (Filipino BBQ flavor): It wasn't very saucy. The next table over had southern BBQ wings and it looked much more sauced. It really depends on if that matters to you. I was impressed with the number of wings. You get a pound, but it came out to 15 wings. Often I've been to restaurants where you get less. Maybe because these ones aren't breaded? I also liked the fact it wasn't breaded. The ranch sauce that was on the side was over powering. If you dipped it in the sauce, you only tasted ranch and any BBQ flavor just disappeared. Citrus semifreddo and short bread crumble: Really enjoyed this dessert, but it was still kind of frozen in the middle when we got it. The...

I'll preface the review by stating if I reviewed Brazen Hall in 2022 it would be a solid 5 stars after eating at this location multiple times.

However, with that being said the 2023 experience is vastly inferior. I ordered two award winning burgers the Krakow and the Classy Viking on separate occasions. The Krakow had a sour flavor from the pickled red cabbage and was unfortunately the predominate flavor of the burger overshadowing the rest of the flavor profile. The Classy Viking while also pretty good was missing the crispy part in the onions and thus were very sad and squishy. Additionally, the burger was missing the subtle sweet flavor in the mustard chow chow blend that previously brought all the flavors together.

The sides that came with the burgers were polar opposites with the cauliflower cheese soup being outstanding and perfectly seasoned. The beet salad was borderline inedible due to the overwhelming sourness of the red wine vinaigrette and the almost complete absence of the sweetness from the beets as well as almost no goat cheese and wasabi peas.

Additionally, I ordered the Prickly Dillemma poutine which was absolutely fabulous and was easily the best item ordered this year. The flavors were great, really allowing the dill pickle flavor to shine utilizing a subtle sweet and smoky flavor from the candied bacon as well as a gentle spice from the chipotle hollandaise gravy to compliment the dill pickle flavor. Only gripe I had with the dish is it contained multiple full unground black pepper corns throughout which added a nice flavor however the tooth jarring impact of biting into one was not pleasant.

The craft beer selection and quality is top notch. Also very reasonable prices on their draft beer. I do not think you could go wrong with any of the beers on tap. Easy 5/5 on the craft beers.

If you are for some reason one of those people who only go to restaurants with a high emphasis on service expectations I guess you wont be disappointed as the service at Brazen Hall was really good. Friendly wait staff who knew the specials on hand and gave ample customer space while also ensuring you always had a full beverage.

Overall recommend the location reasonably priced and food is good though if you have taste buds a far cry from...

Traveller Alert: If you are from out-of-town, like I am (from Saskatoon), and you are looking for a fantabulous restaurant with truly amazing food and seriously fantastic service, then stop looking and come to the Brazen Hall!

We came to Winnipeg for a swim meet and the Brazen Hall was recommended to us. So we gave it a try. There was plenty to choose from so I just put it in the hands of our server, Chris (or it may have been Cory?), and he delighted me with the Krakow Burger with mashed potatoes and gravy as a side dish. The bun was made in house and it competed with the best burger of all-time for this 50+ year old who has travelled the world. So amazing!!! It’s worth saying that Chris, our server,is a huge part of why we wanted to come back!)

The next night we were in Winnipeg, there wasn’t any other option but the Brazen. My travel partner and I didn’t even give it a second thought and we brought more people with us. This time I didn’t hesitate to let the server, Junait, pick my meal. So I was a bit surprised to have a similar selection, a spin on the Krakow Burger…this time with crispy chicken instead of beef….and I was equally delighted. I loved it both ways. And again, we had great service.

The third night we brought a few more parents with us. I had so much success with letting the server choose my meal that I left it with our wonderful server, Mackenzie, and she fed me the perfect option, the Nashville Hot Chicken Burger with a side of Creamy Cauliflower Soup. What an excellent choice that hit the spot.

My three experiences dining out here at The Brazen Hall in Winnipeg that I demanded to see the manager on shift. She was out serving tables and delighting customers…really, no surprises here. I thanked her profusely for such great food and service and I promised I’ll be back.

I can’t recommend The Brazen Hall enough. I think I found the best restaurant in town and wouldn’t dare chance any other restaurant if I didn’t know where to go. The food is delicious. The service is second to none. And the prices are very reasonable all things considered. Thank you to those that served us. You’re definitely my first stop next time I’m...