I have been to the Mill Street Brewpub three times now and I can definitely say that it’s one of my favourite experiences in the city. I have heard stories in the past few weeks which range from “I had to wait three hours in line!” (who waits three hours in line? Come back in a few weeks!) to “They ran out of our favourite beer!”
Trip 1: Day of the Grand Opening…Friday January 27 for lunch. Dipped into the Portage Cream Ale which was quite tasty. Then realized that they have ‘trips’ which are four 8 oz. glasses of beer for an excellent price. So we tried the wares. I realy was taken by the vanilla porter (Steve said he wanted to buy it all and serve his kids!) and the Valley Red (which on subsequent trips has not been available. Sold out already!). The fish and chips are bar none, some of the best I have had in the city. Dave, Steve and Maren also raved about their food. Service was impecabble as well.
Only complaint I had was that I bought a growler of the Portage Ale to share with Andre that night and it was quite lacking. It tasted like something was off about it. I chalk this up to a bad growler and nothing else as they haven’t had any problems with it that they know about.
Trip 2: Was seated in the lovely section in the back of the restaurant where you overlook the river! Pleasantly surprised and impressed. Vero and Krista really loved sitting back there as well. I had a Bock, some vanilla porter, and a few others on the menu. It was also wing night and they were fantastic wings at 50cents a wing. They were huge and the Jamaican Jerk was an excellent recommendation by our waitress Margaret.
Trip 3: Probably the favourite trip so far…our waitress Lisa was great to chat with and she was very accomodating to the increasing number of people showing up to the table for dinner. Michael found out that there was a brewery tour so we both went to sign up for it, found out that it was in fifteen minutes but was offered free samples while we waited! Fantastic! Then Michael began a debate with a gentleman standing next to us about the carbonation in English vs. Canadian beer. Turns out that the gentleman was Adam, the head brewer at Mill Street! He guided us down to the brewery and explained the process. I was thoroughly impressed and I chatted with him afterwards about my own brewing attempts and he gave me some tips as well as offered up some yeast whenever I drop by with a sterilized mason jar! What a great guy.
I had some excellent Bob’s Beard Red beer as well as the tortiere. Once again, Mill Street could do no wrong!
I’ve had three great experiences so far, and I’m sure I’ll have more in the future. Two pint glasses up for this new brewpub in Ottawa! Kudos to everyone at the brewpub. Great service.