A Canadian BBQ joint?!!! Could it possibly be?
I was on facebook one night and happened to see a posting by an old friend that he was at this restaurant with his family.When I emailed him to see what he thought - he was raving about it.
A couple days later while I was in Waterloo, I picked up my nephew - who also loves BBQ (okay he loves food just like his Uncle) and we went to explore. Now my nephew had just had his wisdom teeth out just before we went so I think he may need a 'redo'.
As you walk in you get that awesome smell of wood smoke. The decor is pretty cool as the owners have posted either T-shirts or pictures of BBQ joints from the States. I have only been to one place that he has posted (Dinosaur BBQ - Rochester). I may need to take notes next time I go (hint - I am going back means something).
I went with an obvious choice - a sampler - mine came with Ribs, beef brisket and wings. The ribs were awesome with right amount of bark, they were not dried out either. The beef brisket was great, they pulled away nicely (things you learn on tv) and there was a nice amount of bark again. The wings was the only thing that was a bit of miss, I found these to be a little greasy for my liking (yes i love wings and have my wing joints). My sides I decided for onion rings and jalapeno hush puppies. The rings were great - beer battered - yum! The hush puppies - OMG they were great - now if you never had hush puppies before - you need to go to this place to check them out.
Now the big warning about this place - it is small! there are not that many seats. So don't be surprised if you show up one evening and you have a long wait. My brother recently tried to go with his wife and my nephew on a Friday night (his mistake) and they told him it was a 45 minute wait. To me that is not bad - I have waited over an hour for a table before - maybe twice (same place)
Now for my rating I give this a 3.5 out of 5 over all - I see big things for these guys and they will need to move to larger premises if they continue to serve this good food.
http://www.hogtailsbbq.com
Monday, February 27, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
The Cedar Barn
First off, I have gone back there 4 times since I first decided to try this place. With my new job I am on the road often and now I look for little gems like this place. Also, there is a new show on here in Canada on the Food Network which an old school mate of mine produces called 'You Gotta Eat Here!'. I think they should check this place out.
The Cedar Barn is located on the North end of Waterloo, just around the corner from the St Jacob's Market. So on 'Market' days be prepared to wait at this little establishment. Everything served here is local. They do not appear to have a website so I will give the address at the end, you can find them on Google maps.
My personal favorite item on their menu is the Hot Roast Beef sandwich. The meat to my knowledge is slow cooked and just melts in your mouth. Don't be surprised when you walk in there are a number of people in that. I have also noticed a lot of people eating their soup & sandwiches, I have personally not tried this item yet but it appears to be popular. I have also had breakfast there once - fantastic.
I have noticed on trip advisor some bad comments on there. From my personal view, these people must have gone there on Market day - which I do believe are Thursdays & Fridays. So do not be surprised to wait on those days for a table and maybe food. It does not take a rocket scientist to know that there are not that many restaurants near by - so the good ones will be busy.
I give this place a 3.5 out of 5 overall
Cedar Barn Restaurant
1217 Lobsinger Line, Waterloo, ON
The Cedar Barn is located on the North end of Waterloo, just around the corner from the St Jacob's Market. So on 'Market' days be prepared to wait at this little establishment. Everything served here is local. They do not appear to have a website so I will give the address at the end, you can find them on Google maps.
My personal favorite item on their menu is the Hot Roast Beef sandwich. The meat to my knowledge is slow cooked and just melts in your mouth. Don't be surprised when you walk in there are a number of people in that. I have also noticed a lot of people eating their soup & sandwiches, I have personally not tried this item yet but it appears to be popular. I have also had breakfast there once - fantastic.
I have noticed on trip advisor some bad comments on there. From my personal view, these people must have gone there on Market day - which I do believe are Thursdays & Fridays. So do not be surprised to wait on those days for a table and maybe food. It does not take a rocket scientist to know that there are not that many restaurants near by - so the good ones will be busy.
I give this place a 3.5 out of 5 overall
Cedar Barn Restaurant
1217 Lobsinger Line, Waterloo, ON
Wow am I behind
I have not posted anything here for a while and man am I behind in some postings, well now I shall start...
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Casamici Trattoria
For a number of years now I have been dissuaded by the service by the staff in restaurants in the town of Bolton - be it of mainstream franchise restaurants to the independents. I had almost given up hope until recently when my wife and I visited Casamici (Note - there are a couple places I am willing to try and hope to get to them soon - both established locations but have moved to new locations Baffo's & Caruso's)
Now Casamici's I should tell you my wife and I have been trying to visit this restaurant for about three years and almost gave up hope until recently. I recall one time calling and they were closed for a private function, another time they were just closed a holiday, no answer a third time and I can not recall the reason for the fourth. We had heard from some others they had the same experiences. But I had heard from a neighbor that the food was exceptional.
Driving there we were almost put off by the sign at the side of the road advertising for wait staff and cooks. We looked at each other and wondered what we were getting ourselves into. When we walked in the restaurant was mostly empty except for two tables of a dozen each of people. The young lady who greeted us offered us any table of our liking - I liked that! The restaurant did fill up as evening went by.
Now I did a brief of their menu online before making the reservation just to make sure there would be dishes I would like (okay that almost sounds stupid as most of my friends will say that I will eat just about anything) - I also like to look for my staples, the dishes I absolutely love to order.
So, yes of course I ordered my staples - I started with their Antipasto dish of cold grilled peppers, zuchini, eggplant, sea food salad, prosciutto, and bruschetta. I pretty well inhaled it - fabulous dish. The size is perfect for one but not for two. My wife enjoyed a simple caesar salad. For the entre I went with my Veal Scaloppine in a Marsala sauce. Now usually with most restaurants I have gone to I still have plenty of room for desert. The portion here was fabulous (do not change it!) I still had room for dessert but just a bit.
The Marsala sauce was a bit tarte but enjoyable all the same. This is a sauce I have tried to make myself but have failed myself. A couple wonder pieces of veal, small potatoes, and fresh vegetables.
My wife enjoyed her Gnocchi (I don't understand how she could get excited about that) I thought for sure she would have ordered the special of the night (kind of hoped she would so I could try it), it was swordfish.
We did not order dessert this evening as it does not help at all that my favorite italian bakery is located next door and decided to go there and get a couple canoli's and go home to enjoy them - whoops - they were closed when we left the restaurant.
Now the waitstaff were very attentative but there were only two of them and a buser, so they unfortunately did not have time to be personable as they all waited on all the tables not just a section. That is also something I like and appreciate, but they did a fabulous job regardless and hopefully they are able to hire more staff so they have a little time to do so.
I will return to this establishment again
http://www.casamici.com
Food - 4 stars
Service - 3 stars
Now Casamici's I should tell you my wife and I have been trying to visit this restaurant for about three years and almost gave up hope until recently. I recall one time calling and they were closed for a private function, another time they were just closed a holiday, no answer a third time and I can not recall the reason for the fourth. We had heard from some others they had the same experiences. But I had heard from a neighbor that the food was exceptional.
Driving there we were almost put off by the sign at the side of the road advertising for wait staff and cooks. We looked at each other and wondered what we were getting ourselves into. When we walked in the restaurant was mostly empty except for two tables of a dozen each of people. The young lady who greeted us offered us any table of our liking - I liked that! The restaurant did fill up as evening went by.
Now I did a brief of their menu online before making the reservation just to make sure there would be dishes I would like (okay that almost sounds stupid as most of my friends will say that I will eat just about anything) - I also like to look for my staples, the dishes I absolutely love to order.
So, yes of course I ordered my staples - I started with their Antipasto dish of cold grilled peppers, zuchini, eggplant, sea food salad, prosciutto, and bruschetta. I pretty well inhaled it - fabulous dish. The size is perfect for one but not for two. My wife enjoyed a simple caesar salad. For the entre I went with my Veal Scaloppine in a Marsala sauce. Now usually with most restaurants I have gone to I still have plenty of room for desert. The portion here was fabulous (do not change it!) I still had room for dessert but just a bit.
The Marsala sauce was a bit tarte but enjoyable all the same. This is a sauce I have tried to make myself but have failed myself. A couple wonder pieces of veal, small potatoes, and fresh vegetables.
My wife enjoyed her Gnocchi (I don't understand how she could get excited about that) I thought for sure she would have ordered the special of the night (kind of hoped she would so I could try it), it was swordfish.
We did not order dessert this evening as it does not help at all that my favorite italian bakery is located next door and decided to go there and get a couple canoli's and go home to enjoy them - whoops - they were closed when we left the restaurant.
Now the waitstaff were very attentative but there were only two of them and a buser, so they unfortunately did not have time to be personable as they all waited on all the tables not just a section. That is also something I like and appreciate, but they did a fabulous job regardless and hopefully they are able to hire more staff so they have a little time to do so.
I will return to this establishment again
http://www.casamici.com
Food - 4 stars
Service - 3 stars
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Spirit Tree Cidery
So this may not exactly be technically a restaurant, but then again I can not exactly put it in its own class. Spirit Tree is a mix of things located in the Eastern part of the municipality of Caledon, 5 minutes west of Inglewood and 5 minutes south of Belfountain. Oh, I should point out it is located in the middle of nowhere.
Spirit Tree is an apple orchard to begin with - BUT - the owners have done an awesome job of building a cidery/bakery. The bakery side is a wonderful mix of breads, pies and other wonderful delicious goodies. Plus they offer various other gift from local artists for sale. The baked goods I should point out are done in a stone baked oven that you can see from the counter.
On the other half of the building is their cidery. I am smiling as I am thinking of this. They do a wonderful pub style cider, I can understand why they have won an award for this drink and they have it on tap. But it does not stop there, they also do an Estate Reserve Cider, and an Ice Cider (similar to Ice Wine) and they do a couple others.
Now they also have an eatery as well, where you can try have some delicious eats. Now what I am writing about today is on Friday evenings they do a Pizza Night. The pizza they do on Friday evenings is a thin crust. Now I have never been to Italy but my wife has, and shortly after biting into her first piece she stated that the pizza was the closest she has had since going over there. Now there is not that many places to sit outside on their balcony that looks down the escarpment, but there are picnic benchs on the lawn, there is also a handfull of places to sit inside as well. We tried their pepperoni style pizza - using fresh ingrediants. Also we tried the Spirit Tree pizza - tomatoe, pesto, goat cheese, & chicken.
It is worth the drive to experience this establishment
Food - 4.5
Service - 4
http://www.spirittreecider.com
Spirit Tree is an apple orchard to begin with - BUT - the owners have done an awesome job of building a cidery/bakery. The bakery side is a wonderful mix of breads, pies and other wonderful delicious goodies. Plus they offer various other gift from local artists for sale. The baked goods I should point out are done in a stone baked oven that you can see from the counter.
On the other half of the building is their cidery. I am smiling as I am thinking of this. They do a wonderful pub style cider, I can understand why they have won an award for this drink and they have it on tap. But it does not stop there, they also do an Estate Reserve Cider, and an Ice Cider (similar to Ice Wine) and they do a couple others.
Now they also have an eatery as well, where you can try have some delicious eats. Now what I am writing about today is on Friday evenings they do a Pizza Night. The pizza they do on Friday evenings is a thin crust. Now I have never been to Italy but my wife has, and shortly after biting into her first piece she stated that the pizza was the closest she has had since going over there. Now there is not that many places to sit outside on their balcony that looks down the escarpment, but there are picnic benchs on the lawn, there is also a handfull of places to sit inside as well. We tried their pepperoni style pizza - using fresh ingrediants. Also we tried the Spirit Tree pizza - tomatoe, pesto, goat cheese, & chicken.
It is worth the drive to experience this establishment
Food - 4.5
Service - 4
http://www.spirittreecider.com
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Roma Italian Restaurant
Today I was offsite at a meeting at a new warehouse my company is in the midst of moving into. At the completion of our meeting the representative of our new landlord invited my GM and I out to lunch. He suggested a restaurant not too far from where we were - Roma's. Italian - Sounded inviting to me. He had mentioned it was a little buffett restaurant - Italian buffet even better.
When we arrived I was expecting a quasi fast food looking restaurant. Boy was I wrong, this was an extremely nice appearing restaurant. It also appeared somewhat busy and every one in there appeared to be enjoying their food. I was close to asking for a menu just to see if there was other options other than the buffett. Since I was a guest I thought otherwise.
Now there is not a huge selection of dishes but there is an adequate amount to choose from. I started off with their antipasta selection. Cold salads, cold calamari - never had that before, cold that is, breads, no shortage to choose from and fresh - All was enjoyable. Then I went for the money load. The hot buffet had a nice selection of pastas, meat pasta, vegetable lasagna, veal, fish.
Being a buffett restaurant the servers basically just take drink orders and clear dishes. They are on top of their job and are inviting but it wouldn't be truly fair to report on them, so I will just report on the food.
http://www.romaitalianrestaurant.net
Food - 3.5 stars
When we arrived I was expecting a quasi fast food looking restaurant. Boy was I wrong, this was an extremely nice appearing restaurant. It also appeared somewhat busy and every one in there appeared to be enjoying their food. I was close to asking for a menu just to see if there was other options other than the buffett. Since I was a guest I thought otherwise.
Now there is not a huge selection of dishes but there is an adequate amount to choose from. I started off with their antipasta selection. Cold salads, cold calamari - never had that before, cold that is, breads, no shortage to choose from and fresh - All was enjoyable. Then I went for the money load. The hot buffet had a nice selection of pastas, meat pasta, vegetable lasagna, veal, fish.
Being a buffett restaurant the servers basically just take drink orders and clear dishes. They are on top of their job and are inviting but it wouldn't be truly fair to report on them, so I will just report on the food.
http://www.romaitalianrestaurant.net
Food - 3.5 stars
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Il Corso Ristorante
I figure it is about time I wrote about a local restaurant - okay so it is a 40 minute drive and that local. A restaurant that my brother and his wife introduced us to - Il Corso is located in Orangeville, On. I have been there twice now and have enjoyed dinner both times.
The first time we went my brother noticed his favorite waiter working there that used to work at an Italian restaurant in Brampton. We unfortunately were not sitting in his section that time but upon our return we were placed in his section. If you get Al (I believe that is his name), I will warn you he is a little brash but he is a no bull-sh$t kind of guy and I like that. He gave us top notch service and looked after our every need. But he also took the time to joke with us and made us enjoy our experience.
down to the food...
For an app we enjoy their Antipasti dish of grilled vegetables, cold meats, fruit, & Bocconcino cheease - called Stuzzinchino della Casa. The main I have enjoyed the veal scallopini in a marsala sauce. Yes I have had the veal dish both times - but I enjoy it.
My brother and his wife go there often and I have not heard anything bad. Both times we have gone, we also have enjoyed our dishes. Also, dinners there are also very reasonable.
Currently my only qualm is it appears no one has updated the menu on their website in a while. But it gives you an idea.
Food 4 stars
Server 4 stars
http://www.ilcorsoristorante.ca/
The first time we went my brother noticed his favorite waiter working there that used to work at an Italian restaurant in Brampton. We unfortunately were not sitting in his section that time but upon our return we were placed in his section. If you get Al (I believe that is his name), I will warn you he is a little brash but he is a no bull-sh$t kind of guy and I like that. He gave us top notch service and looked after our every need. But he also took the time to joke with us and made us enjoy our experience.
down to the food...
For an app we enjoy their Antipasti dish of grilled vegetables, cold meats, fruit, & Bocconcino cheease - called Stuzzinchino della Casa. The main I have enjoyed the veal scallopini in a marsala sauce. Yes I have had the veal dish both times - but I enjoy it.
My brother and his wife go there often and I have not heard anything bad. Both times we have gone, we also have enjoyed our dishes. Also, dinners there are also very reasonable.
Currently my only qualm is it appears no one has updated the menu on their website in a while. But it gives you an idea.
Food 4 stars
Server 4 stars
http://www.ilcorsoristorante.ca/
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