The Toucan & Kirkpatrick’s

Walked past this a few times on my way to the Holiday Inn and always wondered what it was. Finally went one Friday night at around 1am (also because nothing else was open). The shabbiness and the dimly lit interior had me at first sight and I knew we had come to the right place. Not your average loud and noisy pub and have a great selection on tap.

Being from Halifax, I was excited to go to an Irish style bar. A group of five of us went, came in at different times, ordered different drinks at different times. A normal thing one would presume, but he gave us one bill at the end of night and told us we should have said that we wanted separate bills at the beginning of the night. He couldn’t even figure out our bill on his own. We had to decipher his amalgamation of our drinks. The server was also hesitant to serve us for some reason, like we were making his shift busier or something. Now, I would understand if we were being obnoxious, loud and rowdy, but we were 4 girls meeting our friends’ boyfriend for the first time. Literally there just to chat and have a few drinks. My Tom Collins and whiskey sour tasted EXACTLY the same, an assault of lime juice and almost no liquor taste. When I asked for a particularly dark beer, the server looked at me and asked demeaningly if I have ever had that beer before, which I have many a time. When I got it, it tasted watered down. Needless to say, he didn’t get a tip, and I don’t think I’ll be going back.

I’m fine with mediocre pub grub and shabby décor, but the two times I’ve been here I received some of the worst service I’ve had in my life. I’m not exactly a high maintenance customer; I just ask that you come to my table more than twice in like three hours and at least pretend to apologize for messing up my food order instead of just saying, «Oh. Can’t you just pick it off?» Definitely never giving this place a third chance.

Pub-​grub food. Mostly well executed but nothing terribly exciting or noteworthy. The prices are very cheap which is a major plus. You really need to go and capitalize on their various weekly specials.
Beer selection covers the craft-​brew and mainstream basics but is not immense, odds are good you’ll find what you are looking for but won’t find much you haven’t already seen.
Service has typically been very friendly, accommodating of big groups and lots of moving around.
Lots of bands, both good and bad, play at the Toucan but it is really not an amazing place to experience live tunes.
Often lively and boisterous, a great place if you are looking for that type of thing.

What’s not to love here? Probably the dim lighting, the funny smell of the floor and the overall shabbiness of the place, but really, all those little things make up the Toucan, and I love every little bit of it.
Service isn’t always perfect, but the staff are generally upbeat, chatty and enthusiastic. Food is great; I’m a huge fan of the all-​day breakfast option and the chevre salad. Best of all, when your a grad student at Queen’s it’s 50% off food on Thursdays!
If you haven’t been in before, be prepared for the atmosphere, but then enjoy it, quirks and all!