1951 West

When your lighting is better in the bathrooms than your dining area, you have a problem.
When your menu is on clipboards, 80% drinks, and inconsistent in print style, you have a problem.
When you greet three servers on your way to sit with friends but have to go find another one for a menu and to order, you have a problem.
When you take what was an okay pub, shut down for months, reopen with none of the original menu, staff, or clients really wanting to return, you have a problem.
When none of your menu looks appealing, your food comes out cold at least half the time, everything is beyond overpriced for what it is and the amount you get, you have a problem.
When you put all these things together and have run out of the excuse of ‘getting going’ from your reopening, you get 1951 Robertston Road.
Used to go there with friends all the time for years, I can honestly say I don’t plan to give it a fifth try since its ‘improvements’.
Go to the Harvey’s across the road if you want food, go to any bar down the street if you want to drink. Go stand at a closed bank kiosk on a Sunday if you want better service.

Nice new décor. Great drinks menu. Had two great spicy dip starters as well. Came back this weekend for brunch and had a decadent apple & nut french toast. They also accommodated our baby with ease.

Wow, this was wretched. I came in since I was nearby late for work and thought I’d try local food in Bell’s Corners before braving traffic and heading back to Centretown. On a weekend night, the restaurant was empty, with the exception of a table of rowdy Sens fans who had already been formally cut off and asked to leave. This was a bad start. Next, I hoped that this self-​described gastropub would have an extensive beer list, but in fact it was a fairly cut-​rate Capital Region list, with your regular assortment of Molson, Coors, and a few Kichesippi and Beau’s offerings for colour and contrast. I had hoped to see any of the so many delicious microbreweries featured, but alas, no. I settled for a Beau’s and moved on to a salad. I asked for a Caesar to be made with kale, which seemed to be an option given the other kale salads on the menu. This seemed to confuse my waitress who even brought the chef out to confirm I really did want a Caesar salad – with kale. While I didn’t think it was an odd request, those on staff at 1951 did. My salad arrived, after a strangely long delay given the empty restaurant. It was bland, the chicken (that I didn’t order) was dry, and the salad soggy under the weight of much too much dressing. I should have kept walking. And next time, I will.

I had brunch here with one of my friends recently and we were both happy with the food and the service.
I had the Kale and Citrus Salad ($ 13) and I added a grilled chicken breast to it for an extra $ 4. I also had tea ($ 2.59).
The Kale and Citrus Salad was great. It had pieces of grapefruit and pineapples, grape tomatoes, and candied pecan pieces on a bed of fresh kale. The dressing was a balsamic pomegranate vinaigrette. The added chicken breast was a good size and provided sufficient protein to the meal. The salad itself was mostly sweet, so I liked the savoury contrast that the chicken added. The pecans added a nice crunchy texture to the meal as well.
My friend had the Warm Steak Salad which she said that she enjoyed.
We were served complimentary baguette crisps with an olive tapenade. Neither my friend nor I are huge fans of olives so we didn’t try the tapenade, but the baguette crisps were nicely spiced and were indeed crispy. I felt that this was a nice change from the usual complimentary basket of bread.
The décor is modern with lots of dark woods. The place is very spacious.
We were served by Antonia who was very nice. She knowledgeably answered questions about items on the menu, checked up on us appropriately and was never intrusive.
There’s lots of free parking in their private parking lot.
1951 West Kitchen and Bar is a nice addition to the Bells Corners Restaurant scene (it’s where the Cock ‘N Bull Pub and Eatery used to be).

I’ll start of by saying that I joined Unilocal just to warn people about this place. My wife and I wanted to check this place out for a while but always drove by.
Started out well, the décor is fantastic and we were seated very quickly. We were brought delicious toasted bread with an olive chutney. This is where the good ends.
We both ordered the AAA steak and a brownie cheesecake for desert. This was the thinnest steak I have seen in a while and had an outrageous amount of fat on it. I am a huge fan of fatty meat, but found it barely edible. The potatoes that came with the steak tasted like they were boiled a while ago and just warmed up before service. Everything was drenched in balsamic reduction that overpowered the rest of the plate. For 33 $ per portion I was extremely dissatisfied. The quality is something I would expect from a roadside truck stop for a 9.99 special with some eggs cracked over it.
Desert was straight out of the box, zero points for any imagination.
I highly recommend you look elsewhere for a night out.

Good food, great décor! There was a weekend special but they were sold out. Waitress seemed new because she forgot to tell us about the special and forgot to bring us water.

Super friendly staff, greeted as soon as you walk in. A nice selection of unique Caesars to choose from including a forty creek and a gin based Caesar.
The food menus seems good but we had no time to order. Found out after a phone call to 1951 that they don’t do any drink or good specials ever. Had to bring the rating down in my review. I’ll edit this as I do with all my reviews as I continue to attended.