Mill St. Brew Pub

Well I still have mixed feelings about this place-​beautiful location, building, interior but it’s never as good as it should be.
Service was very slow for Sunday lunch today, the place wasn’t very busy but it took quite some time for our party of 4 to get seated-​like an awkward amount of time, with staff and servers seeming to ignore that we were there. Minus one star.
On a plus side the food was a bit better than last time’s mediocre level, but only by a pinch. Chicken tacos were wet and soggy, tortilla was mushy, nachos so over loaded the chips were soft. Minus one star.
However, Sweet potato fries were great as were the pints and serve yourself Caesars-​they were delicious. Plus 2 stars.
I went to the bathroom and no toilet paper in any stall-​really? Good thing I had Kleenex! Minus one star.
I won’t rush back and won’t recommend it-​stop at the store and buy the beer to have at home.

Will be back soon!
I’ve given the brewery four stars, but it deserves five.
One star deducted for not serving us after seating us.
We walked in a few minutes prior to opening, but it took close to fifteen minutes after 11am for a waitress to arrive.
That and a slight push to finish up due to a large party. We were still drinking after eating.
Got the flight, waitress suggested which beers to try after telling her my preference for strong and cloudy IPAs. The four beers were different and excellent. Thursday they offer a pint and pie for the cost of just the pie. There was a tad of confusion on ordering, probably my fault but indicated I wanted the flight, then the pint and pie, the pint after the flight.
After the delicious kale Cesar salad, and the torture pie… flight finished I asked for the pint now knowing which beer was the best of four. At that point the waitress told us, the pint needed to be orders at time of pie order, and now was too late to get the free pint. :(lots of frowns, as that wasn’t explains. She made it right, and brought us our pints include.
Beer– great, tons of choices.
Building-​solid, old, fun location
Food-​unique and great tasting torture pie, most people were getting the rib special, but nobody at our table tried them… next time.
There will be a next time!!!

Nice setting, nice beers, decent food.
I like the selection of beers here. I’m hoping to come back for the Tourtière (they were out), which was highly recommended. I had the tater tots and they were as delicious as I remembered. The sauces weren’t for me though, BBQ sauce wasn’t as sweet as I like and was more smokey. There was a white sauce that wasn’t great for dipping. Ketchup worked well as ever though :-) I also had the crab and corn chowder soup. It was more spicy than I expected but I enjoyed most of it. I swapped with one of my fellow dining friends for the rest of his chicken pot pie. The pot pie was delicious besides the chorizo, which I don’t happen to be a big fan of. The peas made up for it though.
They have a big group seating area, so it’s good for office parties as well. They were a bit slow during the lunch though, as they must have just been really full on the other side of the restaurant.

My 1^st review of Mill St. Brew Pub, but I am a long time consumer of their great beers and yummy food offerings.
First off: I love the location and the setup. For us dinosaurs, this used to be the Old Mill restaurant and the reinvention of this spot as home to the microbrewery was an awesome idea. The patio on a summer’s eve is just about as lovely as it gets in Ottawa. Today, I sat upstairs for the first time and it was well lit and comfortable. The hostess and server were punctual and helpful.
Beer me: If you are coming here for the juice bar, you might have taken a wrong turn. This week is organic beer week! The brew selection is always excellent and makes me consider changing vocations into something a little more hopps-​y. I’m partial to the Tankhouse Ale, but you can’t go wrong with the Organic Amber Lager or the Pilsner.
Food: I usually go for the «pot pie & pint» or a burger (angus, veggie or elk) since $ 5 burgers on Mondays is a great deal, but today I was in the mood for some comfort food: mac n cheese with a garden salad. Everything was delicious. I just wish that there was a bigger portion of mac. It was a small dish that only took up a ¼ of the plate. Maybe I was just extra hungry and my eyes wanted more.
Check out the specials online. There’s always something delish available.
Lots of parking and plenty of bike racks.

Stopped by yesterday (aug 23) at 2pm for a drink and appetizers on the patio. It was busy but not packed. The hostess at the front acted like she was doing us a big favor to go look for a table. We waited about ten minutes for her to come back and she led us to the patio. We waited another 15 minutes for a server to come by to take our order… or even to just say hi. No one came. We finally left around 2:30 and no one really seemed to notice. Thoroughly disappointing and I probably won’t go back.

Great friendly service the time we visited. Plus Monday $ 5 burgers is a great deal. Beer is good answer had suggestions that were helpful. The beet salad is wry filling and outstanding — maybe too heavily dressed for my taste.

The food was adequate but quite slow to come and the service, overall, indifferent. The biggest letdown was the noise. I can’t be bothered to go back.

Here is what I liked about this place:
1) Location is good — the patio was beautiful and the greenery around is pretty nice, there’s water nearby, and the building itself is old and elegant.
2) Our server was extremely nice and friendly and quite knowledgeable about the menu.
3) Selection of beer is awesome, and they allow you to order a sampler pack of four beers for $ 11.50 which is a good way to find out which ones you like. By the way, HIGHLY recommend the Grapefruit IPA — it was certainly my favourite of the many varieties I tried.
4) Calamari was absolutely delicious. It was cooked and seasoned perfectly and had three types of dipping sauces — a traditional horseradish seafood cocktail sauce, garlic aioli, and a spicy thai sauce.
5) My fish and chips were pretty good as well — the fish was cooked perfectly and it came with two dipping sauces — tartar sauce and some sort of honey mustard sauce which was delicious.
Here is what I did not like about this place:
1) Parking is pretty scarce and we had to drive around for 15 minutes waiting for someone to leave their spot before we were able to park.
2) As everyone else has mentioned, service is VERY slow. Normally I do not mind so much, but if you’re really hungry and looking for a quick meal, I do not recommend this place at all. Also, I was annoyed that it took nearly 30 minutes for us to receive our bill. My dad mentioned that on a number of occasions, he has visited this place on his lunch hour and actually had to leave before ordering anything because the service was so slow.
3) The cheddar and ale dip was terrible. For starters, they give you way too much dip and not nearly enough chips, so about ²⁄₃ of the dip ended up being wasted. While the chips were good, the dip itself was cold and quite bland — it literally just tasted like melted cheese. Where is the seasoning?
4) The food is actually quite pricey in my opinion, given the small portions that you get. My fish and chips cost $ 16.00 for one piece of fish and a handful of fries. Yes, they barely give you any fries at all. Also — the coleslaw that came with my meal was terribly bland and not very good.
So why does this place get four stars? Honestly, it’s really the location and ambiance that save this place in my opinion as well as their beer. It would be a lovely place to go if you’re looking to unwind with a drink after work, but I recommend skipping the food (or maybe just order the calamari) — and not if you’re in any sort of hurry.

Ah Mill Street. You have a lot of things going for you, and yet you haven’t failed in disappointing me. Every. Single. Time.
We were a group of four when we arrived at Mill Street over the weekend. We asked for a table inside, as it was too hot to sit in the patio. We were seated right in the middle, and there were still Cheerios crumbs and other food stuffs on the floor, with no server expressing interest in cleaning it up. Tip 1: We would have rather waited for a clean table than be seated prematurely at a dirty one (without your intention to clean it up).
So of course, we asked to be seated in the corner booth — but made sure we were still within the server’s area. I know from my server friends how annoying it is to lose customers when they decide to sit elsewhere (assigned to another server), so I thought we were actually being considerate in doing that. Maybe after our experience, we would have both been better off had we actually asked for a table not in the server’s area (I’m sure she would have also liked that).
It was already 1:30PM, and none of us had eaten anything previously. We were ravenous, and so the first chance our server got at taking our orders, we gave her both food and drink orders. We got our drinks at a reasonable amount of time, but after 2PM, we were getting antsy at how long the food took. We do not do hangry well.
It must have been 2:30PM when we finally got our food. To be honest, all would have been forgiven if the food had been at least decent. Not AMAZING, just decent. And yet it was not even this.
Three of us received our meals first, and with the blessing of the fourth person, we dove in — hungry as we were. I had the chicken and waffles, and the chicken was… inconsistent. The outside was dry and stringy, while the interior was moist. My boyfriend’s angus burger was similarly dry, and even my friend commented that her eggs benedict might have well been hard-​boiled egg. Our conclusion: these plates must have been sitting there for a while before they made it to our table. The last plate on the table — a breakfast skillet, was alright — but certainly not one that deserved an hour wait. Tip 2: We would have appreciated a heads up from the server that the food was taking longer than expected and that we should expect it shortly. Acknowledgment of the issue would have alleviated some of our frustrations.
It was with this disappointment that we grudgingly ate our food — we paid for it, after all. We are not usually the sort that creates a fuss even after poor service and a terrible experience — but let me tell you, I was close, even then, at speaking up and demanding more. But I didn’t, and hence why I am writing this review.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not putting the blame on the server completely. I’m sure there was something in the kitchen that contributed to our negative experience.
In the end, even a good ambience and decent beer can’t save Mill Street. I’ve been here twice previously, and the first time, I remember a good beer cocktail but the same slow-​to-​a-​point-​of-​frustration service. I don’t even remember what happened the second time.
All I know is, unfortunately, there’s not going to be a next time.

Have eaten here many times food and drinks was great. Tried their brunch finally food was good but it felt like it was sitting for awhile before getting to our table. Service was super slow today. Usually in and out but took half an hour to order food and drinks.

Disappointing food, extremely slow service.
We ordered the calamari as an appetizer at the suggestion of the waitress who claimed it was really good. There was very little batter that just crumbled off when you tried to take a piece. The squid itself was bland, unseasoned, rubbery and overcooked.
The food took forever to come out, and most of our orders were just burgers. I ordered the BBQ chicken flatbread, which I’ve enjoyed before at this same location a few years ago. It was disappointing.
My meal was cold while the other burgers were warm. The flatbread was too thick, not crispy and stale. The chicken was extremely dry and the overall dish just lacked that BBQ flavour. It was extremely dry and hard to eat.
We came for dinner but the overall dining experience was about three hours because of the long wait times. My third time at this Mill St. location and although the servers are really nice and courteous, wait times are long and food is below par.

Service is terrible!!!
Great view. Great historical place but I would not return for a meal or a drink. No one ever comes around to serve you, ask your order or anything at all.

You know those places…
Bad first impression.
Yet sometimes you give them a second chance.
Maybe it’s convenience. Or, you get swept along with the crowd.
But, this is the kind of place that tries hard to leave you with a bad taste in your mouth.
Overpriced.
Mediocre food.
…and the service?
It’s just the absolute worst.
We didn’t get the beer we ordered.
The beer!
(It’s a brew pub).
Oblivious waitress.
Seriously.
I dare you to go there.

I really enjoy the beer here, especially the ever changing beer selection. I have found the servers reticent to mention the seasonal beers, so you may need to ask to have them listed.
We were served especially well by Shingi.

Just off the Ottawa River on the Greenway Trail with patio seating, summer beers and great salads. The perfect place for a warm afternoon

I loved the juxtaposition of the modern pub with the ruins of the mill around it. It made for some great views while eating dinner.
All of the food was excellent (I loved my Braised Beef Dip, but regretted not getting the tourtière after seeing it), and it kind of felt like you weren’t in a city anymore, once you were down near the water. There seemed to be a lot of open space, if you were bringing a group with you.

I went here recently for dinner with my husband and a bunch of his friends. We were a group of 8.
I don’t like beer, so I can’t comment on the beer there. Yeah, I said it, I went to a Brew Pub and didn’t drink any beer! My husband loves beer though and he had one of their samplers and really enjoyed it.
For dinner I had the Salmon ($ 20) and my husband had the Brewery Tourtière ($ 15). My salmon was delicious. It full of flavour. It had a maple syrup and soy sauce glaze on it. It came on a bed of barley which tasted like a creamy risotto (although obviously made of barley instead of rice). There was also some baby bok choy with the dish. The menu said it came with mushrooms, but there weren’t any mushrooms on my plate. They also sprinkled puffed rice on top of the salmon. This gave each bite a crunchy texture which went well with the creamy barley and the salmon. My only complaint is that this dish really lacked vegetables. The token pieces of baby bok choy were not enough in my opinion. I would have appreciated some other greens.
I’m not a huge fan of tourtière, so I wasn’t thrilled with the bite that I had, but my husband who loves tourtière really liked his meal. I have to say that the crust looked very rich and flaky. And it didn’t taste all that gamey considering their version has elk in it. It came with mashed potatoes and I think some peas.
Everyone at the table seemed to enjoy their meal. It was a Tuesday and Tuesday is half price wing night. One of the guys at our table ordered the wings and I have to say they looked pretty tasty! I might have to come back on a Tuesday to try out their wings.
Service was competent. Décor was brew pubby.
This place is a little tricky to get to. It’s just west of the crazy tangled up triangle intersection that is Wellington St., Ottawa River Parkway and the Portage Bridge (if you’re in the wrong lane, you will end up in Quebec).
The outdoor parking lot in front of the restaurant is small. To the right of the restaurant is another parking lot which is covered. If the outdoor parking lot is full, please go to the indoor parking lot. We parked in the outdoor parking lot in a proper parking spot; when we came out, there were several cars parked in «illegal» spaces around us (i.e. places that are not designated parking spots) and they made it very difficult for us to get our car out. Don’t be one of those guys!

This is a nice place to go after work for a drink with friends. I also hosted a surprise birthday for my boyfriend there last year and it was a great venue for a large group.
I would definitely come back.

Great location, atmosphere, and patio! Our party of 6 was seated promptly outside on a Sunday afternoon, but the service went downhill from there. The service was slow and sporadic, but the good food and beer helped to make up for it.
I had the fish and chips, which were great. I also tried some of the tourtière, which was good, too. Everyone seemed to enjoy their food and beer, with the only complaint being the wait for refills. They didn’t seem to be terribly busy, so I’m not sure what the problem was, but our waitress would often disappear for long periods of time.
Service aside, it was a great lunch spot and I’ll be back! Hopefully they’re better staffed next time.

What a shame that the only place you can eat on the river is this bad. The view of the water isn’t even good.
Our server was friendly and competent.
I went on a Tuesday, which has half-​off chicken wings. I know buffalo wings in Canada tend to be terrible, so I always ask for a sample of the wing sauce before ordering. Sure enough, it tasted like Frank’s or whatever. They sell Buffalo wing sauce at the grocery store; why can’t anybody get it right other than the big chains and Pizza Shark? Buffalo’s not that far away, people.
I got the beef dip. The bread and fries were good, but the beef was a bit overcooked and dry.
Other people seemed to like the beer, which is good because being a bit smashed probably helped them enjoy their meal.
My wife had the fish and chips. I had a bite and it was great. I don’t order it, though, because I don’t want to contribute to overfishing. Someone at my table didn’t finish hers, and I desperately wanted to finish it for her but I’d just met her and thought it would be rude to ask for her leftovers. Wasted fish! :(