The Maple Leaf Pub

Where do I start with this review? Oh, yeah, it’s the only Canadian/​hockey pub in all of Houston, so by default it gets at least four stars for filling a much needed void. My girlfriend and I came here on Thursday night for Game 7 of the Preds-​Sharks western conference playoffs. Thursday is typically their trivia night and steak night, so I called ahead of time and asked if they would be playing the game and the audio for the game. The phone was answered promptly and they said that during the playoffs, trivia is cancelled in favor of playoff games. At this moment, I was sold.
Steak night was still on. For $ 18 you get a prime rib steak and a baked potato. For an additional $ 3 we also got asparagus. The steak was absolutely fantastic for $ 18 and the potato came with all the topping. The asparagus was arguably the best part of the plate though. This is the only Houston steak night I’ve been to, so it’s hard to compare but if other steak nights are as good, Houston is in good shape for delicious, cheap steaks.
We entered with our Preds shirts on (we both used to live in Nashville) and we were greeted by an entire table of Preds fan who immediately welcomed us and socialized with us the whole time. Overall, a very cool atmosphere as it really gives Houston hockey fans a place to bond and feel at home. There are a ton of transplants living in Houston that are fans of all NHL teams and it’s nice to have a central place for them all to go and enjoy hockey. It even has a penalty box booth and the old-​fashioned table top hockey game that so many love! Definitely give this place a try!

Nice and quiet pub on a Friday night.
Friendly staff.
I rated 4 stars, because although I was and still am fully capable of handling drunks considering I worked 4 years catering to them as a waitress, I wish the bar staff was more aware and urgent when handling the drunk who approached our table. I took it upon myself to dismiss him. I have been to other bars where bar staff, servers, or managers come over to prevent situations just as I experienced.

This is THE hockey bar in Houston. You will meet people from all over who gather here to watch hockey during the season. The owners and staff are super friendly on top of there being many tvs to watch your game. The food is okay, but the hummus is pretty darn good. Even though I think the food is just okay, it’s pretty good that they even offer food here. If you don’t like any of their menu choices, there are always options for delivery as well and sometimes they’ll have a food truck out in the back. What I am most impressed about though if considering how packed it gets in here especially during playoffs, the restroom somehow always remains clean. As a female, that’s a definite plus.

Clean place, clean restrooms. Decent beer selection, cold taps. If you aren’t wearing a hockey jersey, do not try to order anything from the side of the bar near the restroom though. The bartender will tell you that they won’t serve you on that side because the hockey fans don’t like people in their bubble. So be careful on the way to the restroom not to let a pre-​potty toot slip out. The last thing we all need is to offend these sensitive little puckers in their invisible puck bubbles.
Edit: upped to 4 stars. I understand that people go to this bar to watch hockey and that pub crawls can really piss off regulars who just want to yell at the television in peace. I have been that regular and I have to respect a bartender that has the customer loyalty to go out of their way to make sure everybody has a good time, no matter what they are there for. Sorry about the pizza grease drippings on the patio…

As someone who grew up playing and watching hockey all my life, I had difficulty adjusting to life after I moved to Houston. When I learned of The Maple Leaf I was so ecstatic! Not only was there a place I could be surrounded by other hockey lovers in town, but I could have a good brew, served to me by a friendly bartender, even during rush, in the process. If hockey isn’t your thing, be warned that this place is swarming with fans of all teams from April-​June. If you happen to come when it’s a little slower they have darts, bubble hockey, and at one point I’m pretty sure that had a small collection of board games you could play too. They’re super cool about you bringing in food or ordering food from somewhere and having it delivered too. Not uncommon to see a pizza delivery guy walk in asking who had the order.
There is a small parking lot in the back, though your best bet is to park on the street nearby and walk over.

Maple Leaf Pub in general is a pretty nice place to come and grab a drink. I like their free Monday shots! This spot is perfect for watching some football or hockey game! I am a beer drinker and here they offer nice snacks, which taste great with beers! This bar is great to catch up with the friends! Highly recommend!

Saturday night 7:30. I waited for 5 minutes and no waitress so I went to the bar! I know maybe I should have waited a little longer but I didn’t know if they had waitresses? Checked in and got a shot of jello. They were out of miller lite in bottle but the guy next to me had 2 buckets of labatt blue… Wtf? On a Saturday night? Had something on draft and on to the next bar. Oh well. I can say I was once here!

Free shot on Monday and a really cool spot in general. If there’s any hockey game you care about definitely come here. Good snacks In about a week will have a full kitchen. If you’re ever in need of hockey or good company come by the maple leaf pub.

Meh so the shot of the day didn’t work. I showed the bartender the Unilocal perk and she gave me full choice of shot. I pick don Julio and when it came time to collect don Julio wasn’t part of shot of day. Obviously the bartender was on drugs, got pissed when I didn’t tip and yeah screw this place. Bartender would take my order go to the taps and come back with a completely wrong order. Completely a cluster. Very bad CS. Won’t be back here for awhile. Probably never.

Friendliest pub I have been to in Houston.
I sought this place out to watch the hockey game; they did not disappoint. The bartenders are all gregarious and the service is prompt. There where several different games on at the time, and the fans were electric watching their favorites on the many televisions.
The night I went, the food was all done in the back parking lot by one of the local food trucks. I can’t comment on the kitchen of the pub itself; although the food from the truck was a balance of tasty and greasy.

Now the theory goes that if you go to a bar where everybody knows your name, you’re not living out Cheers, you’re just an alcoholic. Not true at Maple Leaf Pub.
There are so many great things about Maple Leaf Pub, which you need to know about and experience for yourself. I am really fond of the bar owners as they are really nice decent people. Yeah, Olivia is «edgy» and there’s talk about Canada all the time, but hey, it’s called Maple Leaf Pub, not Texas Bar Lovers Only. You get the impression they really love their coworkers, the patrons, and just doing what they do.
What’s fun about Maple Leaf is that, because of Olivia and her husband, it is not a pretentious bar at all. You can go there and order a Shirley Temple or soda and not have a bar tender blink an eye at you. Hey, you want water with that jack and coke, sure. They pretty much are there to entertain you and not shoot you down, if you’re not a big drinker.
My favorites are Bingo Nights, which during the summer are on Mondays, but will change, once Football season starts. Sometimes the prizes are cheesy, other times they are really nice, but the main prize is steak night. Lately, they’ve brought in a tasty food truck van on Monday too. I hope they keep it up, as it’s tasty too and deserving its own review.
As for Maple Leaf food…
Oh, I love their steak. The asparagus, baked potato, and steak were delish. Give them the extra two for the Asparagus. Yes ASPARAGUS. Eat some vegetables in between your beer. It’s tasty and you can fight off a beer belly. Steak Night is on Geeks who Drink Night, on Thursday. I went to my first Geeks who Drink Night, recently and had a lot of fun, even though I was pretty terrible at the game. My BF and I came in at last place. Not joking at all. I mean SUPER LAST place. However, I did have a lot of fun.
There are regulars at Maple Leaf Pub, especially during Bingo and if you tend to have an extrovert type of personality, Olivia and others will remember your name. I mean, if you go in trying to be all super cool, you won’t fit in. Again, not a pretentious crowd. I tend to be quieter and enjoy observing and just talking to my party, but the regulars, have always treated me with respect or given a respectful nod. I’ve never felt intimidated and I think those that do, tend to be extroverts fighting for attention. I don’t think you can win if you try to do that. There can only be one class clown and it probably isn’t you.
However the four stars are due to two reasons, one minor, one major. Minor? I’m not in love with their Frito Pie. It could use some work. I love Frito Pie too. Places without good Frito Pie and French Fries kill me. As for the major, I recall seeing reviews where people were just ignored. I was like, «What? At Maple Leaf Pub? No way!» All of the bar tenders are really good. However, this past Geeks Who Drink Night, the bartender lady made it a point to ignore us. I’ve never seen her before and I was not happy at all. I know you saw us lady! I was going to pull a major tab too, but NO. She was all, boring table, that ordered soda and water. Lady, I like to switch things up a bit.
Now, if you encounter this lady, just go straight to the bar, have a bar tender serve you, ignore her. Don’t let that ruin your impression of this place as the customer service is great. I don’t know what her deal was, but you shouldn’t let that fool you. I’ve been here several times and had one bad experience, came back, had another great experience. Nine out of ten good experiences isn’t bad at all. My concern is that if someone is new and they get that service they’ll leave and never know how much fun this place can be. If you’re not satisfied the first time, give it another shot. It really is worth it. And maybe ask them to play the Cheers theme song in the background. I may start singing that when I go there.
Oh and P. S. the bathrooms are always clean. VERY IMPORTANT.
P. P. S. Don’t you want to go to a place where people know people are all the same? And everybody knows your name? Yes?
Then get to Maple Leaf Pub, already.

I’m Canadian. The bar is Canadian. How can I give it anything less than 5 stars?
We had a lot of fun here on a Saturday afternoon. They have a great selection of Canadian beers and have a lot of board games to play while you hang out. Of course if we were there at night we probably wouldn’t play board games but it was fun for an afternoon!
There’s even a hockey penalty box with a table inside to sit in. FUN!

I tried to get service here from the bartenders but I was ignored. All the patrons’ eyes were glued to the women’s soccer game. I didn’t want to wait more than 15 mins to get service so we left.

I had driven here so many times and never got chances to stop by. I finally came on a Thursday nite and it was not bad.
I did not related it to a Canadian pub cos of the name.
I did not tried the food there but the steak that ppl next table ordered looked pretty yummy.
It was pretty crowded for the weekday nite. Therefore the service was not that attentive later. It got loud by too many ppl talking so it was kinda for me to talk to the person next to me.
One thing I like this pub is pet friendly! So I would take my dogs to here next time.

Great hockey bar. You can see the game from any where in the bar no matter how packed it is. Service is very good, and they have an excellent beer selection. We even played darts while watching the game.
No food though. But it didn’t matter because there was a fantastic food truck In the parking lot.

I absolutely love coming here to watch hockey games with other enthusiastic hockey fans! This is a hockey bar through and through. From the the jerseys hung on the walls to the penalty box seating area, there is no doubt that this is Houston’s, if not Texas’, best hockey bar.
The bar is clean and has very friendly staff. They have a good amount of Canadian bottled and draft beer. They have your standar Molson, Labatt, and Moosehead lagers, but they also have many varieties of Unibroue.
Not a ton of food on the menu, but they let you bring in outside food, which is nice.
If you love hockey, this is a must visit.

Some friends and I went here on a Thursday night for Steak Night and Geeks who Drink Trivia night.
For $ 15, I thought the steak was just okay. I ordered it medium rare, but it was almost raw. It seemed like it was quickly seared on both sides and then served on a plate. But I did like that there was a lot of minced garlic in the butter sauce on top of the steak. The pub also brought out a huge tray of toppings that went well with the baked potato that came with the steak.
Don’t get the asparagus. For $ 2 extra, you only get 4 stalks of asparagus.
As for the trivia, it ran so long that our group left during the middle. In addition, the trivia questions were more like riddles than actual trivia questions. It may suit some people’s taste, but our group was frustrated.

I was here today for a hockey game and it was alright. Very empty until the game started. It’s definitely a local hangout that draws the same customers over and over again. I’m not sure I would hang out here all the time, but for a hockey game it was fun.
They do have a menu but it is very limited with snack items. However, they have tons of take out menus from the surrounding pizza, sandwich, and Chinese food places. We ordered sesame chicken and watched the game.

The Maple Leaf Pub Toast:
To the never ending hockey seasons
To the hilarious drunken trivia nights
To the Summer crawfish boils and Thursday steak feasts
To the out of tune, soulful and sh*tfaced karaōke patrons
To the cold beers on warm summer nights lit by twinkling patio lights
And to the smiling, surley bar staff who keep us laughing while they keep em’ coming
Here’s to hoping these good times never end.
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Maple Leaf Pub is a midtown staple for locals and homesick northerners alike. Hockey is the drug of choice for most bar goers and Maple is more than happy to accommodate.
With multiple rotating taps and chilly Lonestars in the coolers, you can’t go wrong when picking a poison. The bar staff is amazing at meeting the needs of all the busy nights where Hockey is a must for Houstonians. Each bartender or server is like a snowflake– take a moment to chat them up and you will find out how all of their unique personalities meld to make one badass team.
Maple leaf hosts tons of, «I just need to get out of the house and do something fun» events. Thursday night is Geeks who Drink trivia night, where you won’t feel bad about pushing over that bro to get to the penalty box to answer the bonus question. Or the beloved karaōke nights, that has it’s own set of regulars singing along to everything from Pop to Punk. Want to bring Fido? Your four legged bestie is welcome here, too!
Plenty of seating around the horseshoe bar or at the scattered tables throughout. Pull up a seat and get to know a stranger or bust out a board game and keep to yourself. Do it. No one’s judging.
Olivia, my sweet sweet Olivia, the owner, is absolutely amazing at what she does. Business savvy and has an unmatched love for this bar like I’ve never seen anywhere else. Most nights you will find her here, doing everything from serving up dranks to wiping down tables. Great teams start with great leaders. Thumbs up lady!
Maple Leaf is a favorite of mine, with 32 check ins and counting, I look forward to all the nights to come that are nothing less than toast worthy.

Met a buddy here during the Winter Olympics to have some Canadian beverages and watch some sports.
There is parking off of Smith St. there is also metered parking around the area. Walking in, I felt like I was at an English pub with the exception for NHL framed Calgary Flames jerseys, and large Maple leaf Molson fluorescent sign, which transported me right away to good olé 17^th Ave bars in Calgary.
Bar staff is very attentive, friendly, and down to earth. After checking in on Unilocal,got a free shot voucher, and bartender said pick any fountain shot. Draft beer is priced at less than $ 6 if I recall correctly.
Overall had a good experience, and they do promote not drinking and driving with a «Blow Me» Breath Analyzer if your buddy becomes stubborn and wants to drive :)
I’ll def be back!