Rusty’s at Blue

So, in being our gluttonous selves… we went into Rusty’s about a hour after we had finished our meals at Firehall Pizza. So being stuffed, we ordered mainly drinks and split some wings. We asked the waitress which of the options was the least spicy. She said the ones with the sauce as opposed to the dry rub were the least spicy. The wings were so hot! SO hot! I ended up rubbing as much of the sauce off as possible in order to make them less spicy. So a helpful tip if you aren’t into really spicy food. Just ask for the sauce on the side, and the wings just cooked.
The restaurant itself was a little crowded, and service staff reflected that. But still they managed to do a decent job!

Rusty’s is a little rusty when it comes to their food.
Maybe it was because we didn’t visit during their peak time during the winter, or maybe this restaurant is in need of a revamp. Who knows. I’m going to have to go at this review with the experience that I had.
Overall, the customer service was great, we were seated right away and our server was really pleasant and attentive. I also like that they had several screens available so you could watch sporting events, one of the main reason why we chose this place over other restaurants in the village.
Food wise, we ordered the basics. Caesar Salad, Nachos, a poutine, and the 3-​Meat combo meal, featuring their award winning back yard chicken, beef brisket, and chorizo. For mixed drinks we ordered the Caesar. Needless to say, the food and drinks were both under average. I think this had a lot to do with the volume of customers, or lack of. The meats, which we were especially looking forward to considering the rave mention of it in the menu. But overall, underwhelming. The caesar salad was not very fresh, and also under dressed. The nachos, for the price they charged was smaller than I expected, and something that I feel I could of made at home. We got the beef brisket to top it, and it was extremely dry. We had to douse things in sour cream, salsa and (tubed) guacamole to make it bearable. The remainder of the meats on the platter had the same issue. Dry like a hot sunny day in the dessert. The chicken especially, you could tell was reheated and doused in some sauce in attempt to save it. The chorizo was probably our least favourite. The poutine had extremely salty gracy. Again, these mishaps could simple be because they weren’t having enough volume of people, so the turnover of food was generally low. But in my honest opinion, at that point, its worth it to close shop for the season and not sacrifice the quality of food. Or maybe this business simply survives because people are starving after a good day on the hills and are taste-​blind to what they are eating.
Either way, I probably won’t return, even after a tiring day at the hills.

We came here for Saturday night drinks near the end of ski season. No cover which is always nice. We basically didn’t have any other options as there weren’t any other happenin’ bars in the Village. There was a good crowd here. Strong pick-​up scene. Live music was blaring. A few girls were dancing. And the bar was full of waiting patrons. They could have definitely used another bartender working as I had to wait quite a bit to order. But the servers and busboys working the tables were on their game — food and orders were handled quickly.
This joint is a bit on the pricey side as it caters to tourists. But there were also a handful of locals hanging out. Overall, I might come here again were similar circumstances to arise.

We spent the day wandering (not skiing) at Blue Mountain and tried a few places for food. Rusty’s was famous so we had a lunch snack there.
Giving it 4 stars overall but not for the food. I like how it’s at the bottom of the hill, which makes it a popular place to go right from skiing. It’s got great character and you can tell on a weekend, this place is packed.
Food fell a little short for us — I was disappointed they didn’t have anything local for beer other than Creemore (which you can find anywhere). We shard two appetizers — the fries, which were great and the mayo is indeed addicting (as advertised). The second thing we shared was the mac n cheese, which while good was definitely not worth the $ 15 (I wouldn’t even say $ 10.)
Overall, good service and the right place to go after skiing or just to watch the Blue Mountain action. This is clearly a legendary place — and definitely worth checking out.

Closest restaurant next to the hills. Walked in here for a quick meal.
Boyfriend ordered chicken wings and it was raw. Tasted the bloodiness and the rubbery texture when chew on it. Server asked the supervisor/​manager to spoke to is. She was not very friendly, no apologetic attitude. First thing she said when she walked over without looking at the wings was «the wings are absolutely cooked because we smoked them first then fried. So they’re cooked twice and it wasn’t raw.» My boyfriend lost his appetite by the fact of tasting blood chewy raw meat texture and unhappy with the continuous explaination of how the wings were smoked before fried. She didn’t ask if we want to switch to other dishes or cancel the order. All she did was kept explaining; more you explain more cover up it sounds.
Perhaps smoked meat are cooked but the fact of us eating it uncomfortably matters.
Either way, their prices aren’t that cheap. Next time we would go to the pub or other restaurants.

I have no idea how this place has such high reviews.
Rusty’s is right by the main ski lift and it was 60% full at 7pm on a Saturday. Obviously the regulars know that it’s awful… Go literally anywhere else in the village.
Very poor quality bar food, expensive prices, and slow inattentive service.

Cool place for a cocktail on the patio while looking at the mountain!
Jackie did a great job!

Great BBQ! My brisket was great, very tender and moist. Nice selection of draught beers. Great location near Silver Bullet lift and village.

So we’re famished and the first restaurant you come across is Rusty’s. It’s just right off where the run ends at the Village and it just is the most convenient out or all of them. So we walk sit at the bar, have a brew, order a shareable and wait for the rest of our crew to assemble.
The restaurant is decorated in a lodge like atmosphere. I mean c’mon now, you’re in the middle of nowhere land, so outdoorsy would be the theme. The bar wasn’t massive, but we don’t mind sitting right next to a couple of blokes and chat it out.
1664 blanc was the beverage of choice. Nice and citrusy French brew that hella refreshing. Our shareable, chicken wings. Yep not the best we’ve ever had, but still good. I don’t really mind it, it’s beer drinking food.
Anyways, service was great, our bartender was very nice and approachable. Our waiter when we got a table was very nice and the service was very prompt. They tended to us very well.
Thank you very much Rusty’s for an awesome experience!

This was our favourite spot for lunch when skiing at Blue mountain this year! Very friendly staff, good prices and tasty menu. Very handy to the main chairlift too!

Went here while up in Blue for a bachelorette. The servers were all really friendly, the food was good pub food/​BBQ style, no complaints. I thought it was of good value but the food took a little while to come — probably just because it was super busy. Side note, they have lots of vegan and veggie options!

This was one of my favorite lunches during our long weekend in the village. I had the Seafood gumbo, was was a touch spicy and loaded with an assortment of seafood. I loved it.
My wife got a potato leek soup was tasted pretty good, but could have used a bit more ‘filler’. She got the potato skins as an appetizer which she loved, and were loaded with bacon & cheese goodness.
My son got the chicken fingers which were fairly good.

Great service, great food, highly recommend. They are organized and professional!!! We got seats right away and food didn’t take too long to come out.

Thanks for the pitcher and poutine. Beautiful view of the mountain. Cold beer and good grub

Came in here after a few hours of skiing, and was starving.
Went on a slow day, but the place was still pretty busy. Service was sooo slow.
Didn’t eat much because the prices are pretty steep for such a restaurant… Had the bison burger, was good and definitely filling, with a pint of beer it’s a perfect filler.
The place does try to get money out of you… charging you for extra mayo and such… Having the visa machine already set up with fixed tip percentages, starting at 15%…
Id come back here again if Im in the same situation (at blue moutain, starving, lazy to drive anywhere nearby), but will keep to hamburgers and maybe try out a few apps

Busy on weekends. Went to the bar to wait for table. Ordered a hot toddy and the bartender looked at me like I had a third eye. Ordered a beer and they said that they were out of that particular kind… as I watch another server fill a pitcher of it. Bad form. Food was OK, table service was good and our waitress was nice. Convenient if you’re at the base of blue for apres or lunch.

The waitress was very friendly and helpful.
Unfortunately, the food isn’t great here.
We came twice during a trip. It’s the closest bar by the main lift and that primo location guarantees business regardless of quality.
We ordered the wings. They sell it by weight instead of quantity. The menu says it is «a pound». I don’t measure weight but the result was 7 (seven!) wings of small-​medium size. I’ve been to other places which sold by weight and I don’t think we received a pound at Rusty’s.
The sauce was vinegary and hot which was fine. The problem was that the wings were just soggy.
We then had the poutine with the brisket addition. That was really good with a hearty, dark brown gravy sauce. This was the best item we sampled.
Finally, there is a decent selection of beer available by the pint and pitcher.
After 10pm, they try to turn it into a nightclub and bring out a DJ and the disco lights. There is no entry fee but they charge a mandatory $ 2 coat check. Seriously.

Very crowded. We only had beer here with calamari. Calamari was not the best. But the staff were nice. The place is good for children so we had a noisy group right beside us.
For a small village it was a nice place to have beer and watch sport tv.

This place had merit for 5 stars but shortly after the appetizer things went downhill.
The nachos were really good. A bit pricey at $ 15 but it was very filling for two people.
I ordered fish tacos and they were delicious! However fries were really salty. $ 15 (worth the money)
My bf ordered the half rack of ribs and 2 southern style chicken. The ribs were good, but the chicken wasn’t that good. This dish came accompanied with steamed beans, carrots, fries and coleslaw. $ 23
Pop did not have free refills, so 1 coke that was refilled once was $ 7.50…
This is why this place lost marks.
–fries were wayyyyy too salty
–our server didn’t check on us during our meal but he went to every other table multiple time (we’re asian… just saying)
–i can’t stand restaurants that charge more than $ 10 for a meal to serve sauces/​salsa/​coleslaw etc in cheap plastic cups!
–no offer on ketchup on fries, we ended up finding it ourselves
–our server didn’t notify us that drinks are not free refills. Had we known we wouldn’t had ask for a refill and pay $ 7.50 for one coke!
–martinis were $ 13.75!

I wanted to award this place higher, they’re actually a pretty solid establishment thats super convenient when tearing up the slopes at Blue Mountain. It’s located at the bottom of the hill on the very edge of the Village @ Blue (right next to the Silver Bullet chair lift).
In terms of food, I’ve yet to be disappointed. When I come off the hill after a few hours of shredding, I’m not looking for filet mignon, I’m looking for something basic (burger, sandwich, wrap, nachos) and a tall beer. In terms of the basics, they do these well, I’d recommend their burger or the open faced steak sandwich. I had the nachos a few seasons ago but I don’t recall how good/​bad they were. The beer selection is decent as far as a chalet style pub goes. It’s a big 3 bar (Molson, Labatt, Sleamans) so don’t expect any Ontario Craft Brewers.
Now I can’t give them full marks on service as it can be slow and spotty, but that has less to do with server attentiveness and more to do with how busy this place can be. The servers are pretty friendly on the whole and can make good suggestions.
My gripe? Prices. Sure you’re the best spot amidst a sea of restaurants who are notorious for poor service and your location is great, BUT where do you get the cojones charging $ 25 for a pitcher of Carlsberg? Seriously? Our two burgers + fries were a little high in price but still affordable until that pitcher hit our bill. Almost $ 70! Pure abuse of supply and demand.
At the end of the day, this is your best bet for a chalet/​pub in the village, I mean there is the Irish pub, but that place is as bad as they come. Just flash some plastic and enjoy yourself a decent meal and some overpriced beer.