Hudsons Canada’s Pub

Starting off by saying I will likely update this to a 5, but for now the only food I had during their Friday happy hour prices were the wings (2 plates of hot, one plate of the maple rub) — coupled with way too many vodka/​sodas.
I walked in thinking that even if not that great I would will it to be great because it is across the street from my building and would likely come here often. I was quite surprised as to how large it was but at the same time feeling warm — probably all the wood and level of lighting. Plenty of TVs for sports, and seemed like they had a long list of beers to choose. Sat in the back and the hostess was super cool about changing one of the screens from hockey (a hanging offense, but my Mets were playing game 3 of World Series) to the baseball game. The waitress, Annie, was amazing — quick to suggest specials, types of wings, letting us know which liquor was included in the special and just a general overall friendliness I’ve come to expect in Canada.
The rest of the menu items were very intriguing, will be back soon for some heavier fare and my expectations are high.

Great food, great service. Friendly atmosphere. Highly recommend the Loaded French onion dip. Erin was awesome!!!

Fav pub in the city :) Staff are awesome!

It was my 21^st birthday and I decided to book at Hudson’s for a Friday evening. I followed the process on their website and filled out the request forms for a celebration booking at their location. I immediately received an automated email saying they had received my request and I would hear from someone shortly to confirm my reservation.
A week went by, and I never got a phone call. So I called two days before the event to see if anyone had gotten my request, I got on the phone with a really nice guy named James who was very helpful, and told me that my reservation hadn’t been made, but he could book me in himself without needing to consult the people who check the emails.
This is my first complaint, why have an online system at all if you’re not going to stay on top of it? It’s unfair that customers who are trying to book an event which will bring business to their establishment should have to jump through hoops to make it happen.
James booked me a table and a «birthday celebration package» without issue, and I’m appreciative of his effort!
We arrived that evening and the table and everything was set up just perfectly. We enjoyed the first hour or so of our evening, with about 15 of us at the table. That is until an older gentleman came and sat down at my reserved table and asked if he could sit there… I very politely told him we actually had friends sitting there who would be back any second. He told me he would move as soon as they came back, so I said it would be fine.
The next thing that happened between myself (21 y/​o female) and him (40 y/​o male), was he spotted someone’s receipt on the table, and me, not knowing this man, I asked him if he could please leave it alone as it was my friends and she needed it for her personal records. I picked it up off the table and he immediately reached across and snatched it out of my hands and said something I couldn’t hear.
My boyfriend seeing my frustration came and sat down next to me to make sure that the situation was under control, and this man immediately started getting aggressive with him and threatening him. Saying things like «I have 3 assault charges and I’m not scared of you» or «let’s take this outside little man» also, «I’ll fight you right f’ing now» my boyfriend is also a 22 y/​o male, who never once entertained this mans aggressive behaviour.
Then, another man joined the conversation, while his friend, threatened my boyfriend as well as other males in the party sitting near by. I went and got a male staff member to try and diffuse the situation, who quickly pointed out his manager was already involved. And his manager was standing next to the man who was threatening my boyfriend and friends (again, twice our age) letting this all happen and even arguing with us saying we were in the wrong by not letting him sit with us. Which I profusely said I had no issue with. It was the aggressive behaviour I was appalled by.
The first man who was uttering threats was escorted away from the table, while my boyfriend continued to talk with the manager. My boyfriend blatantly asked him if the original man was a manager or owner or someone with power within the company, assuming he must be if he would be allowed to bully a group of customers with no consequence. The manager just said to him, «he hangs around here and is worth millions», with no further comment on it.
The manager then proceeds to turn to me, and tell me that this whole situation could have been avoided if I had just let him sit down and pay the bill he snatched out of my hands earlier. To which I replied, that his friend had never mentioned anything about paying bills, and that would not have absolved the situation anyways. It was the simple fact that, he sat down as an uninvited and completely rude interruption to our evening. But still, there was the manager arguing with a customer on her birthday, about her apparently poor behaviour. I was obviously shocked and horrified to find out that even though I was a paying customer who brought upwards of 15 people with me to his business, each paying over $ 60 each that night, that I could still be talked down to and made to find fault in.
Needless to say, my birthday evening was completely ruined by an absolutely inebriated man, and his friend (also manager apparently), and was not made right when the manager sent over a round of shots for the table trying to fix things. It was more so insulting than anything.
And lastly, that our waitress, Jillian, would have the audacity, to whisper to my boyfriend, when half our party had already paid and left because they were horrified and justifiably pissed off about the evening’s events, «Don’t walkout on the bill»…
To end my rant, this whole establishment is completely unprofessional, and does not treat their customers with any sort of respect. The fact that a manager would stand by while a belligerent friend of his would get in my boyfriends face and scream at me is insanity.

Decent beer.

Not impressed! I had called Hudsons to book a table for my birthday a while back. The gentleman that answered the phone took down my information, and told me he would call me back soon to confirm my reservation. A few days pass, and I still haven’t heard back from them. So I decided to call and see what was going on. Well, they apparently not only had no record of my reservation, they told me they are booked solid for the month! I told them that the gentleman I talked to said there was availability, to which the girl who answered laughed and told me tough luck. Clearly they couldn’t care less about having my business as they are popular. But, I really didn’t appreciate how they responded to the situation, as it could’ve been handled way better. There was no «sorry», nothing was done. Sometimes there are miscommunications, but they can be dealt with in a positive manner. Hudsons had no interest in rectifying the situation. I actually was telling a friend about it, and she told me the same thing happened to her! Oh well, I went elsewhere and still had a great time. Doubt I’ll be venturing back to Hudsons anytime soon.

I found it less tasty and delicious than before. Also, I tried another places and are better.

This one of my fave pub/​club? Though quite expensive its quite understandable due to its location. Such a beautiful venue and always a great time. I’m not sure if its because of the place or the people you’re with but it’s a great place all in all.
One of my favorites here is the patio open during summer times yet if you decide to stay in, its always okay. Theres bunch of tvs and a lot to see since the bar is literally in the middle of everything. And theres a small dance floor in the corner which I think is great it doesn’t intrude to the ones who just wanted to talk and spend good time together. Friendly staff. The food though nothing special and the price is just reasonable. Not much to say or comment on.
When it gets way tooo too crowded, thats where everything pretty much falls apart. The music gets loud and loud or initially is already loud, therefore conversations becomes nearly imposible. Beautiful place though!

The food is pretty good, but the service is unreasonably slow. We’ve stopped coming here before movies/​concerts because we’re guaranteed to be late as a result of the slow service.
Though the service is slow, it is friendly.

We went out with friends for drinks and wings (they chose the place this time) on a Thurs night at 730pm and we had a great time!
Initially it was very loud inside, the games were blasting from the TVS and the last table in the place that we scored had a speaker right above it. Yes, I lost my voice over the course of the night but we had so many laughs it was worth it. It quieted down a bit a little later on.
The service was amazing for an hour or so until our waitress was off duty — so we paid our tab and were ignored after that until we flagged someone else down.
No complaints about the wings really — they were half price and had about 10 flavors to choose from. I highly recommend the Ancho Chipotle and also the Maple Whiskey BBQ wings. Very good.
Ooh, and so was the salt and pepper wing that I tried.
And the hot wing… yummy!
The wings were smaller but still meaty, fresh and not overcooked as you find at other places that are just cranking them out.
The drinks were half off too on some beers and all wines except for the most expensive red and white on the menu. I was very happy with my 5oz glasses of sweet German white to go with the wings.
Our table killed 6 baskets (1 pound of wings = 10 wings or so) and then we ordered a basket of fries after that. They were so good! We were told that the kitchen changed to red skin potatoes which just make for a darker, tastier fry, skins on! The tables next to me got nachos and the platters were huge and looked sooo good! Next time…
For as many people as there were in this place, it was very clean and the bar-​like décor was modern and pleasant to the eye. My friend also said the washrooms were surprisingly clean!
We have stayed away from here for 2 years since we moved the area for seemingly no good reason! Now that we know how awesome it is for just kicking back with friends, we will be back!!!

**This review rating is subject for me being there when Hudsons isn’t in club-​mode (aka late night)**
I’ve always enjoyed Hudsons locations as they usually have great food for fairly cheap prices. This location did not disappoint me and had great wait staff that were very friendly and outgoing. There was lots of room in the place, so our large party group was easily seated in the back area of the bar. We were able to socialize in a relatively average level of background noise so we could still talk.
Fast forward to a couple of hours later, we’re asked to move to the front of the pub so that they could close the back. This was a bad sign. Cue club mode. I had spent enough time at other Hudsons to know that you should leave when it’s converting to club mode but it’s normally not as bad as this location. The way this Hudsons is laid out, you cannot continue conversation at that point. Just pack up and head out.
Come to Hudsons for lunch, supper, or early night drinks but plan to head somewhere else before it gets too late.

It was okay. The service was okay at first but dropped off over the course of the night. The TVs were way too loud. Conversation was next to impossible. Some annoying announcer kept talking (even louder than the TVs) every 20 minutes or so. It sounded like Lynch from X92.9. He was annoying, so it wouldn’t surprise me if it was.
I probably wouldn’t come back here.

Hudson’s ofers a large space, jammed with tables and big screen tv’s on top of cold drinks and okay food as far as I know. That’s all I wanted last night when I went in there. I had my jersey on and I was going to support my team while having a few drinks with friends. With indifferent expectations, I ordered the quesadilla for a little in between beer snacks. I feel like I’ve been throwing this around a lot lately, but it was seriously the Best Quesadilla I have ever eaten. Large fresh slices of tomato and avacado with corn, black beans, cilantro and nice chunks of juicy chicken. I didn’t eat that MF’er with a drop of salsa or sour cream either, I liked it so much.
Black beans have really stepped up their game on my pallet lately. Way to go Hudson’s.

Went to Hudsons for a midweek lunch, since it is so close to the office. Service was great, seated quickly and visited by the kitchen manager halfway though the meal «just making sure we were happy». Food was fair, but I have to say that I am not their target demographic.
Ordered the hot dog, cause I love Hot dogs, and because everything else on the menu just seemed like too much. (it seems every place with in walking distance of my beltline office is geared for 250 lb man appetites, and expense account budgets. Seriously, just because Earl’s has decided to audaciously raise prices and lower quality, why must everyone else?)
So…I should have read the description more carefully. Deep fried all beef battered wiener, beer mustard (tasted like cheese sauce from a pump), bacon jalapenos and fresh tomatoes. Really? Nothing was wrong, it was all fresh and tasty enough separately, but I just did not understand nor enjoy it all together.
Next time, I will walk further and hopefully find a hot dog stand.
Sigh

I had the opportunity to try the fare here at Hudsons due to a corporate function. We had their cheap wings — honey garlic and salt and pepper — and a huge platter of nachos. The wings were not bad. Comes with a ranch dip. The nachos were just OK. It looks like a huge pizza of nachos. The only thing I didn’t like was that the dips were not brought out with the nachos so we had to wait for a bit. Meanwhile the nachos got cool. Didn’t taste right then.
Then we ordered our lunch items. I had their Top sirloin steak, rare with double steamed brocolli, sauteed mushrooms, sweet potato fries and aioli. It was not bad. The meat was not seasoned enough for me and had to dip in HP sauce.
I didn’t order any alcohol so I can’t comment on that.
The wait staff was kinda attentive especially when it came to drinks.
Lots of TVs for sports events. Lots of Canadiana hung on the walls all over the restaurant.

Hmm… such a strange concept of a place. It appears to be a nice pub with good drinks and a nice menu. However, stay long enough and the place transforms into a hipster dance floor of tiny proportions. Those who were there to sit and chat and drink get their ears blasted by the speakers for the small dance floor. It becomes unbearable.
Hudson’s needs to find an identity and stop trying to be both a pub AND a club.

Came here with an old university friend for some pub food and beer! Tonight (Tuesday) was east coast night meaning fish and chips (a few bucks off) and shrimp basket ($ 2.50 for 12 shrimp) a steal was great! TV’s had sports on. I was more tired tha. Hungry so I had the shrimp basket plus a Caesar salad. I asked the waitress if the Caesar was overly garlicky and she stated «not really». Shrimp was great but Caesar was pretty strong garlic. Maybe that’s my fault for ordering but oh we’ll. One other small suggestion is the smell of stale beer plus unpleasant smell was not overpowering but definitely noticeable! Price of food was decent! Beer price average! Not too shabby!

Came to Hudsons on a Wednesday night, same day I arrived in Calgary to meet with some friends for wing night and apparently, Wing’s are big in Calgary on Wednesday. Wing Wednesdays at Hudsons is $ 0.25 wings! WHERE DO YOU FIND THAT IN LA? Even Buffalo Wild Wings on Tuesday nights for Wing Tuesdays is $ 0.55 per wing! So as my buddy and I are waiting for more friend, our friendly, Stampede themed waitress asked us about drinks and I ordered a pint of Alexander Keiths (because we don’t have that in the States and I had it at a Blue Jay game). After that beer I was getting a little hungrier and I ordered some wings (orders of 10) and because I am in Canada, I had to represent so I got the Maple BBQ sauced ones, and it was pretty delicious a tad on the sweeter side. I then ordered a local Calgary beer for my second drink a Wild Rose Raspberry Ale and it was a nice beer, different from ShockTop Raspberry that it wasn’t as flavorful but it was really light, clean, natural tasting and full of natural raspberry taste. Then ordered 20 more wings and 10 of them I got Honey Garlic and 10 of them Ancho Chipotle. For the Honey Garlic wings I didn’t really taste the garlic just tasted the honey and it was STI-​ICK-​Y, the Ancho Chipotle was nice in that it wasn’t too spicy had a nice smokiness to it probably from the ancho or chipotle or both, and it had a nice slight kick to it. My last drink of the night is another Canadian beer from the Maritimes, in New Brunswick… this beer reminds me of a Sea Dog Blue Paw and it was tasting a bit like Dimetapp at first but I enjoyed t towards the end. During the night, apparently there was an explosion at SHAW (internet, cable, phone service provider) so the credit card machines were down at the time, but the waitresses handled it awesomely and resorted back to carbon copy ruling the credit card which I have not seen in ages! The waitresses were pretty responsive to our needs and brought us a bucket for utensils and wet naps and we could even use the bucket for the bones of the wings. I really enjoyed this Hudstons and will definitely be returning.
**The wings here are great as in their not overly breaded unlike some other places, in fact their not breaded at all but super crispy**

Came here late on a Friday night so the place was in full club mode. Therefore didn’t get a chance to try the food.
It was fine for what it was. The DJ was good. I felt old, but the crowd was good and I just stayed out of their way and enjoyed my drinks with my friends.

I like the Shawnessy Hudsons better than this one. This one has a weird layout. And is smaller. But whatever, I still go. Why, you ask. Well, you’ll have to read the rest of the review and get to the end to find out.
There is a massive lineup every weekend! Its ridiculous! I hate lineups, so I usually go around 7 or 8. The music is always so damn loud its impossible to talk to the person sitting right next to you without yelling so much that you’re hoarse by the time you leave the pub. But you know what I gotta say? They do have a great atmosphere. Everyone always looks like they’re SO HAPPY to be there and they’re having SUCH A GREAT TIME DUDE!
The service is always good — the waitresses are friendly and on top of their game, even though the place is packed like sardines in a can.
Why do I go there? I got gift certificates to use up. QUITE a few of them. And they all expire end of this year. So there is a good chance I’ll end up here this weekend. If you’re there too, come say hi. I’ll buy you a beer.
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