The Pony Espresso

Very accommodating, always a lovely atmosphere, excellent food. Be prepared to wait a little. And don’t lose your car keys on the floor because you’ll never hear the end of it– especially if you’re with high strung Jewish friends. If you’re in whistler you’d be a fool to stay there.

It is very hard for me to let go of the «old» Pony Espresso It was far more than coffee (the name is misleading),. it was great, cheap, food, served from a cowboy shack in what looked like an overgrown backyard. It was one of my favourite places on earth, and probably Pemberton’s «real» community centre.
The land was turned into condos but a new place was built further into town and that seemed to coincide with it going a bit upscale. It still has a great patio and decent burgers but the huge array of baked goods,. I don’t see them anymore,. I’m 99% sure that most of of the menu has changed if not the owners. It just isn’t the same, not even close
Does that mean it is bad? No. However Mile 1 down the street has taken its place as a place to get one of the best burgers you’ve ever had,. and fruit pie. If Mile 1 is full,. this is a decent place to get the meal and beer after you finish your 3 day hike and an exit that dusty logging road.

Yum yum yum. I had the nicoise salad and hubby had the pulled pork sandwich, both were sooo good. :)

It’s a hidden gem. The food is phenomenal, we had steak and a pizza. The pizza is crazy and unique and works. The servers were nice and the place very cozy and atmospheric. Make sure to go here!

Prior to going to Pemberton I did my research, which means reading Unilocal reviews to pick out places to eat at, and was happy to see that most reviews came close to my expectations.
We arrived here after a long hike and with a big appetite. The décor is like a country bar in any other small town so nothing special.
Our server was very friendly and super attentive; even though other Unilocal reviews suggested otherwise.
I ordered their Pemberton burger with a side of yam fries which was cooked to perfection. I also very much liked the fresh slice of provolone and the large quantity of yam fries. Unfortunately I was too full to try dessert but this burger definitely hit the spot and worth driving up to Pemberton.

I could see how service could really bog down here, but I’ve always been pretty lucky in this regard. And I’ve always had pretty good food. Last time I had the calzone– great. The selection of beers on tap is pretty good– Driftwood, Howe Sound, and some others mixed in.
If it looks really busy and you see hordes of cranky people… probably best to move on. Move on to Whistler that is– not too many options in Pemberton!

Pleasantly surprised by the delicious food at The Pony. Came in thinking it was a burger joint but wow I had the gnocchi which was a flavor explosion. My friends had ribs and salads which where amazing as well. Service was fantastic, fast and friendly ! I would highly recommend the pony!

We had the unfortunate experience of a condescending waiter. After some smug remarks concerning my kids desire for a plain cheese pizza, the waiter seemed bothered and unwilling to help our friend’s child with some dietary restrictions. We left at that point rather than spend our money on an over-​priced menu. Sorry if I am unhelpful for the food portion of the experience.

Amazing food but terrrrrrrrible service.
We placed an order for drinks, and after 10 minutes of waiting the server came back saying «can you guys just order the same thing, it’s too hard to prepare 3 separate drinks» — how do we even reply to that?
I ordered the black and blue burger, which was satisfactory. The salad was gorgeous — topped with a nice Parmesan and delicious prosciutto. My wife ordered the seared tuna salad — the tuna was seasoned and prepared perfectly. The salads saved our meals.
The servers were the un-​attentative in a nearly empty restaurant, and pretended to be busy the entire time we were there.
I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone until they make massive improvements to their service staff.

My lovely wife and I stopped in for lunch. I had ultiment burger, $ 18.00! Seemed like a lot for a burger but very flavorful. My wife had a Nicole salad intresting, seared tuna, olives, capers. Very fresh and tasty. I had a Keith’s IPA.

So we walked in on a Friday night and the place was packed. No worries.
Waited 5 minutes to seat.
Waited another 15 minutes to each being greeted by different menus? Is this what happens when you let hipsters run a restaurant through a coffee shop? Another 10 minutes to get our order taken by an unnecessarily snotty waiter. No water. Nothing while we waited.
When our orders were taken we were warned the kitchen was swamped and our food would take a bit. I fully appreciated that.
Showing up in the middle of a busy night with less than adequate staff happens. What matters is how these situations are handled by the staff. One of the specials that night was a crab bisque or some such and it came with house bread. I have an idea, why don’t you toss a grumbly, hungry, but patient table of folks one of those pre-​made breads you got back there while they waited? It would have done wonders for morale.
Now, I cant be too too hard on this place because Im from Van and we have it really good. Pemberton is a one-​horse town after all.
Heres a meal breakdown.
Appy: Calimari. I assume it was «asian fusion» because it had peanuts and cilantro in it and was served with thai sweet chili sauce. The flavors were very good but the calimari was soggy as a motherf. Why? Because the fryer oil had too much moisture in it. It shouldve been changed out.
Burger/​fries: Small, but tasted good, quality ingredients. The fries were soggy same as the calimari above.
Salmon filet on noodles: I was told the salmon was tasty but the noodles it sat on were swimming in sauce.
Donair: (wtf? I wont even talk about this)
Pad thai: In a word, tasteless. Mind you my buddy is vietnamese restaurant owner so the cards were against the dish. It was basically my buddys fault for ordering that and expecting to be impressed.
I really dont want to tear this place apart but dammit there were just so many things at fault here. The restaurant tries to pull off a gourmet frou frou type of menu and thats fine but you gotta go all in not half assed. My burger came out looking gourmet and instead of including a small bit of ketchup or even better a chipotle mayo in a little dipping cup, Im offered some No Name ketchup in a bottle. I asked for a side of mayo and received a bowl full of mayonnaise. Da fuq?
For all the locals that love this place and who are probably friends with the owners, Im happy for you. Enjoy the haunt. But if youre an out of towner please do yourself a favor and walk past this place.

The food is great, though the past two times I’ve found that the service needs a little work. Maybe they’re short-​staffed? It would be nice if somebody at least said hi to me when I came through the door…
Also: The patio is great.

The. Best. Restaurant. Ever. OK, seriously, it was amazing food, a wonderful and interesting server, and very cool place. Adored the poutine. Definitely worth the 30-​minute drive north of Whistler. Not sure why this listing has «Espresso» in the name, this is a full restaurant (with a coffee counter).

A-​OK place to stop for coffee or a meal.
Hard to know what this place is trying to be as it looks like a bar, with restaurant seating, a coffee shop on the side and a pizza parlour as well. Lots of options!
Service ok

My husband and I ventured here late one night after we were unable to get into our first choice of restaurant in town, and we were pleasantly wowed! From reading other reviews, I got the impression that the food here was pretty basic, but our experience was rather exceptional (new menu perhaps?).
After polishing off a basket of freshly basked bread, I had herb-​encrusted local halibut, served with gold and purple Pemberton potatoes, mussels, and shrimp — food euphoria! My hubby had the bavette (steak) with blue cheese, prawns, and spicy potatoes (a tad too spicy), which he was also raving about.
The atmosphere is very casual — almost incongruous with the fine food, but it conveyed a genuine, local feeling. The service was a tad slow (I’d take off half a star for that), but very friendly.

We were looking for a restaurant close to our hotel in Pemberton. The Pony was the only thing that was open for miles and we were hungry. Initial impression was a your typical tavern serving beer and probably greasy burgers. However it was a delightful surprise, very tasty menu prepared in a very gourmet style. For example, the ceasar salad had a tender hardboiled egg, delicate dressing, large pieces of shaved prosciutto and Parmesan cheese. We also had the porkbelly with spiced apple compote appetizer and the brickoven pizza. The burger was not so good, too much pepper. Service is very good, the waiter was very interesting, personable and attentive. Wait time was a little long for food but I think we felt it more because we were hungry from skiing all day. We definitely will be back!

For a small eatery, well any eatery really, this place is quite good! The place looks like a converted old barn from the gold rush days, but with new walls on the inside… word of caution, don’t sit next to the dividing walls, one of them toppled over and nearly hit a patron in the head!
Happily surprised the food is great and they use ‘fancy’ cheese in their sandwiches and their version of mac n’ cheese! I had the grilled veggie salad, it came with grilled artichokes, eggplant, red peppers, mushrooms, mixed greens, feta cheese and it was fantastic. The pulled pork on thick toasted baguette like bread was also very good and a favorite from what we could see, definitely a must have for meat eaters and came with fries. The grilled panini with Prosciutto, provolone, gruyère and salami was very good and came with a caesar salad that had prosciutto and half an egg. Portions very generous and fresh. I also had a coffee because a few people mentioned it was really good, but I can’t agree, it tasted like old stale coffee, bland and had an after taste… sorry.

My family cabin is near Pemberton and one day I finally ventured into the Pony, curious and famished. I was attended to immediately and not made to feel at all weird that I was by myself.
The menu featured many locally inspired and grown dishes. There was not a lot for vegetarians beyond the standard salad/​grilled vegetable salad but the goat cheese tart piqued my interest. It was delicious and just the ride portion size. The atmosphere was friendly and genuine and my service was impeccable.
I’ve since been back many times and have never been disappointed. I even brought some meat-​eater friends and they assured me that the Pemberton rump steak was succulent, flavorful and perfectly prepared.
My only complaint: the menus are riddled with grammatical and spelling errors (dumb but irksome). I mentioned it casually to my server and she laughed and said the chef was French and he’d put it together.

The Pony makes good food, pretty good coffee and is in a great location for Pemby. my beef with the pony is consistency. i’ve had a few great meals here but i’ve also had terrible service and the feeling that the whole restaurant staff has just given up on work for the day.
there’s not a whole lot of other places to eat in pemby, so this will probably be your best bet

With slim pickings in a town of 2500, I was happy to find the Pony. In fact, driving into town my «ah ha, that’s where it’s at» spidy senses went off and there was no stopping me!
It was alive and kicking on a Friday night, with playoff hockey (we lost) and their One Year Anniversary party. Service was a kind of efficient, but not as friendly as one would like, but I would guess that it’s harder to find good servers in a small town. Beers were $ 3.25 a pint, for Howe Sound or Whistler Brewery and a small, but well appointed, menu of tapas was $ 5. Pizza was the only other thing that we could order, and while I wished a salad or two would have been offered, I couldn’t complain about the pizza selection.
The Cow Tipper pizza was full of blue cheese and sweet tasting beef flavour, and depending on what slice you bit into you got a heavy dose of either or. The price was a little steep at $ 16 but the pizza was filling and the crust was flat and crispy.
From the tapas menu we ordered the pork belly. Now, I’ve had a few bellies in my life, and I have to say, this goes down as one of the best. Like a crème brûlée in Buenos Aires, Argentina or a tortilla soup in Tulum, Mexico — Pemberton, BC’s Pork Belly might just be the new measuring stick for all future bellies I put into my belly.