The Dam Pub

We had made reservations here for Monday night Oyster special. Recommended by a friend of my wife. Glad we came, pub was in a large home so various cool looking rooms, location very close to Blue Mountain, about a 10 minute drive. Staff very friendly and efficient. To start, I had a dram of 15 yr Dalwhinnie, which was heavenly, service was fast and efficient. My whiskey came with a small glass of distilled water, which was a cool touch. Pub is known for the variety of their whiskey collection so decided to have at least one. For the food, we both went for the Oyster special, one plate in their white wine sauce and another in tomato and fennel broth, must say the tomato and fennel hit the spot as the combo was delicious. The white wine is a fairly common sauce and it tasted like it should. Would definitely visit again, although outside the specials, pricing was up there with regular Toronto restaurants. Reservations for dinner highly recommended as it was packed even on a Monday night.

A regular hotspot for my family and I! Love the atmosphere, menu could change a bit more often but otherwise, their fish and chips and burger can’t be beat!

I don’t know what the negative reviewers are talking about here, I’ve eaten at the Dam Pub numerous times and its always been fabulous. I first ‘discovered’ the pub after working all day with no breakfast and no lunch. Needless to say, the Dam Pub took care of that situation quite well. The food is always fabulous, and i cant think of anywhere else in the Province that has a selection of whisky like they do.

What’s not to love. We ordered steak and ribs, both cooked to perfection. Dessert was peanut butter pie and bread pudding. Total food ecstasy! And the staff are spectacular.

My wife and I ate a late lunch at The Dam Pub this weekend. I ordered the Shepherd’s Pie and my wife ordered the fish and chips. The food was good but not worth the money we spent on it. A $ 20 serving of Shepherd’s Pie needs to be a lot better to be worth it. I found the flavour was very mild and lacked punch. My wife’s fish and chips were tasty and very nicely battered. We received okay service, but only okay. For an establishment that offers whiskey tastings and over 700 different whiskies I expect the serving staff/​bartendet to have at least a rudimentary of whiskey, which they did not possess. After our lunch we ordered carrot cake for dessert. While it did taste good and it was hearty once again it did not live up to its price tag. I don’t think we’ll be returning.

They get the one star for knowing the difference between Shepherd’s Pie and Cottage Pie.
They’d be at two stars if it were based on the excellent location and and decent physical ambiance, but then the incompetent service and lousy attitudes kick in. Apparently someone told the owners and staff they were doing their customers a favour by serving them, and they seemingly believed it. Almost everyone who works there exudes an arrogance which defies all logic. Bring a newspaper, no a novel, and get ready to wait.
Finally, the prices are absurd: Twenty dollars for liver and onions of no particular note, and $ 24 for a steak and kidney «pot pie», that doesn’t even have a bottom crust on it? I guess all those chalet owners down Highway 26 are pretty well a captive clientele.
Downtown Toronto prices meet weirdly pretentious Thornbury ‘chic”.

Very good food in the gastropub style (including haggis), with some of the best gravy I’ve ever tasted. Gravy?! Don’t take that as any kind of slam against the rest of the food – the gravy really was that good!
Service was friendly, but quite slow.
I didn’t sample any of their whiskeys, but the immense collection of varieties is impressive.

I concur with Veronique. We went there tonight with two kids and it was over an hour to get our food. Kids were starving. We were told several times that they were very busy tonight even though not all the tables were full. Also told most of the other patrons made reservations. Well we did too. So what did the waitress mean, people who don’t make reservations don’t deserve to be served? It seems this place can’t get their act together.
Don’t eat here unless you want to waste your time.

This pub does not know how to attract customers. We walked in to the patio which had 3 free tables but were told there would be a 20 minute wait because the kitchen is too busy. Whatever happened to «Please have a seat and a drink and we we will take your order as soon as we can»

I unfortunately had a very bad experience here. The pub seemed awesome had a great patio and nice menu however the good stops here. The wait staff was flustered and unprofessional and we waited an hour to get served. We had 2 little kids with us. I asked if they had bread or crackers for them and I was told no. Then I asked about getting mashed potatoes instead of fries I was told I better forget about it at this time of day. They do have bangers and mashed on the menu! Then I was told it was my fault for the wait since I ordered the burger which is the longest item to cook on the menu… oh dear!

Unfortunately I have to write a bad review about a place that I really liked.
The pub is very well set-​up, and does have good food — not great, but good. Problem is that the mains are now between $ 20-​$ 30 — for a pub, that’s highway robbery. The atmosphere is excellent — really like the whiskey bottles and the bar area is perfectly decorated. Now for a tale about rudeness…
I had made a reservation for six people recently, and unfortunately a couple dropped out at the last minute. I called the pub about a half hour before we arrived, and let them know we’d be a couple short. When we arrived, we were rudely greeted and asked that the next time we make sure not to ask for «the special table» — which I had not asked for in the first place! We were seated at «the special table» and waited about 20 minutes for the server to come by. When she did, it was one of the other owners, and again, we were lectured, at length, about how «other people in this very room had requested the table» and if we were only four people, we shouldn’t have requested «the special table» on such a busy night, yada yada yada… The place was half empty! This went on for five minutes… I have to say that I haven’t been lectured like that since I was a kid. I would have happily moved tables, but after that lecture, we stayed put. In retrospect, we should have got up and left.
Not the way to treat your customers if you expect them to come back. The kicker is that I had wanted to set-​up a whiskey tasting for about a dozen folks which would have brought in a thousand dollars at least, and many new customers for them. Not going to happen now unfortunately.
Again, the food was good, not great, and overpriced. The atmosphere is great if you just want a pint, but the owners need to stop being so pretentious and recognize that life happens.

A beautiful little gastropub in Thornbury, a town that I’m discovering has lots of little gems. This was the one that really opened my eyes.
The building is an old house, beautifully decorated and kept up. (I think the family who runs the place lives upstairs.) You step into the front hall and hang up your coat, and sit down in a warm, elegant, pubby and unpretentious dining room decorated with pictures of Scotland (and some war memorabilia which seems to be about a relative who fought in WWII). The walls are lined with shelves of whisky; they claim to have five hundred varieties.
The food menu is small but has something for everyone — fish, beef, lamb, shepherd’s pie, haggis, and even a vegetable curry. I had that last, and while I’m not usually a fan of British-​style curries this was really nice. Hubby enjoyed the haggis with neeps and tatties. Entrée prices start at $ 14.95 for fish and chips.
The washrooms are on the second floor, so while the main floor is accessible and there’s a ramp to get inside, you’re out of luck if you can’t do stairs.
This is great home-​cooked food in a comfortable setting. Avoid the chain restaurants and support this awesome little local business that just turned six years old.