Cheshire Cheese Inn

This used to be my fav pub to go eat. However things have changed. Most places have a beer or drink special for under $ 5 for happy hour etc. They usually have boxed wine for over $ 7 for a 6oz glass and tap beer for over $ 5. Plus all the prices have been raised significantly and the waitress just says well cost of groceries is higher. But my chicken strips and Cesar salad came to $ 20 before tax and tip. They charged my $ 5.50 to substitute salad for fries. Come on its freakin lettuce and a tiny portion at that. No more roast nightly specials either. Super disappointed

Really good burgers… we had lamb, halibut, and tavern at our table and everyone said theirs was very good also had tavern salad. service was fast but warm and friendly, and the food was reasonably priced with kind of an modern but vintage pub feel to the place. My husband is quite sensitive to food, ambiance etc and was not really the one to pick the place but he ended up really liking it .its great that it’s so close to the theatres as well. We will come again.

Our server Chelsea was a super hero! 26 of us arrived at the same time and she ensured we were all hydrated and fed. She smiled the entire time.
Oh yes… The food was piping hot and tasted fantastic. Very traditional English fare.

I used to go here as a teenager because they would serve us drinks! We went to a movie at the Dunbar Theater and walked out starving. Haven’t been here in years. Food was pretty bad but waitress was adorable so one extra star. We had their Sunday special which was turkey dinner. It was just like cafeteria food. Not good. I don’t ever want to go back.

My first time here. We had a party of 10 for a Saturday night.
20 minutes after sitting down a pair of older patrons walked up to out table and yelled at us for being obnoxious A-​holes and ruining the atmosphere in the bar. (We were talking about campers, terribly inappropriate conversation). They walked out blaming is for them having to leave.
Trying to order beer was a trial. I asked for an MGD, waitress had never heard of it. Later I ordered dos xx. Never heard of it. These beers were openly visible in the fridge. That being said, our waitress was friendly and helpful, just very inexperienced.
Food… Had the steak and ale bites, these were fantastic, halibut burger was also ok.
Dessert was kinda blah. Tiny microwaved pie.
I wish you a better experience than we had.

I grew up in the neighbourhood, and «the Chesh» is a fixture in Dunbar. The service and atmosphere has always been satisfying enough, with its cozy ersatz English pub décor and friendly staff. It’s seen good days and bad in terms of food quality, but these days it’s been excellent, since they brought in a new trained professional chef over a year ago. The menu has been revamped, and old classics are actually tasty now. I recommend the halibut or lamb burgers, and the chicken pot pie. The fish and chips are good too, and the calamari is leaps and bounds better than it was.
If you went here a few years ago and swore off it, try it again and be pleasantly surprised.

The other day, my buddy and I visited this cozy british style pub for the first time. We were coming down from hyped up energy caused by watch a «GOLDEN» hockey game at 4am. At about 10 am we had decided to visit a place for brunch. A friend of mine had mentioned «The Cheese» and so we tried it out.
Firstly, the service was amazing. I had to ask the server if she had been working at this position for a long time as she was spot on perfect. I was pleasantly surprised to know learn that it had only been a few months. Kudos to this place on their exceptional training program.
Now most people can’t really judge a place on how they make brunch cause frying up some eggs and bacon with some potato is pretty easy. BUT! The Cheese does it perfectly. Really! We each had the British Breakfast that consists of eggs (made your way), bacon, a hearty sausage, some beans, home fries and toast. Throw a coffee in the mix and your looking at about 14 bucks tax incl. After this experience I couldn’t help but tip this place generously.
Great service, tasty food and a warming ambience is all you want on a Sunday morning. I will highly recommend this place to my friends and family. Most especially the family part as many of them have little ones, and this place is great for children.

I have some good memories of going to the Cheshire Cheese with my family, ages ago. When we went to go visit my Aunt in Dunbar we often stopped in here to meet for a beer. However, what I remembered as a quaint and English-​inspired pub is now a run-​down and cheerless dive. This harsh view was ignited by a recent visit to the Cheshire in order to join their weekly trivia night. I am somewhat of a trivia aficionado, and this pub failed to deliver any of the traits I look for in a good trivia game: there were no round-​by-​round prizes to keep people engaged, the MC was painfully slow in an obvious attempt to encourage drinking amongst participants, and the questions were either embarrassingly easy or frustratingly obscure. I’ve attended some bad trivia nights before, and these evenings have usually been redeemed through drink specials and/​or decent eats. The Cheshire failed on these fronts as well. The beer prices were average-​to-​expensive, and they had very few craft brews on tap. We ordered some calamari to snack on as well, and this was straight out of the freezer bag. The management and staff here just seem to have given up and are clearly depending on long-​standing regulars to keep them afloat. I hope they sink, because there is nothing of worth on this cheesy, claptrap ship. I recommend walking down the hill to the Wolf and Hound!

I’m usually here for Tuesday night Trivia, and its always a fun time. The menu is reliable enough and there are enough drink choices to satisfy the whole group. If I’m just looking to head out for dinner and a drink though, I usually end up at The Dunbar where its a bit more «hip».

I accidentally put this on Arbutus since Unilocal gave me the wrong one when I checked in (just another glitch in Unilocal,I guess?) so my apologies if this looks familiar. I guess they owe me since they still haven’t changed some of my other requests. Here goes:
The Cheshire Cheese, like many have written, is exactly what you’d expect to find in Dunbar. They have had a following from the locals and people who work in the vicinity for years, because, basically, what else is there?
The food remains pretty standard to me, and I always order the wrong thing; usually what I consider a «safe bet» but certainly not «British.» Can we say chicken quesadilla? And even with the new chef, it tastes exactly the same – as if it came from a box – every time. But I can never quite bring myself to order the hearty roast beef and Yorkshire pudding which they advertise, but it seems to be the popular choice for obvious reasons.
Tuesday is trivia night if that interests you.
The prices are high to average, but again, not surprising for the area. And if you aren’t drinking very much, don’t even think about asking for a refill for your water. They just don’t bother enough to come by.
So basically, I go here when I’m in this part of town and it’s the only place where people seem to want to go for a «sure thing.»

Decided to give this pub a go as part of my restaurant-​hunting adventures.
Parking is available on Dunbar, as well as the side streets.
To be honest, I wasn’t expecting there to be anyone here. The street is completely deserted in the evenings, and the inside is too dark to see anyone. I was surprised to find the place ¾ full. There was even a family with a kid. Guess it’s technically a restaurant. There is also a patio, which must be nice during the summer. There’s a full bar, with several taps serving products such as Guinness and Kilkenny.
Service was friendly, but they were a tad understaffed. Had to wave down the waitress a few times.
Today (Tuesday) we happened to come across Trivia Night (2000 – 2200). This was piles of fun. I wish I had known about this years earlier! They give you cards, and in each round you have to answer 12 questions. The winner of each round gets 3 ballots for a final door prize, while the 2^nd prize gets 2, and 3^rd gets 1. There were many tricky questions asked, but my friend and I were able to whiz through most of them.
As for the food, we had the calamari. To be honest, it was quite gross. Instead of being golden brown and crispy, it was light and pale yellow. Maybe this is how they do it in the UK, but I was expecting something more along the lines of what you’d find at Earls or Joey’s. The dill sauce was decent though, and unlike most places, they actually give you enough of it to last the entire dish.
Beers were decently priced, at $ 5 for a glass of Big Rock.
I was going to give the place 2 stars, but the Trivia Night bumps it back to 3.

Dropped by this little pub for a quick bite to eat before a movie at the Dunbar. At the time I had just been diagnosed with pancreatitis and was still prone to bouts of nausea. One of the bouts hit me in at the start of our meal. Was it the bland, overly-​sauced food, or was it the inflamed pancreas?
I’m choosing to describe the service — which was the worst part of the experience — with this anecdote: I barely ate my food because I was feeling pretty sick to my stomach. When the server came to take away our plates and drop off the bill, she of course noticed how much food was left. Instead of asking if everything was okay, she berated me for not eating what I’d ordered. «There’s no reason to come here if you’re not going to eat.» Lady, I agree.

I’m a sucker for a British pub!
Don’t know why, but the words «Bangers and Mash», «Steak and Kidney Pie» and «Toad in a Hole», well they just seem to make sense to me. I don’t know that there’s anything particularly special about Cheshire Cheese Inn, service is good, food hot and tasty. Good place to catch a White Caps game on the tv.

Stopped in here for a simple lunch with a friend. It’s a cute little British pub! The menu is quite British. We just got the soup and sandwich special, which was grilled ham and cheese and cream of mushroom soup. It really hit the spot. The soup was actually made with fresh mushrooms. The sandwich was grilled to perfection. Deliciousness!
I might stop in for a pint next time.

I like it. Today was a day for comfort food and I got it. We were a group of five and we each ordered something different. I ordered the Bangers and Mash — Four sausages, quite a bit of mashed potatoes, baked beans and gravy. It wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, no, but it was comforting and exactly what I was looking for today. Everyone else at the table was quite satisfied with their food too.
Prices are very reasonable.
Service was great. She came by often, and was very helpful and friendly. I didn’t have enough gravy so when I ordered another side of gravy, she just gave it to me for free. She also noticed the other guys didn’t have enough tartare sauce so she came around with extras for the guys.
It was a slow night in terms of sports so the place wasn’t full at all. We parked right outside.

Say hello to traditional English cuisine how it’s been stereotyped: BLAND. I had the roast beef special with gravy, roasted potatoes, veggies and a yorkshire pudding. I was so disappointed.
The gravy tasted like the store bought kind, and it wasn’t the good type. The roast beef was the only good thing on the plate, being medium rare and juicy. The yorkshire pudding felt like I was eating cardboard, I think they forgot to add something other than egg and flour to it (salt, pepper perhaps?). The veggies were heartbreaking: steamed within an inch of their poor veggi-​life, the broccoli and carrots tasted like flavoured water and were limp. The potatoes had too much seasoning, so I felt like I was eating a spice shaker, not a potato.
The place is cute, the servers are friendly, and I’m sure they’re great for a beer and footy– but if you’re going to want to eat traditional English food, give this place a miss and go to the Elephant & Castle instead, they actually know how to cook.

Surprisingly, very kid friendly! Gotta like it when you can get a pint, watch a game, and keep kids somewhat entertained at the same time! I had to ding it a star, since the food is mediocre at best.

This Pub is in my hood! I love English Footy (Soccer) to us Canadians. Good relaxing place too quaff down a 20oz imperial pint, along with some original English grub. I had the steak and mushroom ale pie, with chips (fries) for use who don’t get the lingo, and a small side of beans, along with a couple of pints of Okanagan 1516. The only things missing is an open fire place. Its like being inside an English cottage but bigger, rafter beams on the ceiling with white stucco, comfy booths with older floral pattern, lots of tables big bar, a couple or 3 LCD TV ‘s for the Soccer or what ever sport u would like to watch. Friendly courteous staff, good service, good food, great beer! what else can I say! Ur round!!! Cheers