Not only does Patina have a great patio, it has great food and beer

This is my current favorite beer right oiw, Thai Lager.

Hints of Lemongrass and ginger in a refreshing light lager. Apparently you can turn it into a raddler with a side of lemonade. I’ll try that next time. Awesome beer.

Now on to the star of the evening. The candied bacon.

The first time I had it it changed my world.

I’m not 100% sure how they do it, most likely in the smoker. But I tried making it at home. Dipped into brown sugar and baked it was pretty close.

At any rate it’s so good I had to have a second order.

I also tried the pulled pork sliders. The pulled pork was excellent however the bun could have been a little fresher. That might be the professional Baker in me being a tad too picky I’m not sure.

Finished it all off with a passion fruit cider.

Can’t say as I I’ve ever had one of those before. But it was good. Fruity and refreshing. 

The one dissapoiting thing tonight was the service. The server was friendly enough but wasn’t very attentive. There were times we were waiting more than a few minutes to order our next round. Granted it was Friday night and fairly busy but there was no shortage of servers. Not the end of the world, we weren’t in any hurry.

I really though a very pleasant evening on a beautiful Summer’s night drinking some excellent beer with great friends.

8/10

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Clearly though my last three or four visits here I’ve  forgotten about.

The quality of the food has not been great these last few years.

Wait, wait, wait.

Let’s be real here and not BS anymore.

The food has been crap.

Unfortunately today the trend continues.

There were 4 in our party today. So a fair representation of the menu.

We each had something different.

Not one of us like our meal all that much.

I can’t speak to the details of the in-laws food other than the negative verbal report both gave me.

Our two dishes were pretty unexceptional.

First up we have the Seafood croissant and Carrot ginger soup.

The croissant was okay. It had crab and shrimp and the croissant was fresh but not flaky at all. This is a margarine croissant no question. But it was fine.

The soup in my opinion was awful. The chef should not have let this go out of the kitchen. The flavor was actually ok but they did not puree this enough.

I had a momentary lapse of reason and had the Seafood Benny.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

What was I thinking?

I had to crop the photo because the egg on the other half had slid right off the muffin.

Speaking of the muffin, ewwwwww. They didn’t toast it, which is just wrong.  And to make matters worse it was crumbly, likely stale. Very disappointing.

The rest of it was okay. The Hollandaise was exactly what you’d expect, bland. The eggs were poached soft. Too bad it had fallen off and broken before it got to me. I skipped the hashbrowns, I guarantee they  would have come out of the deep fryer. The salad? It was green.

The Gillnetter does boggle my mind. With a  location this good why can’t they get their s*** together and serve better food.  It’s extremely disappointing to see the potential of this spot being ruined by whomever is in charge.

So come for the patio, skip the food entirely and have s cold one. It’s harder to screw that up.

3/10

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Now what’s better than enjoying Victoria day weekend sitting on a patio drinking beer and eating good food. With the dog no less.

I started with a flight.

From left to right:

1. Strawberry Kiwi Sour.

 Apparently the kiwis are grown locally which to me I found unbelievable at first until I researched it and found that yes there are some kiwis that grow on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. Who knew?

At any rate I didn’t find this beer particularly sour. It was fruit forward and it was refreshing but not my first choice.

2. Peach Passion fruut Sour.

This is my kind of beer. Here too the peaches are BC grown.

From their website; “This sour brings the perfect balance between fruity sweetness and a gentle, lingering sourness”

However to me that sourness actually kicked my ass a little. Which I like. What’s the point of a sour if it’s not sour?

3. Amber lager

This is a fairly typical dark lager to me. Didn’t quite fit with the sours unfortunately but I generally like this type of lagger a lot. It has a nutty and deep flavor.

4. Thai lager

Here we have something a little bit different. Like a lot of beers today there’s lime present but there’s an underlying savory note. I couldn’t quite pinpoint it at first thinking perhaps it was lemongrass and it turns out that’s part of it. It also has ginger and calamansi. For most of you out there (like me as well) a calamansi is a citrus hybrid, also known as a Philippine lemon.

I enjoyed it so much I brought a four pack right from the brewery. Which if you want some of this you might have to do yourself as they aren’t in many liquor stores other than in the direct area. Hopefully their brand grows and more of their great beers get recognized.

And now for the barbecue!

I had a pulled pork bun which with white Alabama barbecue sauce.

Very tender and tasty pulled pork on a super Fresh bun with the mayonnaise based white Alabama barbecue sauce. Beautiful all around. They do a really nice fry here too. The coleslaw I could do without. It’s pretty plain.

Merilynn went with the ribs.

Okay yeah the ribs could use a little work. I would say a few more hours in the smoker would make these a really good rib. They weren’t quite tender enough and there was quite a lot of gristle.

I do a good rib at home myself, so this isn’t something I’d ever order out. And I do believe in a simmering ribs as it does melt all that collagen. So ribs at my house are completely fall off the bone and nothing but tender meat.

Merilynn did enjoy them however she did say my ribs are better.

And hopefully you notice that candied bacon on that tray as well.

This is one of my favorite things ever.

I mean it’s bacon. And they candy it.

It’s absolutely phenomenal.

We definitely had three different experiences today though

My meal was great.

Merilynn’s meal was good, but ribs need a little more time in the smoker.

But unfortunately my friend John did not care for his pulled pork tacos. His main complaint was an overall lack of flavor.

8/10

Bring River out for some beer and BBQ

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Ok I’ll admit up front I went into this meal with some very high expectations.

First, I’ve heard good things.

Second, we have tried to come here twice before. It’s been lined up out the door both times.

Third, it gets at 4.6 rating on Google.

So yeah why shouldn’t I think I’m in for a good breakfast.

I challenge you to flip through their Instagram or online food photos and tell me that it doesn’t look good.

Perhaps that’s why this is one of the most disappointing meals I’ve had in a long time.

The server came and took our order within a reasonable amount of time. But then the wait.

Today was not a particular busy day at the Big Flat Pancake. We actually had to wait a few minutes to be seated even though there were multiple tables open.

Then the wait started. First first our drinks. Then coffee refills. Then for our food.

Why so much waiting when it’s not full?

One answer might possible be:

They were too busy over cooking our eggs?

I had the Blacksmith Benny.

This is bacon, cheddar and avocado on the traditional English muffin with Hollandaise.

I found the cheddar flavor to overwhelm most of the flavors of the Benny. The”crispy” bacon was anything but. The eggs? Overdone.  In my case not to the point of being inedible but still overdone. The hash browns are flavorless. Looks deep fried to me

Merilynn went with The Big Swim

First thing to note: that’s a $24 plate.

The lox was fine. The toast was bread. Hard to screw that up. The eggs though were so dry they were inedible. Seriously bad. Best part of this plate was by far the fresh fruit.

The teenager went with the Lois and Clark Benny. Ham, gouda and avocado.

The eggs on this Benny weren’t quite so overdone. Overdone nonetheless.

And now our second wait began. The amount of time to get the table cleared and the bill coming to the table was far too long then it should be for a restaurant this busy.

Honestly I was appalled at the meal overall.

I did have a look on Instagram and Facebook at some of their other offerings that have been posted and the food looks pretty good. Maybe we just had a bad morning? Unfortunately they’re not going to get a second chance from us.

Not after spending $111. That’s one and done I’m afraid.

Greg 1/10

Merilynn 1/10

The teenager 5/10

Value Terrible

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It’s the playoffs!

Go Canucks!

Is there a better way to watch the game than with friends at the pub?

No!

Just maybe not this pub!

Ok, the atmosphere is fine. It’s no different than 100 other pubs I’ve been  in my time.

Big screen TVs, cold beer, decent atmosphere.

I started getting a bad feeling after perusing the menu. Not one thing on their menu looked overly appealing.

Yes there’s the typical pub grub.

A beef dip. Too often filled with less than great meat in establishments such as these.

The obligatory deep fried chicken wings, fries, yam fries and nachos.

A selection of burgers that didn’t thrill me.

Butter chicken? Only in an Indian restaurant please.

But I’m starving, so I reluctantly order a turkey, bacon and brie sandwich. With soup as I try to avoid fries. Italian Wedding soup tonight.

Hmm. The skeptic in me doubts that this is going to be any good but better than fries right?

Wrong!

Yeesh!

Let’s start with the soup.

I make this soup 2 or 3 times a year so I have a good idea of how it should taste.

It was very bland. The meatballs were tasteless and had a mystery meat texture. The Acini were overcooked so provided no texture. Do they have salt and pepper in the kitchen here? Very disappointing.

As for the sandwich, At least there was the bacon to add some flavour. But the brie was greasy. How does that happen?

The only reason I knew there was turkey in there was because I could see it. Certainly couldnt taste it.

I know it’s pub grub but can’t these “chefs” put some pride into their food?

Quickly polling the others who ate at the table:

The burger? Okay.

The Nachos? All I got was a shrug.

I really haven’t been having great experiences at pub type restaurants lately. Either my tastes are moving past this level of food, or there has been a general decline in the overall quality offered by this genre of establishment.

I suspect it’s a combination of the two.

3/10

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So we’re driving through downtown POCO on our way home. I’m starving but we have the mutt with us. It suddenly occurs to me we’re within spitting distance of a dog friendly patio at Patina.

I was here last year with a buddy and the food was very good.n

Read that post here

I have some pretty fond memories of that last visit. The candied bacon changed my world. Everything is all ready better with bacon. Candy it, and it will change your world.

It was just as good this time. I got more maple flavour from tonight versus last time. I’m guessing they candy it with some brown sugar and maple syrup. Astoundingly good.

We also had the cornbread. Remember last time here I wasn’t all that impressed with it but today I much more enjoyed it. The blackberry honey butter that comes with it is particularly good. My only complaint would be that it served stone cold. I’ve always found cornbread better fresh and hot out of the oven. Oh well can’t have everything can I?

We also tried the pulled pork tacos and the smoky brussel sprouts.

The brussel sprouts are Juno approved.

They were beautiful. Crispy with a great char on the outside.

They are smoked for 2 hours and then deep fried. I don’t know if brussels sprouts can get any better. We had the sweet chili sauce. The flavor from the smoke and a char was incredible. And the sweet chili gives it an amazing overall flavor. Who said brussel sprouts tasted bad?

On that plate is also the pulled pork tacos.

That’s as good as any Taco I’ve had in Mexico.

The pulled pork is amazing. So tender. With coleslaw and a sweet Memphis barbecue sauce the smashing together of Southern food and Mexican food is incredible. Honestly I’m beginning to think I have a little of the South in my genes the way I love barbecue so much.

And no we’re not done yet. Bring on the meatwich.

We went with the brisket.

I mean come on why not?

Tender, juicy, smoky brisket on a bun with barbecue sauce. Doesn’t really get much better than that. The bun was super fresh and the fries were super crispy. Yum!

We couldn’t actually finish all this food at the restaurant so we took the meatwich home. It was just as good, if not better, cold.

I had one of their in-house dry Irish stouts. It was super cold and really dark. It’s good as it’s not as heavy as a Guinness but it looks like one. Love the caramel elements that come through. Probably my favorite kind of beer.

So, if you’re looking for a dog friendly patio and some fantastic barbecue and you’re anywhere near Shaunrssy Street in POCO a stop at Patina Brewing Co. would be a great choice.

Food 8/10

Candied bacon 10/10

Dog friendly patio 10/10

Overall 9/10

I highly recommend Patina Brewing Co

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A friend has been raving about the food at The Arms so we thought we would pop over and check it out.

This first thing that stands out about The Arms is the location.

It’s crap.

It’s in a strip mall with nothing but other businesses and housing around.

Ok, if you live close by it is very handy to stagger home drunk from.

By if you’re looking for a nice spot to sit and enjoy a few beers on the patio keep looking.

Let’s talk about the patio for a minute.

There are some great patios in and around Vancouver.

The Gillnetter has a fantastic one overlooking the Pitt river. And it’s not far. (As good as the view is though the food is not)

Anything on White Rock beach.

The Boathouse at the Quay.

Popina Kitchen on Granville Island.

Mahoney’s at Stamps Landing.

These are but a few of what our great city has to offer.

And then there’s the patio at The Arms.

If you love the aromas of wafting second hand smoke and a chorus of idling engines then this is the patio for you.

So don’t come for the patio.

Inside you will find a neighborhood pub that could be confused with a hundred other neighborhood pubs around town should you wake up from a drunk stupour with no recollection of how you got there and weren’t exactly sure where you were.

The obligatory TV screens with a variety of sports and gambling options. Neon beer signs. Sticky menus.  The overall appearance of a Canadian attempt at creating an English style pub and not quite pulling it off.

If you look really closely you can still see the pall of smoke from the 80s still hanging over the place.

But what about the food?

We had the Arctic fish bites and the Beef Stroganoff.

Once I got past the mushrooms this was really good. The gravy was really rich and tasty, the beef was tender and noodles pretty well cooked.

The fish bites were tasty, somewhat surprisingly well cooked, and crunchy. The tartar sauce was just your typical restaurant tartar, nothing special.

My buddy says the burgers are really good here too.

I tried a flight of Margheritas.

All were good, my favorite was the watermelon.

The real story here is the value.

The stroganoff was $16 and the Arctic fish bites were $12. Those are pretty good prices and the portions are quite large. In today’s world those prices are kind of hard to beat.

Maybe because they don’t have an expensive patio to maintain?

As for me, I don’t plan on returning anytime soon. There are quite a number of pubs between here and my house that I’d go to before I went back to the Arms.

But if you live closer and are looking for good value I think The Arms might be a good choice for you.

Just don’t expect much in the way of a view.

Food 7/10

Ambiance 5/10

Value 7/10

Overall 6/10

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