The Poacher Restaurant

Every time we visit, it's always top-notch. The servers are knowledgeable and our friends. When we are downtown Burlington and want to sit , relax and have a pint, we go to "The Poach". The food is always great. Wings are awesome, and $4 a lb. on Mondays! We have never had a bad Poacher night. Poacher Burger is amazing, tastes fantastic. I don't know why I'm seeing anything but great reviews about this place. If I'm going to do a review on somewhere, and it isn't atrocious, I'm going to go more than once so i can really have an opinion.

My husband and I used to come here fairly often, at least a few times a year since we do not even live in Burlington, and were always very happy with every aspect of The Poacher. In fact we would quite often bring my son and father and we always enjoyed everything. But yesterday my husband & I went yesterday for a nice lunch, and were not happy with any part of our experience this time. I ordered a Coke and my husband a beer. When I took a sip of my drink it was flat. So I told our waitress, and she did go and exchange it for me for a Ginger Ale. Once again it was flat. So I proceeded to inform the waitress again that it appeared that their Carbonation was not working so I then ordered a bottle of water. The next thing I know is the Bartender started filling a glass with a variety of soft drinks and then would pour them out. Then I had overheard the Bartender say to our waitress & in front of the customers sitting at the bar that if the pop was still not satisfactory to me, then it was my problem although I had ordered a bottle of water. I thought how humiliating and we were sitting over in the corner of the restaurant. So if I could hear them so could all of the other customers there. Then I had ordered their Burger since it always was quite good, and my husband ordered their Steak and Kidney Pie. He said his was alright but nothing really to write home about. And my burger was burnt and over cooked. This was a very disappointing visit to the Poacher and I don't think that we will be going back anytime soon if ever at all.

I was out with some friends over the weekend and figured we would go here. When we arrived we waited about 20 minutes for nothing upstairs at the bar. You would figure on a weekend when it's going to be busy you would have more then 1 bar tender, BUT what would you know, it being the poacher there's only 1 and they will NEVER look your way or come to where you are waiting. After this joke we went downstairs for better luck, BUT it was crazy busy with again, 1 bar tender (who was very busy) but the bar it's self has to be about 8 feet long with bar stools infront of it. So on top of it being impossible already to get even close to getting a beer you have to work around these regulars parked at the bar. The washrooms have to be one of the WORST in burlington. I can't stand this place it's a giant S*** hole parked on a nice piece of burlington land. Now i know why i made a point before not to go here. CRAP. The only good part is the music box down stairs. The only people giving this place a 10 are regulars that feel bad for the poacher when they see posts that tell the truth. Burlington as a whole has gone down the drain.

Came by during the Ribfest weekend to avoid the nonsense of Ribfest,were seated @ a dirty table which was cleaned after drinks arrived,drinks were fine,beers were cold, white wine spritzer was good.
I think our server was having a long day as she wasn't happy or servile however dinner did manage to arrive and was slightly above average.
Not sure if I will be rushing back.
cheers

The soup was incredible - Definately one of the best I've had. Having eaten in a lot of upscale restaurants I was surprised to find a soup of this quality at the Poacher. The Fish and Chips was very good - the fish was not overly battered and didn't have a breading quality to it. Very nice, lighty and delicious. The guinness washed it all down very nicely.

Do not let your teenagers go here. I was here a bit late for appetizers and drinks. The server was absolutely miserable and really nasty. The food was actually okay but the server put me off. The atmosphere here is of traditional english pub, so I wasnt expecting the ritz. But I went down stairs to use the washroom and it wa slike I stepped into a scene from Trainspotting. The toilets were overflowing there were young kids that seemed to be strung out. I would never let my children who are of drinking age come to this establishment. The downstairs was disgusting dirty hole. While the upstairs was nice the patio is great location. The servers are nasty.

Food was decent, service was HORRIBLE!!

Took forever to get drinks & food ordered! Then we were ASKED TO LEAVE because a 15 month old boy at out table was 'making too much noise'! He WASN'T crying, or carrying on in any sense of the word, he was chatting & happily playing by himself in his mothers lap!! I COULDN'T believe they asked us to leave!! I could have understood someone saying "He's getting a little loud, is there anything we can do to help keep him occupied so he doesn't disturb the other diners" but no, we got a very cold "He's too loud & its making people take their drinks outside, he'll have to leave!" I don't know what was up with that lady but man-o-man! That is NOT how you treat paying customers (who USED to go there often)! Not to mention, people were probably taking their drinks outside because it was 25+ degrees outside at 8pm on a beautiful night!!! (July 1st, 2008).

Anyway, I just want to warn everyone who's thinking of eating here NOT to bring their children along as you'll be asked to leave!!

The food was fantastic! Our friends are regulars at this gem of a pub, we had heard about their extensive Scotch selection and decided to take a look for ourselves. We sat at the bar as it was pretty busy (on a Wednesday night!)and we didn't feel like waiting for a table. The bartender was friendly and knowledgeable, they really do have a great line up of whiskys! Great all round vibe in this place, we'll be back when the weather is warmer....want to spend some time on that great deck :)

Excellent English pub food with a great atmosphere. One of the best pieces of fish & chips and the pie was perfect. The price was also very reasonable.

We went there Friday night around 9ish. I realize it is a pub on a friday night, but that doesn't mean that you have to put up with bad service. We waited 30 minutes to get a beer, another 20 minutes for our order to get put in, another 40 minutes for a beer and nachos, 20 min to get a bill and we just left the change because we couldn't be bothered to wait any longer. By the time we all left we were thirsty and starving. Never again