Acclamation's Bar & Grill

We read "BRUTAL" review and wanted to see for ourself. It was REALLY, REALLY GOOD. EVERYTHING. These other people must have been there when the place was so busy that everything was sold out. That alone speaks for the quality of the place. It's easy to be upset but please be objective and not just mean. WE LOVED IT and we'll be back for sure. Very nice patio and cold beer.

Best patio in the down town! My date and I took advantage of the weather and spent a great afternoon on the patio. We tried a couple different house wines and had some roasted garlic and goats cheese crostini, ( loved the walnuts with the goats cheese) & calamari (perfect! tender and crisp, comes with a yummy citrus dip) for our mains we had the steak and frites and a California salad with chicken. The steak was large and perfectly cooked and came topped with a small mountain of mushrooms, salad was great although the chicken was a bit on the spicy side. Our server seemed a little new but she was very friendly and enthusiastic. I had the chocolate pate for dessert which was awesome!! We also ordered cappuccinos which took a little while to come, but were delicious and ended our afternoon perfectly.

BRUTAL!!! Well, where do we begin??? My boyfriend and I wanted to try something new and when we read the reviews we though we would give it a try since we like portuguese food and have been to 3 other portuguese restaurants in hamilton. First our waitress brought us bread and butter, there were literally 4 pieces of bread, but I dont mean a regular slice of bread, I'm talking like these slices were honestly about the size of a toonie, something I've never seen before. Then we ordered our appetizers, which weren't bad, but the portion size was very small. Now this is where it went from bad to ugly, my boyfriend and I placed our orders and a few minutes later our waitress came back to tell me they ran out of the chicken entree i ordered so i had to choose something else. I placed a second order, and the waitress came back again and said they were out of that too...i then ordered a third entree which i was surprised to hear they actually had. When our food arrived we couldn't believe our eyes. The portions were soooooo small. My boyfriend ordered some sort of a fish stew and that consisted of 4 and I literally mean 4 mussels and 1 (one, uno) scallop, and THAT IS IT!!! We thought they made a mistake and that was the other part of our appetizer!!! My boyfriend knew something wasn't right when the waitress (who was new) paused, looked at his entree and asked another waitress if that was actually the right order (because it was smaller than the appetizer). I ended up sharing my dinner with him. The waitress came back and asked us if we wanted more bread, of course we said yes and this time around there were 2 pieces of the toonie sized bread and she apologized and said they ran out of bread and that was all they had left. After our meal was done, we were asked if we wanted dessert, since my boyfriend was still hungry, we thought we would order some. It's very funny because they ran out of the 2 we chose so we passed on dessert, asked for our bill and left. I CANNOT BELIEVE A RESTAURANT COULD RUN OUT OF SO MANY ITEMS ON THE MENU!!! We've been to Wild Orchid, Conquestador and Ventura's and this was by far the worst of the 4!!! Beware when considering this restaurant. Or maybe it's a good restaurant if you ate before coming here and you want to "snack" on a little something!!! ALSO QUITE EXPENSIVE CONSIDERING THE PORTION SIZES!

Lovely warm ambience on a cold wintery night. An oasis seemingly in the middle of nowhere on James Street North. We munched on appetizers for a couple of hours and emjoyed every bite. Good service, food well presented and look forward to going back an listening to music while we dine. Reasonably priced beers and nice Ontario wines selection. Be sure to order the creme brule with white chocolate mouse for dessert!!!

This was not my first time here - I love the atmosphere and overall ambience of the place. If you ever just want beer/wine and appetizers - try the antipasta plate - unbelievable - top it off with the calamari and you will think you've died and gone to Portugese heaven.
My wife and I love the place and will be back again and again.
The wine - suggested by the waitress - was excellent

The menu choices were good and although the food prep was average to just slightly above average, the presentation was lovely. The entertainment was phenomenal. Jorge Lasso is Hamilton's best kept secret and musician
bar none.

Acclamation is a true gem of a restaurant, where exemplary service, and a combination of traditional Portuguese, and "fusion" bistro-style cuisine satisfies just about anyone. Depending on how upscale you would like your experience to be, you can be seated in the pub/bar area, where families and sports fans happily share drinks and Portuguese sandwiches, bowls of mussels and clams, etc., or you can be seated in the beautifully apointed front room, to be enchanted by linen, flowers, and the sound of gurgling fountains. My guest and I sat in the front room, and ordered a combination from both the "taste of Portugal" and bistro menus.
The courteous waitress brought us a heaping pile of fresh bread and butter to begin, and promptly offered samples of the house wines upon our request. Forewarned about the generous portions, the two of us shared the soup to being- this was a portion of hearty homemade steak and mushroom soup large enough to feed a small family!
Mains were executed with precision-the traditional fare of Portuguese pork sandwich with peppers was large and well seasoned, though a teensy bit tougher than ideal. It was accompanied by a light, flavourful salad, and fried potatoes (so incredibly good!)
The bistro special of the day, a seared tuna for $23, was about as pricey as Hamilton gets, so I had high expectations. Sure enough, the tuna was seared (though my palate expected MORE rare!) well, served atop a bed of wild rice, and accompanied by fresh buttered asparagus and broccoli. This dish signalled, to me, the end of staunch traditionalism in James North Portuguese fare, which I applaud. If only the lime rinds in the peppercorn sauce were blanched and added just prior to serving to reduce the bitter aftertaste, I would have eaten a perfect dish.
The service throughout was phenomenal and attentive- our server was present at just the right times, presenting fresh napkins, butter, and wine. She even graced our table with candlelight at dusk, making for a most romantic meal.
But, all is well at Acclamation-with up and coming cuisine, and expert service, what's not to love?

My co-workers and I had a delicious lunch at Christmas time and i was eager to introduce the restaurant to my husband for dinner. I had the daily catch and my companion had the steak. Food was tasty, however my dinner was served cold. It was apparent the "waitress" must have been filling in for someone who called in sick, because she didn't know how some of the specials were prepared and was forgetful of our order and had to ask us again. Really want to give this place a second chance, because of the first experience, but if not good on the third time, that's three strikes and we won't return again. We did taste some seafood gumbo at the food and drink event and hopefully this will be added to their menu because it was fabulous.

Our experiences dining out on Valentine's Day have generally not been good - but we decided to try the fixed menu at Acclamation - as we have enjoyed fabulous leisurely Saturday lunches there.
The head chef had just quit that day, so the sous chef was running the show in the kitchen by himself. Although we waited an unusually long time for our dishes to come to the table - the wait staff was very attentive. When the dishes finally did arrive - they could have been photographed, they were so prettily arranged. Our waitress told us about the chef situation - so maybe we were a bit more forgiving of the delays. We could also glimpse into the kitchen when the doors swung open, and they were working like fiends in there.
The appies were extraordinary. Easily comparable to any offerings we have had at upscale restaurants in Oakville, Burlington or Toronto. When our main dishes came, the meat was perfect - the lamb was tender, pink and elegantly spiced. The beef was done exactly as ordered - however the vegetables and potatoes were a bit on the cool side (probably plated too soon while the meat was being finished). We asked to take the potatoes, vegetables and half of my lamb home. We also asked to take the chocolate dessert with us, as it was getting late, and we were fairly full from the appies and the meat.
When I opened the take-out boxes the next day - they had taken the time to arrange the leftovers and add a bit more sauce for the lamb. The molten cake was also expertly displayed on the custard - in the styrofoam box!
Even short-staffed on one of their busiest night with a very ambitious menu - the food was extraordinary, the service was discreet and attentive and we left that night - not complaining about how long the meal took, or that it wasn't as hot as it could have been - but raving about the evening. We are looking very forward to eating there again.

The entrees were well-presented, hot and delicious. The wait staff were attentive without being annoying. The drinks, entrees and dessert arrived promptly.