a peek inside the fishbowl

Last week we celebrated the end of a school year and the efforts of two very hard-working students with a special dinner out.

Our destination: Mill Street Brew Pub. Have you been? No?

GO.

NOW.

Mill Street Brew Pub is located on Wellington Street in the remains of a beautifully renovated stone mill (it’s actually the oldest standing mill in Ottawa) near Lebreton Flats. Here’s a view of part of the building:

We liked how they kept some of the old bits intact (this is away from the actual restaurant, but still cool):

The area is beautiful. It’s right on the bike path. The river is just over to the right:

Local writer Ross Brownfoot snagged a great photo of this scenic pub in this blog post and resto review.

Ottawa long timers might remember this as the site of another restaurant called The Mill that got uniformly terrible reviews over many years. This is very much not the case anymore. New owners. Big reno. Big plans. We had a great dinner of upscale pub-type fare and I’m determined to go back sooner than later.

Here’s the menu in case you want to have a peek. Sarah ordered a burger. We were a little worried that she wouldn’t be able to finish it, but we were wrong. This was Mark’s:

Sarah’s was the same but she had a Caesar salad instead of fries.

I had a steak salad, which was a little heavy on the dressing (note to self, always order dressing on the side!) but was otherwise very good. You can see Emma’s fish and chips across from me here. They were excellent.

No more ordering off the kiddy menu for us! Darn it.

Craft beer fans rejoice! Mill Street Brew Pub makes their own line of beers on site. Tours are available but we did not partake. Next time for sure. I tried a glass of their original organic beer, which I enjoyed very much. ALSO – and this was new to me – they also brew their own root beer. It was proclaimed to be “the best root beer ever” by discerning tasters:

Mill Street Brew Pub is a casual and welcoming place that seems to attract a lot of the after work crowd. Because of that I did feel a little underdressed in my shorts and (nice) t-shirt. Oh well. Next time I will wear a sun dress! Easy peasy. The staff were friendly and we had decent service. (A sidebar to parents: please don’t let your kids wander around busy restaurants unattended! I always picture a server accidentally dropping a tray of beer and nachos on some kids head. Just don’t do it.)

We had a great time and I can’t wait to return. Next time we’ll aim for a spot on the patio and not leave our visit to a special occasion.

Thank you Mill Street!