We decided to go during happy hour and dined on appetizers. The food was delicious and when the bread was a little stale our server offered to go and replace it with fresh bread from cooling rack. Excellent service and it was a lovely cozy evening. read more

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We were supper excited about going here, the restaurant has so many great options on the menu, and we couldn't wait to try it. The dinning area was clean, and dimly lit. I prefer more light, but I find most places dim the lights for dinner. For our appetizer we ordered wings that we enjoyed, it was a dry rub with sauce that we ordered on the side. I think we had some sweet chili heat type sauce, I was really glad it was on the side because it's not the traditional tasting sauce it has some extra spices that threw me off a bit. The chicken dinner was exceptionally greasy from the fried chicken to the fries and was very under flavoured, not even enough salt... Dessert was so disappointing, it was a flat piece of what looked like freezer burned chocolate. Tasted ok... but $12 is absolutely ridiculous for the item by any measure. The service was good, the food came in a timely manner, and the wait staff were friendly. We enjoyed the restaurant and experience, but the food was not so enjoyable this time around read more

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I've been going to this place every couple of months since it opened so I can say with confidence that the quality, ambiance and service have all gone slowly downhill. Some food dishes like the burgers are still good, but most everything else is not like it used to be. Finally, if the setting/decor of a restaurant is important to you, you will sadly be disappointed. Definitely needs a facelift. read more

The service is amazing but unfortunately the food looks better than it tastes! This is the second time I try out this local eatery and second time feeling slightly disappointed. Overall a solid experience. I didn't have any drinks but from a distance they looked delish. It's a very lowkey environment and truly feels more homey than not. read more

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I was impressed with the portion sizes of everything here! You will definitely be stuffed after a main dish. I got the fish and chips and the fish was huge and perfectly breaded. The tarter sauce was actually the star of the meal. It was a little slow to bring out the food but the waiter was really friendly. read more

Borealis Grille & Bar - Canadian (New) Near Me - Guelph, Ontario

We've been to this restaurant several times, and every time we go I enjoy the food, and the service! It has a great kids menu, and a great patio! read more

Enjoyed a nice steak dinner here with friends last Saturday night. I enjoy the comfortable atmosphere and that they are 'obsessively local'. The service was friendly, and the wait for a table was less than 15 minutes. Chose the 28 day aged striploin with roasted garlic butter, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and seasonal vegetables from the Winter menu. The Norfolk Country steak was of good quality. However I did ask for medium-well and it was cooked to medium only. The roasted garlic butter was a bit of a miss,but the vegetables and mashed potatoes were tasty. For desert had the $4 mini cheesecake served in a little mason jar. Cute presentation and a nice way to enjoy an indulgent treat in a small portion size. Overall enjoyed my meal and the service here and will be back.. read more

Borealis Grille & Bar - Norfolk County Striploin - Canadian (New) Near Me - Guelph, Ontario

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I was here with a couple of friends who had recently moved to Guelph. I'd describe it as an up-scale family pub of sorts; if you can make sense of that. I like to support small business and local products, so I was happy to hear that this restaurant was known for using local products. What that meant, however, is that they run out of items on their "specials" list. I really wanted the Halibut special, but they didn't have any left :( I ended up ordering off the regular menu - a soup and salad. While I was happy with my meal, there was nothing that really stood out. My friends were happy with their meals too, but felt the same. That being said, it was good enough that we would come back. The service was very friendly and the decor was very welcoming. In the bathroom they had this cute little hand spa exfoliant. read more

During these difficult times, everything is a compromise. Even going out for dinner for the 1st time since mid-March has it's anxieties...will we be safe, will it be relaxing, will I be able to focus on the event and not worrying about whether everyone else in the restaurant gives as much of a dang as I do about hygiene? We sat outside on the Patio, slightly cooler than I would have hoped as I hadn't planned on the slightly cooler early Sept afternoon. Not too much to worry about, but next time I'll bring a jacket or I'll bring a patio heater. 4 for late lunch and the starters were great, flatbread, brie, arugula salad, cornbread and the wings. Everyone loved everything. The burgers were a hit, the 2 piece chicken was a winner, fish and chips "out of the park". Cheesecake mouse completely unnecessary and delicious. Drinks, coffee and we were done. A great couple of hours with great food and drink and wonderful company. 0.25% taken off for the weather!! read more

This was probably the best fried chicken I've ever had...and I'm a tough crowd! Crunchy on the outside, oh so tender and juicy in the inside! The "coleslaw" was inspired with slices of broccoli! Alongside the Peter Island Baco Noir this was a VERY tasty meal! Well done! read more

Borealis Grille & Bar - This was a VERY tasty meal! - Canadian (New) Near Me - Guelph, Ontario

We recently tried this place and liked it! I give it 4 stars because I had limited gluten-free options, but the food was yummy! Quick service too. read more

We went to try this place out as recommended from my friend. The food took an hour to come out from when we ordered it all our meals came out cold very bland. Was disappointing after hearing people say it was so good probably would not go back. read more

This place is just around the corner from our house. Perhaps it was just too convenient; I have no other explanation for why I hesitated so long before checking it out. I'm kicking myself for time wasted, now. Much like Artisanale Bistro, Borealis is big into the local farm-to-table movement (their by-line is "The Taste of Ontario"). And the freshness and flavor of the food are a fantastic argument for eating locally! The duck confit melts in the mouth; the greens are bright and crisp and flavorful; the ribs are fall-off-the-bone tender, sweet and savory and succulent; the vegetables all taste like they were picked in the garden that morning (and they're treated nicely in the kitchen, too). Service has always been good to excellent (Sean -- forgive me if I'm misspelling it -- you're a true ace and worthy of 5 stars all by yourself); best of all, everyone seems to be fanatic about the local food movement, and belief in what one does really shows. Cocktails are well-built, and there are a number of great local wines and beers. We got to try the Sunday brunch today, as well (10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.), which was superlative. We had a hard time deciding; the omelet of the day involved prosciutto, and sounded exquisite; the quiche of the day had gorgonzola, pear and walnut. Smoked trout benedict, double-smoked bacon benedict, crisp fried seasoned potatoes, coffee and Caesars were all excellent -- the Hollandaise sauce was creamy and emulsified and just lemony enough; the eggs were soft and perfectly poached; the English muffins weren't tough or chewy, and were easy to cut; the meats were delectably rich. Everything was the right temperature, and it arrived before we could consume the Caesars (i.e. fast). The coffee even arrived on a little tray, with a beautiful presentation of sugar and cream (those little aesthetic touches make me happy, and the quality of the coffee kept the Pacific Northwest coffee snob in me silent). I couldn't be happier that Borealis is just around the corner. read more

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Great pub for our first lunch in Canada. The maple ale was really flavorful and the burger juicy and well seasoned. The outdoor patio was a nice place to sit and people watch. The food here is really good! read more

Borealis Grille & Bar - Canadian (New) Near Me - Guelph, Ontario

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I got the Cornish hen because the picture looked so good but the meal was even better. Plus our server was super sweet and made recommendations that were all big wins! I had a cocktail and sorbet, as well. Thinking about coming back again tomorrow while I'm in town. read more

Borealis Grille & Bar - Canadian (New) Near Me - Guelph, Ontario

Went here for dinner with my parents a few weeks ago. We went for the wing deal on Tuesday's=$10/pound. The wings were really good and crispy. They also had $6 sleeman pints on special that night. I also ordered their Fried chicken tacos and they were very good. You get 3 vs 2 which is nice. Highly recommend this place! read more

Borealis Grille & Bar - Canadian (New) Near Me - Guelph, Ontario

This place was awesome! Mike was very accomodating. I came here based on a recommendation from my client and I was not disappointed. The wait was very short and the ambiance was nice. I came on a Wed which is date night, but i didnt have a date lol any way...i had for dinner the Turkey Burger with the red pepper jam on the side, a glass of Reif Estates Gewurztraminer, and Creme Brulee for dessert..all was great! I recommend stopping by...its definitely a local gem read more

Borealis Grille & Bar - Creme Brulee - Canadian (New) Near Me - Guelph, Ontario

I dined at Borealis a few years back and the most memorable part of my meal was a champagne cocktail. I chose to come back for drinks on my 25th birthday, big mistake. There were three of us and we were warmly greeted and seated, and that was where the service turned sour. There was only space on the patio for a party of two so they let us bring over another chair and we were told that we could move as soon as another table became available. We ordered our drinks, which was their Northern lights lemonade, berry mojito, and white wine sangria. The sangria came with a raspberry atop that had lost all of its colour ( see picture). You eat (or drink) with your eyes, and we were immediately turned off. My berry mojito had a few muddled berries but it tasted just like a basic mojito. There were definite quality issues. The mint was discolored, however it wasn't bruised from the muddling, it just must have been old. The northern lights lemonade looked cool, and it was the best drink of the night. After sitting at our tiny table for over an hour, we had come to the realization that were not being moved to a larger one. Having three large glasses and all of our personal belongs on the table, i was unaware that my sunglasses were set atop wrapped cutlery. Our server very rudely asked me if i could move my sunglasses so that she could use the cutlery on another guest. I am sorry but she knew that we were only ordering drinks, so the cutlery and plates should have been removed from the table at the beginning to give us more room. Overall, the drinks were not good, the service or lack of was terrible, and i would rather walk downtown then drive 20 minutes to Borealis. read more

Borealis Grille & Bar - The saddest looking raspberry atop their white wine sangria - Canadian (New) Near Me - Guelph, Ontario

My mom lives around the corner from this place and she wanted to check it out. Her colleagues at work told her it's amazing and offers all local ingredients. Most memorable aspect wasn't the food, but this moment: Husband notices the menu emphasizes that the food is locally sourced. Husband sees salmon on the menu. Husband looks up at waitress and asks, "... from where is the salmon?" Pretty funny! The food was okay, I think... I can't even remember... read more

We went this past Saturday night. My fiance picked it out knowing what a sucker I am for locally sourced foods. I deducted 2 stars for the following reasons: They have 3 kinds of taco plates. Each taco plate is the same price, but for whatever reason you aren't allowed to get a mixture. It would be no harder to do one of each than it would be to do 3. Our waiter didn't seem very knowledgeable, or really likable for that matter. They were out of the red sangria and I wasn't informed until a while after. I ended up loving the white, but it was still disappointing. They were also out of the brisket, which is what my fiance ordered and it took the waiter a while to let us know about that as well, so that took off his top two choices of meals. He ended up with the chicken tacos, which were good, and I had the fish and chips, which was also really tasty. So, overall a good experience in regards to the food, but better planning needs to be done and maybe some customer service training. read more

We were a family of five, all vegetarian. My daughter had the Macaroni and Cheese dish for $18.95. Completely soggy and tasteless. Kraft dinner would have tasted better. I had the pear and walnut salad and to augment the protein I added the Cajun tofu. This was a big mistake. Imagine thick slabs of room temperature tofu without any discernible flavor. The rest of the food was ok, but not as good as expected from previous visits. We will not be returning for a long time. read more

Honestly, I really want to love this place and have given it multiple chances, but the food just isn't good. I've had the tacos, the veggie burger, the fried chicken and several appetizers, and all are just meh. Definitely not worth the price or the disappointment. They need a new menu or a new chef to change things up. The patio is the best part in the summer, and it's really nice to sit out, but thinking I'll just stick to drinks from now on. read more

Very cute place. When I went they had just revised their menu so there were some new things to try! I did the Date Nigh "Two can dine for $49" and I got the Striploin which was pretty good. Not gourmet but for what I paid I'm impressed. The salad was a little overdressed but it was a side so I'm not horrified. The appetizer was a jalapeno dip with asparagus chips which was yummy except the dip was really hot and the cheese on top of the dip didn't break easily. I got the creme brulee for dessert and it was good, a little over burnt but not still really good. Service was fantastic! I loved it, totally recommend! read more

Borealis Grille & Bar - Their patio at night in the summer is lovely! - Canadian (New) Near Me - Guelph, Ontario

Borealis has a strange layout with the completely walled in kitchen in the centre of the structure and an eating area around the outside so it seems much smaller than it is. Everything is a little worn and dated, the food quality is below average to just ok. A lone bright spot was someone who appeared to be the manager was seated right beside us and must have noticed me fanning myself with the menu. The air conditioning had not been turned on on a day with temps in the low 30's? Cool Air began to fill Borealis, so there was that. read more

Very good food!!! Prices are reasonable given the freshness and quality of ingredients..portion sizes were great.. We had no problems with parking but bit was a Wednesday night but on Thursday Friday and Saturday that may be an issue. Its close enough to the clairfields movie theater that you could squeeze in the show after dinner Casual (jeans and T-shirt) or suit and tie...would both be appropriate read more

An example of a restaurant with great potential but badly in need of a creative and quality oriented chef. A family gathering on a rainy Saturday for lunch starts off in a well designed, inviting decor, a space with the promise of good food. While the service was attentive and thoughtful, the menu was disappointing lacking in creativity and appetizing items consisting of burgers and salads. All seems to come out of a package, turkey burger looked and tasted like a once frozen patty lacking in amount and variety of condiments, quinoa salad definitely out of a bag again lacking in a caring chef's touch. Too bad, could be a place I would like but the food has to be number one...it's not. read more

I feel like most things are hit or miss I love how things are organic here and the burger was amazing! You definitively need to have a certain taste to eat at this place Try it out! Service was pretty bad. Servers took forever and the place was empty read more

Good food, good service and good place to get together with friends. My friends and I tried a collection of items. Good and would recommend: chicken tacos, mushroom flatbread, panko crusted goat cheese, and mussels. Food that was just okay: the quinoa burger and the nachos. Although, considering the amount of food I had that was very good and how nice our server was, I would definitely go back. read more

Great spot for business or date night. Food is great. Servers are friendly. The one night I attended that caused us to have to wait the folks comped us drinks the entire time we waited. The bar tender let us test a few drinks that we'd never tried so even the wait turned out to be a great time. Chef is on point and I like that the food is in season and I believe locally sourced. Wins all around. Clean, good atmosphere. Will continue to go back. read more

This is a nice restaurant in general. Service is friendly and the outdoor patio is pleasant, however, can be a bit loud being by the road. On the other hand, our food was great. We got the Lake Erie fish tacos and a Rueben sandwich with sweet potato fries. Would recommend both options! read more

Service was friendly, appetizers came out quickly. Had the aged cheddar burger and it was delicious. Everyone in our party was satisfied with the meal but nothing mind blowing. However, we waited a very long time for our meal in a relatively empty restaurant (only about 5 tables in addition to us) and any modifications requested (no onions, dressing on the side) were ignored. A little disappointed for the price of the meal. read more

Delicious. Fantastic. Recommend the veggie bowl and pesto linguine! Nice beer selection.

My girlfriend and I took a chance and stopped in to try it not knowing anything about this place . We sat on the patio. Although we only ordered the Caesar kale and beet n goat cheese salad, the food was fantastic. We tried the "on tap" wines and will definitely be getting those again. In summary we were very happy we stopped here and the food and service was great. read more

Oh, Borealis. I really, really, really wanted to love this place. They're committed to providing a local and sustainable dining experience to their customers, which is something I definitely respect. It has great decor and killer branding. The menu always looks amazing, and judging by the full patio in the summer months -- it's a popular spot to sit and sip some white wine with 20-30 of your closest girlfriends. We live nearby, so we end up passing it 3-4 times a day. After much waiting, I was so excited to try Borealis that we ended up going for an anniversary. It fell on a Wednesday, which seemed pretty fantastic because they have "Wednesday Date Night" offers with a shared appetizer, choice of two mains, and a choice of two desserts for $49. In retrospect, I'm not sure that it was a great idea to go on a Wednesday after all -- and I'm kind of hoping that our experience had more to do with it being busy or the chefs "mailing it in" because the menu was a date-night special. We had bruschetta as an appetizer, and something just tasted... off. We're both usually big fans, but neither of us could eat more than half a slice. For dinner, our mains were decent, but not great. I know that's not an excellent description, but I think we were both expecting something with more of a taste to it. Instead, everything was kind of dry and disappointing. All in all, our experience was kind of "meh." We were both thinking that we could have made the same dinner at home, which is a nice nod to simple cooking styles, I guess -- but also not how you want to feel on date night. We were hoping the date night menu would give us a good idea of the kind of menu, ambiance, and experience we could expect from Borealis in the future, but instead we walked away talking about how glad we were we hadn't paid full price for our dinner. We could have had like... 12 sad frozen pizzas for that $49. Or like, 4 decent pizzas from market fresh. With that said, the wine list and dessert was pretty good. We had a bottle of Merlot and ended up ordering extra dessert (little jars of different seasonal cakes and a cobbler), so absolutely no complaints there. I actually feel really guilty about not loving this place, but it just seems like it could do so much better. If we end up trying again I'll come back and update this review, but it doesn't seem likely. Sorry this review is kind of a downer! I know a lot of people do like it here, but maybe check out a night that isn't Wednesday if you're going to try Borealis for the first time. read more

Disappointing. What once was a great place for fantastic local food is now over-priced and average. I had the beet and goat cheese salad with a chicken breast added. Although goat cheese is in the name it hardly made sense given the sprinkling (and I'm being generous) of cheese along with a sprinkling (again, generous) of sunflower seeds. The chicken was on the dry side and the salad itself very small for the $20+ I paid BEFORE tax and tip. Service was friendly enough but I won't be back again anytime soon. Not when there are other great places offering better value for the dollar. read more

Great local food. From the veggies to the steak and pickerel, everything seemed to be from Ontario (I love that!). My steak was done just right, same with my wife's pickerel. The venue was kinda noisy, but I'd go back, for sure. Dinner x2 with a drink each, we shared an app, and we shared a dessert all for $80 + tax & tip. Yum!! read more

Have been to this restaurant a few times and the experience has been a little better each time. Patience was the key the first couple of visits...the staff seemed a little overwhelmed and service was slow despite having only a few customers. "Locally crafted foods" is their mainstay and they do well with the concept. Local cheeses, wines and beers add to the experience. Reasonably priced "specials" of three course meals for less than $50 makes this restaurant within most dining-out budgets. read more

Excellent food. well prepared. Great to see all locally sourced ingredients and local beer. We really liked that the menu showed where all the ingredients are from. The pulled pork sandwich was awesome read more

The food was pretty good, with some interesting items on the menu and a nice atmosphere Service was friendly and fairly fast I found it to be a fairly pricey for what you got read more

A great place for locally sourced food and drink. The staff is very friendly and accommodating. Serving sizes are generous. There seems to be something for everyone on the menu, from steak to vegetarian options. An added bonus is that they also support local charities by donating a portion of the cost of a pint from time to time. I don't live in Guelph, but I enjoy Borealis whenever I get a chance. read more