We stopped in Oshawa for dinner after being delayed by a nearby accident and chose Portly Piper Pub…read morebased on its 3,000+ reviews and 4.3-star rating. Parking seemed limited at first, but there's more available in the back. Just a tip: be careful not to miss the entrance, since exiting is a one-way street and re-entering can be tricky. We arrived around 6:45 pm and saw a small line with two groups ahead, but the place is much bigger than it looks from the outside and we were seated quickly in a comfortable booth for four. The pub was clean, and I was especially surprised at how spacious and tidy the washrooms were--not what I usually expect from a pub, which tend to feel older and worn. The menu is huge, and TVs are everywhere--even in our booth. Between us, we tried a good range of dishes: 1. Caprese Salad with Steak - nicely balanced with pesto, though the steak was a little dry. 2. Fish and Chips - incredible portion for $18! Crispy, perfectly cooked fish with fries, coleslaw, and even a Caesar salad. The fries were well-seasoned (no ketchup needed), coleslaw was enjoyable despite me usually not liking it, and the Caesar was delicious. 3. Mexican Salad - flavorful, fresh, and generous in portion. 4. Tuesday Wing Special - wings were $0.90 each, so I ordered 15 with a Coke Zero. The garlic Parmesan was disappointing--dry and lacking flavor--but the Buffalo ranch wings were tender and spot-on. Service was friendly, though our waitress could have been more proactive with drink and water refills. Overall, I was impressed. Clean space, huge portions, good value, and a welcoming pub atmosphere. Definitely a solid stop if you're in the area.

Loved this local sports bar/pub restaurant. It's spacious - with dining booth seating at the back,…read morehigh bar seating in the front, and a patio! When we went for dinner, it was pretty busy with lots of locals and families. Despite this, the service was great and they got our dishes served in really good time. Also, the portions and pricing is PHENOMENAL - like a seafood or steak main dish for $28-$37?? Amazing. For the 2 of us, we were very hungry so we ordered an EVERYTHING GRILLED PLATTER and GRILLED VEGETABLE & GOAT CHEESE SALAD to share. There was definitely enough food for us. The platter had a good variety of meats. The shrimp and crispy but airy light tater tots were my favourite. The quality of the meats for the steak, chicken, lamb skewers & grilled squid were definitely mediocre and a bit rubber, but still cooked & seasoned well. The salad was overall satisfactory too!

As soon as we got the green light to hit patios once again in Ontario, I reached out to my dear…read morefriend to see if she'd like to meet. We hadn't seen each other in a year. Without any hesitation, she said yes. It has felt weird for us to not get together around Christmas time. Instead, we went with the other extreme getting together to celebrate our birthdays (a few days after hers and a week before mine). Normally, I tend to suggest a bunch of places for us to meet and hang out. I was thrilled that she suggested this Fionn MacCool's. I had never been. She had. Done! I had to run an errand in Mississauga and drove directly to this restaurant from there. Traffic along the 401 just past 3 pm on a Saturday was decent. We planned on meeting at 4 pm. I took my sweet time, as opposed to breaking the sound barrier to get here. I still arrived ten minutes early. I pulled next to my friend's car and parked. I waved at her as if I were a maniac. I was so happy to see her again. We both got out of our cars. There was plenty of parking in front of the eatery. We walked over together. Despite Fionn having patio seating only, you still have to go through the restaurant to get seated. Most places tend to do the seating outside. It was different. My friend had made our reservation. We had to check in online for contact tracing. Scanning a QR code can be tricky. My friend did it with her phone and got nothing. I did it and it thankfully worked. I checked us both in, as I could add her name as a guest to mine. I proudly showed that we were both checked in to the host. She then led us to the patio. We selected the table in the corner. It was quieter, so we could hear each other talk. The patio was pretty, lovely, and covered. We were both thankful to be out. We both wanted an alcoholic drink. I went with the white sangria. Our server asked if I wanted to upgrade to a MacCool. I thought about downing a 23-ounce drink for a few seconds and said yes. My friend got the raspberry blood orange cosmo, which sounded great. My drink was huge. It was such a hot day that I managed to down the whole thing easily. It felt watered down. I wasn't sure whether I have been fixing stronger drinks at home during the pandemic or if it was indeed light on the alcohol. My friend loved her cosmo. It looked pretty. She said that there was more raspberry flavour than blood orange, which would have made me happy with it! Fionn has a vegan menu. My friend is vegan. I like to try stuff. She got the phish and chips. Our server asked if she wanted another piece of phish. She opted with one. I got the waffled up chick'n fingers. I upgraded to vegan poutine and asked if I could get the waffle fries in it, since the original came with them. Our server said yes. Yay! Our food came out fairly fast. We were ready to eat. My chick'n fingers were super crispy, to the point where stabbing them with a fork couldn't be done. They became real finger food. Each chick'n finger had chilli lime seasoning on it. At one point, the seasoning when down the wrong pipe and I coughed a few times. Beware! Other than that, the flavour was perfect. There was a slight kick, but nothing crazy. I loved the vegan poutine with waffle fries. I'm so glad that I asked if it could be done. Waffle fries grab more of the yummy vegan gravy. I couldn't tell that it was vegan. The gravy was rich and perfect. There was shredded vegan cheese. I'm not sure if you can make vegan cheese curds, but I'll take this version! I was happy. My friend enjoyed her phish and chips. The phish flaked like real fish. We were both impressed. She loved the tartar sauce. They gave her a lot of chips that she felt so stuffed afterwards. It also came with coleslaw, which she thoroughly enjoyed. The downside was that this eatery did not have anything for dessert. What?! The horror! Not even sorbet. Then again, we were so stuffed that it worked out. We paid with debit cards. We got to use the machine. I used my Scene card. Instead of entering the number manually like the machine prompts, you can actually swipe it. I did and was happy. I then paid with my debit card. All was well. The women's washroom has a maximum occupancy rule of two people. My friend went first and there wasn't a lineup. I went over after and all three stalls were occupied. Does anyone read the sign on the door? I waited patiently for two folks to come out of the washroom. When I got out of the stall, there was one other person in one of the other stalls and two people standing in the washroom steps away from me. I was not impressed that folks don't respect occupancy rules. My friend wasn't used to the sink lever. I am used to lifting it up and pointing it such that you get the right temperature. My friend said that she spent a good minute trying to figure out how to get it to turn on, but eventually did. We had a lovely get-together here. I'd come back again and hope that there's dessert next time. (261)

This location was one of a kind, horrible service, fruit fly epidemic, honored bar crowed more than…read moreanything/one else, and had a high-turn over. The Management sank this place. Management seemed to play favorites with their predominently male bar crowed, soaking up the tips. Gossip about certain regulars exes. Managers would share footage of customers to their regulars equipped w/ mocking stories. It was full of insecurity, immaturity, and inexperience. Food was okay, sometimes great, then a lull. New hires were always nice and basically are what I feel carried the place. Customers would return without question (bar flies, half dont drive, and its close by), they don't really care despite being quoted as saying they wouldn't go back, they can't for now thats the only reason. You'll see in Spring. Immaturity still alive and well in these quotes made to OrilliaMatters. I hope a new vibe comes to that great spot.

I was INCREDIBLY IMPRESSED with the food and the service here. In fact, the chicken&Salad with…read morespecial house-made dressing was so fantastic that I asked the Chef if I could buy some a bottle of the dressing! The flavour of the chicken and ingredients in the salad were FANTASTIC. I rate this meal as one of my new favourites. Try it, I am sure you will be impressed too! Enjoy :)

From the owner: Simcoe House Ales & Grill is a refreshing alternative to the everyday pub. A relaxing atmosphere…read morewhere everyone can come and enjoy high quality restaurant food at friendly pricing. Specials 7 Days a Week. Serving the Oshawa, Brooklin, Whitby, and Bowmanville areas.

When my husband and I went in after I was released from the hospital so I was hungry. There was a…read morehair in my food. Very clear it was not my or my husband's hair. No sorry nothing. However I just read online here they have sold the restaurant to new owners. So this is NOT a review of the restaurant as I have not been in since then. However its more of an FYI. The food honestly was good but at the time staff and accountability was not their strong suit. But I really hope they have sold and want to give the new owners a try. The food was good. So I encourage you to try it out. I probably will soon! Im giving 4 starts just for the FYI but the food is 5 stars.

So we had a birthday celebration at the Bulldog Pub…read more The party room called the Dog House was rented for the occasion Overall the venue was pretty small for the amount of people that we had Tables were set up but unfortunately not enough to seat everybody They had to bring out a folding table because that's how many people that we had Service was unfortunately limited They only had one server taking orders the whole evening when I think they should have had at least two It took quite a long time for food to come out Unfortunately those who wanted food didn't get a chance to order until later and by then the quality was meh Appy platters were ordered for all the tables Wings were really good.....was definitely the highlight for me food wise Mozzarella sticks.....meh Potato skins were definitely a Highlight was the music that we had that night The singer who we had for the room did an awesome job and kudos to him for crooning and belting out the tunes for us Unfortunately the negatives outweighed the positives for my experience at the Bulldog

My friend always tells me I bring her to the most random restaurants; I take that as a compliment…read more This was no exception; she didn't even know this place existed! The Thirsty Monk has resided downtown Oshawa for years at one location or another. Since noticing that it's a gastropub, I had to go. What is a gastropub? It's a pub that serves gourmet food rather than traditional pub fare. The Thirsty Monk has a great menu worthy of being called a gastropub. I was glad I had scanned the menu ahead of time or it would've taken forever to choose! I decided I couldn't go to this place without trying the Strongbow Cider Fondue. It was freaking delicious. Cheesy and creamy and yum. Good luck on guessing what else is in it. We asked our server, but she didn't really give much away. We tried but, still couldn't figure it out! The Tuscan Goat Cheese Chicken won my heart. Sweet potato fries FTW. My friend couldn't decide between Chicken Parm(something she orders almost EVERYWHERE we go, AAAH!!!) and the Penne Arabiatta with sausage. She made me pick. Needless to say, she was getting the penne! The food arrived and when I went to snap a pic, the penne did not have sausage, it had chicken. We were starving, even though we polished off the cider fondue, so she didn't say anything. She loved it. My chicken was good. I think I liked the goat cheese filling better than the chicken. I could've been more moist, but it tasted delicious. The sweet potato fries were crispy and addicting. The vegetables were flavourful with a little crunch. All in all a great meal! I definitely want to come back; the menu is calling me. The food was high quality and the beer was cold. Head downtown to the Thirsty Monk. You will be pleasantly surprised! Not only is it a restaurant/pub, but they also have live entertainment. Check their website for details!

Been coming here for years, good standard pub for before a gens game…read moreOr if wanting a pint and basic pub food. Can sometimes be a bit rough with drunken Canada post workers but otherwise very nice patio and EPL on the tube EDIT: don't know what's happened lately but was in contact with the bar during the week about watching the champions league final in there back room with some friends on Saturday afternoon at 230. Was assured it wouldn't be a problem and to come on down. I show up before my friends to grab some tables and the door is locked not a notice on the door or anything. Won't be back

Updated review April 2026 We came here on a Saturday night…read more The place was packed and loud. We got seat on the bar tables. We ordered the chicken souvlaki and lamb souvlaki dinners. Both dinners were decent portions and filling. The rice has improved as well. The chicken and rib combo was realy good. Kudos on the kitchen staff for making our dinner enjoyable. I increased my rating from 3 to 4 stars. I recommend this restaurant for delicous pub and bar food. Their menu is diverse and most of the items are a hit.

Ordered takeout and the process was pretty smooth, it didn't take very long. Their portions are a…read morepretty good size and service is nice. The space itself is cozy and warm. It gets really busy during lunch hour, but service seems to stay quick