Well, we have been here twice now and I am sorry to say that we may have to think twice before going again too quickly. God, I hate saying that, because I really wanted this love this place
I was so glad to hear that a craft brewery/eatery opened in Ft Langley, as our usual faves were getting a little stagnant and old, menu-wise. The menu here looked promising and who doesn't like being presented with a small portion lineup of various craft beers? The menu items we have tried along with comments:
House Tortilla Chips: Pedestrian. Guacamole was full of flavour. Salsa, ok. For a taphouse, could have used more salt on the chips.
Charcuterie Kabab: You can easily make this at home. A bit disappointing to see they serve the charcuterie with store bought Raincoast Crisps. We always buy these crisps when making charcuterie/cheese platters at home, but when dining out I want something less familiar than popular grocery store items. The fig jam was very good.
Crispy Confit Wings: I'm tired of restaurants loosely throwing out culinary terms, such as confit, simply to make a boring menu item sound more appealing. There is nothing confit about these wings, at least not in flavour/texture. In technique, anything confit is slowly cooked in a fat at a very low heat, typically for tough cuts of meat, to make them fall off the bone and moist. These wings were very dry. Crispy yes, but very dry. Small too, with little meat. You can go to any dive pub and get more plump, juicy wings than these. Disappointing for sure.
Thai Steamed Mussels: Broth was very nice, with authentic Thai flavours, but the mussels were small and underwhelming. Come on, we live on the coast. I've had larger, fresher tasting mussels in Arizona.
Confit Duck Tacos: I LOVE duck confit, but avoided this menu item like the plague. My wife however, was more daring. My biggest gripe with this item was the odd-ball fusion of Asian hoisin sauce and Mexican street taco flavours. I cringe at the thought. This time it seems as though the confit cooking method worked. The duck was moist but nothing to write home about.
Caesar salad: Bang-on dressing, with a fried egg on top. Sure, why not.
Quinoa salad: Decent. pretty good flavours. The candied pecans were imperceptibly candied, and tasted raw.
Trading Post Burger: It's a taphouse, and it's a burger. No real problems here except the meat patty was cooked grey right through. A bit of pink would have been appreciated when boasting fresh local Lepp Farm beef.
Stout Short Ribs: This was very disappointing. How can you go wrong with these ingredients? Extremely under seasoned meat, grits and demi. Even after I salted the dish myself, it needed more. The gorgonzola overwhelmed the other flavours and could have been omitted, especially with the smoked cheese grits/polenta. Short ribs were pretty good and tender. I can't recall the last time I had ordered a main dish and not finished the plate clean, until now.
The beers: The lagers, which I am typically not a fan of, turn out to be the best beers here. The others are a bit schticky. The undertones/nuances are a bit overpowering, eg. the stout. Almost tastes like a shot of espresso was added to the beer, when it should be a faint back note.
The atmosphere: Addicting. Lively and fun. This is the main reason I would consider going back.
The service: So far very friendly and helpful. For a birthday dinner with a total bill of over $300, I would have expected a complimentary dessert. Especially after a mishap in the kitchen resulted in us waiting over 20 minutes for the desserts to arrive. A gesture such as this would have gone a long way. Actually, before this, I can't remember the last time we went to a restaurant for a birthday and did not receive at least a small complimentary treat.
Overall, this place tries hard and intends well, which I respect, however the execution on the elevated menu items needs more work. Especially at these prices.
I hope in time this place will evolve into their full vision potential. read more