709 Queen Street East, Toronto, ON M4M 1H1
(647) 341-4500
Toronto seems to have an endless amount of breweries and craft breweries. Not only do these breweries make beer, many of them have a restaurant component. With cider gaining in popularity the last few years, it was only a matter of time before local cider houses jumped on the scene. The latest addition is Brickworks Ciderhouse.
Deemed the first urban ciderhouse in Canada, Brickworks offers 10 regular and seasonal small batch ciders. As a cider lover, I was determined to try as many ciders as possible without falling over. Luckily, they offer a flight of four 5oz glasses of cider for $16. I chose Batch 1904, Stadium Island Peach, Hawaii Five Eh and Mint & Basil Cider, while my boyfriend who is less of a cider fan than me ordered a pint of Queen Street 501. Although most of the ciders were good, my favourite was Stadium Island Peach as it was reminiscent of fuzzy peach candies, while the extreme basil flavour of the Mint & Basil Cider was a little too much like eating a margherita pizza for my liking and I normally LOVE basil.
Having been to other brew pubs in the past, I was a little nervous about the food at Brickworks Ciderhouse as the food a brew pubs tend to be mediocre at best. I ended up ordering Arthus on pork belly ribs which were served with an apple and kale slaw from the shareable menu. The ribs were quite flavourful, especially with the chimichurri sauce that it was topped with but I wish the dish included more than 3 ribs. Also, calling them "pork belly ribs" was a bit misleading as they were not the fatty, juicy slab of meat you expect when you eat pork belly. They were obviously just your standard back ribs. Sean decided to go with the tried and true pubfare - poutine with cider braised pulled pork and pork gravy, which was also from the shareable menu. For dessert we decided to share a slice of apple pie, which is made in-house. The crust, which is made with cider, was crisp and buttery and the filling had a generous amount of apples. It was definitely one of the best slices of apple pie I've had in awhile. Despite the food being better than I expected, most of the menu items were pricey for what you got. We purposely ordered off of the share menu because we couldn't justify paying $19 for the Brickworks burger or $23 for chicken schnitzel.
After spending the last 7 years writing restaurant reviews my number one rule before checking out a new restaurant is to always call and confirm if the establishment is wheelchair accessible. When we called to see if Brickworks Ciderhouse is accessible, we were assured that it was. We were told that they were fully booked on the day we had planned to go but we would still be accommodated because they leave space for walk-ins. When we arrived, we were met with an automatic door button and a 1 inch curb at the door. Luckily, Sean and I both have power wheelchairs and were able to basically plow ourselves over the curb, but some people with mobility issues may have a much more difficult time getting over the bump. Once we got inside I noticed that the ciderhouse has two levels. The main floor with high tables and chairs and booths, the top level with lower tables.
As we expected, we were told that there was a 30 to 45 minute wait. While we were waiting a woman who was a part of large group offered to give us their table. After thanking her for her kindness she explained that her dad is in a wheelchair and totally understood. A couple of minutes later a staff member came over towards the booth we were sitting close to and to my shock told us this is where were we being seated. I explained to the hostess that this wasn't going to work and she quickly went to get another staff member who I assume was one of the managers. The manager basically said to us that this was the only option and when I mentioned that I noticed lower tables on the second level and asked if there was a way to get upstairs she said "no" without even attempting to find a solution. I also pointed out to this manager that in all the years I've spent going to restaurants in the city I've never had an experience like this. At this point another staff member (likely another manager) came over and said that he would figure things out. A few more minutes later he came back with another staff member and moved the large bench of the booth. Finally, after a good almost half an hour of back and forth discussions with the staff of the ciderhouse, we were seated. Luckily I was able to tuck myself into the corner, while Sean sat that the end of the table. While we were having dinner, the male manager came over and apologized for the situation. I explained that nothing like this had ever happened to me before and suggested that they bring the lower tables down to the main level and fix the curb at the entrance. He said he appreciated my feedback and would bring it up at the next meeting.
Although I was grateful that everything worked out and we were able to actually sit at a table, my problem is that we were told that the restaurant was accessible and it obviously wasn't. Clearly, there were lower, accessible tables on the second floor, but there was no way to get upstairs and none of these tables were placed on the main floor. With the exception of one or two people, most of the staff seemed unwilling to find a solution which is beyond infuriating. I can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that they though Sean and I (who were both in our power wheelchairs) would be able to sit at a booth. To make matters that much more annoying and confusing, Sean went to the washroom at one point and said that it was totally accessible. We're talking large private washroom, with an automatic door button, multiple grab bars and an emergency call button. So basically, if people with mobility issues are able to get into the ciderhouse, they can go pee and do nothing else.
