PUB ST-PATRICK, Quebec City QC

This is another #lotwsummercatchup review

For the last long weekend of the summer, LJ and I took her dad to Quebec City for the weekend. We did a bit of touring of some historic sites, waterfalls, and took a little time to explore the walled part of the city. The place is over 400 years old and it feels like going back in time to the old world. There really is no other city like it in North America.

While you are in the old part of the city, you are going to get hungry. There are a ton of restaurants to choose from, and on a long weekend, you are going to have to struggle with tourist crowds. I did a quick internet search and found Pub St-Patrick as a promising and well reviewed place to eat. We were looking for something different then all the poutine and smoked meat that seemed to be what most of the places we had been served. So an Irish pub in old Quebec seemed to fit the bill.

The place was PACKED, but then every restaurant was on this weekend eve. We checked in with the hostess and was told it would be about a 30 minute wait. We put our names down and in about 20 minutes we had a table.

The place is a maze. It's in a building that's over 200 years old and the restaurant is not only on the main street level, and the patio, with multiple entrances, but also goes deep into the basement. That's where we were seated. It was dark and just really cool because you could feel the history. We waited a little bit for our waitress, as it was busy, but she came around and took our drink orders and brought us the menu.

As an Anglophone, I find it difficult to adjust to Quebec's language laws that says French must always come first before the English. That's not their fault - it's their province and culture, I'm just visiting. I'm just happy there is English. But the first thing that came up as a question to me was the translation for "Les Tites Z'Ailes" is; Ailes is wings in French, but Tites doesn't seem to have a translation. I also questioned the pricing - 6 wings for $9? Surely these were whole wings right?

Our waitress came back with our drinks, waters all around and a Diet Pepsi for me (although it tasted terrible) and took our orders.

We had been there a while, so I had to run out and put some more money in the parking meter. When I got back, our appetizer of Beef Tartar with Bacon & Guinness had arrived. LJ loves tartar, and I don't mind it. But this was really good. It was spicy and salty and flavorful. The meat was fresh and very tasty. My only complaint would be that 5 pieces of crostini is not enough.

Then the real problem began. We waited for our main course. We waited and waited. We waited over an hour. It was unreal. Yes the restaurant was busy but it was ridiculous. We flagged down our waitress, and she said it should be coming soon and she would check. Then she didn't come back. My dining companions were ready to go, but we decided to wait (as we would have to wait in line at any other restaurant just to get in). She came back and said it would be 10 minutes. 10 minutes went by and still nothing.

Finally the food arrived but there were more problems. LJ, who was pretty angry by this point, got here Saint-Partick burger, but it had all the ingredients that she had requested NOT to come on the burger. That would have been ok to just take them off, but the burger was cold and had clearly sat out. Her fries were also dreadful - overcooked and had clearly been sitting in a warming drawer. Joey's fries with his fish and chips were the same. Frustrated, LJ left to get some air. While she left, another server brought her correct burger  (we didn't even see our waitress after she dropped off the food) and he was confused as to the first burger. So he took the one he brought away.  LJ didn't eat her burger or fries. Joey ate his fish (I never even saw it), but he said it was good but cold.

As for my meal, my wings came out, and they came out in a frying pan.

So the first thing I noticed was that the wings came in a frying pan. Interesting. It was a unique serving vessel I guess. Then I noticed that while I had asked for the wings with Buffalo sauce on them and a side of the Red Ale BBQ, they just put both sauces on the side. Ok. Then I noticed that there was no blue cheese dip as the menu stated. Then, I just noticed as I was writing this that I only count 10 wings in the pan. The orders come 6 or 12 and I got more than 6, but less than 12. Hmmph.

The wings were small. They were pretty meaty for their small size, but they were still small. Crazy to be that small at that price. I don't think I have ever had anything but small wings when going to Quebec. They were served very hot and very crispy at least.

It was nice that the skin was crispy, and the meat was relatively tender underneath.

As mentioned above, the wings came out naked with the sauce on the side, so the skin stayed crispy ... well until I gave them a little bath. I needed too because the wings didn't have much flavour on their own.

Oh, the above photo also shows were my blue cheese dip wasn't. That dip would have been great to have.

BUFFALO (REGULAR)

I didn't really understand until writing this review that I was duped. See their menu says that these are Buffalo wings. They are not. They are just fried wings with hot sauce on the side. It's a nice hot sauce, cayenne based, but it had no butter in it to make it Buffalo. That's why the sauce is listed as Regular. They think chicken wings are Buffalo wings when in fact, it is a flavour. So while they were decent wings, they were not as advertised.

RED ALE BBQ

Now this was an interesting sauce on the side, but I had a feeling it would be when I ordered it. It was very much like the texture of a tomato chili sauce, thick, sweet, fruity and yet tangy. Very much homemade.

FINAL SCORE:

Things did not run smoothly at Pub St-Patrick. Crazy wait times for our food, we were only given excuses when we prompted, and the food came out incorrect, cold, or inedible. In the end they didn't charge us for LJ's dinner, and while my wings were decent, the experience left a real sour spot in our mouths. The wings were ok, but they were tiny and expensive for what they were. The pub has a cool atmosphere, but it was just a disappointing meal. We don't go to Quebec City very often, but we won't be back next time for sure. 6.5/15

Pub St-Patrick
1200 Rue Saint-Jean, Quebec City Quebec
pubsaintpatrick.ca