Mill Street Brew Pub

CBA

British Indian Ocean Territory

3.98/5  rDev +3.6%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 3 | $$

Located in one of my favourite spots in town - the Distillery District is an amazing place to kill some time on a warm afternoon. Nice set up with an off sales room with tasting taps to the left as you enter. The pub itself is bright and well thought out with great visuals into the brewery. The food is just above average for pub fare but is servicable and reasonably priced. The service was good and the bartender opened up the off sales for me even though it was closed. Varied selection above the normal Mil St offerings on tap. I'd certainly recommend it if you're in the area and I can imagine in the summer this place will be packed.

Bonus: it's across from the zenith in chocolate making - Soma. If you're down with chocolate, this is best I've had in Canada. Pick up a few of the Venezuelan Dark Espresso truffles to go with the Coffee Porter you just bought from Mill Street.

02-21-2007 16:48:20 | More by CBA

Lobstertainment

Ontario (Canada)

5/5  rDev +30.2%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | $$

Located in the heart of Torontos brewery district Mill St has been cranking out some top notch beers, and some overly ambitious attempts at new recipes that aren't my cup of tea.

The pub is beautiful with friendly service and a large variety of beers on tap. The price wasn't too bad as I was getting sampler packs to try all the beers without getting drunk.

05-09-2013 06:56:14 | More by Lobstertainment

crashdavisinoh

Ohio

3.68/5  rDev -4.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Went here on a recent trip to Toronto with a friend...it is located in the distillery district....very cool place filled with restaurants, galleries, a sake distillery (great sake) and mill st brew pub. Very nice looking exterior and interior...we sat inside as it was a bit warm out and were seated on the other side of the glass of the tanks. We were in the bar at a table...service was great...our server was attentive and offered good suggestions for me. I tried two beers of my own and sampled my friends as well. I had the blueberry wheat on cask (see review) and the coffee porter (see review). I was disappointed when they were out of the coffee porter on draft but gave it a go in the bottle anyways. The server was apologetic...asked what kind of beers I liked and made suggetions...BUT I had heard good things about the coffee porter so wanted that. Did not have the food but it looked quite good from what I saw. I enjoyed this place...sitting there...good service...old wooden bar...they had 12 or so house beers on draft at reasonable prices...watching sports...great time. I would make it a point to return when going back to toronto! One thing I didn't like...they offer samplings of their beers....BUT...they organize it for you...4 of this...or 4 of that...or 4 of that...I didn't ask if I could substitute but I like the freedom of picking my own samples. But like I said...I didn't ask if I could substitute...so this may an easy fix.

07-19-2011 17:09:08 | More by crashdavisinoh

DoubleSimcoe

New York

3.63/5  rDev -5.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3 | $$$$

If you live in Ontario, you probably think Mill Street is an amazing brewpub, and rightly so! English-speaking Canada is not exactly famous for its full-bodied, flavorful ales, right? :-)

But if you live in French Canada or the US, you may not find this place so appealing. This is what happened to me.

The location itself is nice, in the Distillery District of Toronto... beautiful building and charming atmosphere. Good service too.

Food is so-so. Looks better than it tastes. And VERY expensive! I ordered a wild mushroom bisque that was just OK, a little watery 'shroom soup. Also a $16 CAD "Lobster Grilled Cheese Sandwich" that tasted like it had no lobster at all... the twenty-dollar grilled salmon was no better than an entree at Red Lobster. Disappointing grub all around.

So much for that. And the beer? Canadian, mind you. A passable "organic lager" (whatever), an awful "Stock Ale" (at 5%, nothing like what you might be thinking)...

Their only good (but not great) beers were their IPA and the Coffee Stout. They are proud that there is no other coffee stout brewed in Ontario... which explains why this brewery wins so many awards but feels so average to the American craft-beer drinker.

A bunch of beers and appetizers for four came up to over $160CAD. Next time I'll spend that amount in gas and drive to Quebec for real good beer! :-)

Would definitely not go back.

09-27-2010 04:46:34 | More by DoubleSimcoe

Popsinc

Ontario (Canada)

3.9/5  rDev +1.6%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Stopped in right at opening and sat up at the bar. Service was great since nobody else was there yet. Bartender warmed up to us after we showed some interest in the beers available.

We did 8 samplers and then ordered a few pints. Mill St brews are decent but nothing over the top and nothing that will make your jaw drop. The Coffee Porter stands out and the Tankhouse Ale is solid. Otherwise, some nice efforts even though not everything hit the mark.

Didn't have any food here, only beer, but visually this place looks great. A little off the beaten path as the Distillery District is a good 15-20 minute walk away from the downtown core.

All in all, a good experience, nice atmosphere and simple, adequate brews. Not the best stop in the city but worth a trip nonetheless.

09-05-2010 14:25:22 | More by Popsinc

Yetiman420

Ohio

3.85/5  rDev +0.3%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | $$

This was my 185th stop on a quest to visit as many quality brewpubs/breweries as possible.

For me, Mill Street Brew Pub had the most impressive atmosphere of any brewpub (and beer destination outside the student union at UW Madison). It's part of a refurbishided distillary on the east side of downtown Toronto. Lots of other shops, bars, and restaurants. Do yourself a favor and come during hours where the other places are open so you can soak up the history of the complex. A local article on the wall said this is the most impressive representation of a complex like this in North America.

On to the beer....
I wish I could get as excited about the beer as the venue. Many pedestrian beers that did little to excite me so I settled on a very good coffee porter that lacked mouthfeel. I kept looking at the menu (scotch and martini menu) and finally came across the fact that they had a house Kreik - very ambitious. I had a sample and it could benefit from sweetness and tartness (two traits that can easily be overdone) but I felt it was a great entry for the masses which is the customer base of Mill Street.

High marks for the retro branding and great job of interior decore.

08-10-2010 03:13:25 | More by Yetiman420

TheSevenDuffs

Ontario (Canada)

4.13/5  rDev +7.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

Visited in January 2010

The Mill Street Brewpub is a great place to grab dinner and a pint. A nice mid-range atmosphere and ticked in the middle of the beautiful cobblestone roads of the Distillery District in Toronto for the perfect setting.

A nice selection of beers on tap, including a few that aren't bottled (Cobblestone Stout) and a couple of seasonals (Vanilla Porter). The only disappointment about this place is seeing and tasting all of the great beer that isn't a bottles and sold at the retail level. Picked up a growler of IPA to go.

05-29-2010 20:58:22 | More by TheSevenDuffs

kwjd

Ontario (Canada)

3.93/5  rDev +2.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 2 | $$

Great location in the historic distillery district. I always get great service here. The servers are not always beer experts, but the bartenders seem to be quite knowledgeable. They are great about giving you samples too while deciding. I like the rotating seasonals. There is a solid line up of beers always on tap as well. The food is typical pub food as it is run by a group that runs several other pubs in the city. The prices for beer and food are quite reasonable compared to other places in the city.

There is also a retail store on site where you can buy most of the beers in bottles, plus they usually have several growlers.

03-04-2010 01:15:48 | More by kwjd

DrDj

Ontario (Canada)

4.13/5  rDev +7.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$$

Mill Street is quite a gem, in a nice part of Toronto. It does, however, have a little too much appeal to the metro-chic crowd, which jam it full on evenings. The Toronto poseurs are annoying, but I guess if they're going to bolster the revenues of a place so we beer hounds can get our fix, that's okay by me. At least the restaurant is big enough that you can avoid them.

Food is good, though more vegetarian options would appeal to me, but most of all, the beer is solid. Very solid.

My one beef is the beer-wareness of the staff, who often have little idea what they're talking about when it comes to the beer. "It's a brown beer, so strong" or something like that is a ridiculous way to describe a beer. But they to tend to be friendly, so it's easy to say "could I just get a taste of it" and avoid the facile descriptions.

The other thing that bothers me is that some of the seating puts you too deep in the middle of the action. One time I sat at a two person table that seemed to be surrounded by main traffic aisles. I felt like I was sitting in the middle of a busy street, and it made for a rather uncomfortable meal. But I can be a little neurotic about stuff like that. I want peace, relaxation, a good pint (or three) and good food. I got two of the four.

02-13-2010 14:34:18 | More by DrDj

cratez

Ontario (Canada)

3.48/5  rDev -9.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3 | food: 4 | $$

EDIT - MAY 2012: popped in here with the lady after viewing some apartments and I couldn’t believe that the Blueberry Wheat was the only specialty/one-off available. Grabbed a growler of the Paradise IPA and it tasted like a weak English bitter. I’ve lowered my score significantly.

2009 Review - Had another wonderful evening here on my most recent visit to the city.

VIBE: a spacious bar and restaurant area greet you at the door, seating accommodates groups of two, four, or larger. At this time of year there's Christmas lights dangling throughout the establishment, which adds a bit of cheer to the atmosphere. Crowd is a diverse mix of young couples, beer geeks, older folks, tourists, and locals. The number of wine drinkers suggests that people actually come here for something other than the beer!

SERVICE: just okay. Our waitress seemed busy and distracted, she might've had too many tables. Nevertheless, the food arrived quickly. We got our drinks in reasonable time by grabbing the attention of other servers.

SELECTION: this being a brewpub, the beer list is all of Mill Street's offerings. I tried the Roggenbier, ESB, and Helles Bock, the latter of which I had to settle for because the waitress told me - erroneously - that the Weizenbock was not available. I enjoyed all three beers and my girlfriend found a wine of her liking.

FOOD: excellent quality. With such a large menu you'd figure something would suck, but all of our stuff was very tasty. I'd recommend the Coffee Porter ribs, good smokiness and spice, drenched in BBQ sauce, with a bit of slaw on the side.

OVERALL: based on this last visit, we will definitely come back to Mill Street on future trips to Toronto. Despite the mediocre service, this brewpub has a great vibe, awesome beer and food, and solid value. A gem on the T.O. beer scene.

12-30-2009 18:15:55 | More by cratez