Food Review: The Grove

The Grove
164 Stafford St.

UPDATED: October 2014

Situated at the corner of Stafford and Lilac, The grove is almost everything I dreamed of in a pub. I have been trying to get there for a few months, but whenever I go there is a long wait time and I am starving. This time I was able to handle 45 minutes sitting in their somewhat narrow entrance and I don’t regret a minute of that time.

We ordered:

• Veggie Burger
• Danielle Pizza
• fries
• Sticky Toffee Pudding
• Pimms

During other visits I have ordered:

• Pequillo pepper croquettes
• Blue cheese pear salad
• the Scarlette pizza

Unlike everywhere else I've gone in the last few months, the cocktails are 7$ not 10$; that in and of itself is worth noting. Domestics are 4.25, which is a decent price. They also do a sampler for 7.00 and imports for 6.50. They have a good range of beers and cocktails, including the Stafford Street Lager, which I stupidly didn't order. On my second visit I did try it. It is a very light lager which was crisp and gentle on flavor without having an unpleasant aftertaste that some of the less expensive lagers have. Another highlight of their drink menu is that on certain fridays (I don't know which ones) half pints make a special rendition of their classic beers. I have had a double hopped lil' scrapper, a strawberry st.james, and st.james made with cascade hops added. All of them were incredible.

Their veggie burger might be the best in the city! It is extremely tasty, slightly crisp and the bun is everything I hope for in a bun: tasty and capable of holding everything inside it. It blew my mind. UPDATE: The second time I had the veggie burger it was not as good. It is still a pretty good burger, but it has dropped a few points on my citywide ranking.

The Danielle pizza was really good. It is the perfect point between a fancy pizza and a takeaway greasy pizza. It has some of the fat but also the really good ingredients and lower salt of the more expensive pizzas. The crust was good, the toppings were perfect, and despite having a fair amount of oil it didn't taste greasy. The Scarlette is a tasty cheese pizza.

In my opinion the best thing on the menu is the pequillo pepper croquettes. Man oh man are they good! In fact I could live off of them for a week and still not be tired of them (But I would be 100lbs heavier).

The sticky toffee pudding was good, it is sort of like a hot bran muffin. My bother has an unbeatable recipe, which meant that it isn't my favorite pudding. The fries were nothing special, but still tasty.

Pretty much everyone I know loves this place and I see why. If it was just a little bit cheaper, or just a little bit less crowded, I would never go anywhere else to eat, drink, and be merry. I look forward to eating at the cornerstone bar & restaurant sometime soon to see if it holds up.

Until next time,