Bailey’s

Went with some coworkers, a friend and I ordered the beer cheese soup, and and a beef brisket sandwich: soup was ok but nothing to brag about. They brought us what tasted like corned beef instead of brisket.
The décor was pompous and wants to be high class, but was a bit worn and shabby. The room felt crowded at best.
Some of our coworkers had to leave early and left us a bill, and the task getting their change. The waitress took it all, and tried to cover somebody who was short with another guys cash, instead of just taking ours. She became very haughty when we asked for change, and was angry at the fact that she couldn’t keep the change from the people who had left.
Needless to say I wasn’t impressed, the food wasn’t worth the price. The restaurant was understaffed and had exceptionally mediocre service.

From the outside, it looks like a regular bar. However, you enter into a restaurant, you have a choice of the upstairs restaurant or the more casual setting on the main floor.
Main floor is a comfortable bar but the servers wear white gloves. Décor is somewhat dated but there were plenty of people. The place was close to my hotel as I was working late with my colleague. I wanted to try their lamb while my colleague decided a steak. We both enjoyed the dinner but the clientele is older.
For the upstairs, I went with my boss and co-​workers for a fancier dinner. The place was empty as if we book the who restaurant to ourselves. I decided to order steak and was pleasantly surprised. Although this was a business trip, the mean was reasonable and the appetizers were good. There are probably other restaurants nearby before I return.

Wow! The food was Absolutely amazing. I’m currently sitting finishing my meal and I had to write a review. Everything’s home made and made fresh to order. I had the homemade beef & lentil soup. I’m a huge soup person and that was literally BOMB ! Followed by the Chicken Souvlaki with lemon roasted potatoes and steamed fresh veggiesWhich were cooked perfectly I must say, the perfect al dente bite.. The service was good, she didn’t top up our waters and didn’t really pay a whole lot of attention to us, but that’s ok Because the food was so on point lol. It’s jst a tad more expensive than most, but absolutely worth it. Chicken was cooked perfectly. The entire menu looked amazing, too bad I’m only passing through Winnipeg or else I’d be here all the time!. I jst learned that the cooks name is Jerry, thank you Jerry I am leaving so satisfied, your cooking was so on point .
The atmosphere is nice too, the building is 115 years old!!! I absolutely love old buildings and architecture. Overall pretty fab experience. I love food.

I went with a group and was shocked to discover that for groups they simply refuse to cook steak medium rare. Rare, medium well, or well. That is all folks.
So I moved down one notch down, to rare, but found my ribeye anything but tasty and more gristle than the norm. Fat is of course what gives the flavour but it didn’t shine through at all. More people eat steak medium rare than any other single style– why on earth would it be the one they eliminate?
Disappointing enough that I would choose any hamburger joint over a return here … And if steak is what’s called for this would never make the list long list, let alone the short list.

I asked the receptionist at my hotel to recommend a pub for supper … she sent me to Bailey’s Restaurant & Bar which is within walking distance to my hotel.
When you go through the door, you can go upstairs to the «dining room» or stay on the main level for the «lounge» … I chose the lounge and sat on a cozy comfy loveseat and read my book.
I found Bailey’s a conflict … it definitely has a pub feel to it (but not all that exciting draft selection) and pub grub but it also has a fine dining menu too. There are gambling machines in this area too.
My server was Dorota. While she was attentive, she wasn’t overly warm.
My meal came with Southwestern Chicken Soup, which was good and hearty. I was hungry so ordered prime rib. I ordered it as well-​done as possible but it was fairly rare. It came with lemon roasted potatoes which were good but not very lemony. The Yorkshire pudding was good.
This restaurant was just okay, not great. I’ll be checking out other places during my stay here rather than going back.

«Meh. I’ve experienced better» is the perfect statement for this place. I got a chance to return here for a work lunch after trying this place many years ago. I wasn’t impressed back then and not much has changed with this recent visit.
It’s a very traditional looking restaurant, almost in a gaudy way. I like traditional décor but this place is too dark to dine in unless you’re in the dining room on the second floor with the windows.
Lunch items range from $ 10-​$ 15 on average so it’s about the same as many places in that area. The menu is a mix of really passé items that would be considered to be happening items at the «Paddlewheel» along with some regular run of the mill stuff you see on many lunch menus. There’s chicken finger and fries; denver sandwich, steak sandwich, burger, beef teriyaki stir fry, clubhouse etc. Personally, I think if you have a big appetite, I’d order an appetizer to go with your lunch meal. I ordered the chicken souvlaki for $ 11.50 — one chicken skewer with a choice of fries, rice or our house-​roasted potatoes and veggies. Now I don’t normally eat a large lunch portion cause I like to be alert in the afternoon. But this plate didn’t do it for me, thankfully my coworker shared some of her garlic toast from her order with me! It was a small skewer of chicken, I wish they’d bump up this meal to $ 15 or $ 16 and just add another skewer. But granted, the chicken was very tender but quite heavily seasoned. The tzatziki sauce had no real flavour and tasted like mayo instead of cucumber and yogurt. The chicken was served on a very small bed of rice that didn’t have much flavour to it. I ordered the roasted potatoes — two halved potatoes that had a nice lemony taste to it. And the veggies were a mixed green bean and carrot variety — seems like it was microwaved too long and came from the Green Giant bag. My friends seemed to enjoy their ribeye steak sandwich though — too bad I chose the souvlaki over the steak sandwich!
Food service was a tad slow. Our server was okay, I mean he didn’t seem like he enjoyed being there. He wasn’t rude but he wasn’t nice either. And he had a volume issue — he tended to shout really loud even though we were a quiet group and the restaurant felt like a library. The service isn’t as polished as you would expect. And the music is atrocious… it’s like really bad elevator or department store music from the 80’s.
I would not go back to this place because for roughly the same price or a few dollars more, I can have a much better meal from a variety of restaurants within a 3 block radius of Portage and Main!