National 10th

We didn’t spend a whole lot of time here, but the cocktails were pretty tasty. Great craft beer selection too!

I love their breakfast poutine, they are not know for brunch, but it’s a great place to go. Last time I went with a friend we got an hour of free bowling with our breakfast which really made for a great surprise!!!

This review is only for the Bourbon Room which is on the 2^nd floor of National 10^th. My husband raves this place as the «Disney Land for Bourbon drinkers». The drink menu is just overwhelmingly massive. Check it out:
Drink menu (warning, don’t open the link at work… just… don’t):
Their bourbon flights are pretty good, you get 3 shots per flight. My husband and I got the Blantons and Rye flights and we both agreed that the Blantons one is better.
They have so many unique mixed whiskey drinks too. The Calvados Sour has peanut butter and egg whites in it! It’s weird but omg so delicious because it’s creamy but not milky with just the right amount of nutty flavor. I must’ve ordered 3 of these that night. Also, the «Throw yo pinky in the air, if u a true Playa» has grappa and mead in it. That one was so harsh and gnarly, let’s just say one member of our group spatted that that must be what incest tastes like.
My husband is also insisting that I add the very important fact that there are lots of naked women posters all over the walls of this lounge.

Went over there for a Sunday night and we reserved two lanes for three hours.
The good: Great bowling lanes, very well taken care of. Electronic registration for games more modern than most places I have been to. They have ping pong tables and an arcade (limited on machines). You can start a tab for your evening and pay at the end. Servers kept bringing us food throughout the evening (it was a special occasion). Great serving staff.
The bad: Dripping ceilings. It is five dollars for renting shoes, aside from paying your lane. Pizza is really greasy. There is nothing to hang your coat on around the alley.
This is s very fun place to bowl and have a nice evening. Very enjoyable.

Excellent service, great food, and wonderful rooftop patio. The inside is pretty cool and well finished. Definitely worth seeing even for a brunch on the weekend. I was pleased to see it was an improvement over its former self The Whiskey.

I have been here a lot in the past and never had an issue but went here the other night and the guys at the door would not let me in. He said I was wearing improper footwear to enter the bar. I was wearing black shoes that were in decent shape and I say many other people getting in with no issues. I asked to talk to the manager and I was told there was no manager on duty. I was not impressed at all and will not be going back to this location.

This would have been a 4 – 5 star review if it weren’t for the door staff, a group of us went outside for a cigar and upon re entry the rest of my group was okay to come back inside but apparently the designated driver (me) was too drunk to come back inside?
Its this behaviour that will keep me from returning to this establishment!

Really fun nice place! I found the environment was very nice, and it is a great place to get a beer. The selection is also great. My only complaint is the size of some of the dishes. The beef tacos for example where extremely small for the price paid. The tortilla size is minimal, and there are probably only 5 little pieces of meat in the taco. Great overall though!

I had a pretty good time here on a Saturday night. The service is a bit slow (and yes, I am taking the fact that I was there during peak time into consideration) but the beer selection is very good. The crowd is easy to get along with and there are plenty of women to look at and talk to.
I would definitely go here again.

I always have fun here. Nice, big, open space.
If you want to go bowling in the basement, get there early. It’s a very nice alley, but it fills up fast (for a good reason) so get your name on the list.
For all my fellow DDs… There’s a parkade right across the street, and I think it’s 2 – 5 bucks for 12 hours or something, so that is super convenient and I utilize that often.
The food is really good too. I’m a sucker for deep fried pickles, and I could eat these by the pound. I would also recommend the Mac and cheese and the ribs (hard to go wrong with their sliders or burgers, too).
Good beer selection, fun music.

I think this is my new favourite National. They have a great space; it feels like a good pub but has way better flow than the one on 17^th. It seems cleaner too which is always nice. And the crowd seems to be a little more in line with my somewhat aging demographic.
Of course they have a gazillion beers available, priced fairly but not cheaply. There is something for everyone taste wise, regardless of how much you know about beer. They have fun appies (deep friend pickles — yay!) and tasty main dishes should you want to take in a meal. I like the burgers a lot.
The tables are all communal — sometime this is fun and other times a little less depending on who you are sharing with and how good they are at sharing. It adds to the friendly vibe of the place though.
Service is good — down to earth people who are not dressed like Barbies and who are allowed to have their own personalities (what a novel idea!).
There is a big parkade across the street which is nice if you don’t feel like going on a quest for street parking. In the evenings and on weekends is super cheap.

This past weekend while visiting friends in Calgary, we met up at National on 10^th. I was only there for the entertainment component so I won’t be commenting on the food or menu.
I arrived too late to partake in the foosball, which they had turned into a drinking game, so probably best I missed it anyways as I didn’t need anymore than I found to consume! I did however arrive in time for the bowling :) The amount of activities you can find to amuse yourself within this place is quite amazing! The upstairs had more of a dance vibe while the basement bowling lounge was more chill.
I loved the picnic table seating as it was a quick and fun way to meet other people and offered a feeling of a beerfest, and speaking of beers, there were plenty to choose from. I myself prefer a darker beer, ales, stouts or porters, our waitress took the time to let me know what they had and what I might like from their selections and i was happy with the few I had.
There was a pretty big line up when I arrived, but I took the bold move of going straight to the front and mentioning I was meeting friends who were bowling and they let me right in. Which in turn had the people who had been waiting all saying they were just there to bowl as well, and if there were other Unilocalers in the line up it may have lowered their star rating if they were unhappy with the fact that i got to skip the line up. but I was grateful :)
I will definitely be heading back there to try out more of their activities, possibly the menu, but for sure for the beer and the bowling !

Beer selection is on point. DJ is on point.
Line outside is awful. Not even full when you get in and they use that lame ‘capacity’ excuse on you,
Aside from that, the crowd is live and the drinks are always flowing. Don’t come on the weekend if you are looking for space or quiet. The party os too strong (that is a good thing)!

I’m hoping that I’m giving a fair review, as all I can remember is all the fun I had while I was drunk…
National on 10^th is a pretty fun place. As I’m sure you know, they have a bowling alley! You don’t necessarily have to go bowling to enjoy the downstairs lounge! I found that the bar there is not as busy! I also found the music matched my tastes better downstairs!
This isn’t the cheapest place I’d go to have a drink, but it can definitely be a blast when you are with your friends.

All the girls headed down to The National on 10^th Ave for a birthday party on Tuesday night. We had made reservations for 6:30 at the bar and then 8:00 for bowling. At 6:28 the birthday girl got a call asking if we still wanted our reservation… Of course we do, and it’s not 6:30 yet! Guess they were turning people away at that point. Luckily our table was available when we arrived although we had a few uninvited guests sitting with us.
The service was a little slow to start, but maybe our server was waiting for the rest of our party to trickle in because once everyone was there, the service was great. We all shared the tater tots to start (unusual for a bar and we loved them!) and then each had our own entrees. Everything came our perfectly and was delicious! Everyone had something different and everyone enjoyed their meal. The hot beef ciabatta with short rib and oxtail ragu was fabulous!
My only piece of constructive feedback would to be to replace the stools on the main floor. The seat is really high and the foot bar is too low so a short lady in heels is left dangling like a little kid!
After eating entirely too much we headed downstairs to the bowling alley. Clean and new with great service. We were a few minutes late for our reservation but they were good with it as there was no line up to bowl at that time. Lots of lounge space as well if you happen to be waiting for a lane or want to play any multitude of games they have set up. Cool leather couches, decent (but not fabulous) wine and new shoes~ how could a girl complain!
I will need to bring my Hubs here one day to experience the Bourbon Room. A place where he can get a flight of bourbon, a scotch egg and deep friend pickles~ he will think he has died and gone to heaven!

4.5 stars for beer & bourbon, 3.5 for bowling, 3 for food. Great $ 5 flat rate for all 20 ounce pints during happy hour, plus buck a shuck oysters on Tuesdays. Huge bourbon selection and a secluded tasting room. Awesome.
The rest of the menu sounds pretty good too, but is unremarkable upon arrival (Craft next door is better for food, not as good for drinks). The bowling in the basement is fun, but isn’t worth the really long wait time unless you are a very patient kind of person. The Ping pong and foosball are much more accessible and appreciated. I like the lively atmosphere and the communal tables, now if they’d only open up the rooftop patio at some point they’d get bumped up to 4 stars overall.

This place is HUGE with all sorts of fun things everywhere. I’ve been here about 3 times now and each time I’ve realized it really is only the tip of the iceberg.
Trip 1: I learned that they have a LOT of beer on tap. I learned that their pints are 20oz and that it’s around $ 8 for every beer. Depending what you like to drink, it’s either gonna be a ripoff or a GREAT deal. I gotta love a place that essentially rewards me for having very expensive taste in beer. I learned about the picnic table style seating and I learned that I like it. Even if you don’t wind up talking with your neighbours, chances are you’ll tap them on the shoulder to ask «is anyone sitting here?» That’s still a little more inter group interaction than you may find at many places. I learned that 20oz pints of high proof beer are both a way to «drunk more the booze than realize you think did hammered lots I love everyone,» As well as lighten up your wallet real fast. I ordered food this night too. I’m sure it was tasty, but I’ll have to get back to you on that…
Trip 2: They have a bowling alley?! Heck yah! 8 lanes of awesome! Bowling ALWAYS comes up as a first date idea, why had it taken until now for a place to make it cool?! National 10’s bowling alley is a super cool place to party.
Trip 3: I learned they have $ 5 any pint happy hour, a private upstairs level and private bar for around 60 people with a rock solid table tennis set up! I also learned that their wait staff are freaking gorgeous. Not sure why it took me this long to pick up on that.
I’m excited to find out what I’ll learn with my next visit to National 10!

First time at National was a good one, but mostly because our server was amazing! The beer selection and the knowledge of our server was quite impressive.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the menu however when our food arrived I found it to be tasty.
We ordered the fish tacos, beet salad and poutine to share. The poutine had an amazing homemade flair and the fish tacos were served with a «build your own» concept which was fun. I found the beet salad to have just too much dressing which weighed down the flavours and made everything just too oily, which then made me stay away from the fried goat cheese balls that were on top.
I will like to come back again but probably just for a few more pints.

After our meeting, a vendor offered to take my coworker and I out to lunch and I suggested we try out the newly opened National close by. Since it was only 11:30 it wasn’t busy yet and we got seated right away. It’s a relatively large venue (they have a bowling alley downstairs!) and tables are nicely spaced apart so it’s not too crowded.
The four of us got seated in the middle of an enormous benched table (one of the vendors mentioned the set up is like a German beer hall) and our waitress quickly came over with menus. Chalkboard tablets on pillars inform you of the beer specials and the large tally board (it looks like those old school train station schedules) lists the plethora of beers they have available.
I ordered on the Strawberry Lemonade (bourbon, strawberry and homemade lemonade) and all four of us got burgers. Since the ground beef is actually ground in house, the waitress informed us we had an option of how we wanted our burgers cooked (I still went with well done).
Our food came out pretty quick, the burger was dressed with fresh lettuce and tomato on a bun adorned with a sliced pickle. The burger was a good size, I managed to eat it all without feeling overly full. (I’m a fry fanatic so I thought the little tin cup of fries was a bit disappointing, but that’s just me!)
I enjoyed my experience, I will defintiely be back with my beer and burger loving boyfriend soon!

I’ve been to National on 17^th, and I enjoy it. National on 10^th just opened up and as a few things to iron out, and I’m sure once they do, they’ll be just as rad.
I was here with a few friends (and strangers) last night and while service was friendly, it was pretty inattentive. We sat there for over two hours and most of it was spent waiting for our waitress to come back. She asked us if we needed more time deciding what to drink, and then disappeared for twenty minutes. When she finally came back, we were not only ready to drink, we were also ready to order food, but she said she needed to come back for that. Nearly ten minutes later she came back to take our food orders.
None of our orders were overly complicated either: veggie burger, two plates of crackers and beer cheese, couple of turkey burgers. Food here tastes exactly like it does on 17^th, so no surprises there. Fries are good, and I love the habanero hot sauce they have on every table. If you order the 3 oz Dark and Stormy as opposed to the 1.5 oz, you’ll save money and also get a Costco Edition Dark and Stormy. It was as big as my torso. I needed a nap and a cuddle afterward.
If one of the ladies at our table hadn’t finally gotten up in frustration to flag down our waitress so we could settle up, we’d probably still be waiting. Looking around, it wasn’t particularly busy, so I’m not exactly sure what the hold up was. I think the waitress mentioned something about the kitchen. Get it together, National 10^th! Then, we can be homies!