The Thistle Bar & Grill

Terrible food and awful slow service.
Ordered a clubhouse and fries while having a couple beer. The sandwich was very unappealing and small, with very little chicken. I can usually never finish a full sandwich by myself at any other restaurant but this left me hungry. The fries were awful– greasy and soggy. not cooked long enough or at too low of a temperature. The service was slow, having to wait at least 25 minutes before the waitress came back and offered me another drink. Have been to the thistle a few times and the service by all the waitresses is terrible — have only ever received good service from one male server who I do believe is one of the owners of the bar. On one occasion the police were even called to the bar and shut down the band that was playing, all around just a very unprofessional establishment. As I was still hungry, I left and went to The Dock, where I received amazing food and service. I will never go back to the thistle.

Been here many times. Over all this place has good that is ok and with good portion sizes. More times than not they will be out of regular menu items so have a stand by. Staff is nice.
The most recent trip in, we waited over 40 minutes after ordering for our food. During this time the waitress didn’t come to check on us for the first 30 minutes and when she did she left us with empty beverages. It appeared a large group came in all at once, but on the other hand it was raining and the patio was closed. Essentially they had half the seats available so I’m thinking they shouldn’t have had so long of ticket times.
If you are looking for a place to have a few drinks and have a bite to eat with the boys, it place will do. If you are looking to take the wife out for a nice meal, you may want to look elsewhere.

The relationship I have with The Thistle is longer than many of my friendships, and certainly more so than those in my love life. It was here that began my love for bar-​based trivia, back in the days of their NTN satellite network when you could compete with people around the world or just mess with the family a couple tables over.
I first started coming here for dinner breaks with my co-​workers at the old Aberdeen Cinemas/​Empire Studio 7/​whatever Cineplex calls it now a solid 12 years ago. We’d stuff our faces with sandwiches and their classic steak fries (heavily coated with addictive seasoning salt) before heading back to work sling popcorn, sweep floors and participate in general jackassery. Being the frugal, not particularly socially active teen that I was, what money I spent went here.
The Thistle has gone through at least one owner change since then, but remains mostly the same other than its evolving menu. The bar is there on the left when you enter, a slightly elevated area with tables and a booth, and more tables and a couple banquettes on the remaining part of the bar. It’s nothing fancy; with your regular sort of wooden chairs and tables which aren’t aged enough to be charming or new enough to be impressive. There’s plenty of TVs around and some jerseys adorn the walls, giving a quasi-​sports bar feel, and big ol’ ads on the tables and the typical batch of small-​town-​bar VLTS hiding their shame in the back corner add a certain ‘je né sais quoi’ to the atmosphere. The large patio out front is nice in the summer for fresh air and good times, minus the view of the parking lot.
My last visit was far from being in patio season though, as myself, my girlfriend and a few friends came here after doing some good old fashioned sledding at Albion field. I’m not familiar with the menu as of late, so I asked one of the guys for a recommendation and he suggested the fajita burger, saying that it was just like nachos on a burger, so I went with that and curly fries on the side and of course a beer to keep things a bit more adult after playing like a kid. There was a little bit of a wait for the food, but it wasn’t a big deal as we all chatted away.
When the food did arrive, it was a veritable hot mess of a burger and impressive pile of fries. The fries were well seasoned, however, I forgot that they’re often limp and these were beyond that. A limp, thin fry is just sad. The burger was an even bigger disappointment. The thin, overcooked patty was doused in enough sour cream to make the whole burger feel cold, and this is coming from a guy who loves his SC. The untoasted bun was easily defeated by the onslaught of toppings. The veggies and salsa that were on the burger were tasty, but not enough to save it.
Pints of beer were a great price at $ 4.25 for Rickard’s, and there was some live music as well to liven things up.
While this meal was a significant fail, the Thistle is definitely a good place to hang out at and have some drinks with friends, watch the game and roll the dice on what might be good coming out of the kitchen.

Great little pub with a friendly owner and great staff. Good food with big serving sizes at very reasonable prices.
Their wing nights on Thursdays are great. 50 cents a wing and they go great with an ice cold beer. They also offer wing deals on Sundays and they will let you watch whichever football game you want. (Provided availability)
Live music every Thursday and Friday creates a cool atmosphere too.
The only negative point about this place is that it is a bit rough later in the evenings once drinks start to flow but that’s no different from any other bar in any other town in North America.