Shaw Cafe & Wine Bar

Random stop on way through and it turned out to be a great experience and meal. We were greeted
by Kelson who directed us to our table and since it was chilly outside brought us a glass of hot water so we could warm our hands on it. Very nice gesture. He was polite and told us trivia about the area and some jokes. He was friendly, attentive but not obtrusive.
The apple cider was fantastic! My partner had the potato soup and the mussels. Both were delicious. I had the fish and chips. The batter was made to order, fish light and fresh. 2 big pieces and lots of perfectly crispy fries. It came with 2 kind of tartar sauce, one regular and one spicy.
The room was cozy and inviting, the bathrooms clean.
They could bring it up a notch by putting the sauces in little dishes as opposed to the plastic take out containers and the malt vinegar in a glass bottle rather than a worn looking refilled plastic vinegar bottle. Those kinds of details add to the whole experience as the restaurant presented as a little higher class than your average pub.
Over all we had a lovely time and definitely would return.

Shameful quality food.
Salad with wilted lettuce, wrinkled cherry tomatoes and 2 day old PRE sliced cucumber.
Microwave quiche with dried out fries.
To top it off, prices are not cheap.
Looks interesting from the outside, but this place is no better than a run down diner.

Pub quality food at higher end prices. Staff were friendly, helpful and polite. Bathrooms were disgusting and need a full renovation.

Overall, the food was average which isn’t reflected in the overpriced items.
I personally got the burger and was not too impressed by the pattie, the heart of a burger. The pattie was a bit dry and was quite thin.
The service wasn’t the best initially but it got better as our server started telling riddles and jokes.

I read a bunch of reviews before we ate here that called it a tourist trap. Isn’t the entirety of the town Niagara on the Lake a tourist attraction? Me and my boyfriend decided to have dinner at the tourist trap and thought it was delicious. I got the Penne Pasta and he got a turkey club. For an appetizer we got the cheese plate. Everything was really, really, really really good! So tourist trap or not I had a great time there and thought it was delicious!

Pass. There are better options in town.
The menu is unfocused with aspirations of fine dining, which the kitchen cannot deliver. Quite expensive given the food is only OK. Service is friendly but not terribly professional (touching the rim of the glass when refilling, asking «how’s everything tasting?» as if there’s a possibility it might not be good, one person in the party ordered a drink, waiter didn’t inquire if anyone else would like something to drink). Room was grubby, dropped service items on the floor — a knife here, a plastic butter container there, which the staff seemed uninterested in noticing or retrieving. Given the menu and the price-​point, the tiny café tables are ridiculous and irritating. They should create a simple bistro menu, and hire new front-​of-​house management.
It’s a great location, but a completely wasted opportunity as a restaurant.

I was extremely disappointed with the quality of food. I had the falafel wrap with salad. The salad was literally a handful of greens. That’s it. No vegetables and no dressing everxcept maybe a couple sprinkles of vinegar but I couldn’t really tell. The wrap was tiny. I could hold it in my fingers. The falafel itself was good but I could only really taste the lettuce they stuffed in the wrap. There was a green sauce in the bottom but it was extremely dry still. My friend ordered the pasta and and it was also tiny. In my opinion, a complete tourist trap. Over priced for the food, the wait times were long and the washrooms were really dirty. I gave two stars because the building is gorgeous and patio is phenomenal. You’re just paying for a 4 star in a 1 star.

Probably the prettiest restaurant in the prettiest town in Canada, the Shaw is on the main street downtown. Hard to miss with all the blooming flowers and hanging baskets. The food is ordinary, but good. The portions are large however. The patio is the best place in town to watch people walking up or down the street. Efficient, but harried servers try to accommodate the throngs of tourists here in the summer.

It has nice balconies and outdoor seating areas but the food service is really really slow. Even a kid’s pizza takes more than 30 minutes. I don’t recommend this place at all.

Very good turkey sandwich and penne pasta. Food quality was a plus. Great location and patio seating. Other than that, Shaw Café is pricey for what it is, due in part to its location downtown Niagara on the Lake.

Very average food. Cheese plate lacked imagination. Served with ritz crackers and ordinary cheese. Fish and chips was tasty. I would not go back.

This place is fantastic. It is certainly a 5 star. Former reviewers take stars away due to price, which is unfair. If you want to spend less. you can’t go to beautiful places like this with amazing staff and great food and wine, sorry. The patio is gorgeous. The service was quick and incredibly friendly. And the food & wine were great. I will be visiting the Shaw Café every time I go to NOTL. Thanks for the great time!

I’ve been to Shaw’s a few times over the past 3 years or so. I have found the quality of the food to be inconsistent, but the staff are always pleasant and kind and the atmosphere is great. Even when the food is not at its best, it is still edible.

Nice atmosphere with plenty of flowers and fresh air outside. The service was reasonably quick and attentive, but the prices are COSTLY. For a small appetizer, a couple burgers, 1 entrée, and milkshake…$ 80.
I understand it’s a touristy area and the place can charge that much because of the location, but the food wasn’t anything to write home about (the cost is though).
On the positive side, the sunshine and flowers helped soften the blow to my wallet.

The place is in a very good location, and seating was prompt. The food was reasonably good, but the service was s-​l-​o-​w, and part of our order never arrived. The lasagna and the roasted chicken were good, the turkey and Brie sandwich was «meh». It was a pity because the location merits a better review, come on guys — get better organized/​additional staff!

Food isnt very good. Cold food. The kids thought the Caesar salad was bad as was their pasta.
The falafel was cold.
Good patio upstairs, but food is not up to the mark at all.

I’m not sure what this place actually has to do with Shaw, except for the fact that they are hosing theatre-​goers for subpar food and really slow service.
The exterior is really nice and I suppose they still do decent business because they are one of the only places along Queen Street that have a proper outdoor patio. NOTL could use a few more of these IMO, but it may be a town bylaw or something.
I’ve eaten here a few times with friends and the food been pretty mediocre to almost bad. Including very cold food and a few occasions. With how slow the service is, you are reluctant to complain or send anything back because you don’t want to have to wait any longer that you already have. The servers all seem very friendly and capable, which makes me think that the problem with this establishment is in the logistics and layout, not the staff themselves.
Fortunately, for the Shaw Café, they have a captive audience who are looking to spend their money and sit on any patio there is.
Probably won’t be back.

Very nice and cozy place, with a beautiful interior design. Beautiful patio, friendly staff. I ordered a glass of red wine, coconut soup, Caesar salad, and striploin with roasted potatoes. Everything was delicious, but was slightly disappointed with steak which was more on the medium side, when I ordered it medium rare. But overall, pleasant experience. Will I come back? Possibly, if I’m in the area.

1. Service was soooooooooooooo slowwwwwwwwwww. We waited for a long time for drinks and again for appetizers and AGAIN for main. We appreciated and enjoyed the resulted time for chatting but the wait was just too long.
2. Food was bad. Steak was tasteless. Portion was rather small (we ordered 8 oz but it seemed smaller than that). We ordered sangria (red) and it tasted weird maybe it’s the selection of wine.
3. The one star is for the ambience. Good environment.

Le bar restaurant idéal pour passer une soirée calme à Niagara on the Lake.
Le cadre est chaleureux et la vue sur la rue principale est très agréable.
Service rapide et souriant.
/​/​Perfect spot to enjoy a cool evening in Niagara on the Lake.
The scene here is very smoothing and the view on the main street is perfect.
Staff is quick and friendly.

Time to loosen the fingers and tighten the belt, because I have to tell you about how I starved while waiting on Shaw’s patio at 3:00 in the afternoon today, a Saturday in May.
You couldn’t ask for better weather — mid 60s (F), breezy, sunny, with the aromas of spring tulips, cherry blossoms, Lake Ontario, and a busy kitchen. After plodding up and back down Queen, I am two companions stopped by Shaw Café for a late pleasant patio lunch. After deciding on two orders of English Style Fish and Chips and Spinach and Cheese Quiche we waited for a waiter… Hungry people can have time dysphoria, but I checked my watch: after five minutes of hmming and hawing over the menu and five more minutes of looking around as if we might be in a Matrix simulation we had our orders taken. Long story short, we sat with our drinks for fifteen more minutes without so much as reassuring check-​in. No bread sticks, no crisp… nothing is complimentary here, not even the service. I informed the waitress who was covering the table next to us, which was also under the service of our waiter, that we had waited twenty five minutes, not received any food, and were leaving due to being hungry and having a parking meter expiring in fifteen more minutes. I had checked my receipt from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory next door and it confirmed that I had paid at 2:42. Being generous with an estimate, we were sat at approximately 2:47. We walked at exactly 3:17.
$CA18 for fish and chips and $CA17.50 for a quiche create an expectation of exquisite food and exquisite service; as some say in Canada,“Hate the Yankee; love the Yankee dollar.” Shaw Café sends the message,“Ignore the Yankee; his money isn’t good here.” Unless they coild not tell I am American. In which case should I assume it was the ethnicity of my companions that was found unworthy of service? Perhaps it was just as the waitress said when I told her that we were leaving, that they were slammed and really full for lunch at 2:45, even though we were sat within seconds of approaching the host stand. Someone is full of something; the three of us were full of nothing. My fellow Americans, NOTL is beautiful, but avoid Shaw Café like the plague.

Nice place with flowery patio, however the food was average, we had to wait a lot for our entrees and the service was not that great for the price of the food.