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The Raven is a pub in Deep Cove serving up classic pub fare and offering a wide selection of beers on tap.
Saw that the Raven had a new chef so tried it out for lunch. The menu is quite large with lots of new entrees but for lunch stuck to the standard sandwiches/burger area of the menu. Tried the Turkey burger which had some cranberries and mayo sauce. The patty was a bit on the dry side but overall pretty tasty. Maybe a bit thicker and it would of been more moist. Came with a nice side salad with toasted pecans (a bit on the sweet side). Overall a good meal. There isn't a lunch menu so no special prices. Would like to come back and try the place for dinner as that would better reflect the new chef's style. Service was good but a bit slow due to the fact they only had 1 waitress. The pub hasn't had any decor updates in several years and the tables/chairs seem a bit tired. Time to put some money in the place.
We had found the Raven Pub on our Living Socials deals, and as we like to try out new places, we went there for dinner around 8pm.
The pub looked as you would expect any neighbourhood pub to look, and was relatively rowdy and busy.
The waitress was fast to ask us for our drinks, and immediately took our Living Socials voucher which we'd left on the table, and the drinks were not too long. So far, so good. And that was as far as good went.
Our drinks showed up, and after a sip, my partner was surprised at the taste of the ginger ale - which wasn't ginger ale at all. As we waited for our waitress to come back, we started noticing a loud high repetitive squeaking noise; possible from the dish washer?
Like the sound of dripping water, an intermittent but unrelenting noise... We moved tables, but to no avail.
We couldn't find our waitress so asked another one whether this was ginger ale. She said they had run out. I'm not sure what they had given us instead. When our food showed up, after roughly 1/2 hour, we were so irritated by the noise that we asked for the food to be wrapped up. We didn't see the food, or the waitress, for another 15 minutes. I heard another guest ask why their food was taking so long, and the waitress said they were very busy. I had to ask for the bill, and then ask for them to redo the bill and apply the voucher.
We tried the food at home, and I'm sorry to say that the bacon around the bacon-wrapped-scallops was very tough and they were rather flavourless. The crab cakes were inedible and the sauce seemed to be mayo mixed with butter.
Our garbage can ate most of it. We will not go back.
Although I had been warned about how poorly our local neighbourhood pub had become, a buddy and I had decided to stop in for Sunday brunch. We thought to ourselves how bad could pub fare be. Our order started with some wings, one "bottle" of Canadian and a caesar. Despite there being only ten other patrons and three waitresses our drinks took nearly ten minutes. My bottle of Canadian turned out to be a pint of draught and my friends caesar had a grey-ish "green" bean which he said smelled fishy. The wings, which this particular pub is somewhat famous for were the best part of the meal. For brunch I had chosen the fish and chips while my friend got the "traditional" eggs benny [ no ingredients given} with a side order of chorizo. The fish and chips was standard, nothing to write my fisherman uncle over on the island about, while my friends eggs benny actually had the chorizo on the english muffin, not ham, under the egg. The chorizo, which looked like a wiener, had been overcooked to the point where it started to curl upwards. When brought to the waitresses attention she graciously offered to fix the problem. This is where our brunch experience got a little stranger. Two minutes later we were brought a side of capicola? Now I'm no expert on the "Traditional Eggs Benny" but I have eaten several thousand bennys from all around the world and have never seen it served with capicola. Alright, let's move on to the hashbrowns. After noticing the less than pleased look on my friends face I asked how the hash was. He offered me a forkfull and I enthusiastically jumped in only to almost chip a tooth on how hard they were. Basically double deep fried week-old pieces of oil filled, rock hard potatos. I would estimate that maybe 10% was edible even to the most hardened diner. Politely discussing our displeasure with the meal our waitress informed us that the benny was free and had a B.S. explantion that they had run out of ham. Highly suspect, seeing that they're are various other menu items that have ham. With a Safeway supermarket less than two miles away it was puzzling. Quite comical really. I would NOT recommend this place to my worst enemy, unless they were curious about, how not to run a business. Decent ambiance, not withstanding the 13" inch television that I had to turn on myself, and disgraceful prices. I'm still coming to terms on why we gave a tip.
My wife and I dropped in to this place after an afternoon spent at Deep Cove... We were a little peckish and had this place in mind for a while... The first thing we noticed is the Canucks/Maple Leafs game was on EVERYWHERE at high volume... We couldn't escape it... I wish the management would have had the sense to have a corner where things were a little quieter... That knocked points off for ambiance... Otherwise the decor was what you would expect in a pub...
For some reason we were served by two waitresses... My wife didn't know who to flag down because it seems we were passed off to another lady... Otherwise service was pretty good.
I got the Raven Burger (Cheese, local bacon, pickles, tomatoes... the works) It was quite good, tasty on a good quality bun... nice to see they use locally cured bacon instead of the industrial stuff. However, there was an additional 2.50 charge for onion rings instead of fries... Didn't realize onions were so much more expensive than potatoes... I wasn't happy about the extra cost...
Overall, the cost was reasonable, but it wasn't a great value... Would I come back?... Maybe if I was in the neighbourhood, but it's definitely not a pub I would go out of my way for...
I took my assistant out for lunch today and we both had the special fish n chips. What a disappointment. The fish was soggy and floppy, the chips were good and after checking first if there was coleslaw served with the meal BEFORE I ordered and was told yes... you guessed it, no coleslaw. Apparently they ran out. Nothing was offered in it's place (a few veggie sticks maybe?) It amazes me how something so simple could be so poorly executed. Fortunately, I'll go back because I've had good meals here (pizza, burgers, salad) and generally find the pub fare to be above average here. Also, living about 5 minutes away virtually guarantees them our business. But fish n chips... never again. Also, must mention that there are maybe 2 servers who work here who are actually awake and glad to be there for their shift. We have had everything from mediocre to absolutely appalling service here but we're comfortable enough that we just go to the bar and start ordering what we need from the bartender if the services sucks.
Several years ago, I would have rated awesome in every category. I, and a group of friends had gone there regularly going back 15 years, and business was booming then.
Now due to mismanagement, it's deteriorated to beyond lousy.(Not just my opinion, but other locals I've spoken to) The past few times, I was there with my partner, on both occasions (different servers), he was brought the wrong meal. Once, the length of time to be served was excruiating long. Another occasion, the server totally ignored our table, and spent her time talking to some male patrons. Service was slow, and when that was reflected in the tip, she acted rude. Should someone even be compensated for lack of service?!
I'm a believer in O.K., maybe it was off-times, and giving a place a second chance. Call me stupid..but for nostalgic memories of when it was top-notch, and mistakedly thinking things would probably turn around.
A group of friends & I got together to celebrate my birthday. I asked for a recommendation for a carafe of white wine. The server recommended a certain white she said was popular,they didn't normally serve by carafe, but offered to do it. She brought a complimentary shot, which was nice. Everything was great... till the bill arrived.
Two carafes were billed at 22.95 each..while a bottle would have been 29.95..just a few dollars difference..and then noticed while all other carafes were 12.50, this one was marked n/a on the menu. She said that's because it's a popular wine, and no way could they adjust the price. The friend & strongly felt when it was recommended, we should have been told what the price was, since it was twice what the others were, wasn't on the menu. and the server had suggested it. Had we known, then we'd have the choice to order the bottle or a different carafe.
I then spoke to the manager, who also was defensive,saying we should have asked.. but at least asked what I wanted them to do now. I then replied, adjust the price to the same as the other carafes.
..Which isn't unreasonable..we're talking a difference of $10 each, not much considering the profits taken in with the cost of liquor... You'd think it would be more important to restore goodwill and keep a customer satisfied. Instead she took off 25% saying "That's all we can do". rather than saying, "Sorry for the misunderstanding, we'll adjust it for this time" and everything would have been OK, and instead would have ended up being a great birthday.
What happened to 'the customer is always right?' It's the customer who pays to keep the business going..
When I paid the bill, I decided to leave off the tip. Here's the icing on the cake... The server, seeing that, slapped the bill back on the table, storming off.
It wasn't about the money, but the principle.
..Service training is so important, and I think sometimes this is lost in establishments, people working become complacent, and then have a don't-give-a shit attitude. Servers give mediocre at best service, yet expect compensation.
My recommendation? There are alot of other establishments around. If you decide to have a night out, I would spend your hard earned cash somewhere else.
The Raven makes for a wonderful apres-ski or apres-beach spot for drinks and snacks. I am a fan particularly of their wing nights, when one can order up a variety of flavored chicken wings, including a Jack Daniels variety. The rest of the menu is primarily made up of good honest pub fare; and they have a good selection of local beers as well. Worth a vist for sure!
We come around dinner time and find a mostly over 30's group having a meal and chatting. Pizza is always good as are the wings. The prices keep climbing up but at least the food has not let us down. They have a patio out front for sunny days but can be noisy as it is beside a busy road.
A relaxing pace with the locals or to go after a day of kayaking or skiing.
The service is busy and friendly.
As the previous reveiwer mentioned, the wings here are much better than most other pubs. They seem to use better qulaity chicken, the wings are a bit bigger and not all fatty. Over the years prices have gone up and the beer selection has gone down, but if you live nearby its worth going on wing night. Avoid the nights with the live band/singer guy that looks like the lead singer from Nickelback. And don't bother with anthing except dinner and drinks, the brunch was lacking in flavour and served less than hot. A positive - the chicken souvlaki pizza is a creative, flavourful version of a classic. I often order it as takeout, with their great caesar salad.
