I’ve passed by Rosie’s on Robson for years and have never stopped in. It’s a warm, inviting looking joint that is always busy and seemed popular with their breakfasts and brunch items. So when I was down in the area and wanted to try some place new I popped into Rosie’s for lunch.
The space inside is large and open, the wood bar totally dominates one side of the restaurant and the mix of tables and chairs take up the rest of the space. After sitting in here the thing that really struck me how dated this place is and the dark carpet shows that this place really needs a renovation/makeover~where’s Gordon Ramsey and Kitchen Nightmares when you need him!
I was seated promptly by a friendly server and seeing I missed the lunch rush getting a table in a well-lit area wasn’t a issue~the restaurant was deserted except for a couple of tables that were finishing up their meals.
As you can see the menu is pretty big with lots of different choices and I noticed a British Pub themed menu at this point, Items like Curry and Chips and Ploughman’s Platter as well as malt vinegar on the table for the fish and chips:
all very British and I thought I would be in for a good home cooked meal by the way the menu sounded. I steered away from the deep-fried typical British pub fare and went with the servers recommendation:
I started with a Alexander Keith’s Premium White beer for $6.50, I haven’t had this before but I do really like light crisp beers like this so it was a great choice.
This was the main my server recommended, the “house made” Guinness Meatloaf $15, served with a side of blanched green beans, red skin mashed potatoes and sautéed mushrooms and BBQ sauce~this is where the identity crisis starts!
My sides tasted just fine, the beans were cooked but still had some bite to them and were seasoned with butter and some garlic
My potatoes were not gluey and had the red skin from the potato on, they were solid mashed potatoes and were indeed house-made evident by a couple lumps~just like mom used to make!
Now on to the Guinness Meatloaf
It was 2 thick slices of meatloaf that instead of being sauced with gravy it was slathered in BBQ sauce and to make things worse it was store brand Bulls Eye corn syrup laden BBQ sauce and sautéed mushrooms
I don’t know what day my mushrooms saw the frying pan but they were stone cold and reminded me of an optional burger topping~which I think they also double as and the BBQ sauce totally dominated the flavor of the dish and it didn’t help that it was also served in the side as well. I personally think a Guinness mushroom gravy that is made in-house would be a logical choice. The menu also said that the meatloaf had Guinness braised vegetables in it:
this is the other side of one of the pieces and show the extent of the braised vegetables, I didn’t taste any Guinness flavor in the dish at all and this is my main gripe of the dish, it says that it in made in-house but the meat loaf had a weird mystery meat texture to it and it was perfectly smooth and void of any texture~something that comes from a factory and you would expect to find in a frozen TV dinner.
At the end of the day for $15 I expected a little bit more for a house specialty and really simple item do right, my side dishes and beer were better than the “meat” of the meat and potatoes dish I ordered. I would have said something about what I received to the waitress but seeing the kitchen would put out something like that I wasn’t looking to experiment with something else and also when presented with my bill I noticed this odd thing:
The Elephant and Castle???, WTF??, I can remember this from my childhood and had bad meals there
nowhere on Rosie’s menu or advertising say that I’m dining at the Elephant and Castle Pub, I they had appropriate signage outside I don’t think I would have come here and spent $28 with tip for lunch. My final words of wisdom~don’t come here!
