Acclamation Bar & Grill

Boring experience

I think this place is over-rated. We decided to visit Acclamation after reading a few of the reviews on this site. We're still trying to figure out what's the hype all about? Food was bland and over cooked. There are better lower key portugese restaurants further north on James street suggest less money spent there and more satisfaction.

Getting better, BUT...

I had not been to here in over 2 years (first visit I was not impressed), thought I would give it another go, hearing that they have a new chef, etc.. Food was good, server was good if a little over the top. Overall, I feel this resto is once again claiming to be more than it is. The food is not as good as THEY think it is, and the price dictates.

My husband and I have eaten at Acclamation before and loved it. This visit started off no differently. We were greeted promptly and the restaurant was warm and comfortable...(love the new wine rack)! We tried to order the house Portuguese wine, but they were out. So we ordered a local shiraz instead. Okay, that's fine. We ordered our lunch, gumbo's to start (delicious) and a salad and pizza to share. After ordering, we heard the server telling another table a special that nobody had even mentioned to us. And naturally it sounded delicious. When our salad and Pizza arrived (felt like forever) we were told that the cheese for the salad was different than usual and 'sorry I forgot to tell you". And the vegetarian pizza we had ordered had meat on it. Fortunately we don't mind meat so we ate it anyways. Uncooked in the middle and overcooked on the edges. great. We mentioned to our server that it was the wrong pizza and got the reply 'I can change it for you, but it might take a while because the bar is really busy and the kitchen is getting ready for a party tonight.' We'll pass, it already took a long time. She was actually really nice but if there is such a thing she was overly attentive and then not attentive enough! It seemed like every bite we took somebody was asking us how we were. And yet our water glasses stood empty. The whole time. Even when the manager checked on us...twice! We assumed it was a manager, even though we were more overdressed than he was and we weren't exactly dressed up. We finished our meal and wanted some coffee, but we couldn't see our server for 5 minutes because , as she told us after reappearing, she had been told to go downstairs and prepare for the party. When she finally came into the dining room again, she just gave us our bill with no offer of further beverage or dessert. They must have been saving it all for the party. We asked her for coffee when she dropped off the check and what we got was cold! She must have known because she didn't add it to the bill. And then she was gone again! So we walked ourselves over to the bar where we were recognized from previous visits and helped to put our credit card through. The bar didn't seem busy at all, we should have eaten in there to begin with! Guess we will next time, if we ever get desperate enough to try it there again, seems like we took a back burner to more important guests and priorities!

We read "BRUTAL" review and wanted to see for...

We read "BRUTAL" review and wanted to see for ourself. It was REALLY, REALLY GOOD. EVERYTHING. These other people must have been there when the place was so busy that everything was sold out. That alone speaks for the quality of the place. It's easy to be upset but please be objective and not just mean. WE LOVED IT and we'll be back for sure. Very nice patio and cold beer.

Best patio in the down town! My date and I took...

Best patio in the down town! My date and I took advantage of the weather and spent a great afternoon on the patio. We tried a couple different house wines and had some roasted garlic and goats cheese crostini, ( loved the walnuts with the goats cheese) & calamari (perfect! tender and crisp, comes with a yummy citrus dip) for our mains we had the steak and frites and a California salad with chicken. The steak was large and perfectly cooked and came topped with a small mountain of mushrooms, salad was great although the chicken was a bit on the spicy side. Our server seemed a little new but she was very friendly and enthusiastic. I had the chocolate pate for dessert which was awesome!! We also ordered cappuccinos which took a little while to come, but were delicious and ended our afternoon perfectly.