my boyfriend and i had a gift card to canal street so we went last saturday night. i'd been there for dinner twice before and once it was ok and the other time pretty good - when it was okay, we could tell that the food had been (or at least seemed like it) frozen and just cooked upon order. Â pretty good was the tuna entree but it was a little pricey for what you get. Â we've gone for the free apps at happy hour too. Â last saturday, the food was SO wonderful. Â i had the pub crab cake with house veggies (string beans) and yam fries while he had the fish and chips. the crab cake was all crab with no filler and the string beans were DELICIOUS. i don't even like vegetables and i wanted to continue eating these despite being full because they were seasoned so well. Â he enjoyed his fish and chips as well; the fish was cooked just right so it wasn't too greasy. i would have given them 5 stars but my first beer was a bit flat (maybe this is how they make it; it was just a farmhouse ale) and i wish the apps they served on friday nights had been on the menu for dinner. Â i hope that canal street's business is better than it was that saturday because it's a beautiful place inside and the food has really improved.
Review Source:This is one of my favorite places to drink. They have a constantly-rotating list of about twenty beers on tap (mostly seasonals, micros, imports, and things you won't find most other places), plus a large bottle list. I mostly eat the pub fare, which is good, though I did have a proper dinner once and it was tasty (even if the service was slow).
Features: Large bar, plenty of space to stand / sit, pool table, board games, TVs, happy hour, fair prices.
Highly recommended for after-work or late-night food and drink.
Canal Street is awesome, especially considering there aren't too many amazing restaurants in the area. It's a big open space with great brick walls and regular cafe-type seating. I've had the mussels, they are awesome. They have great beers (love me some Belgians). It's generally a great place for a meal with some friends any old night of the week.
Random facts: there's a pool table and sometimes live music. It seems whenever I go we are always seated near the door and it's chilly. Gotta work on getting better seating next time I come in.
Very Good! I had a <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a> coupon and was dining alone and they were more than accommodating to help me spend it. Customized a filet and crab cake meal and gave me Creme Burlee to go (yes, I am a huge pain in the ass). Was even a few cents under the allotted certificate amount. The filet was soft and cooked perfectly, I had to add a little salt and pepper to taste. The crab cake was good (but not lump) and the sauce included was excellent. The filet came with tiny baked potatoes which oddly were one of my favorite parts of the meal, they were steamed and soft with a perfect amount of seasoning. Plenty of food. Took the rest back to my hotel and even though I tried not to, I devoured it only a short time later. The dessert was good but could have used a little more browned sugar on top. All the other reviews were correct in that yes, the tables are kinda of sticky (I think it is the finish) and it takes awhile for the hostess to seat you (I don't think they employ one and the waiters probably take turns). The atmosphere inside has a great upscale pub feel but is a tiny bit noisy. Would def not walk around the neighborhood after dark but perfectly fine in the light of day. Some tiny cons and some big pros. I will be returning soon!
Review Source:very disappointing. Â We wanted to eat in the dining room, but they only use it on weekends, so we ate in the pub, which was noisy. Â The tables were sticky and the waitress couldn't be less enthused. Â I ordered the seafood alfredo and it was so overspiced with red peppers, it was difficult to eat and I couldn't taste the seafood. Â We are locals, eat out 3-4 times a week, and this is now off our list of restaurants.
Review Source:I have eaten and imbibed at Canal Street many many times due to leading a political club for years that met here twice a month. Â They occasionally stayed open later to accommodate our special events with crowds -- though they once refused to serve food past 9pm to dozens of hungry poll workers but allowed pizza to be ordered in, to their credit.
Once the hot spot in Berks, it has declined in the last decade, but you can still count on an interesting and hip selection of beers. Â Tuesdays' all day special has most drafts on sale for $3, but before you get too excited, note the stars on the menu carefully, or you can be zapped by a large bill if you accidentally order the higher priced ones (the only ones my bf seems to like). Â But of course, you would not drink more just because the beer was cheaper, right? :-) Â The bar is spacious and comfy.
There was once a more formal wine bar past the main room, but I think wine has taken a back seat, too bad. Â I have had some pretty unimpressive ones by the glass, but people are probably not ordering enough for them to keep open bottles beside merlot, cabernet, chardonnay, and pinot grigio. Â
Food is ok. Â I get the hummus or the giant side salad because it has less common ingredients such as baby corn (but I hate when a big salad is heaped up on a tiny plate, so I can't mix it up). They used to have a great spicy Thai dressing, not sure if they still do. I also negotiate a pizza without the cheese. Â Service can be surly or indifferent unless you know someone, and they don't seem too thrilled to see you coming with your Restaurant-dot-com certificate.
Still, the old rustic factory space is comfortable, and there is a nice big parking lot. Â This part of South Reading was once a hopping manufacturing area. Â Too bad those jobs are all gone gone gone, never to return, which is the real problem of this city, not bad government or won't-change-Dutchies, since most cities this size are in the same boat. Â Why we are having a worse time bouncing back is another story.
They also have a pool table, bands on the weekends, and occasional beer festivals.
Nice place with a fantastic beer list and tasty food. Â The service can be hit or miss and it can take some time for the hostess to acknowledge and seat you. Â
The Friday happy hour special is great: big trays of free appetizers passed around the bar. Â The beer selection, both on tap and bottled, is wonderful and there are several vegetarian friendly menu options.
The interior space is very cool and even though I wouldn't walk around the surrounding neighborhood at night by myself, the parking lot is close by and well lit.
Went to hear a friend play on a Friday night. Nice place, not the greatest part of town. When we arrived, the restaurant was full, but, had several empty tables. When we asked for a table of four, the VERY NASTY hostess told us that without a reservation, we would have an hour wait! Since we wanted to hear our friend play, we gave her our name and said we would wait. Several groups of people came in and were greeted in this same manner. They left! We waited and waited despite the empty tables! Our friend came to talk to us during his break & asked why we weren't seated. He went to the hostess to ask if we would be seated soon. She barked that we could take whatever table we wanted. It was clear that she had no intention of ever seating us! When seated, menus were promptly tossed at us! Waitress was definitely better, but, not the best. Food was good. Everyone enjoyed the food. Since the service was so crappy, I wouldn't go back except to hear my friend play again.
Review Source:My boyfriend and I go here a lot for their Tuesday specials. Otherwise, we wouldn't go. They have a great beer list, especially if you live in the Wyomissing/Reading area. It's great if you want a good beer and decent appetizers.
However, the bartenders are rude and arrogant. On a somewhat busy night you will wait longer than you should for your order. Which is why it's only worth the wait when they have micro brews that are half off on Tuesdays.
I love Canal Street. It's my favorite bar in the Reading area. It's a shame that Legacy Brewing is no longer here. They have an awesome tap list, with about 18 taps I believe. On Tuesdays they do $2.50 drafts all day long. Incredible. Also a half decent spot to watch the Phils.
It's one of the few bars around Reading where the beer and food are consistent with the look and feel of the place. I like the clientele, too. I dined here recently, and I do recall waiting for quite some time at the host stand, and after waiting for a bit, we were greeted by a not-so-cheery hostess, who also turned out to be our server. She was very blah. Didn't ruin our meal though, the burgers were good (we ordered from the pub menu). I'll be back for food at some point, but I come for beer often.
I took the boyfriend here for a birthday dinner in September, after reading some reviews of it online. Â We had a great time! Â First off, it's a great space - huge dining room in back, and the front is a huge bar area with a pool table, darts, board games, etc. Â They have a great beer list, we both tried 3 or 4 different kinds of beer. Â I had the Southern Tier Pumpking the first time of the season, and really enjoyed it. Â Both of the entrees we ordered were excellent - I had the mussels in a spicy red broth, and the flavor was unbelievable. Â Boyfriend had the meatloaf, and really enjoyed that as well. Â Our server was excellent, let us hang out for a few hours without bugging us while we played some bar and board games, but was always there when we needed another beer.
Bottom line - I don't live close to this place, so it isn't a regular hangout, but I will definitely go back when I'm in Reading.
We went here for dinner the week between Christmas and New Years. IMO this place is pretty cool in terms of the look and layout. It's very roomy and doesn't come across like your standard pub. The uniqueness clearly has a lot to do with the fact that the building is an old factory.
We had dinner in the dining room. It's layed out in a style that would best be described as fancy/casual. The tables, chairs and other typical sundries are more upscale but then there are things like quilts adorning the walls. It sounds odd but it works.
For dinner we shared an appetizer of beef and chorizo empanadas. There were two of them and they were very large. They came topped with a delicious salsa that was fresh and zingy. The embanadas were delicious though we both thought they seemed slightly out of place on the menu.
We both opted for the caesar salads with our entrees ($1 extra). I got excited when our server asked if we wanted anchovies or not (usually a sign that you're about to get a very authentic caesar salad). My suspicions were correct and the salad was one of the better ones I've had in a while.
For our entrees we got the Mediterannean chicken and the seafood pasta. Both entrees had very decent portions and were tasty. My seafood pasta came out with 4 mussels on it even though they weren't in the menu description and had large chunks of jumbo crabmeat, huge sea scallops and 3 sizeable shrimp. Only thing I wish is that it had come with a cream sauce because I'm sure it would have elevated the dish and I would have enjoyed it a lot more.
Service from our waitress was very friendly and attentive.
Overall we were very pleased with everything involving our dinner. The only minor complaint we have is that the dinner rolls, while delicious, weren't served until the salads came out and it was a long stretch of time that we were waiting since being seated (1/2 hour in fact) with nothing to nosh on until our appetizer came out. They would do well to serve the rolls shortly after seating.
WARNING: Here's the caveat for this place. This is not the type of restaurant you go to so you can quickly eat and leave. There seems to be a purposeful slowness to the dining area like you see in fine dining restaurants. So be ready and your patience will be rewarded.
I've been here a few times and thought it was decent. However, we went this evening and it sucked. A lot.
Problems:
1. Upon entering the restaurant we waited 5 minutes for a hostess to finally come to the front to seat people. The place wasn't busy. The bartender didn't make an effort to help us. We just stood there at the empty tables waiting... and waiting.... and waiting.
2. After we were finally seated in the restaurant, the hostess only gave us dinner menus. With the word "Pub" in the name of the restaurant and it being notorious for a great beer selection, a reasonable person would think that at least one copy of the beer menu would be given to the table with the food menus.
3. We waited...and waited... and waited... almost 10 minutes for the ONLY waitress serving the 6 full tables in the dining room.
4. When the waitress did appear, she asked if we wanted anything to drink. We told her we did not get the beer menu, so we didn't really know. She came back and handed us a list of the draft beer and new  bottled beer. There were highlighted marks on the sheet, but she didn't explain what that meant, if anything at all. Also, even though we asked for the beer menu, she did not give us the official complete beer list. Or a wine list for that matter. How do you expect to sell beer if you don't give a complete menu? We had to ask for her to get that.
5. The place was freezing. We asked if the heat could be turned on. Our waitress said that she would fix it. Nothing happened. She didn't turn the heat up or on for that matter. In fact, it got colder as the night progressed. This is probably what bothered me the most. My whole table was uncomfortable. I had to put on my winter jacket. Eating dinner in a parka is not enjoyable.
6. The waitress didn't tell us the specials for the day. We had to ask her after she had come to the table and asked us if we were ready to order.
7. There was a 10 minute gap between dinner salads and entrees. When the waitress has to apologize for slow service there is a problem.
8. My table tried to order beer, but the two different beers we selected from the menu were both unavailable.
9. Server improperly cleared a plate in which a knife fell to the floor, splashing food onto the table and almost onto my clothes. The waitress showed no concern about the consequences of this action and didn't even clean up the mess she had made on the table.
Serious FAIL. I understand why people would like this restaurant and would try to defend it saying that we went on the wrong night. But, there should NEVER be a wrong night. The owner needs to hire more staff and turn on the heat. In the end, Â I don't care about it because I'm never going back.
We had dinner in the formal dining room of the restaurant. Â It was outstanding. Â Everyone at the table was pleased... there was plenty for vegetarians and meat eaters alike.... VERY good food. The service was slow, but we weren't in a rush and we didn't feel neglected -- it just seems the quality of the food demands more time to cook. Â The honey mustard dressing is made at the restaurant and is the best I've ever had. Â I would be sure to go back to the restaurant.
Review Source:Honestly, I would not come here for the food. Â I ordered the fried sampler appetizer. Â It was not very good. Â The best part was the taquitos. Â But you could easily make this at home with buying items from the frozen section. The fish and chips were pretty good. Â I was not impressed with the service either. Â I went on a Saturday night and it appeared to be dead but they said it would be a 20-30 minute wait. Â I could see many open tables. Â So I decided to sit at the bar and the bartender was not very attentive. Â He did one of those walking by you asking if you need anything without really stopping. The beer salvaged the experience. Â They have a wonderful selection of beers, most of which I never heard of. Â However, the bartender seemed unapproachable to ask any sort of questions so I picked one at random that I liked. Â I would say if you are going to a pub type place to get food in the city to check out Ugly Oyster or Speckled Hen instead.
Review Source:I eat in the pub area of Canal Street at least once a month. Â Driving through a fairly industrial area, down by the river, is completely worth it for their hot wings. Â I dream about them. Â I wish I knew what they do to them before they're sauced because they're that awesome. Â Big, fresh, meaty yumminess.
The place is in an old factory of some kind. Downstairs is a brewery and the restaurant is all exposed wood beams and brick. Â Since the weather turned cold, I've been frigid in the dining area every time I go in. Â
I've had or tasted most of the items on the pub menu. Â The spinach feta pizza is good but a little on the dry side. Â I love the tavern cod and chips. Â The burgers are juicy and fresh. Â They taste like they've never been frozen. Â The meatloaf and macaroni isn't bad but it's not really anything special.
I would sell my sister for their vanilla bean creme brulee.
This is a true beer bar. Â They have about 60 beers on tap, as well as the featured "Reading Ale" which is brewed on the premises. Â They also have some heavy hitters on their bottle list, including Delirium Tremons which is a personal favorite. Â
Bartenders know their stuff, and were friendly.
Food is decent. Â I had the grilled tuna, primarily for health reasons. Â It was not bad, but was not cooked rare as I requested, nor was it particularly well seasoned. Â Others at the table had steaks, burgers and the like and were very happy. Â I'll chalk this up to me ordering the wrong thing here.
Nice place in a crappy part of town. Â I recommend it if you like good beers.
I chose this place from Google maps while under the pressure of trying to beat my boyfriend's cell phone battery from dying while figuring out a place to meet, and boy, was I pleasantly surprised.
The food was surprisingly good, even though the service was pretty slow and the waitress had a bit of a 'tude (and we're very friendly, easy-going people).
We ordered the Fry Basket appetizer, which is supposed to be a spread of a bunch of different app options, but the thing was minuscule...but delicious!
Most of the dinners come with a salad, which was a major plus, and, like I said: the food was awesome. Â Get a pasta, steak, or fish of any kind, and you'll be happy.
Though you have to drive through the ultra-ghetto parts of Reading to get here, Canal Street is a good place to go. Â Legacy Brewing Company is on the premises, which tends to brew a pretty decent selection. Â For some odd reason they only had one Legacy beer the last time I was there, which made no sense, considering there was clearly a serious brewing operation going on, but whatever.
The space itself is pretty awesome. Â Cozy, welcoming decor -- high ceilings, lots of wood. Â I like hanging out here.
Their back room is a little weird - more formal dining which doesn't quite fit the spirit of the place, and the bathrooms seems like they come from a very old person's house. Â Other than that, no complaints.
Big parking lot, though not at all friendly to low cars (really steep entry/exit angles). Â Perhaps this is to discourage the countless Readingites who have unnecessarily lowered their 1986 Hondas from using their lot as free parking..
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