Location, location, location! Sarah's has got it all. Good patio for summertime dining, fairly nice digs inside as well -
but perhaps most importantly, they have a whole neighbourhood of people around them who are DYING to have a nice place to eat and hang out.

I moved into the 'hood about six years ago, and I've been going to Sarah's, on and off, for more years than that. I go for beer and for nibblies (their dips plate is good, and some of their apps are quite tasty as well), but the few times that I've tried to have dinner, the execution has been off! I just think the owners need to hire cooks who know how to, well, cook. We're not talking gourmet stuff folks, just some honest-to-goodness neighbourhood cookin'!

They have someone working for them now who used to cook at the Senator, so hopefully things will change. Just hope that they're paying him enough so that he'll stick around for a bit!

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I know why I go to Sarah's:

1. I have never received as consistently good service as at Sarah's. Not only is the service generally at that perfect spot of attentive and not excessive, the servers are genuinely nice people.

2. For beer, they have an excellent selection of reasonably priced bottles and it is down-right cheap on tap. The tap selection cheanges seasonally and alway includes a nice selection of less common beer.

3. They thorow a nice party at Christmas for regulars. Its nice to be appreciated.

Now, as to why the food is so bad? God only knows! A lot of it is so very bad. And overpriced. But, mostly just bad. There are a few good things on the menu -- the Burger isn't bad, the fish and chips passable, the fries are good, the mid-east dips plate isn't bad. But, yeah, it is pretty awful. I no longer have food at Sarah's. Maybe people order food because they get hungry while drinking? But, I know people who come to Sarah's for dinner! What are they thinking? And they come back more than once!

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Well, most people don't need the food to be good let alone great.

Is the food "so bad"? I have only one experience there. Nobody had any major complaints. I didn't enjoy my dinner much but that would be true for many pub-type establishments. I think my husband enjoyed his steak frites, he would probably want to return if I let him.

Actually, I would probably rather go to Sarah's then say Gabby's. But that's not saying much.

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I've been exactly twice, once for brunch and once for dinner. Both times I found the food to be well below average... the dinner was pretty bad to be honest. The food lacked flavour, meat was overcooked, and the prices were far too high for the the quality of the food. Perhaps someone should forward this site to the owner/manager of Sarah's so they know how us feel about the place... time for a change in staff perhaps, a good chef would do wonders for the place IMO.

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One day we were starving and in the immediate vicinity of Sarah's (Spring 06). It looked nice and I suggested going in. My partner said NO! She had been there once before, and described it as a filthy place with horrible food. For whatever reason, none of the neighbourhood alternatives was open and we had an Entertainment coupon, so we decided to go in for drinks and dips, and decide on more food later.

The food being delivered around us looked and smelled good, so we took a chance and ended up with dips, steak frites, a salmon dish, and a dessert. Everything was absolutely excellent - indeed, much better than we would have expected from some other local places with good reputations for food.

Chastened, we agreed she had been hasty and had possibly encountered a (VERY) off night. It shouldn't happen anywhere, but it certainly does. We planned to go back.

We recommended Sarah's to some friends. All had miserable experiences. We ended up not going back, but it seems that, at best, they are extremely inconsistent and have some serious management problems.

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