We were initially somewhat put off by how dark it was inside, and how empty, but the food and pints turned out to be excellent. I had meatloaf wrapped in bacon with a caesar salad, and my girlfriend had fish and chips. Everything was excellent - the menu, in my opinion, has a slightly better selection than Slainte's, though the quality is comparable. It was actually some of the best and most unique pub fare I've had. We currently live nowhere near Corktown, but hope to get over there again before we leave Hamilton for good in two and a half weeks.

One complaint is that the place definitely needs a patio - another might be that it is possibly hidden too well. Ideally, in my opinion, these little "hidden gems" all over town would be more centralized - along King, Main, James, Ottawa, Locke, Augusta, Hess, Barton, etc. - not squirreled away somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if its rather out of the way location ultimately sinks this place, but I would be disappointed.

That Mcdonalds at Dundurn to me is a bit of a landmark.

I don't really know of a bar that made more of a transformation than the Corktown. I've been a number of times since the change over, but it is almost too sedate now for my tastes.

A small town friend I brought here thought that McDonald's was amazing. She couldn't wait to get home and tell her boyfriend about the "two storey McDonald's."We drove all through the city and that's what she focused on!

the Corktown is amazing!! great interior in the resto side...the stage side is pretty dark and lame.
The burgers are best in town by a long shot IMO. Freshly made with meat from Reardons.
Fries are made in-house. Kettle chips or full sized.
Go check it out...it's awesome.

Anybody else disappointed that Maxim's Deli in the international village area closed? Anybody know why?

The smoked meat sandwiches there were delicious, and business didn't seem to be too bad either (at least the two times we were there). The downside was that they used processed cheese, but we learned to avoid that pretty quickly.

All in all, a shame. It was a pretty decent little business in that corner of town.

yea, I know.. not sure what happened.

I'm actually very upset. I was here every couple of weeks. You can't really get a good Montreal Smoked Meat sandwich in this City, and he had the best in this area anyway... nothing to Shwartz's in Mtl tho ;)

I would always see a good group of people in here during the day... it was dead in the evening though.

Food was good. Service was good. Selection sucked. I'm going to say it was a personal issue. I know he was from Montreal... so maybe he had to move back?

apparently this new eco-deli on James South has Montreal smoked meat.
Rent might have been to high to warrant operating a place that had to close at 6pm everyday.

By way of consolation, DC83, the Pheasant Plucker has an amazing Rueben - not quite the same, I know, but the best and biggest of its kind I've had anywhere. There's also a new deli on Locke that serves smoked meat sandwiches at a decent price - the quality isn't as high, but they're enjoyable all the same.

There's also a For Sale or For Rent sign on the window of Main Desserts. I know there were issues there with water damage, and they had to close temporarily for repairs for a few months, but they were supposed to open up again this fall. Anybody know what happened there? Surely the problem wasn't a lack of business - they could get pretty packed on weekends.

^^ that sign has been in the Main Desserts window for months now. I think it's referring to the residential units above.

Thanks for the heads up... I'll have to check it out.

I used to dj there a long time ago and went back three times a week. lol
I don't live in Hamilton anymore and when I do come back, I sure won't visit.

Joe Buttinski's was terrible. I was there once in my life - the lady wouldn't even tell me what beers they had. She made me guess. After a few tries, I said screw it and just got a pitcher of Canadian. Bad times.

After a few tries, I would have guessed Warteiner and then gotten up and left for the Black Forest Inn :haha:

Joe Butt's is definitely not a place worth sitting around playing guessing games with the service people. It's a glorified "gangsta" hangout these days. All I see is drug dealers hanging out in front of it. The place needs to be shut down.

last time I was there was YEARS ago. The guy checked our ID's at the door and then showed up at our table and tried to sell us a ton of weed a few minutes later. haha. classy.

Used to DJ there?? There was a scene at this bar???

What's up with it's constant closures? I think I saw the other day that it was temporarily closed again?

I don't understand how the City can shut down a place like Sandbar, yet can't shut Joe Butt's down despite the fact that it's an obvious, in your face drug den?

How did Sandbar close? What steps can we take to begin the PERMANANT closure of Joe Butts?

Possibly back when it was Grapes & Things (the Grapes logo, all ’70s serif, may still be visible on the alley side). The upstairs was pretty happening in the late 80s/early 90s. Still sketchy, but nightclub sketchy.

I wish someone would buy the building and put Joe Butt's out. Either by legal avenues, squelching the lease or by heritage restoration of the entranceway -- I'm thinking some halogen klieg lights would help the plasterers and stoneworkers. And of course you'd want to revoke the patio space as a public safety measure, slap up some hoarding, maybe install some CCTV for worksite peace of mind. It wouldn't take long for the illicit action to tail it east to Jabronies. I know that this is just moving the problem, but at least you'd be moving it somewhere with no street exposure. (And I think the rippers' building is also up for sale, if this hypothetical mystery philanthropist feels like playing Atlas.)

Actually I was wondering what is going on with the Sandbar now that it has been seized. Is there any plans for it?

I had heard an appealing rumour somewhere that they were going to rebuild a unit in line with the buildings that frame the site -- none of that utility block look that the sandbar had. The thinking being that the streetwall would be more or less uniform for the length of that block. This was secondhand, though so I don't know how much stock to put in it. Would be interested to know, though. Should maybe be its own thread.