Though the bridge is a new(ish) location, they really went for the retro chic look - red vinyl seats/booths, checkered tiles and random crap on the walls/hanging from the ceiling. One breakfaster called Sals a “third date restaurant.” When asked where the first date would have taken place, they said “I don’t wanna know.”
The restaurant had just reopened after taking the winter off (not much foot traffic on the bridge when it’s -40°C) but it was not busy at all. I figured it would be packed, as many of the Sals locations are.
The hashbrowns were so dry that I had to use italics. (Do you mean air quotes? Leif) This coupled with the unbelievably greasy meats made for a gastronomically tumultuous meal. You’d think the two would complement each other by being accommodating (share the greasy moisture, yo!), but they did not. The bacon was paper-thin, and the ham had a puddle of grease on it (grease becomes slurge once it hits the plate, just so you know). They only had Tobasco sauce to spicy up the meal, but our food needed a lot more than that to save it.
So, Salisbury House disappointed again. Once more we’re reminded that what’s popular isn’t necessarily good. The kitschy atmosphere and excellent river view made the bridge location just that much better than the others, but boy, it did nothing for the food.
Though Salisbury House has been around since 1931, I predict that unless it changes its food quality, the chain will not survive another decade. There’s too much good food competition, and all you have to do is go into any location to realize that the big fans of Sals are of the older generation. Once they die (I don’t mean to sound crude, but I hate saying someone “passed”), they’ll have to turn into the Salisbury House Sushi and Karaoke Bar to stay in business.
Are you listening Cummings and Barish?
Omelette Review by Chantal Guénette
Bacon, mushroom & cheese omelette
Bouquet: The bacon was real.
Boeuf: The cheese was processed and the mushrooms were from a can. Sadly, they didn’t have any hot sauce either, only Tabasco. All around, it tasted awful. I tried to mask the flavour in anything I could find: salt, pepper; I even tried some vinegar! None of it helped. I had a sore stomach for a good 7 hours after eating there. I’m supremely disappointed that a Winnipeg "landmark" serves such low quality food. If I was a tourist, I’d write off Winnipeg completely after eating there.
March 29 2009
Salisbury House
(sur l’Esplanade Riel)
50 Provencher Boulevard
Hours of operation:
Mon - Sun 8 AM - 3 PM
Homestyle Breakfast (weekend) $6.49
Daybreaker (weekday 6:30 AM - 10:30 AM) $3.33
We’ve already reviewed a Salisbury House restaurant (or Sals as colloquialism dictates), but since it was the one in the Greyhound station, we figured that they deserved another shot. We could have gone for an old, pseudo-historic location (like North Henderson Hwy) but instead we went for the kitsch factor and fantastic view from the one on the bridge.
The Greyhound station one was awful, and we just couldn’t believe that the entire chain held that quality of food consistently. Do we really expect much from bus stations? Well, the bad news is that the food was fairly consistent. The good news is that the on-the-river view from the bridge is worth checking out on its own. We were sat under the hanging canoe. If it were to fall on our heads, it would surely hurt much less than if we were sat under the motorcycle. I wonder if Burton Cummings (part owner of Sals) ever used either of them. Our server didn’t know, and wondered the same.
When the bridge and restaurant were being built around 2004 a fuss was made about the cost of plumbing for the kitchen and washrooms. A certain working class newspaper in Winnipeg began squawking about “the million dollar toilet” as a way to incite civic anger against such ridiculous spending. They also called the design of the bridge ugly and extravagant, but now the bridge is one of the most photographed pieces of architecture in the city. Their philistine anti-art squawking assuredly waits for the next time someone tries to build something adventurous in this city.
Leif Norman
The million dollar toilet.
Andrew thinks its funny to pretend he can check his hair in the “reflection” of the greasy greasy breakfast meat.
The famous Red Velvet cake.
Springtime on the river!
Slurdge
Baby want plate!
Click on menu to enlarge.
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