Bow and Arrow: Toronto, ON

I happened to be in the Yonge and Davisville area yesterday afternoon and I remembered that the Bow and Arrow Pub was right near the subway station. This was the perfect excuse to get out of the cold and my fiance remarkably agreed with my suggestion of ducking in for a pint and some nachos.

The Bow and Arrow is situated just north of the subway station and has been so for 15 years. It is part of the Arrow Pub Group that also has a wonderful pub in Guelph called the Woolwich Arms.

Walking in through the front door you immediately come upon a set of carpeted stairs leading to a special events room. Don't go up them though as this area is not for general use. Continue walking into the main room and you come right up to their very attractive bar. I find each pub's bar fascinating. They're all different in their own right. Some are long and straight, some a in the form of an L and some look like a giant horseshoe. The Bow and Arrow's being the latter, which makes it easier to converse with other patrons. There is room for 15 people to sit around the bar on either bar stools or bar back chairs. Glassware hangs from above in metal racking and spirits sit at the back on shelves. All the beer towers are nice and clean and are easy to read. I enjoy seeing all the tap handles, there are some pretty cool ones out there. Hop Addict's syringe, Wellington's boot, Great Lakes Pumpkin, all are cool.

There are a couple of snugs in the Bow at the front of the pub and in the back. There are also some island tables to sit at to take in your surroundings of beer posters and signage as well as chalkboards with food and beer listings. The entire place is covered with maroon and flowered carpeting which I quite enjoy. It gives it a cozy feel. There is a large tv in one corner playing hockey and two smaller ones situated on both sides of the pub. Very distracting and the fiance hates it. The music was also suspect, but low enough not to be distracting.

Anyway, there are 27 tap lines at the Bow and Arrow but only 23 were available yesterday. See the list below. There is usually 3 cask beers to choose from, but only one yesterday - XXX IPA from Durham Brewery. I settled for a Black Oak Nutcracker Porter and they served it in a Guinness glass. I hate that. Why couldn't they serve it in a plain pint glass? Oh well, the beer was excellent. I wish I could say that about the nachos. They were terrible at best. $10 for a handful of torilla chips and some salsa, I thought it said 'Supreme Nachos', wait, it did. But don't let me fool you into not ordering food. All other food coming out of the kitchen looked great and the Bow is a real gastropub.

Our servers mentions that the clientele is mostly made up of regulars who live or work in the area. She can tell what beer they will be drinking and usually what food they will order. Hearing this makes me smile as I think of all the people that call the Bow their local.

The Bow and Arrow is a fairly large pub, larger than many I tend to visit, yet it has the feel of a much smaller pub. It provided us with a warm atmosphere while we were de-thawing, and the beer was delicious. Their mission statement reads: Our pub strives to offer the best of locally crafted food and beverages while exceeding the expectations of our guests. Well, they almost did. It had been a good three years since I first visited the pub and it was exactly how I remembered it. Good pub worth checking out if you happen to be in the area, even if it's not -12.

Beer Menu:
Harvest Ale
Black Oak Nutcracker Porter
Devil's Pale Ale
Clancy's Amber Ale
Hop Addict
Black Oak Pale Ale
Mill St Tankhouse
McAuslan Cream Ale
Wellington County Ale
Steam Whistle
Stone Hammer Pilsner
Creemore Lager
Amsterdam Natural Blonde
Moosehead
Big Rock Grasshopper
Denison's Weissbier
KLB Raspberry Wheat
McAuslan Apricot Wheat
XXX IPA Cask Conditioned
Guinness
Strongbow
Carlsberg