I drove with a group of chefs from Toronto, and everyone thought it was excellent. Beautiful decor, top notch service, and creative local cuisine.

Fantastic experience!

Service and food quality was excellent. Although we enjoyed the Chefs tasting menu, had I k own we could have ordered al a carte we would have done so (next time). Great experience we will return

This is an amazing restaurant. We tried the chef’s tasting menu and we could not have been more pleased. Every course was flavorful and beautifully presented. Service was superb as well. We will come back every time we are in Niagara-on-the-Lake. We loved the whole experience.

Anniversary

Everything is always perfect when dining here, from the food to the service. A splendid experience.

We enjoyed the tasting menu offered at the Chef’s counter. Good selection of plates, and attentive service make this an excellent dining option in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Interaction with the team of chefs working behind the counter contributed to our enjoyment of the meal. The gas-fired grill is a unique feature that enhances food preparation, and adds to the overall dining experience. Staff were helpful in ensuring that we completed our meal in good time, to attend a play that evening.

We appreciated the attention to numerous food constraints and the knowledge of what was available in food and wine.

We had an enjoyable evening at Backhouse. The four of us had the Chefs tasting menu and wine pairing. Delicious and entertaining. The wait staff are knowledgeable and attentive . A full evening of food, wine and great company.

Had the Backouse tasting menu and all dishes were Michelin quality. Staff were efficient and friendly. Comfortable ambiance. Large, fairly priced wine list. Will go back ASAP. Best meal in Niagara peninsula.

My husband and I recently tried Backhouse over the weekend and we were pleasantly surprised. The restaurant is in a plaza on the corner of Mississauga and Mary street, just off the beaten path. It was a short 15 minute walk from our hotel. The exterior of the restaurant is unassuming and can be hard to miss if you aren't looking for it. The inside is a completely different story. It is warm, cozy and inviting. One of the best features of this restaurant is that all the food is 100% local product from Ontario and many of the ingredients are from the Owner/Chef's own farm, which is only 1km from the restaurant. Because of this the menu can change daily depending on what is available and fresh.
My husband and I did the Chef's menu with the wine pairing and it was delicious. The food is well prepared, the dishes are creative and well thought out. The best dish of the night was the Smoked Whitefish that had a lovely brown butter sauce and was balanced out with pickled mushrooms that cut through the richness of the sauce and fish.
Few misses for me was the Carbonara dish which resembled more of a fettuccine alfredo. The dish was delicious but missed the enjoyment of breaking the yolk and mixing it into the pasta to create the sauce.
Another miss for me was the Dry Aged Beef. This is more of a personal preference as the meat was cooked sous vide but lack the beautiful crust you get when you sear it on a hot grill. The meat was cooked perfectly and was well seasoned but lacked that final finish of fire/grill.
The service was attentive and friendly. Our server was a delight and we enjoyed learning about the wines and the food pairings. The progress of the meal however was a bit slow with a lot of time in between courses. The meal took over 3 hours from start to finish.
We enjoyed the overall experience and the food. We would definitely go back when visiting NOTL as we appreciate a restaurant/chef who focuses on local produce.

A destination dinner for people that love farm to table.

The selection of freshly made food was crushing every dish.

The platting of every dish was perfect and amazing

The wine selection was very broad and the Som was excellent in making a recommendation.

I loved the meal and I cant wait to come back.

Absolutely amazing tasting menu. Fun to sit and watch the chefs prepare and plate. ( table service also available). Food was inventive, fun and delicious. Can’t wait to go again

This restaurant was as advertised. We knew up front that this would be an expensive night out.
The restaurant did not disappoint... having said that, we felt our meals were not worth the price. We did appreciate all that farm-to-table has to offer. We thought that, although presentation and service were excellent, the actual taste of the dishes left something to be desired. The pasta I had was good, not great. And my wife's lamb, while of excellent quality, lacked any creative crust or sauce.
Still, we're happy to have finally visited this highly-touted restaurant.

Went here with my girlfriend for my birthday and the experience was incredible. The restaurant was bustling when we enter a few minutes before our reservation. Due to a slight wait to be seated the owner poured us each a glass of quality Prosseco to keep us occupied. We were seated, the waiter was friendly and knowledgable, and we decided to go with the Chef's Tasting Menu. This was a beautifully prepared, tastefully executed, show of locally sourced ingredients. The dinner took about 2-3 hours total but all the dishes were well timed despite the restaurant being completely full. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone who is a food lover or feeling like they need to be pampered. Thanks Backhouse for a great birthday.

We were incredibly excited leading up to our visit. I’m a planner, and had spent weeks researching restaurants in the area and had decided on Backhouse based on the strong word-of-mouth support it received.

While the service and ambiance were incredible, we felt let down by the meal itself. While most of the plates were very well put together, some of the premium pairings didn’t work well for us and we both left slightly unsatisfied.

Given that it took longer than expected to seat us, we were offered to have cocktails taken care of at the bar. When the check came, we noticed that this hadn’t been done. While a nice experience, I feel that it wasn’t a great value and the cocktails were an added determent.

While were glad we tried the restaurant, I think we’ll try something new next time we’re in town.

Awesome experience! Great fun.

Exceptional service as always. Food was delicious. Server and chefs were very accommodating with my multiple food allergies. Restaurant was a touch warmer inside than we were expecting but we were, after all, in the middle of a heatwave. Highly recommend as usual--we will be back!

So glad to finally make it to Backhouse. Wonderful meal prepared with food from Chef Ryan's farm.

Cooked with heart and soul. Definitely one of the best fine dining experience.

Went there last night for our final dinner on our Canada trip before heading back to London.
Went for the Signature tasting menu with premium wine pairing.
Food, service and wine choices were brilliant.
Favourite pairing had to be the “bread and butter” paired with Spanish sherry, inspirational.
Service throughout was excellent with all servers having knowledge of the food and wine.
A great place for our final dinner. We will be back.

It was an excellent evening. Yes it is expensive, About $100 per meal and $100 per wine pairing package. However the meal was excellent, the wine pairings really brought out the flavours and the service was attentive, knowledgeable and extremely friendly. To enjoy it properly leave lots of time, two and a half to three hours. Local sourced foods and a lovely atmosphere. The wood burning oven adds a wonderful aroma.

Backhouse may now be the best restaurant in the Buffalo/Niagara-on-the-Lake region. It features four different prix fix menus, each with its own wine pairing (standard and premium wine choice for each menu). The menus differ mainly in the number of courses, and less by different dishes in each. All dishes are farm-to-table to the extent possible. Every course is creative and delicious, and the experience is of eating a creation of the chef brought to your table, rather than a preparation brought from the kitchen.

Great night - 6 of us loved our meals & the usual incredible service! Thanks everyone & to Bill for the special treat - nice surprise! See you soon!

A wonderful place to try out new and unique twists on local food, and to sample a wide range of wine options. We had the tasting menu and were treated exquisitely by the staff. It might seem pricey, but well worth it.

Inventive, fresh and flavourful. Friendly and helpful service in a nice setting with lots of creative flair.

Fantastic food and service. We ordered from the abbreviated tasting menu and had some great cocktails and wine. Definitely the kind of place you want to take your time and make an evening out of it.

Food was great, service was unfortunate. Our cocktails hadn’t arrived by the 2nd course of our tasting menu(we think our server forgot but we did not hold this against her as the place was very busy and she was covering many tables), so we asked they be cancelled as our preference was to enjoy wine with the food. Our request was denied which was surprising but we politely accepted the delayed drinks. Unfortunately this seemed to embarrass or annoy our server. For the remainder of the evening we were mostly ignored. We even had to get the attention of the sommelier to order glasses of wine. He was very pleasant as was the rest of the staff. We may try again in the future and hope for a better experience; at this price point the lack of attentiveness was unacceptable.

Incredible meal. One of the Best meals of my life!

Food great! Host spoke very softly but memorized wine and food choices. Fun vibe

One word, Amazing!

Anniversary

I was there for my birthday. I am pescarian. The menu is very limited if you don't eat meat. I asked the waitress about this and she made no offer to help. The place is pretentious and they don't deliver good food. Very disappointed that we came here for my birthday dinner. Will not return or recommend it to anyone. Even my husband, who eats meat, found his meal to be mediocre at best. I also have never had a restaurant ask for my credit card to make a reservation. Again, very pretentious and again, did not deliver.

This restaurant was highly reviewed and maybe we expected too much. The atmosphere was pretentious for food that was only so-so. In fact, my wife's entre was an uninspired stuffed chicken roll that was so salty and flavourless that she wasn't able to eat it. It took an embarassingly long time for the staff to agree that she shouldn't be charged. We had hoped for better in an area of good restaurant choices.

Our dining experience was outstanding. We went to a Shaw matinee and had tried to make reservations at two sisters. Thankfully they couldn’t take us - Backhouse was terrific! Every one of the service Staff was upbeat and professional. Angus, our server rocked it.

We had a choice of the set menus or a la carte. The three of us chose different set menus and we weren’t disappointed - one plate seemed better than the next. An overwhelming favorite was the dip-dip egg. I asked for the recipe and quickly realized I’d never make it at home. We’ll just have to return - again and again.

If you’re pairing a meal at backhouse with going to theater, gonto theater first - you’ll want to take your time, enjoy your meal and your conversations without watching the clock.

We were celebrating several occasions. Birthdays, graduation, engagement and acceptance to have ghee learning. The staff made everything very memorable. The food was artistry!

We have been coming to this restaurant for many years when it was owned by the previous owners, it it wonderful to see it open again and still doing amazing food! This time we ate from the al carte menu and it was fantastic, I even think I preferred it to their signature tasting menu which we had last time although that was a great experience too. The pulled pork pasta ragu is a must and as was the strawberry dessert. We always dine at this restaurant when we are visiting Niagara.

Enjoyed the evening. Our first time there. Don't be put off by the strip mall location. Well worth the trip to Niagara on the Lake.

Birthday dinner. Amazing experience!

Food and presentation was great. Diverse wine collection and good pairing.
Suggestion is to keep the menu during dinner to review the various plates.
Not too sure if we missed out on a wine pairing when the restaurant got busy at the second 8pm service.