ottawa foodies

I was at the keg yesterday for some drinks and some appetizers - for a friends birthday. The keg doesn't really float my boat and since I had 'greek to go' an hour before I just had an appetizer; and plus, I don't find the keg to be priced right (for the mains).

I had the Mushrooms neptune and a creemore.

Pretty ok. White button mushrooms, topped/stuffed with a heavy-on-the-mayo-crab filling. Nice and rich.

Good service, good beer, good friends... so I guess I would have to try really hard to complain. Not bad.

end.

The Keg is a funny sort of franchise beast... you have Sports Bar Keg in the Market, Classy Keg Manor on Richmond, Cool Keg on Hunt Club... it really tries to be all things to all people.

No complaints about the food. Doesn't quite blow me away but i;ve never had any complaints about the quality or service for the price.

Sybaritica,

I don't think people are dismissive of the Keg because it is a chain. Personally, I find the keg uninspired, unreasonably expensive and a tourist trap for families with picky eaters.

Have I had good steaks at the keg? Absolutely, but to be honest, I can't say I have ever bragged about, or had a specific desire to go to the keg. I'll fire my own bbq much faster then going to the keg :)

I'm glad you like the Keg, and my subjective opinion is absolutely worthless, but I doubt the perception has to do with the keg being a chain. For me, Milestones is a chain (owned by Cara foods aka Swish Chalet) that does what the keg does, but far better. You can get a really nice steak at milestones, but you can also order a wide variety of other interesting dishes, at decent cost/value/quantity ratios. The same cannot be said about the keg.

I find that baton rouge and the keg have very similar business models: painfully simple food at inflated prices with a strong marketing team and attractive waitresses.

my 2 and a half cents.

Cheers,

A lot of people are unfairly dismissive of the Keg because it is a chain restaurant but I have never had a bad meal at any of their locations. On this occasion, my waiter was inexperienced and made a few mistakes but I can’t say that this detracted from my enjoyment of a decent steak and a nice relaxing meal.

Meal: Rib steak.

Rating: 4 Stars

My full review is here:sybaritica.me

I recently had supper at the Keg (Byward Market) with some friends. This location used to be good. The service is still good, but the ambience sorely lacks any oomph. The last few visits the food left a lot to be desired. The most recent visit this month left me with a bad case of food poisoning. I won't be returning. On a better note, the Keg located on Hunt Club West is fantastic.

Received a gift card to the Keg, so we decided to go to the Keg (byward market) tonight for a steak. I've enjoyed steaks at other keg locations in Ottawa and elsewhere, and it seems that most of them have upgraded their decor and have a much more contemporary feel than this byward market location. We were greeted by friendly hostesses and seated right away. Service was knowledgeable and efficient, friendly but we did feel a bit of pressure to get on with ordering. We ordered filet mignon with bearnaise & dungeness crab, and prime rib. Prime rib was good and nicely cooked, but the filet, ordered medium rare, was delivered medium well. We told the waiter, who was very apologetic and offered to fire another one for me, which I definitely wanted, since the steak was $35. In the meantime I ate the crab which was sweet and delicious. the drawn butter was served in a little candle warmer, but the butter had solidified in the warmer, and although they lit the candle before they brought it to the table, it took a while for it to re-melt (see photo of butter in lit warmer complete with fork indentations). While we waited (half an hour) for the steak to reappear, we got a lot of attention and several apologies from the waiter and the manager. They were both very polite and eager to make sure we would be happy with the second steak. They told us that they were very sorry for the wait and that they would give us a free dessert and comp the replacement steak. I thought that was commendable, and appreciated the gesture. When the second steak arrived, it was blue. They came back to check how I liked the steak and I did not have the heart to tell them it was too rare this time. I didn't want to wait any longer for a third steak, and I knew that it was free in any case, so I decided just to let things slide. I should also mention that the bearnaise was really not good. More like a mayonnaise, not warm at all,and I couldn't taste any tarragon. The steak had a decent flavor and the accompanying roasted beets were very good. Total bill would have been about $90 including two $12 glasses of wine, but was only $59 after they deducted the steak. We did not order a free dessert. So I guess the problem is that whoever was in the kitchen tonight could not cook a steak properly, which is not a good thing for a steak house. But the rest of the food (except the bearnaise) was very good, and the staff really did do everything possible to correct the error and make sure that we were delighted with our meal. I hope the problems in the kitchen were the exception rather than the rule.

I usually love the Keg, but my mother and I went a few summers ago to the market location and we were pretty unimpressed. It was a hot summer week day, we got there early, and there were only three tables filled (including us). We were incredibly thirsty and asked if they could leave us a pitcher of water since we would likely be tossing back glass after glass (they gave us these fairly small ones), and the waitress said that no, they couldn't, because it "looked messy" on the table. We were the only people in our area, so messy to who? Very rude, and we ended up not being able to quench our thirst and as a result, didn't really enjoy our meal that much.

Most of my other experiences there have been reasonably good, but I definitely prefer the Keg Manor for atmosphere, service, and quality of food.

Upon my last visit to OTT I recently settled in for a nice steak, at least that was my intention. The Keg's market location is certainly prime and I figured that the meat would follow suit. The "scene" was rather stale...I have no idea if renos are on the horizon but they need to freshen up the joint. Their commercials paint a warm and inviting atmosphere and they certainly fell short on that impression...they have re-branded/departed from their traditional look/feel in TO with a high end trendy scenester approach...the cinq a sept culture is alive and well at this location. As for the market...well...I jumped into a keg caesar & a baseball sirloin w/frites. Done & done. Throughout my meal I found myself completely disappointed...the meat held no flavour, in fact the only taste that dominated was a powerful caesar. Back to the meat...there was no tenderness, there was no flavour, there was only meat (tier 2 at best) I love my steak (lived in Argentina), and I truly place such value on a night out. If you are going to compromise on ambience, settle the score on the meal. Too bad The Keg fell short.

Visited the market location recently to use up a gift card we had lying around. Had the special of the day which was a chipotle striploin with Boursin cheese, roasted peppers and a mess of fried onions. The steak delivered on flavour and was done perfectly. Also the portion was generous. While there's nothing outstanding about the Keg, they are consistent and know how to cook a steak right.

My wife and I discovered a year ago that she has Celiac's Disease so we have to be very particular about business' and how they interpret something to be "gluten-free".

We have been to The Keg (Market) several times in the past 6 months and have identified her health concerns each time with our server. They servers have always been very knowledgeable and attentive to this concern. The manager has always come over to detail The Keg's process for handling gluten allergies (a nice touch even if a little redundant since the servers always outline the process). We have even had the cooking staff forward concerns after my wife has ordered something off the menu that was identified as "gluten-free" but they, the culinary staff, felt that a substitution was a better option. The serving staff always brings her order out separately to insure no accidental cross-contamination occurs. My wife has never had a reaction to anything ever served at this location and the food is excellent.

We would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone wanting to eat gluten-free or who has a gluten-based health concern that they need to be mindful of.