The Keg Steakhouse + Bar is the undisputed Steakhouse leader in Canada, with a presence in the United States. Founded in 1971, The Keg has a focus on high-quality steaks, and a casual yet contemporary dining experience.
I had an opportunity to make a return visit to this relatively new and purpose-built Keg recently for a family reunion. I’ve always liked this location's dining room. It is boldly elegant with the sort of wood tones one expects in a steakhouse but without them being overtly masculine. Several fireplaces add points of visual attraction.
The dining room was already completely full of local meat lovers at six so we accepted corner tables in the lounge that proved to be a fairly comfortable location sufficiently apart from others to afford privacy.
I enjoy quaffing a crisp ale with my meals, but discovered The Keg now only offers mediocre Molson products so we deferred to the wine list for a couple of decent Shiraz to share. I recall in its early days out west this chain was a staunch promoter of local and particularly well crafted beers. Like most chains, the bean counters eventually got control and quality suffers. People with a sound knowledge of food and beverages need to lead these companies and ignore the rebate-bait the major breweries offer for exclusivity.
All our food was quite acceptable, but pricey. Most of us started with the Escargot ($9) that seemed less garlicky than previous renderings. My massive $42 Rib Steak came precisely as ordered, perfectly medium rare with an aggressive salty char outside and moist redness inside. Other than the dominant salt and pepper flavors, there wasn't much of the distinctive well-aged beefiness a 28-day aged steak should bring to the table at that price point. It was a lean cut without visible marbling that might have been the reason for its muted flavour. It was accompanied on the plate by asparagus spears, grilled red pepper, and sautéed mushrooms that lurked under the flared salad bowl containing my economical portion of Caesar Salad. That standard presentation of a salad bowl on the plate needs to be re-thought as it makes combat with the steak a more challenging event than necessary. We also discovered the lounge’s tables don’t quite accommodate full meal service.
Throughout our meal the cheerful staff serving us was self assured and professional, a sign of good training that lamentably has become increasingly rare in chain restaurants. But the three young women at the host stand who were apparently hired because each owned a revealing black dress saw no advantage to thanking customers as they were leaving.
While visiting some family in Canada, we decided to go by the Keg Restaurant, at 3130 Argentia Road Mississauga.
Last year when we visited Canada, we had a very good experience at the Keg Restaurant in Downtown Toronto area. So, we decided to try this location since we were nearby.
When we entered the establishment, it seemed very classy, but very dark, the waitress seated us, and we looked at our menus, it was so dark, that my Father had to use a small flashlight he had to see the menu.
We ordered our appetizers as well as our entrees, the waitress returned with our beverages and later with the appetizers, the food was displayed very nice, but was a bit cold, much later when the entrees came, the food was also a bit cold and didn’t have much flavor, we had some of the food returned to the kitchen to warm them up. Whether they used a microwave to do so it is unknown.
We finished our meals, the waitress gave us the desert menus, and we denied buying the desert, and left, we went by a nearby Tim Horton’s for the desert.
In conclusion, we found this Restaurant to be very nice looking on the outside, and very classy on the interior, what we could see because of the darkness, service was OK, but the food wasn't up to par for us. We will not return to this location.
Food Very Bland, Interior Dark, Food Very Expensive.
On Tuesday, September-18-12 , the Wife and I decided to go by the newly built Keg Restaurant at 3130 Argentia Road Mississauga, for our Anniversary dinner. When we walked in, we found the interior of the restaurant quite dark, the lights were dimmed down, and all the blinds in the restaurant were closed. We were seated, and were given the menus, the menus given to us were vastly different to other Keg Restaurants through-out the city, many favorites of ours were deleted from the menu and not offered at this location. We ordered several appetisers, and our meal, (other than the meal we anticipated being able to order, with experience from other Keg Restaurants).
The waitress we had was very attentive, and professional. Moments after we arrived, the waitress took our beverage order, left, and came back with a small plate with bread and butter as well as our beverage order. Once we finished the bread, the waitress returned and took the plates. We continued to wait for our meal, the meal did take longer than we had expected. When it finally arrived, the meal was presented very nicely on the plates, but when we tasted it, the meal was cold and quite bland, the appetisers and meals provided had no seasoning or any type of flavor enhancers at all, besides looking good, the meal had no other appeal, we ate a bit, finished our beverages, asked for the check, paid for our meal (too expensive for what we ordered and received) and left, vowing never to return to this location.
Go there for my birthday and my boyfriends birthday every year. Never been un happy. One we sat waiting for 10 mins before a sever came to us and because of that we got a free bottle of any wine we wanted price not a problum. Food perfect and I will go there again and again.
The Keg's food was exceptionally amazing as always. We were sat and attended right away we arrived there. The waitress and her service was very pleasant. Atmosphere is elegant and modern. We will be back!
