The Keg Steakhouse + Bar - Aurora — Restaurant in Aurora

My feeling is really mixed when writing this review, the service was spectacular and worthy of a 5 star, but unfortunately the food was a let down. This is our first visit to this location, the decor is streamlined with other locations we visit so it felt great to have that sense of familiarity. We received a warm welcome by the desk, I must say all the staff that night were very friendly and attentive (comparing to our past experiences). Our server Sam was very detail oriented and provided excellent service. The dip for the Keg bread is different, not the usual buttery cream, it tasted like smoked salmon cream cheese dip but anyways that was great and probably the most enjoyable food of the night. We ordered an appetizer that was lobster meat served in an escargot dish, that was alright, hearty and cheesy at least. We shared a bone-in rib steak, the seasoning and charred taste is what we were expecting from a Keg restaurant, strangely though, the amount of tendons was excessive as we nearly chewed into something on every bite. I must say, it was not bad, but just not the good that we are accustomed to. Sam, being very attentive and caring, saw the discontent on my face and asked as I explained to him what is happening. We were not expecting this but manager Crystal came over to sincerely offer to redo the steak to ensure we have a great dining experience. I genuinely feel this is one of the best service we have had in a long long while, the team does a really good job of making guests feel valued and special. Unfortunately the second steak came out much much worse than the first, it was about 1/4 thinner than normal, surface was slightly overcooked as the meat was very flaky and bland, plus it was over seasoned. (The kitchen did not make any attempt to make this replacement better than the last) Crystal came again to ask how it was, and I gave her the honest answer that the second steak was much worse than what we had. I also suggested maybe the kitchen staff can communicate with other locations to see how they can improve on the cut, and please don’t serve a steak when it’s not on par to the standard. To my surprise the entree was taken care of on the bill, courtesy of manager. I am really thankful for that and appreciate how well the staff are trained (excellent service is becoming more and more scarce nowadays). However, as far as service goes I can only give 3 stars because the food (not counting the second steak) was not on par so I would say this is still not a bad restaurant because service is amazing. But one star needs to be taken away because of the disappointment on kitchen staff doing a worse job on a second try so this visit would be a 2...

You'll NEVER have a bad experience at the Keg. Doesn't matter which one you go to.

I had a bday dinner here in Jan with my friends. My usual Keg in Richmond Hill was fully booked and could not accommodate us (usually our biggest party is like 15-16 ppl deep) and I called them almost a month in advance. Serena, the hostess (or manager??) on the line secured me a res for 18 ppl which I was so thankful for. Not only that, but I amended my res by asking for 2 additional seats last minute (a couple days before) and she was STILL able to accommodate me. Talk about incredible front-of-house service.

My group got some nice cozy seating at the back of the resto. We had 2 servers and 1 guy constantly topping off our water. Marcey (I think that was her name?? sorry if I got it wrong) was great. Constantly checked up on us throughout the night.

Some of my friends at the other end of the table got overcooked prime rib twice so they had to send it back, but they got a perfect, medium rare, center cut on the 3rd time and were really happy. The manager also went above and beyond by giving them some items on the house because of the mistakes/send-backs. +1 for great service.

As far as food goes, it's always SOLID. My go-to order remains the secret menu 24 oz keg omega sized prime rib (medium rare) with a twice baked potato. It's such a nice big hunk of meat and I love it. DAT GLORIOUS EDGE-TO-EDGE PINK HUE. The billy miner pie is also one of my fave desserts (Side note: I didn't know you could buy a whole billy miner cake from them!! lol). As is customary, I got a free slice since it was my bday.

So far, the only Keg I've ever had to drop one star for was the one inside Embassy Suites in Niagara Falls, because we literally got neglected the entire meal (food was still killer good so I still gave 4 stars) but that's off tangent. This Keg was just as awesome as the one I go to in Richmond Hill.

Here's the kicker which I always preach about. It's the fact that the Keg DOESN'T SLAP on auto gratuity for large groups. My friends and I always tip considerably MORE because of this honest business practice in a time where so many restos are just lazily slapping on auto gratuity (and the service can be sometimes outright terrible too). The Keg provides excellent service while not slapping the auto-grat on which we never take for granted. It just feels like the servers actually EARN and deserve their tips.

Cheers to many more bdays here...

Worst experience.

My partner and I went in around 7:30pm with no reservation, it was busy and the hostess said it would be 45-65min which we understand. They ran out of the machines that notifies u when our seat was going to be ready so they said to leave our number. Knowing it was so busy, we shopped around and came back in 45min to check our seating and the hostess said that there were 4 tables ahead of us so we just sat on the bench area waiting.. people were walking in without reservations like us were going in before us and that’s when I asked the hostess when is it our turn. From a big crowd of people waiting for tables, it was just us and another couple that came in 15min. Hostess said that they have texted, called left a voice mail - we received nothing. Say our reception was not good (we had full bars), the 3 ways of contact would have shown up by now. Nope, nothing. So she told us the next available table would be us “for sure”. We were already upset at that point because now it’s 9:30pm - 2 hours of wait on their mistake. They called the couple that had been waiting just 15min and that’s when I got really upset and frustrated. As she was seating them, she lied again telling us how she was just about to seat us.

Finally we were seated after 2 hours - we asked to speak to the manager. We explained to her the situation and she was apologetic and said she will check in on the situation. Also how they had everything available just not one appetizer. Ok. Shortly she came back and basically told us their 3 methods of contacting us pushed us onto “no show” and “want to believe in the girls” as there were no reasons to do this. Maybe we were the only Asians waiting? I don’t know.

As we got started with the bread, I noticed some black and green spots which I showed the manager - she said something could have been mixed up with the bread like lettuce. It was mold. This particular manager never came back to check on us after and somehow now they don’t have any more breads available for the night.

At the end of the night, they covered the two wine we ordered. Our server was great but the manager and hostesses there made my dining experience at Keg horrible. I’d rather have paid for the $28 than wait 2 hours. I go to Keg quite often and even for my birthdays every year but from this experience I don’t think I...