RustiCo. / King West Brewing Company — Restaurant in Fredericton

I honestly don't know what is going on in the reviews over at this restaurants facebook page because the reviews there do not reflect reality at all (are friends and family flooding that page?).

My wife and I like to go out to restaurants and we have been to many around the world so we feel we have a pretty good way to compare and contrast.

We have been to this restaurant twice. The first evening we sat around for 2 hours without any food, Eventually we called the manager who admittedly approached the situation superbly. He basically said that there had been a mix up in the kitchen so they would allow the drinks that we had to be on the house. This was a well executed response. Unfortunately we were informed that the meal would be at least another 45 minutes (and we had already waited 2 hours) so we opted to simply leave and go elsewhere (we were starved).

This review however is not based of that first experience. I can fully appreciate that this is a new restaurant and they would have some bugs to work out. Plus, the manager dealt with the situation perfectly in my estimation.

This review is based off our second experience. This time we did get our food (pizza) and it was terrible. I mean literally the pizza is terrible. The crust is soggy, doughy and paper thin. The sauce is bland and the toppings are almost non existent.

They also messed up my order and without going into specifics, the managers response this time was downright bizarre.

Regardless of it all, this review is based solely on the food. Honestly the pizza was awful (we ordered 4 of them) and each one of them was not just bad...we are talking terrible here.

If I could give a positive note I would say the atmosphere is fresh for Fredericton. So perhaps they might iron things out and settle into a groove and I hope they do.

But I can't help but ask myself...what do they want this place to be? A cocktail bar? A brewery? A restaurant? A pizza joint? A pick up bar?

If they want to be known for their food...they are seriously going to struggle based off what we tasted.

Let's say we will not be back for the food but maybe just to sit around the neat atmosphere and...

Husband and I thought we would give it a try after all it’s a beautiful sunny day why not enjoy the patio! We stood for 3-4 min waiting for someone to greet us, we where escorted out as asked, we where greeted by a server who took our drink order I ordered a tequila mockingbir it was 13$ and was in a small short glass and husband ordered a Dave Mathews 12$ an all time favourite/famous Fredericton drink well it did not tast anything like it should it was strong and watered down all at the same time! The server was quite pleasant husband had asked what she would recommend on the menu she gave us a few options of her favourites then left and then our drinks where brought out by another server who we informed that we where ready to order she took our order of ricotta dip, chicken & prosciutto and wings! The dip came out first and fairly fast it was as expected creamy rich n delicious (best thing out of it all) I would recommend this dish! We finished that off they cleared the table, then we waited and waited and waited some more we where 45 minutes in at this point we have had one drink and an apitizer we had plans that we needed to get too we where just saying that we where done waiting I was getting up from the chair when finally the pizza and wings arrive... the honey garlic wings where good nothing to write home about 8 of them where 14$ The pizza was the kicker it was a regular size for 18$ and over half of the bottom of it was so burnt it travelled throughout the entire pizza wrecking the flavour that we should have been able to tast! Now we have had many of these styles of pizzas before and some char is to be expected but nothing like this, this was burnt! And I will not be spending another 80$ their ! We will not be returning here and if you must absolutely feel the need to try it out do not get the pizza! The table beside us was...

Service is hit or miss, but the pizza is great! Always check your bill to make sure you've been charged the correct amount on specials.

Edit: I’m removing a star because they can’t cook beef and the chef got really defensive when I pointed out that my steak was still waaaay overcooked after the third time they made it. A little bit of context, they had a steak night special and I asked for my steak medium rare. The first two times they sent them out the steaks were well done. The third time the chef came out saying he cooked it himself, but the steak was still way over cooked when I cut into it (which he stood there and watched me do). I am by no means a cook, but you can’t tell me a steak without any red in the centre is medium-rare. I was shocked (as were the people in my party) when the chef proceeded to argue with me about it, saying that’s how medium rare looks in that cut of meat. It was super awkward. Frankly, if you cannot cook a cut of beef to a medium rare temperature (because it’s a thinner cut, your kitchen is too busy, whatever) you shouldn’t recommend ordering it that way on the menu. I understand that sending my steak back probably slows down the kitchen and that’s frustrating on a busy night, but even the waitress seemed baffled as to why the steak kept coming out well done and horrified when the chef started arguing with her customers. The front of house manager offered to comp my meal and offered me a coupon for future use, but I turned them down and I’ve never been back. Most of my reviews on Google are glowingly positive and I’ve tried really hard to love RustiCo, but I stand by this...