Well, hello there, Place Ville Marie Keg.
I must admit, I approached your establishment with the usual weary cynicism one develops after years of dining out, expecting, well, food.
But what I received, dear reader, was nothing short of a bewilderingly delightful assault on my preconceived notions of restaurant service.First, the bread. Oh, the humanity! I braced myself for the customary single loaf, perhaps a polite little gesture. But no! Our server, clearly a renegade of hospitality, presented us with two entire, untouched loaves of bread. Two! I nearly fainted from the sheer audacity of such generosity. What kind of establishment thinks it can just give you that much bread? It's scandalous, truly.
Then, the main event. My son, a connoisseur of all things carnivorous, ordered a large rib steak. I, feeling equally adventurous, opted for the equally large 18 oz roast beef. And would you believe it? Despite my deepest, darkest expectations of something slightly overdone or tragically undercooked, they were both, to my utter dismay, cooked to absolute perfection. The rib steak was a masterpiece of succulence, and my roast beef practically melted with a tenderness that bordered on offensive in its flawlessness.
And the horseradish? Good heavens, it was actually hot. I mean, genuinely, eye-watering, sinuses-clearing hot. The nerve!
And the service, again. I'm almost loath to mention it, as it feels like I'm gushing. But truly, our server was excellent. Not just "good," not just "attentive," but excellent. It was as if they wanted us to have a pleasant dining experience. Unheard of!
In conclusion, if you're looking for a reliably mediocre, forgettable meal, avoid The Keg Steakhouse + Bar at Place Ville Marie. But if you're prepared to be utterly blindsided by unexpectedly generous bread, perfectly cooked meats, fiery horseradish, and service that is, against all odds, excellent, then by all means, brace yourself and step inside. You've...
Read moreI can’t express enough how great of an evening we had at The Keg Ville-Marie. My mother who has terminal cancer has been dreaming of one night at the Keg. She’s been in the hospital for weeks and we weren’t sure if we could make this happen. She was finally able to get a pass for one night and The Keg graciously accommodated our last-minute request for a table even though it was during a very busy game night.
Immediately upon arriving, the manager, staff (and security who had to run out to get us a wheelchair for her) went above and beyond to make sure she felt safe and welcome at their restaurant.
Upon seating, our waiter Nathan took a moment to share with us his story. He had just lost his own mother to cancer 2 weeks prior. He felt – and we agreed – the universe had brought us together. Needless to say, it felt very special and emotional to have Nathan as our server that night. He attended to us like royalty making my mother feel like a queen. They even gave us champagne on the house.
Of course, beyond the reception and service, the food was incredible. For appetizers, we had the Neptune stuffed mushrooms and calamari and for the mains the table had the rib-eye and they were all cooked to perfection. The dinner ended with a surprise chocolate/mocha ice cream cake for my mom, which (again) was just an amazing act from the restaurant and Nathan to make my mom feel special.
All in all it was a really wonderful night and the whole team at The Keg helped make it a night that we will always have as very a...
Read moreA meal so nice, we had it twice.
My friends and I were in town from the US for a bachelor party and wanted to come back to Keg after visiting the location in Old Montreal several years earlier. We called ahead to find about a reservation and they stated they could get us in at 6 if we were okay being out by 8pm. We sat outside and enjoyed an incredible meal from start to finish. The bacon wrapped filet was perfect, the old fashioned was spot on, and Maggie did an excellent job keeping things moving. Never felt rushed, but also never felt like we had to wait for anything - the perfect service combo.
The next night, we decided if we could get back in, we'd go again. This is normally a big no-no when travelling because there's so much to try. We must have stumbled onto a cancelation because they had a table waiting for us and we sat right away on a rainy Saturday evening. The second night was equally perfect. The atmosphere in the lounge was exactly what we were looking for. Once again we had an outstanding server in Vanessa, who convinced us we had to try the lobster special. Finding out we were there for a bachelor party she even got us a complimetnary round of green tea shots.
Montreal all is a great city for food, so it's saying something to say that the Keg really stood out as our best meals of the trip. It will be a must-stop every time I'm in...
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