KS on the Keys Restaurant — Restaurant in Ottawa

On Sunday, I went with a couple friends to KS on the Keys for their new brunch buffet which started in April. As always, I checked the menu first, and was surprised by the amount of variety. After the negative experience at Tucker's, I was hoping for something good, and it did not disappoint. The few things I did not like are merely based on preference and not the quality of the food.

First, the variety was fantastic. There was were breakfast items, as well as Middle Eastern, Italian, and Chinese foods. I did my best to try a little bit of everything, but at some point you have to give up. I posted a photo of the menu below so you can see what I was up against.

Here are the few things I did not like, and even saying that sounds harsh. When I put together my salad, the tomatoes pieces we a tad too large, but my knife took care of that. They had miniature Lebanese meat pies, but they were cold, and I loves me a nice warm meat pie. The scrambled eggs seemed like the powdered ones, but that isn't surprising when you're making a large amount. It was the only food I had to salt. The eggs in the Bennies were runny, which is the standard. I prefer mine hard poached (don't judge). Like I said, the bad things were by no means offensive. Just not my preference.

Here are the great things. We went for 11:30, and were seated quickly. The place is nicely decorated and clean, and the staff are friendly. There was ample food, and it was all very well-seasoned. Everything I tried was delicious. The staff are very attentive. I saw one of the owners (I think) who kept an eye on the buffet to make sure things were running smoothly. He made sure the lamps under the chafing dishes were always going and keeping the food warm. He also changed the serving spoons regularly and made sure the resting plates were clean. The dessert section was not extensive, but the fruit was perfectly sweet and juicy. They also had some muffins and brownies to enjoy. And I can't forget to mention the drinks. Unlimited tea, coffee, pop, and juice is included in the price!

When it was all over, not only were my friends and I extremely satisfied, but we all suffered greatly for our gluttony. My only regret is that I did not try every single item. Guess I'll just have to make another trip so that I can say I've tried it all!

Tucker's has certainly met its match. KS on the Keys gets five stars from...

I had such high hopes going to this restaurant the first time. The calamari was really good, but it's completely overshadowed by how bad the steak I ordered was. The menu mentioned about the steak is AAA grade, aged 45 days, so I ended up ordering the 10oz New York Strip medium rare. First it took over half an hour for the food to arrive, which I was mostly okay with. Then I tasted the steak, and it tasted like salty sand paper. The steak was cooked to at least medium well (far from the medium rare I ordered), and over seasoned to the point it was not edible. The steak has no marbling, completely dry and lean. It was definitely very low quality piece of meat. It tasted like a frozen $10 for 3 steak from No-Frills you put on the barbecue to put in a sandwich doused in HP sauce. It was bad meat, and forget it's not aged for 45 days, the only aging it did was in the freezer. I hate to return food but it was completely inedible. The 2nd time the steak came back, it was cooked to rare with parts of it completely blue rare which I could still see the white tendons. Regardless of the precision on temperature, or the lack there of, I realized nothing was going to change the quality of the steak. It was even saltier than the last time. We also ordered the Pasta Primavera which was just drenched in a cream sauce that resembles more of an Alfredo sauce that comes in a jar. We also never finished more than half of the pasta. I ended up asking the server if the chef is a regular, and he said it's the same chef they have always had. I also asked for the bill, and communicated to the server that this is not his fault and there is no need to discount my bill. He and the manager he called was courteous and apologetic, they also ended up taking the steak order off my bill and discounted some other items. We also gave him a decent tip reiterating that he has done nothing wrong. To be fair to the restaurant, again, the calamari was good and possibly other dishes can be good. It just wasn't the case for New York Strip and the Primavera. I wish I could give it a better rating, especially from what I heard it's a family business. Unfortunately, if I can't bare to finish the 2nd bite of my steak, no amount of good service is going make it worth...

I found the take out service at this establishment extremely poor at best. In a nutshell, yesterday our pick up order arrived 45 minutes after the provided time. There was no staff members available outside where about 15 - 17 people (including drivers for skip the dishes and Uber eats) were also waiting for their orders to provide assistance. After waiting about 40 minutes, I finally went inside to find out what the hold-up was. There no staff members paid any attention to my presence, and I finally had to tag a guy after he got off the phone. I asked about my order, and he explained that due to Mother's day and the loss of 2 staff, that they were extremely backed up and apologize. I countered that when I placed my order online there was no mention of this delay, and that I received an email response to be here at a specific time period to pick it up, which I did . If there was to be a delay, then they should have altered the pickup time or phoned me in advance so I did not have to sit in a parking lot for 40 minutes. As well, I could have chosen to go elsewhere.

So I waited a while longer, and finally , because my family were hungry, I told them that if my order did not arrive within the next 10 minutes I would be leaving and they could cancel my order. Fortunately, the meal came 2 minutes before this deadline. The staff member again apologized, but the head people there, who I assumed were management types, never offered any words to me and appeared to not care any less that a customer was upset.

Finally, if any of you reading this wish to partake on take out meal, I recommend the Lone Star on Hunt Club. I've ordered there 3 times during this Covid 19 period, and each time I was extremely satisfied with their service and professionalism. There was no wait, they brought both the meal and the credit card machine to my car. One time they were a few minutes late, so they gave me an extra desert item free of charge! This is an operation that truly values their customers and will go to great lengths to both earn and keep it! And no, I don't work there or have any affiliation with them. I guess this is why I was so upset with KS on the Keys and their lack of service. I'll NEVER go...