The Keg Steakhouse + Bar - Sherwood Park — Restaurant in Sherwood Park

Last Friday I went to the Keg with my girlfriend to celebrate my birthday dinner. I am a huge steak fan and I love the Keg's 20 oz steak while my girlfriend loves the half-rack ribs.

We booked a reservation at 6, arrived at 5:45 and we were seated within a few minutes.

Our waitress was Hannah and while I can say she was friendly, she was very talkative to the point where we did not want to hear the filler and head straight to our requests.

My girlfriend and I ordered drinks and appetizers (the garlic shrimp to be exact) and while we did enjoy our first bites, we noticed they did not provide the tiny forks that the Keg normally serves with their shrimp. We did, however have regular size forks on our table so we made due with what we had.

Next we ordered dinner, and boy did that take a while. We had ordered our dinner after our first drinks and we had waited over an hour for food. I even noticed that the waiters and waitresses were serving people food who came in 30-45 minutes after us. I prompted Hannah's attention a couple of times but she seem busy taking orders than serving her table.

When our food came out, the waitress who brought it out (not Hannah) got distracted by something else and my girlfriend and I waited about 10 minutes for it. I even contemplated getting up and letting her know she has our food and we are getting hungry.

Finally after over an hour of waiting our main course arrives and I can definitely say it was delicious. I enjoyed the succulent medium rare steak while my girlfriend enjoyed her half-rack ribs covered in barbeque sauce. 4/5.

Now came the bill and this was the part of the service my girlfriend and I were extremely dissatisfied. She only brought out one machine despite saying she’d bring out two and then when we explained a second time that we were splitting the bill she left for a while and eventually brought two receipts. When we looked at the receipts, Hannah put the garlic shrimp on my bill even though my girlfriend mentioned she was going to pay for it. Not wanting to wait any longer, I decided to pay for the shrimp myself.

I payed for my bill with a keg gift card. Then my girlfriend tried paying with a Mastercard Gift Card. Hannah told us she would have to get a manager to authorize the payment in which we waited an EXTRA 10 minutes.

Then finally the manager comes out and we explain the situation. My girlfriend's bill was about $35 and her gift card was $50. I forgot the manager's name but his shirt had "Dixon" on it. Dixon made some assumption that my girlfriend's bill was over $50 and when he found out the real price, he asked my girlfriend to give the remaining $15 as a tip to the restaurant. I cannot believe the audacity this person had demanded just to get this transaction through.

He takes the card and takes another 10 minutes and when he returned, he told us he used the full amount on the card (which my girlfriend told him we did not want to) and to make up for it, he gives us a $25 gift card, which they think is fair compensation. My girlfriend and I only go the Keg like twice a year for special occasion and now we have no idea when we will use this card.

Lastly Hannah brought out the Billy Miner Pie that we asked for to go before we payed and by the time we sorted the bill fiasco it had sat on the table over 20 minutes and melted.

While we both still like our typical order at the Keg, we will NOT be returning to this location due to the terrible service from our waitress and manager. The only thing that is preventing me from giving this review a 1 star is how good the food was.

2/5, great food but terrible service. Would not eat at this...

I've been to the Sherwood Park Keg numerous times, but there were several issues that left me feeling underwhelmed during my last visit on Saturday, Nov 4th, 2023 for a birthday dinner with 13 others.

Service:

The service at The Keg was satisfactory, but the overall dining experience felt hurried. We were given a time constraint, which was quite frustrating, especially since we were celebrating a birthday and wanted to savor our meal without feeling rushed. Additionally, there was no cutlery set on the table, and we had to request it when our appetizers arrived... not the end of the world, but definitely not normal for the Keg. When the dessert was brought out, we were unable to sing happy birthday to our friend because the staff was pressuring us to finish quickly and settle our bills. To add to the rush, the manager even approached us while we were still enjoying our dessert, informing us that the next group was waiting for our table.

Food Quality:

The peppercorn steak, a dish that I have had the pleasure of enjoying on numerous occasions in the past and had been eagerly looking forward to, unfortunately fell short of my expectations. The main issue was that the fat on the steak was not properly rendered, resulting in a tough and chewy texture that made it difficult to fully enjoy. Furthermore, the steak was cooked more towards medium doneness rather than the medium rare that I had specifically requested. This deviation from my desired level of doneness affected both the taste and texture of the meat.

In addition to the cooking issues, I found that the peppercorn seasoning lacked the robustness and depth that I had experienced in previous visits, leaving me somewhat disappointed with the overall taste profile of the dish.

Considering the price point of $50 for this particular steak, I believe it is reasonable to expect a certain level of excellence in terms of both preparation and flavor. I made a conscious decision not to complain about it due to several factors. Firstly, our group size was quite large, and addressing individual concerns might have disrupted the flow of our gathering. Additionally, we were pressed for time, which further discouraged me from raising any complaints due to our large group size and limited time.

Atmosphere:

The atmosphere was loud and crowded. The restaurant was packed, and the noise level was high. While this may be acceptable for some, it was not ideal for our group of 14, who were celebrating a birthday and wanted to be able to talk and enjoy each...

We hadn’t been to the Keg in over 2 years & decided it would be the perfect place to go to celebrate mine & my husband’s birthdays. Guess we were wrong

I ordered the peppercorn New York. When my steak arrived, it was missing the peppercorn sauce, which I thought was as odd. When I mentioned it to our server, Ron, he was like “oh yeah I’ll grab that for you” and came back a few mins later with it. About 15 mins later and after a few bites, I realized my steak had no peppercorn crust on top like it normally does. We waited for Ron to come back and do a quality check, when he finally did, I said “I’m just a little disappointed because normally this steak has a nice peppercorn crust on it, this doesn’t have a single peppercorn” He responded with “yeah that’s my bad, I rang in the New York strip loin by mistake. Do you still want the peppercorn?” The way he said it was like he expected me to just eat the strip loin and be good with it. Like yes of course I want the peppercorn, this is a $53 steak, not a $10 meal, I want what I ordered and am paying for.

My biggest anger and disappointment is that he tried to hide his mistake from me. He would’ve realized he rang in the wrong steak when I asked for the missing peppercorn sauce. Instead of admitting it to me and offering to get my proper steak made, he hopped I wouldn’t notice and would just eat the strip loin instead. This is appalling. As a server myself, I would never do this to a guest, especially at such an expensive restaurant.

I was even more appalled when the bill came and I was still expected to pay the full price of my steak. I went 15-20 mins with no steak, only potato and veggies, while my husband got to eat his prime rib. I like to be able to enjoy all aspects of my meal at the same time. Especially when paying $53 a plate. When I mentioned this, he seemed shocked I wanted a discount and later came back saying they discounted my $15 margarita because they can’t discount a steak. I honestly don’t think he even bothered to tell the real mistake and the situation to his manager, because a manager would’ve just comped the entire steak. I think he was trying to hide his mistake from management.

Mistakes happen; as a server myself I totally get it. But you need to own up to your mistake and make the situation right for the guest. Ron did not; and instead tried to hide his mistake from me. Needless to say, I am appalled by this behaviour, and we definitely...