Kelseys Original Roadhouse — Restaurant in St. Catharines

Let me preface by saying that I love the food at Kelsey’s. It’s standard stuff but good food for a decent price. My family and I called ahead on a busy Friday night and they said they had room for our larger group if we came now. Our server was polite throughout our time there, but the overall experience was terrible.

We ordered our appetizers and meals within 10 minutes of sitting down and we had our apps on the table 10-15 minutes later, which is great! Because it was after 9 we were able to receive one of our apps for free! We finished our appetizers, at this point we’ve been seated in the restaurant for 35 minutes. Multiple times after our appetizers had been cleared from our table, our server came over and said our food would be “out shortly” “it would only be a few more minutes” etc. An hour and 50 minutes goes by and we are still waiting on our food. At this point there’s been no explanation as to why there’s a delay, if one of the dishes is missing, or any reasoning at all from anyone. Our table looks miserable! During this time 3 other tables were seated around us, all of which received their meals and finished them in the time we waited. It’s nearly 10 pm on a Friday and we haven’t eaten dinner nor been informed what was taking our food so long. For anyone thinking our order must’ve just been very large, I’ll let you know we only ordered 2 chicken tenders with fries, 2 Buffalo chicken sandwiches with fries, a Cajun chicken sandwich, and 2 salads (one with no chicken or shrimp, so literally just veggies in a bowl).

Finally, when our meals do come out, they’re brought our staggered. 2 meals come out, we wait another 5 minutes for 3 more to come out, and then we wait an additional 5 minutes for the last persons meal to come, for which we had to remind the server that it was missing. There were minimal apologies and still no explanation for the extremely slow service. At to the fact that the Cajun sandwich had no Cajun or any sauce on it at all, completely bland! The first chicken tenders and the Buffalo chicken sandwiches were all cold with cold fries too! They offered us free replacements but we weren’t going to wait around another 2 hours for that! We almost immediately asked for boxes and the bill because no one had an appetite at that point.

I fully understand being short staffed and busy in any job, or errors anywhere in the process that could have occurred. But had the staff communicated the problem as soon as possible, we could have avoided all the frustrations. Throughout our time there, no one was rude to us and none of us were rude to staff, we just accepted the poor service begrudgingly. I’m not asking for special service, bill deductions, or free food, but based on this single experience, the staff as a team need to improve their customer service and communication skills. I hope this review is seen by the right people so changes can be made...

I visited Kelsey’s today and ordered the 10 wings special at half price, which was perfectly fine. Dusty was our server. However, the experience took a turn when I specifically requested breaded wings but was served non-breaded ones instead. When I inquired with my server, she insisted that they were breaded and mentioned a "light dusting." Confused, I asked the host, who confirmed that the wings were definitely non-breaded. I then called the manager over, who also claimed that the wings were breaded.

I've dined at Kelsey’s multiple times, including just last week, when I was able to get a coupon for free spinach dip (though I couldn't use it this time as I needed to buy an entrée, which was understandable). What baffled me was the insistence that I had received breaded wings despite my clear order.

At the end of the day, I care more about honesty and accountability than anything else. It would have been preferable for the staff to simply acknowledge their mistake and offer to make a fresh batch of wings or at least ask if I wanted them switched out. Instead, they brought over a different customer's “breaded” wings to somehow prove a point and walked away. To further clarify, I even asked another customer about their order, and they confirmed they had also ordered non-breaded wings.

While Dusty, my server, seems like a sweet girl, I wish she and the team had just owned up to their mistake instead of trying to gaslight me into thinking I got “breaded” wing. It’s perfectly fine to admit an error; we are all human after all. Being honest is essential in customer service, and trying to gaslight customers is simply unacceptable. I hope this feedback helps improve their service in the future.

The first picture is the wings I received. The second is the picture of wings posted on their google review page (2 months ago) and the last picture is how they are advertised. Now - please let me know. Does it look like I got...

Level 9 Google Local Guide 43 million plus views

We recently visited Kelsey’s, and while nothing was particularly wrong with our experience, nothing stood out either. With so many options out there now, restaurants really need something special, whether it’s the food, the atmosphere, or the service, to make people want to come back. Unfortunately, Kelsey’s just didn’t offer that for us.

The food was okay. The burger was what stood out to give a 4 star . The bun was soft and fresh, meat and toppings were just right, but the wings were surprisingly small for the price. Fries were a little soggy and could’ve been crispier. It’s not that it was bad, but just not memorable.

What could have made the difference here was the service. It wasn’t busy at all, only a couple other tables were seated, so we expected a bit more attentiveness. Our server didn’t really check on us after the food came. No follow up on drinks or refills, and we had to wave him down just to ask for napkins and hot sauce. Small things like that really matter when the food isn’t knocking it out of the park. Good service can elevate an average meal, but in this case, both felt a bit flat.

It wasn’t a bad visit, it just wasn’t one that made us want to return. A little extra attention to detail and customer care could really go a long way. But hey! It’s always worth giving it a try. Your day maybe much different ☺️

On the last note One small thing we all noticed , the lighting was quite dim, even though it was around 2-3 o’clock in the afternoon. It made reading the menu a bit of a challenge, and it just didn’t match the daytime vibe. A little more brightness would really help create a warmer, more welcoming atmosphere, especially for...