The Keg Steakhouse + Bar - St. Catharines — Restaurant in St. Catharines

It’s very rare that I will post a negative review, as I often feel like I am just complaining. However, my experience at The Keg in St.Catharine's last night is still running on my mind because I was so disappointed and also so confused. It truly goes to show just how many little things need to fall into place for an entire experience to be good. We were celebrating our anniversary so we decided to indulge with a visit to the Keg. Prices have skyrocketed but hey, it’s a special occasion. When we walked through the doors, we were greeted with friendly smiles, and seated right away for our reservation (even though we were early). Our server Marlene was an absolute gem. It is safe to say that she is the reason this review even gets stars.

I ordered the blackened chicken and my hubby ordered the 18oz prime rib medium rare. When our food arrived I had two pieces of broccoli with beets, the broccoli was burnt. No joke, the pieces were brown, and not even a nicely pan fried brown. I asked Marlene if I could get new broccoli, she quickly apologized and took them back to the kitchen. She returns right away, with 4 pieces - COLD. Not even bothered to be reheated, just plated however they had it sitting around. Needless to say, the broccoli sat there untouched. My hubby’s first plate -that’s right you read correctly - FIRST plate when delivered, the server (not Marlene) dropped the onions strings onto the table and in my hubby’s lap. He didn’t even apologize, even as my hubby was picking them up with his hands and putting it back on the plate while the guy was still saying how hot the plate was. Next, he asked for a medium rare steak, and he definitely received rare, closer to bleu. He wouldn’t have minded except for the unbelievable amount of fat attached to the meat. As he was cutting away, his 18oz steak most definitely became 12oz (LOL). We apologized to Marlene and told her that it was made incorrectly, we also mentioned how all the seasoning was on the outside of the steak which is where all the fat is, once you cut away the fat, there’s no seasoning. She said not a problem, we will put a new one on for you. When the SECOND plate came out, brought out by the manager, he told us that they only season the outside of the steak and then cut slices of it. If we want the entire thing to be seasoned we just need to ask. Ummm pardon? In all my life, I have never had to go to a restaurant and ASK for my steak to be seasoned. Is this just me? Have I been doing it wrong this whole time? We didn’t appreciate that instead of just acknowledging that the steak was made incorrectly, it was almost made to be our fault for not ordering it properly. I guess I should have also asked for my broccoli to be warm and not cold?

From there - it was downhill even further. There was more fat on this steak than meat, and let me be clear, there is nothing wrong with fat on a steak, it actually adds flavour, however we didn’t come to the Keg to eat an 18oz fat glob with a side of meat.

We decided to get a box and take the remainder of the food home. We were never asked if we wanted any dessert; no menu even provided to us. We paid our bill and we left, my hubby had chicken nuggets on the way home.

As I type this I am still in disbelief that this was our experience. Marlene - 100% customer service - girl deserves a raise, if not for her, we would have walked out. But hey… maybe we just expected too much for the price we were paying. Maybe the kitchen was having a bad night; but it’s too much money for us to just accept it as a “one off” IF we ever return, and that’s a huge IF, we will try and remember to ask for our veggies to be warm and our steak seasoned, that might make the experience...

2nd review quick add...at the Keg again by force....Sat last weekend..first saturday in June..had the steak oscar that's gone up in price again no surprise ..6oz...tough steak to eat our quests said there was even grissle on there's ,mine was like a cheap breakfast steak ...price has gone up but the quality of meat has gone down huge...The following day I bought 2 beef kabobs for the barbecue from farm boy for 10 dollars for 2 ...seriously I told my wife the meat was more tender on that 5 dollar kabob then that 48 dollar steak oscar...its a total rip off what they are serving at the Keg... no more thanks we are done OLD REVIEW... Saturday October 21st night we had the best waitress in the world..tottally amazing ..really knew her stuff...so great that we did not want to complain about anything as she I am sure would be devastated. My wife's scallops wrapped in bacon... I do realize they are all pre made and they just warm them up and ship them to the table ..my wife's was ice cold literally she ate 1 and left the rest..we should have known something was up as it was her meal plus a ceaser salad ( salad came soaked in dressing was terrible the crispness it use to have was gone) ..the rest of us had our meal half ate when they brought the scallops out finally..so her meal was just a second thought i suppose because she only ordered a second appetizer...I had the steak oscar...been buying it for 20 years ..its now this unappealing looking mini steak with these tiny cocktail shrimp and a couple scallops sitting on your plate like it was just tossed on there..sauce was not like it use to be as well...and no presentation like long ago just dumped on a plate.....chefs need to watch the food network...a steak for a price that has gone up in the last 2 years..way back they use to serve a good steak say 4 to 5 years ago pre covid. Since covid it seems to be more about price and about sucking money out of everyone's pocket and giving less to the customer. The Keg use to be this great restaurant and I believe they are still running on their past accolades but they are not even close any more ...There are so many restaurants I have been ignoring in my area because I always hit the Keg ...Its time I and many others need to start spending our hard earned money elsewhere..as the Keg no longer deserves it to be tottally honest. I can't speak for the other 4 friends we had dinner with but they did mention it was time to move on. Best spend our 500 bucks at a more local establishment who will appreciate it more....as the Keg sure doesnt ...Great wait staff...

We came New Years Eve… The manager thought my husband was “drunk” because he tripped on the stairs and they said he “smelled of booze” - they didn’t believe he only had two liqueur drinks at our home before the restaurant. (This was without even speaking to him). Then three hours later after he had one glass of wine during dinner the manager told the whole table we could not order after-dinner drinks, as the two men attempted to order one alcoholic drink each. Just to give anyone interested a picture, we are in our late 40s/50s, we are all professional in either education and law, so I think we know how to be responsible… and we had three children with us under 12 that we were also responsible for. We finished the amount of ONE bottle of wine between four adults in almost three hours during dinner. We also informed them the women were designated drivers. We were not rowdy or loud at all. I guess acting happy and “smelling like alcohol” for having two drinks ten minutes prior arriving at their restaurant, when you’re not driving on a holiday is not allowed. I guess chatting and hugging the kids at the table while waiting for dinner looked like we were having too much fun on New Years that it had to be stopped three hours later after dinner was completed… (eye roll inserted). I guess accidentally tripping is also not allowed. It made no sense as we were absolutely dumbfounded. The manager had a huge ego and didn’t even consider anything we had to say. He is definitely in need to feel important with his manager muscles. After purchasing six apps, four steak dinners, three child dinners and three desserts that’s how tipping the waitresses $100 that’s how he treated us. The waitress in the lounge was even confused by it. There was absolutely no ambience for the holidays and after asking three times they finally put the count down on the TV for the kids… it was the Nee York countdown which was two hours behind so we had to do the countdown ourselves. I would never go back there again for a holiday or occasion to be disappointed. Much better restaurants within the...