The Keg Steakhouse + Bar - St. John's — Restaurant in St. John's

One thing that I appreciate about reputable brands for chain restaurants is the consistency in the quality of food they deliver. I've never had a bad experience with The Keg restaurants, so I'm sad to report about the negative experience I've had at The Keg in St. John's, NL.

I was there for lunch with my parents in July, during what I imagine was one of the hottest days at St. John's in 2023. It was going to be one of our last meals there, and we were visiting NL for my mom's 60th birthday, so I was really hoping for my parents to have a good experience.

As soon as we were seated, we noticed that the place felt exceptionally warm. We were not notified that the AC for the building with the restaurant was down until we complained to the server, which was after we had placed the order for our food. I have absolutely no complaint about our server - despite the scorching heat inside, she was very attentive and made sure our glasses were filled with cold water at all times. Unfortunately, this did very little to make the dining space comfortable for us.

We ordered surf and turf, a prawns starter, and blackened chicken with prawns as a side for the three of us. Without a doubt, this was the worst food I've ever had at The Keg - everything was overcooked and just bland. And I am not blaming this on the kitchen staff - I am sure they did the best they could while working within what I'd imagine was a pretty unsafe environment from them. If the dining room was already warm for the three of us while we were seated the whole time and sipping on cold water, I can't even imagine how hot the kitchen must have been. It probably wasn't even a safe working environment that is compliant with bylaws/best practices for maintaining a safe working space for employees.

I totally understand that the AC not being functional that day had nothing to do with The Keg. I sympathize with the fact that this is something that's totally out of their control. What I DON'T understand and can't forgive them for is the fact they decided to keep the restaurant open despite the dining area being way too warm and the kitchen probably being too hot to be safe for employees. What annoys me even to this day is that we were not notified of the lack of AC in the building until it was too late. If they had been fully transparent when we got to the reception, we would not have chosen to dine there, and we would have been very grateful for their honesty and their commitment to delivering the best experience they can provide to their customers. I honestly don't understand what drove the management to think it was a good idea to keep the restaurant open in that rather unsafe condition, but there was just nothing good enough to redeem the poor quality of food and the extremely uncomfortable condition of the dining room.

After this experience, I just can't see myself going to any other Keg's restaurants. The poor decision made by the management that day is just astounding and honestly something worth investigating by the corporate office. In any case, I would definitely recommend avoiding this restaurant for any locals or tourists...

The Keg chain of restaurants is typically a great and consistent experience at any of its locations. My visit to the St. John's location was just not a great one, and I decided to get up and leave.

This started with my arrival. The reception staff were not particularly welcoming, and merely acknowledged my reservation. There were no smiles and basically no warmth. I was handed a paging device and that's it.

We went to the bar to have a drink before dinner. This was about 8pm, and moderately busy. Despite sitting down at the bar for about ten minutes, neither of the two bartenders made eye contact with us. We had to call out, and remind them that we wanted to order drinks. My drink is a simple martini with olives. I was told that the bar was out of olives, and they had very few martini glasses (which needed to be washed). We were eventually served, and two uninspired martinis (and a very, very small pour). For a high end steak house, this is really not a great bar experience.

We then were notified that our table upstairs was ready. We were seated at an odd table that was located at the kitchen exit. The table kind of sat out on the floor by itself, and was the only table that had a very bright, somewhat blinding light beaming down onto it. It was an odd table in an odd location. We asked the hostess to move us, and she did. The new table location was better, and a very friendly and helpful server named Peace introduced himself. We opted to have one more round of drinks before ordering, and for one reason or another the drinks were not made correctly.

By this time, we were starting to get hungry, and with the bar delays, seating delays, moving around tables and other reasons, we just weren't interested in staying.

Now, with this review, I cannot comment on the food taste and quality, as we never made it that far. The food was probably very good, and nicely prepared.

Our issue was with the overall flow of service, the management of staff and the lack of welcome feeling. We suspected that much of this was from short staffing issues, and we have a certain amount of compassion and patience in these tougher times.

It's just that we came to The Keg with the intention of having a wonderful evening of good service, welcome service and amazing food and wine. And, we just didn't have that. ...

Decided to take my pregnant wife for dinner after we had a previous bad experience on mother's Day. Here is a timeline of our experience tonight.

Arrived and sat at our table at 4:31pm

Didn't get acknowledged until 4:40pm for any drinks or food order

4:45 she came back for our food and drink order and advised she would bring out some bread.

5:02pm bread came out

5:09pm Drinks and water came out and my double drink was very light on the alcohol and addressed with the waitress. She brought back the drink with another shot at 5:15pm

5:25pm still no apps (spinach and crab dip)

5:29pm apps came out

5:44pm was the first time she came to ask how the app was and seemed to want to take the app dish since we were nibbling.

5:51pm we finished the apps and she didn't take the plate or ask if we wanted a top up of our water.

6:12pm she came over and asked if we wanted more drinks and said just want more water. She was dealing with a table that was experiencing the same issue like ours with long wait and no food.

6:19 meal came out but they were missing my Cesar salad and side dish with the 10oz prime rib.

6:20pm the GM came over and addresses the concern. I told him I have overheard numerous ppl complaining but addressed our issue. He said he would deal with it and said he would be back.

6:25pm I cut into my prime rib as it was to have been med rare but ended up being med well.

6:29pm waitress comes over to ask about meal and advised it's over done but said we have been here for 2 hrs and don't want to wait for a refire.

6:40pm still no GM to come advising he has addressed our order. Previous table that was experiencing same issue was told their whole bill was comp which they had drinks on there, but our waitress comes over saying just our meals was comp but not the alcohol. I was not in the mood to argue and ask why the other table was comp and mine wasn't.

I have to say all I heard was more excuses than resolution while there. Saying short staffed, to training new bar staff to the patio just opening.

Not impressed with how things have gone done. This is now the 2nd back experience...