The Keg Steakhouse + Bar - King West — Restaurant in Toronto

I have been to countless restaurants in over 30 countries I visited but never seen service this bad. Horrible! Servers were the worst because, in my opinion, the restaurant management is terrible! Here is the story. My brother and I went to Keg in King West for dinner at around 7pm on June 30. No reservations. Nice greeting at the entrance. We were seated next to the fireplace. Again nice, although it was 27c outside, temperature inside was ok. Restaurant was half empty. It was really dark inside. Table lamp lost power. We got another one. Its battery also died in a few minutes. So dark, we cannot read the menu without the lamp. Another lamp was brought. Its light was weak but we managed to read the menu. We ordered two appetizers - salad and escargot. A glass of Malbec(very good), soda and two steaks - prime rib and rib steak. 10 minutes after our order, complimentary bread was served together with my wine and my brother’s coke. My brother’s salad came a few minutes later. 20 minutes passed, but no sign of my escargot. My brother could not wait and began to eat. When my brother finished his salad and I finished half of the bread, I asked the server to cancel my escargot. The server said, it went to a wrong table and thats why it never made to ours! Another 20 minutes passed and finally the steaks came and by this time, my wine was finished. I complained to the server about the service. She did not apologize and said, it is too busy, and I said, the restaurant is half empty and I dont buy that excuse. She responded “for the money I am making, this is the best service you can get”! Unbelievable!!! Then a man who claimed to be the restaurant manager came and apologized and said he wont charge me for my rib steak and I said, I dont want a free dinner, but I want good service. And I ordered another glass of wine to eat with my steak. Steak was not exceptional but it was good. 10-15 minutes later, after I ate half of my steak, a new server with a sullen face, as if she did not want to serve us, brought my glass of wine. We finished our meal and asked for the bill. The server with the sullen face brought the bill and we saw that they did not charge for my steak and one glass of wine. It was nice and I told my brother, who was paying, to leave a good tip although the service was not good. As my brother was paying with his card, to cheer her up a little bit and put a smile on her face, I asked the server “are you having a good day?” She goes “ I was until now!” Can you believe this???? I got really mad! I could not help myself and responded a bit rude. I am guessing, the previous server was taken away from serving our table because of our complaint and this new server, probably she is the other one’s friend, developed kind of a grudge against us. I asked for the manager again. This time a lady manager came. Instead of apologizing, she said, you cannot talk to our servers like this. I told her what the server told me, and she could not say a word after that. And I asked her to give a refund of the tip my brother paid because the servers did not deserve a single dollar. She tried to reverse the tip on the machine but somehow she could not do it. We’ve already lost...

Writing here again a year later...I want to preface that I was a manager for a Keg 20 years ago (not this location), and was a General Manager for one of Canada's top restaurants. Having said that, I am truly in awe of how amazing your staff is. This staff at the King location is truly commendable (FOH and BOH) and I hope you show them this review and applaud them. I will be sharing this with your Head Office as well. This is the only Keg location I go to, strictly because of the consistency of food, service and general ambiance (I'm here at least twice a week). I've worked at a Michelin star restaurant, and your staff has exceeded some. Every experience I've had here has been constantly great, however tonight's experience was above and beyond and I want to shout out why: From Melanie (host) casually and genuinely physically moving a table so we could sit near the fireplace for a better experience (we casually mentioned "if possible" in our online reservation request and she said "oh no its my pleasure" and she literally had bent over backwards to do this with a smile on her face). Yas was one of the best servers I've ever had (unobtrusive yet always seemed to know when to come back and offer assistance or a refill). The kitchen manager/Chef who tonight (and I've seen him do this several times over the past few months) came out and served our appetizer personally because it seemed he just wanted to be part of the experience, never once wanted recognition/ mentioned who he was, but I recognized him. I know first hand how hard it is in this industry right now to find great staff who aren't jaded and truly bleed hospitality because they genuinely care. With so much competition out there, its remarkable. This crew at the King location is absolutely the best in the business. Thank you for everything you do, it's a team effort and it shows. Thank you to all of you, please know your hard efforts are not going unnoticed and you are exceptional.

Absolutely exceptional (and I'm in the industry so therefore picky). I also am a former Keg employee from 15 years ago (so even more picky). I have always supported the Keg, but have had recent bad experiences at other locations and really want to commend the FOH and BOH at this location, specifically because the food was exceptional, and I really want to call attention and kudos to one of the best servers I've ever encountered in my 25 year career (and I'm a fine dining manager). Maha was INCREDIBLE!! What an expectionally genuine, experienced, well attentive server! She nailed it (above and beyond) EVERY" Keg standard. We will be coming back weekly (and asking for her). Kudos to this location, as a former employee, this is an incredible BOH and FOH team and truly a team effort and thank you for such an amazing Tuesday...

A very disappointing experience. I went to The Keg with a $250 gift card looking forward to splurging.

Our servers were great but the food quality was not up to keg standards. I double checked that the prime rib was coming off medium rare before ordering that + a lobster tail and mashed potatoes for my dinner.

When the prime rib arrived it was objectively medium well and dry. I politely brought it up to the server and then panic ordered a new steak (New York strip medium rare) which really was not what I wanted. I proceeded to eat the lobster tail by itself while waiting for the other steak to came out which when it arrived was A) just a steak on the plate (not a new meal) and B) very rare (not medium rare).

At this point I was super disappointed and honestly shocked that I had to even ask for a manager to come over. This isn’t something I enjoy doing and not how I want to spend my evening at a restaurant. I never want to make a server feel uncomfortable or get anyone in trouble. I was just feeling genuinely disappointed in the quality of food.

The manager came over and I explained to her my disappointment and that I felt bad having to complain and she barely apologized but said she would take the meal off my cheque and I could get an appetizer free of charge. I chose the baked garlic shrimp with 2 brioche buns.

The manager brought out the baked garlic shrimp and I was shocked to see that both the buns were burnt. At this point I didn’t have it in me to complain yet again but truly felt like I was being trolled. The manager just didn’t seem to care about my experience.

When it was finally time to pay I was shocked to see that the lobster tail was still on our bill but, again, I didn’t have it in me to make another complaint - I felt like a nuisance. We had to wait for another manager to come over and do the payment with our gift cards as our server didn’t know how and this new manager honestly wasn’t very friendly either.

For a table that had multiple issues with their food (objective issues, I was not complaining about small things. Both my steaks were cooked incorrectly), the level of care from management was minimal at best.

I worked at the keg for five years and I know this is not the standard of service they’re supposed to give. This was supposed to be a fun anniversary dinner and we both left with low energy and...