Downtown Kitchen — Restaurant in Canton

Early dinner at 5:30 on Friday night, no reservation. Restaurant wasn’t full but there were several tables seated when we entered.

Due to reservations the host couldn’t accommodate our two-top in the main dining room, but invited us to walk out and around to the adjacent building and take the elevator up to the second story dining room. We did.

Greeted and seated by the host after a few minutes, then quickly greeted by our server. We ordered calamari and I ordered a glass of Petite-Petit, which was unfortunately warmer than room temperature. My wife doesn’t drink alcohol, and our server made her a nonalcoholic juice cocktail that she enjoyed.

The calamari was exceptional, with tiny tendrils and delicate rings, crispy and light, piping hot, and served with tomato and Asian sweet chili sauces on the side. Best calamari I’ve had in a long time.

Side salads came next—Kitchen Salad—which was in spite of its “everything-but-the” name, was only mesclun greens, cherry tomatoes, a thick-cut ring of red onion, and a tablespoon of crunchy bacon. Very plain and average, but the blue cheese dressing was nice.

Bread came during the salad course: rough chopped bread with a thick dark red sauce. The bread was stale and chewy and the sauce was oddly halfway between a vinaigrette and a marinara. We tasted but didn’t eat it.

Her fried green tomatoes came with micro greens and crumbled goat cheese. There were chunky congealed spoonfuls of strawberry balsamic jelly all over the top. It was unfortunately a detractor from the nicely fried tomatoes underneath.

Entrees were beautiful. My steak was cooked absolutely perfectly, with a crust on the outside I could hear as my steak knife easily sliced through the tender filet. It was mouth-meltingly tender… and unbelievably salty. Salty to the point I thought I must have just gotten a particularly heavy dose on one corner of the steak. I turned it and cut again. Equally beautiful, equally crusty, equally tender, and just as mouth-puckeringky salty. No pepper, no herbs, no garlic or any other kind of flavor. Just lots and lots of salt. I poured the Demi-glace over it—which it shouldn’t have needed at all—but it couldn’t offset the overpowering salinity of that steak.

The mashed potatoes were over salted too, and so liquidy that they sagged between the tines of my fork as I took a bite. Bland but salty, and more like a scoop in a cafeteria than a side for a $60+ dollar steak.

After the third bite I couldn’t do it and pushed everything to the side of the table and drank my second glass of warm red wine. My wife scraped a quarter cup of excess jelly onto the edge of her plate so she could finish her tomatoes.

Our server asked if I wanted a box for my uneaten food and I told him it was unfortunately inedible. He thanked me for letting him know but did not apologize. It was left on my tab and no mention was made of it again.

Thankfully desserts were nice. The peanut butter pie and pistachio cheesecake were both delicious.

It’s disappointing—I don’t care that a manager or chef didn’t come to speak with me. But there was no apology, no offer to remake it or bring me something else, and I paid for most of a very nice steak and its side that was ruined before it came out of the kitchen, and mostly uneaten when it went back into it.

I don’t know if my second glass of wine not being on the check was an oversight, or a small nod to my experience…

There is potential here, but enough obvious things out of line as well that make it a place I can’t recommend or see myself...

My wife and I were celebrating our 13th wedding anniversary, and I wanted to surprise her with a different restaurant. I randomly chose Downtown Kitchen because it was a place that nobody in our family had been before. We were happy to see that the dress code was casual. I have never been to a restaurant with an elevator with 3 floors. Our table was on the 2nd floor and we found that interesting as well as fun. The hostess seated us at our table, and we had plenty of time to look over the menu. The prices were not bad because we usually go to that lobster place with the red building and their prices are up there. Our server Aiden was vary friendly and vary knowledgeable of the items on the menu and especially on the specials, which was what we mostly wanted. My wife and I both ordered salads, and we had the lamb skewer as an appetizer, and it was so good. For our meal, my wife ordered the lamb chops with sweet potato chips, and I ordered the sword fish with the pea goulash. Both of these were so good, and we shared with each other. The flavor of everything was fantastic. We were full but still was eating because the flavor was so yummy. If you're searching for a different restaurant that's not too upscale, then you have to try the Downtown Kitchen. It was a fantastic experience. My wife enjoyed it so much that she still talks about it to all her friends and family. Thank you so much

We loved Downtown Kitchen so much our 13th anniversary that we decided to return for our 14th anniversary also. The place was fantastic even though we didn't get to eat upstairs like last time (the upstairs floors are only operated on Fridays and Saturdays). We still had a lovely time. This time, I tried the red fish special. It was cooked tender, and it had a blackend skin that was so good. My wife had the trout almondine (which surprised me because she usually orders the salmon when we eat fish). We usually share each other's meals so we don't eye one another's items, and let me tell you that both of them were very good. We both had the Ceasar salads, and mine had more green leafs than hers, so we traded. We don't know if we will go there for our 15th anniversary because we are planning on re-doing our wedding vows next year. I don't remember our waitress name, but I think it was Sharon, and she was vary attentive to all our needs. She knew the specials which I chose from. Everyone and everything was fantastic. We highly recommend this...

We were looking for a place to host a graduation party for my twin daughters. We came across Downtown Kitchen which rents out their upstairs restaurant for events such as ours. The room is nicely sized for our anticipated 45 guests, and includes a bar, and all the tables, etc. that the restaurant normally uses. The best aspect about using DTK was they provide all the food from their restaurant downstairs. There was an elevator to the 2nd floor, so access was not a problem. Our event was planned for 5:30pm, but they let us in early to decorate. Facility rating - 5 out of 5 stars!

Food: Just Excellent! We picked from a menu, but the chef adjusted a couple of dishes for us based on our preferences. The food is served buffet style, but they don't bring up all the food at once and set it over Bunsen burners. Instead, they bring up fresh dishes and monitor the levels. As one dish starts to get low, they cook more portions and bring them up. The food was always fresh! As for taste - our guests raved about the food! Delicious! Food rating - 5 out of 5 stars!

Service: From our first contact with Mike L about a year ago, all the way through the event itself, their staff provided outstanding service. Mike made the planning easy, and accommodated us on several occasions when we wanted to come out and review the venue again. He was completely upfront about all costs, rules, and procedures. At the event itself, the staff (Nick, Nick, & Nicole) was friendly, professional, easy to work with, and never left us waiting to get service. Service / Staff - 5 out of 5 stars!

If we ever have cause for another family event, my first phone call...