Keg and Barrel West — Restaurant in Hattiesburg

No parking was available on Sunday afternoon, brunch time. We parked across the street at the mall parking lot and walked back across to the restaurant. I saw others do this also. There was about a 20 minute wait for 2 of us to be seated and appeared to be quite a few other would-be patrons waiting as well, as the entry-way was full of people sitting and waiting. Because the main entrance area was full of people, we waited outside along with others.

To start, we ordered the Three Cheese Crab Dip and the Elote Oysters. The server brought small plates and crackers prior to delivering those items to our table. The plates were dirty, greasy (see video) and had to be mentioned to our server to be replaced by clean ones.

The Elote Oysters were a unique take on broiled oysters and came plated well, with a slice of lime, on top of what appeared to be rock salt. The oysters themselves were small and pretty well hidden under the corn & toppings. They were OK.

I really liked the cheesy crab dip. I'd say it was our favorite dish of the visit. It was hot, tasty and came with a good amount of pita bread triangles for dipping. I'd definitely order that again.

We ordered the Keg & Barrel Burger and the Redfish w/ veggies & cheese grits. I wasn't impressed with the burger really. The double patties (I think previously frozen) were dry, sort of tough and bland tasting. The large onion rings that came on the burger were just from frozen onion rings that were over-cooked. The best part of the burger, in my opinion, is the jalapeño bun. That being said.. the bun being better than the actual beef/burger seems like a mis-match or missed opportunity to really have something attractive there. The redfish was also over-cooked, a little tougher than it really should be. Maybe it was previously frozen as well, possibly just over-cooked as stated. That was unfortunate. Redfish is one of our favorites when cooked properly. Best part of that dish was the hot, cooked veggies (squash & broccoli). The cheese grits weren't bad, but a little bland.

Overall, I feel like the restaurant presents itself well, clean & inviting. They're doing good business in there, obviously, due to the popularity and amount of customers inside and those even willing to wait to dine inside. But, I feel like the food quality doesn't match what people seem to be buying into. It's wrapped in a pretty bow, but the contents aren't what I think we expected here. It really wasn't anything special, rather advertised like it could be, but isn't. It's just OK. I, personally, wouldn't be willing to be on a waitlist again...

I gotta say that I'm not in the habit of leaving bad reviews (especially as restaurants struggle with all the Covid-19 issues), but I find it hard to let this one go. So let me explain...

I decided to go to the Keg and Barrel West for dinner because I saw that they posted a pic of their catfish platter on Facebook. So we get there and are seated right away. The restaurant was very clean and looked spectacular. The waitstaff was very friendly. So anyway, I figured we start with an order of kettle chips because the Keg and Barrel has awesome ones... turns out that only the other Keg and Barrel serves them. Why???

So we ordered some tortilla chips and queso instead. It was OK. I then asked about the catfish platter because I didn't see it on the menu. Turns out it's only available for lunch. The waiter nicely said he would see if the kitchen would make a couple of platters for us anyway... the kitchen said no.

Now you'd think that a restaurant would be more accommodating since business isn't the best right now, but no matter. We weren't going to give up just yet. I ordered a Ruben with fries and my son ordered the shrimp tacos. My son said that the shrimp tacos were ok, but my ruben was the worst one I've ever had. I mean it was terrible! I spent 21 years in the Army, so I've had some bad food before, but this ranks up there as one of the worst. It tasted overcooked and old. Like really old.

So that's it. I still tipped the waiter nicely (33%). None of this was his fault, and he was great. I probably won't go back to the West location again after this. The main location is obviously the better one of the two, but a note to whoever runs this restaurant...

The bad:

Don't post pictures of food that you're not willing to serve.

Serve a menu that's consistent with both restaurants (ie. kettle chips).

Consider better supervision on whoever was in charge of the kitchen tonight. My food was terrible, and shouldn't have left the kitchen like that.

The good:

The waitstaff was fantastic. Take care of them.

The restaurant itself was very clean, attractive, and has a great look. Sitting outside was very nice too.

I had one Purple Haze....

You would think if you had to wait 30 minutes to have your order taken after your appetizer, and another 45 mins for your dinner it might actually be good..or that your waiter wouldn't stand there and wait for you to pay your ticket making eye contact the whole time not smiling while asking if you want to keep the change...nor say thank you even once despite still getting an 18 and 20 percent tip. Idk what the difference is between this location and the pupbar of the same name on hardy st. but they are day and night different leagues. The roast beef fries here were.....so bland, saugy, and overcooked it was actually impressive. I took the goat cheese off the chicken pesto pizza and it still had way too much going on, why do I need actual puddles of balsamic vinaigrette on my pizza...wouldn't a light drizzle suffice if it even belongs on pizza to begin with and I'm really not sure it does... My husband's waffles had pieces of burnt food from the waffle press stuck to it..I'm sure noone could've taken a second in that 45 minute wait to pick the things off before presenting them to us...and the chicken was dry as a brick (completey opposite from keg and barrel on hardy) My friend ordered the weakest unsweetened tea I've ever tasted. One drop of tea per one cup of water apparently and waiter couldn't be bothered to refill it or any of our drinks more than once the entire almost 2 hours we were there. It wasn't even busy, and on a Saturday afternoon at that, which should've been my first red flag I guess but I thought atleast the food would be fast and service would be attentive or friendly. Either would have done.. We were all highly underwhelmed and confused how this location could be so terrible compared to the hardy st location which we love. This place needs some of whatever they have over there that keeps their food good, fast, and keeps their...