Say what you want about the Keg, I personally don't mind the place. Sure, it is a chain restaurant and yes, it won't set the culinary world on fire. However, it does the job in terms of my steak-craving and it isn't remarkably-expensive with all things considered. And best of all, it is kid-friendly. Seeing how I haven't been to the place in quite some time (and that I had some GCs), we decided to have dinner at the Granville Island location. This place does bring back memories though as we would have large parties during University. Ah the memories... and why was I eating at chain restaurants all the time? The shame...
Now onto the food... After the obligatory sourdough bread, we had some appies beginning with the Calamari. Although it was plenty crispy, I thought the coating was too bready and dense. The squid itself was soft and tender retaining a slight chew. Of the 2 accompanying dips, I preferred the garlic ginger sauce as it had a nice sesame aroma. Next up was the Crab Cakes made of Atlantic and Dungeness lump crab meat served with dill caper mayo. These were fluffy and moist with only a minimal amount of filler. The exterior was crispy and brown while not particularly greasy. We didn't prefer the mayo as it resembled tartar sauce too much. The cakes were good on their own with a squeeze of lemon.
We also got an order of the Garlic Cheese Toast which featured a thick layer of gooey cheese blend. Naturally, this was greasy from all the cheese and garlic butter. We found the bread to be crunchy and a touch dense, but decent nonetheless. Seeing that they had a Dungeness Crab Mac & Cheese on the featured menu, we got an order hoping the kids would try it. My daughter was game but my son continued on with his wonderful chicken strips... As you can see, there was plenty of fluffy crab on top. We found the noodles to be somewhat toothsome while the sauce was more floury rather than cheesy. It was cheesy-tasting though rather than salty.
Onto our mains, I had the Peppercorn New York Steak with mashed potatoes and green beans. This was prepared medium-rare as requested, hence it was tender and moist. There was a significant peppercorn crust which made the exterior firm and peppery. The sauce itself was thick and sweet. As for the mash, it was somewhat chunky with red potato skin for even more texture. My mom had her go-to dish being the Prime Rib which was also medium-rare. Although a bit dried out in appearance, the meat was sufficiently soft and easy to chew. Her twice-baked potato was also a little dry while the side of mushrooms were small but flavourful.
My dad ended up with the Chicken Oscar that looked rather appetizing with a bevy of seafood and Hollandaise on top. Only a bit past done, the shrimp and scallops were nicely caramelized while the sauce was creamy yet mild. Sadly, the chicken itself was dry and lifeless. Viv went for the Mustard Salmon and predictably, it wasn't very good. The fish was overcooked (and probably cooked too quickly, hence there was far too much albumin on the exterior of the fish. On the other hand, the salmon itself had a nice natural flavour. Too bad the overly tart mustard sauce was overwhelming. Overall, The Keg met expectations in terms of their steaks and equally disappointed (as expected too) with the chicken and salmon.
The Good:
- Steaks are generally on point
- Decent service
- Kid-friendly (if you have kids...)
The Bad:
- Non-steak items are subpar
- A little pricey
The Keg (Granville Island)
Posted by
Sherman Chan
on Monday, August 4, 2014
Labels:
American,
Kid Friendly,
Steakhouse,
Vancouver
1 comments:
I've also felt that The Keg has a step up on other chains around Vancouver when it comes to steaks! The Granville Island locations seems to have been there for ages.
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