Since the Kings Tavern had so many people on local FB groups were raving about how great it was (their shrimp fajitas in particular), I took my wife there last Friday night.
Unfortunately, I was deeply disappointed (by both the Service and the food).
We arrived about 8:30 and were seated in the booth in the far-right corner, which clearly had not been cleaned yet from the previous occupants.
Once seated, the waitress said that she would come back and clean off the table. She did come back and wipe the table off with an old wet rag, which left the table top wet an requiring us to wipe it off with our napkins in order to dry it enough to be able to put our arms down on it.
Then, as were about to order, she came back and said that the band would be setting up beside us in a few minutes and unless we wanted to sit beside the band while they were playing, she would have to move us to another table. She moved us to another booth a couple further down and when she seated us, the table obviously had again not been cleaned from the previous occupants so once seated, she brought the same wet rag back and wiped down the table again.
Even though we are not sticklers about germs, or the virus, this time we were prepared and I went out to my car and brought back a couple left over wet wipes to wipe off the table. The alcohol in the wet wipes was sufficient to quickly dry off (and disinfect) the table.
A few minutes later, our waitress came back to take our drink order. My wife ordered a glass of dry white wine. Our waitress asked if she wanted a chardonnay and my wife replied that would be fine, as long as it was dry. The waitress indicated that if my wife wanted a dry white, she might be better off with a glass of the pinot, which my wife said would be fine.
I ordered a margarita with no salt, which is my favourite cocktail. The waitress asked if I wanted that made with tequila or vodka. I had never heard of a Margarita being made with vodka before but I guess if you don't like the taste of tequila, that might be an option. When the drinks arrived, my margarita arrived in a martini glass with salt on the rim. I reminded our waitress that I had ordered it without salt and she brought me another without salt. Since it was served a martini glass, it was the smallest margarita I have ever been served anywhere in my life, bar none.
I ended up ordering the fajitas, since that seemed to be the most talked about dish in the FB comments.
When our food arrived, my fajitas came with 6 large shrimp, 6 tortillas and a side plate of 5-6 different toppings to add if I wanted. This was a pleasant surprise, compared to the 4 tortillas and 2-3 toppings you occasionally get when you order shrimp fajitas at some restaurants.
However, the shrimp all still had their tails on and despite trying to remove them with my fingers, I still managed to get some in my first 2 fajitas.
I was a bit surprised by this, as I don't believe I have ever been served shrimp fajitas where the shrimp still had their tails on. But it is what it is, so I peeled the tails of the rest of the shrimp as I made each fajita.
We managed to flag down our waitress while she was walking by and indicated that the shrimp all still had their tails on. She replied that all of their shrimp dishes come the same way, even the coconut shrimp.
As the band started to play, we noticed that they had set up in the same corner as where we were originally seated, instead of beside it
Since we were done our meals, we asked for the bill and the waitress asked if we would be paying with cash or plastic. I said plastic, so she returned with both the bill and the terminal. I was pleasantly surprised to see how reasonable the bill was. Since the printout still had the name CJ Barleys at the top, I asked whether it was still the same restaurant with a new name, or an entirely different restaurant. The waitress assured me that it was an entirely new restaurant and they simply hadn't had an opportunity to change the name on all the software yet (despite having been open for more than 2 months? I later discovered that it actually is still CJ Barleys but they changed the name).
My wife took the opportunity to let the waitress know that although coconut shrimp are usually sold with their tails on so you have something to hold onto as you eat them. However, in any dish containing shrimp which do not require you to hold the shrimp, they typically arrive with the tails off. The waitress thanked us for the info and said that she would pass it along to the chef.
With 2 drinks, 2 mains, 2 desserts, tax and a 15% tip, the total was under $100, which is pretty rare these days.
Our take away from dining at the Kings Tavern was that they have very small cocktails and reasonably good food at a very good price. read more
