Ottawa Foodies

The Keg Manor location is a nice change from the usual. Food is your standard steakhouse fare, but makes for a nice filling meal without putting a huge dent in your pocket.

Steaks are always good, the garlic mashed potatoes are incredible and worth going for them alone and the caesar salad is really good too. It's nothing exciting I suppose but it's good classic steakhouse fare. It's a little pricey but worth it for a special occasion.

We went to the Keg Hunt Club for an anniversary dinner (so money was not a factor in our menu selections).... we chose the 'seasonal' steak and lobster for one and the other dinner was steak and crab on top with melted cheese on bottom. The service and meal was excellent. The Lobster on the one dish was the best cooked lobster I've ever had, even compared to down east...seriously that lobster must have been walking around minutes before we ate it! (sad but true!).. The crab on top of the steak wasn't the best, it certainly wasn't chunk crab it was very very shredded. The PC can's of chunk crab that came out as a new product had better looking/tasting crab that was on top of that steak.

We also had a bottle of red wine. The bill without dessert and one order of calamari (which was excellent)... came to I believe 110-120 before tip. The meals themselves were 26-28$ range. The steak was cooked perfectly on one and a little undercooker on the other.

The waitress was so fast that when I ordered a coffee it came within 60 seconds (had that foamy stuff on top so I guess it was out of one of those thermos thingies that places use now).

All in all, we'd go back, but would have to be for special occaision because a little pricey for more often.

The patio also looks nice too, a little too caged in for some people's taste, all fenced in with glass surrounding.

I agree with Dria. I have been to the Keg(Market) recently and my first experience was positive. It's not the best restaurant in the city in terms of "novel cousine" but their steaks are really good. I like light salads(without junk dressing) and at the Keg I got a good light salad. No complaint with their service: waitress was very courteous and professional.
It's a standard decent steak house.

Great, reliable restaurant with solid service and great (not superlative, but consistently above-par) food at reasonable prices. I've been to the Keg dozens of times (Market + Manor locations) and cannot recall being disappointed a single time. This is a standard "special without being ridiculously expensive" dinner out. The Keg-size pre-dinner Caesars are worth it.

I hate to sound like a steak snob, but I love my meat:) We regularly BBQ and cook various cuts at home and have tried steak at many restaurants in Ottawa.

The Keg is very hit and miss. I like my steak rare to blue and I never order steak there anymore because I have frequently gotten overcooked meals or lots of gristle. I think because they are a chain, they do not get the best selection of meats and are not aged well. They also do not hire top end career chefs who pride themselves in excellent preparation of the meat. I now always stick with the prime rib and ask for the rarest piece when I go.

I have found that if you want a good quality marbled and aged steak you need to go to a smaller, higher-end restaurant (there are some that seem to have good relations with the better butchers and get priority on the better supply)...or a good butcher and cook it yourself. The Keg is not the place for quality. I go there with large groups because they can handle that, esp if a bit rowdier (eg. sports teams).

Must have been a bad night - For a real treat if you like your steak med to med rare, try the Baseball Sirloin and have them cook it Chicago style ...it will be the best steak you have tried.

JDK

Can I put a question out to the group? The last time I was at a Keg (in Toronto), I ordered one of the top sirloin cuts.

It was almost inedibly tough. I realize that the sirloin, especially the top cuts, are tougher, but I wasn't expecting it to have the consistency of shoe leather. And this was rare.

I don't go to steakhouses normally, since I just cook them at home, so I don't know if I should have complained about it or just expected it. Have other people had this experience, or did I get a bad night?

The filets here are nice sized piece of meat, and that of adequate quality. I like the side of bernaise sauce.

Last time I was here I foolishly had our server bring the group of us a 2nd helping it was so good. Needless to say by the time the main course came around I was stuffed!

Warm, crusty sourdough, slathered with butter. Forget the steak.. gimme more bread! ;-)

Really enjoyed the caesar salad here although I'm thinking it didn't have bacon which is a shame. The shaved parmesan was great though! Overall a really tasty caesar compared to most that I have tried.