A few weeks ago, I was approached by the owners of The Purple Heather to write a short piece for an upcoming issue of a local magazine focused on Burlington, Oakville and Mississauga.
Flattered, I happily accepted and we went to the restaurant for dinner one evening. Sampling a few items from the current menu to getting a sneak peek at the upcoming winter menu, I even got to meet the chef! Armed with a full belly and a Blackberry full of notes, I went home to put all my thoughts into coherent words.
I'm so very pleased to say that you can now see what I wrote in the November/December issue of West of the City - available at Chapters/Indigo and Whole Foods. I'm on page 145!
So thankful for the opportunity and so happy with the result! Amazing what an impulsive idea a year ago has given me!
Kelsey's
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I think one of the main attractions to chain restaurants is a sense of consistency – in menu offerings, decor/ambiance and service. When you go to one location here, you kind of know what to expect if you go to another location there. We’ve never had any major issues with Kelsey’s, so when we were out and about in Milton, we decided it would be a pretty safe choice for dinner.
First off, this particular location is probably one of the nicest looking Kelsey’s that I’ve been in. I assume that it’s pretty new, or it has recently gone under major renovations, because it’s gorgeous in there. They have certainly upped the classiness factor in their decor and layout of the dining room.
The night we went happened to be their wing promotion night – half off wings all day – so the restaurant was loud and busy. We were seated pretty quickly and managed to get a table in a small dining area apart from the main room (so that made it a bit easier to have a conversation over the loud drone in the big room). Our server was friendly and we placed our order/got our drinks surprisingly quick.
We decided to share a few items instead of getting larger entrees, and we started with the Ranch Chips. The description promised crispy, hot chips drizzled with ranch sauce, bacon and cheese – kind of like a baked potato but with chips. What we got was a greasy mess that was almost inedible. The chips were soft, cold and soggy with oil, made soggier with a disturbing amount of ranch dressing. There was hardly and bacon, but what was there was cold as well. I really didn’t enjoy this – and according to the menu on the website, it’s no longer a menu item. To that, I say, good riddance!
Another item we ordered that I can’t find on the online menu was the Pulled Pork Pizza: thin crust with barbeque sauce, pulled pork, cheese and chives. The sauce was overwhelmingly sweet, and the pork was sparse. It wasn’t horrible, but it got tiring very quickly because it was so sweet. Although not on the current menu, there is a Barbeque Chicken Pizza in its place. I would clarify that the sauce wasn’t the same before I ordered it, though.
Of course we couldn’t go on wing night and not order wings, so we tried the Honey Garlic. The wings came out lukewarm (not hot at all, but not quite cold) with a sliver of carrot and a sliver of celery. They were coated nicely in the sauce so that the whole wing was saucy without it being so sticky you didn’t want to touch it (even though I eat my wings with a fork....what? Normal people do that!!) They weren’t anything earth-shattering, but they were decent.
Until a couple of wings into our order I bit into a wing and realised that it was a little too pink for my liking. So I put that wing down and tried another...and it was maybe even a little more pink than the first one. I am all for a bit of pink in red meat, but chicken scares me, and I wasn’t comfortable eating anymore wings after that. To Kelsey’s credit, our server was very apologetic and took away the wings immediately. A manager came by and also apologized and took them off our bill as well.
Since the service was quite good and they sincerely apologized, the next time we were in Milton we actually decided to go back for a second try. Again, the restaurant was extremely busy as it happened to be a Thursday again. Unfortunately, this time we didn’t get too far past our appetizer because of two reasons:
1) The service was really, really slow. It took nearly an hour for us to get our appetizer after waiting for nearly half an hour for a table. There were lots of staff walking back and forth and apologizing for the wait, but nothing seemed to be coming out of the kitchen in a timely manner.
2) When we finally received our order (7 Layer Dip) it was cold. Not room temperature or lukewarm, but straight-from-the-fridge cold in the middle and the cheese on top was actually starting to harden. Not sure if they pre-make the dips and pop them in the fridge, but someone forgot to put ours in the oven to warm up.
Again, our server was apologetic and the manager came by to give us the meal on the house as well as his personal card with an offer for free wings next time we came back. I can honestly say that although they are apologetic, that was two incidences that I’m not sure warrants a third – free wings or not. A good restaurant should have good service, absolutely – but to consistently have to apologize for the kitchen? I’d say there are bigger problems that need to be addressed there. So, thank you for the free wings Kelsey’s – maybe one day. Maybe.
1) The service was really, really slow. It took nearly an hour for us to get our appetizer after waiting for nearly half an hour for a table. There were lots of staff walking back and forth and apologizing for the wait, but nothing seemed to be coming out of the kitchen in a timely manner.
2) When we finally received our order (7 Layer Dip) it was cold. Not room temperature or lukewarm, but straight-from-the-fridge cold in the middle and the cheese on top was actually starting to harden. Not sure if they pre-make the dips and pop them in the fridge, but someone forgot to put ours in the oven to warm up.
Again, our server was apologetic and the manager came by to give us the meal on the house as well as his personal card with an offer for free wings next time we came back. I can honestly say that although they are apologetic, that was two incidences that I’m not sure warrants a third – free wings or not. A good restaurant should have good service, absolutely – but to consistently have to apologize for the kitchen? I’d say there are bigger problems that need to be addressed there. So, thank you for the free wings Kelsey’s – maybe one day. Maybe.
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