Monks Kettle reviewed

[zane9]

Here's another item from blogTO.

The food review was the focus of this item, but this little nugget caught my eye (from the reviewer):

"After analyzing the beer menu, I ordered a pint of the Hoptical Illusion, $6.75. The server arched his eyebrows and suggested I may prefer something lighter. Uh, nope. I'm a pretty seasoned beer drinker, and although I neatly fit into the Cosmo demographic, I love beer. I politely told him that I knew what I was ordering and he complied. My partner selected a pint of the Mad Tom, also $6.75, and he basically got a high five for ordering something the waiter liked."

This is just so wrong. The server needs better training.

I had a similar experience in the Fynn's of Temple Bar just before Beer Week. Augusta ale was the "guest tap". This bar has such a poor choice of beers that I was pleased to see the Augusta, and ordered it. The bartender proceed to tell me (and anyone else listening) that he didn't like it and why anyone else would was beyond him. I hadn't asked him for an opinion.

I'm sure that over time, that guest tap became the "orphan tap".

[thelynchfella]

Interesting review...I hope the owners take it on board. To raise your eyebrows at somebody's choice of beer stinks of snobbery, and isn't acceptable. I hope the bar doesn't go down the snobbery route but it seems to be threatening to do just that. I used to work there, the bar has such potential, I really hope it lives up to it!!! I can see more reviews like that one though sadly!

[Pub Style]

I've been there a number of times since it opened and I've never once had a bad experience. The food that we've ordered has been good and the service has been great.

I'm heading there again tomorrow for two meetings.

[GregClow]

The wife and I went for lunch one day soon after it opened. We found the food to not great, not awful, just a bit above average.

We also thought that the food menu was a bit of a mess in terms of what was featured, offering an odd variety of items that seemed to lack focus, especially for a place that seemed to be aiming for a "gastropub" vibe.

So while I normally take blogTO reviews with a massive boulder of salt, I could see at least some of their complaints being valid based on my visit.

[JeffPorter]

There's also definately a level of sexism at work here too.

Just because this reviewer was female, the bartender idiotically assumed that she wouldn't like Hoptical Illusion (not the most difficult beer to drink by the way).

This has happened to my wife and I where bartenders suggest Mill Street Organic or something because they assume women only like light lagers.

Often good servers are great at making suggestions to people by letting them know what the beer tastes like...(whether or not the "pallet" of flavours is "wide"*)

But if someone knows what they want, well, they should either stick to something like "excellent choice, sir/ma'am" or probably not say anything at all.



*ok, I'm done with this joke now, I promise.

[JerCraigs]

There's also definately a level of sexism at work here too.
Just because this reviewer was female, the bartender idiotically assumed that she wouldn't like Hoptical Illusion (not the most difficult beer to drink by the way).

This is not necessarily sexism, I have been a number of places where I was cautioned after ordering the IPA (particularly at brewpubs actually). I think partly this is a response to having had an issue in the past with people not liking it (aka. not knowing what they were ordering)

This seems a less likely response though given the reaction to the Mad Tom described in the review. Either way, asking "You know that this is fairly bitter and happy, yes?" is a bit less rude than offering something else.

[JeffPorter]

Perhaps - but as a man, I've never had it suggested that I might like something "lighter".

[JerCraigs]

We went tonight. Its a pretty nice spot, service was pretty decent for the most part. We had the burger and a carpaccio salad, both of which were pretty good. Mabel found the salad tasty but quite rich, I enjoyed the burger. The bun was great, the burger was more of a "baseball'/meatball shape rather than a flatter patty which is my own preference. Didn't affect the taste but made it prone to falling apart. Half my fries were great and half slightly potatoey/undercooked.

Beer list was pretty decent, we had a couple Sawdust city, Nutcracker, and Mad Tom between the two of us.

Noticed some fruit flies as described in the review, kind of off-putting but easily fixed I would think. Overall I'd definitely come back if I am out that way but probably wouldn't make a special trip.

[Sil]

We went a couple weeks ago and found the service to be stellar, but the food to be just OK and my portion of pasta was too small to even make sense for the price. I never finish a meal, but I finished it and was stealing hubby's fries and asking about dessert. The dessert was pretty good, I'll say.

I'm happy to see decent beer in the area, but I'd be more inclined to return for drinks than a meal.

[Droogy]

any current impressions of this place?