Kingston Taphouse & Grille

It looks nice inside. There is a pub side attached to a dining room side. We sat in the pub side in a cool wooden window nook. I ordered the bbq chicken burger, fries and a salad. The fries were soooo salty! And the burger was bland, it was also made with a frozen pressed chicken breast. Our waitress didn’t check on us to ask how our meal tasted.
Looks can be deceiving!

I love this joint! Close to my place, this chalet-​style restaurant makes you feel like you are right at home! They even have a fireplace you can turn on. I had the eggs benny! Would definitely recommend it. The service was great and if you needed anything adjusted, they would not hesitate for you. Cheers!

We chose this place today as we wanted to try something different. We looked at the menu online before coming in and thought the prices were great and cheap, so we made our way there.
The décor was cozy, and the place is quite big so when we arrived we had lots of seats to choose from. I believe the Brunch menu was new, so I chose the Basic Breakfast — and only for $ 8! Pretty amazing, AND the plate was massive. Very yummy.
The only thing I would suggest is offering fruit as a side — I was pretty surprised to see they didn’t offer that for brunch… I think it’s a standard.
Overall, great place!

You know what, this is one of those places that I always wrote off because I, for some weird reason, thought it was one of those fancy schmancy places (think Gothams). But on a random Sunday afternoon, the boyfriend and I decided to go out for a nice lunch (aka I was lazy and he was hung over). We headed over to the Kingston on a whim. Much to my surprise, it was not as schmoozy as I had thought — it was a nice, comfortable English bar-​type feel and a bigger restaurant attached on the other side. Not expecting much, I ordered the sausage linguini and a winter ale to wash it down with. Listen, maybe because I didn’t put a standard on the meal, or maybe cause it was that damn good, but this pasta dish was honestly the best tasting dish I’ve had in a very long time. The ingredients just married into eachother effortlessly and my tastebuds were dancing. It was incredible. The service was attentive and quick. And there’s free pool downstairs (but the tips were missing, so playing with a stick & plastic tip proved to be challenging). Sausage linguini, I’ll be back for you. Promise.

My wife and I went for a few drinks here last night and had the best bartender ever. The entire staff was great to us and we had a great time. I would definitely recommend coming here and pregame it or stay the entire evening.

We came here for a few drinks and bites before heading over to the BC Lions game tonight, and it was a pleasant experience. I came here mainly for their maple and black pepper chicken wings ($ 13), and let me tell you, they are to DIE for, so obviously we ordered a plate. The wings came out piping hot, very nice and crispy and glazed with an amazing maple sauce. When you bite into it, you get a sweet crispy wing, akin to honey garlic wings but much better as the pepper flavour shines through and is a great contrast to the sweet maple. I can’t even describe how good it is. Always a delight!
We also ordered some dry ribs ($ 10) to share for the table and they were average. Nicely fried, semi crispy and pretty decent sized rib pieces. The chili sauce it came with was wayyyyy too salty though, as I dipped my first piece into it and was hit with such a strong salt flavour it felt like I just drank a tablespoon of salt. My subsequent bites were good as I made sure to only dip the edges into the chili sauce, but just slightly, and that was the perfect amount. My boyfriend however seemed to like the sauce, and he mentioned he would have double dipped if we didn’t have others in company. He does like salty things though and I find much of his taste way too salty for me, so go figure.
Lastly my boyfriend and I shared the angus burger. It was pretty average, nothing too special. It had a very strong char flavour, and personally not to my liking but he seemed to enjoy it. The portion size is huge though, not the burger itself per say but the entire meal. The burger came with a side of fries AND a bowl of Caesar salad. Now that’s a first! Decent Caesar and decent price. For $ 13 you can’t really complain.
Overall a good place to check out, and their raspberry Moscow miles were pretty good. I’m a fan. Especially of their maple black pepper wings.

Great bar for watching sports games, ordering some drinks, and/​or having dinner. They have a rooftop but it was closed when we came in. Additionally, there’s major construction happening and their restaurant front is right in the middle of it all, but don’t let that stop you from coming in! Their prices are reasonable and their food is great! We ordered a Mediterranean pizza to split and it was DELICIOUS! Very good. The atmosphere was great too.

First time in Vancouver and stopped in here to watch the Women’s World Cup Final because it was near the stadium.
Great amount of seating and places to watch a tv from. My girlfriend and I only ordered appetizers because we were going out to eat later. We got the calamari and it was pretty disappointing (chewy and included lot of extra crumby fried bits).
It seemed like they had dozens of servers working there, but the service was nothing special overall. It also feels weird when the waitress waits at the table for you to punch in the tip amount, but not sure if that is a Vancouver thing or restaurant thing.

I really wanted to like this place, however, the service was okay. I came here this weekend since it was my friend Greg’s B-​day. We had the private basement, the conversations were good, however, service not so much, food worse.
Burger was under cooked and grossed. Fries were decent.
The rhubarb cobbler was not that great. The rhubarb was raw inside and they even chopped the green part of the rhubarb which you’re not supposed to do.
The messed up the billing and put other people’s items on different people’s tab.
They forgot Abby’s fries and remembered it 25 minutes later. The apologized but it came off as un-​genuine.
It wasn’t a large party, no reason for screw ups.

The Kingston is a place that is definitely near and dear to my heart due to the countless visits in my youth. It’s an excellent location featuring lots of seating including a tucked away «garden» roof top patio area called the Oasis, and also a downstairs area that comes with a mini dance floor and also has room for a large projector screen to be set up for those epic game nights. That being said, the food is sometimes hit and miss depending on what you order.
On one of our recent visits, we were a bit disappointed in the salmon burger in particular which was quite dry and pretty much tasted «burnt». Which is was because they had overcooked it on the grill. So much so that we simply had to scrape off the blackend areas. However, I did really enjoy the chicken wings there (quite sizable, crunchy on the outside, and well seasoned) and for $ 8 on Wednesdays you get a lot of wing action. The happy hour drinks (while limited) where pretty cheap at $ 4 for their featured pint and their salads were also very delicious, if not a bit overly dressed.
While the food won’t blow your mind, it is a nice and easy place to stop by for a decent enough meal. On top of that, they offer some excellent service, and will always try to make sure you are taken care of.

I was here for my brothers GF’s birthday. It was alot of fun. We dined and partied downstairs where you can play darts and enjoy some snooker pool. If you get your dart in the center of the board, I hear you get a free shot of something…
Beer and libations is this places best I hear, but I drank only TEA.
2.5 stars for the Pizza, not bad. it’s trendy pizza, so I don’t really think of it as real pizza.
4 stars for the salads — which are amazing. I had a few of them and I believe they’re all pretty good.
Service was decent. 4 stars
It’s upper class bar food, I’d call it. Prices are bit upper class as well.
Isn’t everything downtown?

Stopped by for lunch here for one of my colleagues farewell. It was a fairly large group, around 20 people. It was my first time here but everyone in my office is quite fond of the food here. The outside of the pub doesn’t do much justice! In the beginning, I thought it was just going to be an older run-​down pub but was I wrong. The interior of this pub is very nice and you can tell it was recently renovated. I really liked the design. Anyways, for food a colleague and I ordered 3 things to share and it was more then enough. I was stuffed by the end! We took home 3 take away boxes! Portions are quiet big here so I would probably only order one thing here next time. No need for an appie that’s for sure! I must say their pizza is quiet good. We had the chicken Caesar. Food also came out quick and staff was attentive!

+1 to Linus Van Pelt’s review on Google.
My wife and I decided to try this place after seeing multiple favorable reviews, only to be very disappointed.
We made a reservation on Open Table and arrived on time. On entry, no one was at the front desk to greet us. After waiting for 5 minutes, an exacerbated waitress hurriedly escorted us to our table. Once seated, the atmosphere was decent, reminiscent of an old-​style Irish pub. Our waitress was pleasant though seemed stressed and distracted. Apparently the restaurant was understaffed that night.
The food was also disappointing. I had the mushroom swiss burger, which was a dry and required more seasoning. My wife’s salad was only passable. The fries were poor. Our first lot was lukewarm, hard and hollow inside, much as though they were sitting out for 30 minutes under a warmer. We asked our server for a fresh batch, which she addressed cheerfully and apologetically. Approximately 30 minutes later, the manager came by a second plate, again apologetic. Sadly, the second batch of fries was hot, but still hard and hollow in the centre. After that episode, I can only surmise that the oil was not hot enough and that the fries were cooked for too long. Finally, the wings were not great either. This may be a matter of taste, but I don’t see the need to coat hot wings in batter. Why can’t restaurants just fry the wings until the skin is crisp and the inside cooked? Adding batter is totally unnecessary, ruins the flavor and is a cheat to get the wings crispy on the outside. A pub should definitely get this dish right.
The final insult was a message from Open Table the following day stating that we did not attend our reservation. Insult to injury after turning up on time and waiting for the host (ess).
Obviously we will not return to this establishment in the future, but will not issue a total fail due to the friendly staff and decent atmosphere.

Our visit to the Kingston Taphouse & Grill was on our way to the Canucks game. We managed to get here around 5:15pm, which was right before the dinner rush, so we were able to get a nice cozy spot by the fireplace. They have a pretty good selection of beer on tap, including craft brews from WA, and good beer from the UK (sorry Canada, your beer sucks).
We were here for a pre-​game drink and appetizer, so we split the Kingston Appy Platter. It was the perfect amount of food to split with two people. We chose the garlic chili sauce which was good, but it could have used more sauce since the flavor was subtle. The pizza was great and had a generous amount of toppings, and the «prawns» were alright, except they were shrimp and not ‘prawns’ so they weren’t very big (It’s a UK thing. Prawns in the US are jumbo shrimp. Not the case here).
Overall, the service was OK considering it was a very busy Friday night. I wasn’t too impressed with their pub food (it was average), but their regular menu looks promising, so I won’t give up yet. This place is worth a try, and they have a nice patio for the warm summer weather.

had lunch here and ordered a salmon burger the first time and flat bread pizza the second. I work around the corner so a few of usually go at a time.
The salmon burger… Was not up to par. I mean it wasn’t bad but I think you can find a better one at triple o’s. The flat bread pizza’s however I do recommend. Good size portion and not too heavy, a good lunch meal if you’re hungry.
The service is what you would expect from a bar type restaurant. Food was pretty quick to come out and the server was good about clearing empty plates. Getting her to collect payment after she brought out our bill was kind of a drag I guess because they were relatively busy.
Will definitely back to try other things on the menu!

Came here to schmooze in the downstairs area.
Parking here is pretty horrendous. Not sure what to say.
The establishment split into 2 areas — the bar-​type upper floor, and a smaller cozier basement that has a pool table.
Service is relatively quick, and friendly.
I tried an appetizer platter, which consisted of wings, half a long pizza, and prawns. Food is actually quite good here. Something for everyone. The area is good for mingling, and there is quite a bit of standing room.

Went there to try their brunch menu, buttermilk pancake with salted caramel butter. Cost $ 10, and it tasted good. They have a lovely inner court patio area. It was great for dating venue, if you want to speed things up a little bit. My friend got their breakfast sausage sandwich, with house made sausage patty. It was spiced right.
The brunch menu had only a few choices, and was available for weekends only.

Went there after the White Caps game. had heard good things about the patio, so suggested it to the group
Upon arrival met by a surly hostess, no there was not any patio space available. When we were seated, noticed there was space on the patio. Strike one
Ordered drinks, received drinks, server seemed aloof. Waited 20 minutes for him to come back for food orders
Ordered Chicken Caesar Salad, tasted like ass. chicken was dry. tried my friends Pulled Pork Pizza. and it was shite. also really dry. needed to be smothered in sauce
We wanted more drinks, had to wait. and wait.for the server to come back. My friend asked him for a beer. He literally passed our table many times. just wondering around. I got a beer from another server, as did others at our table. But my friend was still waiting for his. so finally my friend called our proper server, and asked again for his beer. He brought the bill! At that point should have taken it as a sign, but he apologized for the miscommunication, and ordered a beer
Anyway, the server was out to lunch. the food was mediocre, and the atmosphere was shite
Needless to say I won’t be back, nor will I recommend it to anyone

The front of the restaurant is bar area with a few tables. Go further inside, there is a nice dinning room. They also have outside patio seating area and basement.
The Service: Server was very attentive. Gave good recommendation on the menu.
The Food:
Dry Ribs — deep fried dry ribs with bones. Totally a dish that you have to use your fingers! Love the rub on the ribs… very flavorful.
Kingston Health Salad — pickled beets, red onions, goat’s feta, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, seasonal garnish, raspberry vinaigrette. Big portion and perfect to share.
Ahi Tuna Risotto — Grilled rare, saffaron seafood risotto, seasonal vegetable. Didn’t really like the grilled ahi tuna, fish a little bit tough. The saffaron seafood risotto is way too fishy taste.
Lots of beer selections~ Great place to grab a drink and watch some hockey games!

old timers know this as the old RAT (Rose & Thorn) pub.
It was renovated a couple years back, pool tables are downstairs now, with a wine cellar.
You have to walk up to the bar to get service, tho– servers are too busy upstairs.
The old timbers with the termite scars are left in place, and judging from a well eaten hat on a table next to the pool tables, the rats haven’t been evicted, either.
Upstairs looks like any other cookie cutter, modern bar, leaving me reminisce the old timey décor that once existed here, but I definitely feel more comfortable in their billiard room.