With the girls out of town, Caron and I decided to to go out for dinner last night. She spent all day clearing and packing away all the Christmas decorations, so it would be a nice break. We always have a hard time deciding where to eat… we went into Crabby Joe’s, but the place was empty, except for a couple tables. We took this as a sign that this place didn’t have good food

As we drove into the parking lot for “The Keg” we noticed they had a line to be seated and from past experience, we know how slow that line can move. Even though we knew the steaks there are good, we didn’t feel like waiting. So we headed over to the Medowlands in Ancaster to give Jack Astor’s a try. we’d never been there, but Caron’s mates from work had been, so we figured it was worth a try.

The place was nice inside, typical bar/restaurant with the whole sports theme. We didn’t have to wait to be seated and the person assigned to help out at our table (I don’t like the word server ) was there in a second.. good start! Ordered our drinks and then started to work our way through the 2 page menu, with the special of the season found in an insert. So this post doesn’t get too long, here are my main comments …

- as mentioned, the menu is very small and BORING! It took me forever to find something I wanted to try.
- smack in th middle of this “Bar food” menu, you come across “stir fry” and “Pad Thai”!  Had me thinking about my childhood and the song on Sesame Street.. “one of these things just doesn’t belong here, one of these things just isn’t the same…”

- I ordered the “special” which consisted of a NY 10oz steak (brushed with beer while it was being grilled), two skewers of shrimp and the choice of 2 sides. I chose the chicken soup with the oriental vegetables and garlic mashed potatoes.  The soup arrived first and though the broth was excellent (I guess you can go wrong with broth), but as I searched the bowl for the oriental vegetables all I could find was a mash! Seems it’s been cooking in some sort of crock pot for too long. What the heck..I still ate it. A few minutes later the main course came. What a boring looking plate, anyone who’ve tuned into the “cooking network” would know how to dress this plate up much better. Something needed a make-over! Not only that, but the shrimp were basically white! No real pink or grill marks, and they looked so dry! Maybe the steak would be great, after-all they were brushed with beer as they were seared on the grill. I can hear the noise it made as this cut of fine NY strip, hit the scorching hot grill! NOPE! It was the most basic tasting steak I’ve ever had. It was cooked to the way I ordered it (medium), but bland, a bit chewy and no friggin sauce, juis… nothing to add a little ahhh this tastes great! Yea, there was ketchup and chipolte Tabasco sauce on the table. would it kill you to even crack me some fresh pepper?

The shrimp… did I mention that it was more pale than Nicole Kidman? Not even a grill mark! It was truly a challenge to consume, but I usually get vexed when I see food wasting so as the print on one of Caron’s t-shirt says.. “grin and bear it”. Sadly though, I had to give up. No taste (again, nothing was brushed on it as the boiled???). A total waste of morsels that’s usually great tasting.
I almost forgot I had my garlic mashed potato to consume, YUM! NOPE… though the flavor was nice, I really didn’t like the many little surprises. Huge pieces of potato hidden in what was supposed to be “mashed”. Did you want coffee or dessert? Budinski, kindly bring us the bill so we can hightail it back to the safe confines of my home where I can get a tea and watch some tv!

Normally I would complain, but I wrote this off as a learning experience! $70 down the tube. BTW Caron had the Caesar salad (excellent - just the right amount of dressing, a hint of fresh lemon juice and fresh made croutons), NY 10oz steak (tasteless as mine) and french fries. Well, the fries looked as if they were straight out of a “McCains” freezer bag! Need I say more?

Not to completely knock Jack Astor’s, since the service was good. And the ketchup did taste as original Heinze
In the event you’re daring:

Jack Astor’s Bar & Grill

839 Golf Links Road
Ancaster, ON L9K 1L5, Canada
(905) 304-1721