Rose and Crown

Sean, (youngest son) recommended that we try the Rose and Crown, one of his favourite hamburger options.  This restaurant is renowned for their excellent English style fish and chips so we were surprised at the recommendation.


Jo - Well Sean, I'll get to the point early - good choice!  I ordered the 6 oz "bacon cheese burger with chips", except I substituted caesar salad for the chips (knowing I was going to share Stephen's fries :-).  The regular burger & chips is $8.45, but with the additional $1 for each addition of cheese & bacon, the platter was $10.45.
The patty was obviously hand packed and at 6 oz, quite substantial.  The condiments were fresh and the kaiser-style bun was perfect in size and texture.  The flame broiled taste really sparked my memories, reminding me of a true diner burger from the late 60's.  The atmosphere is designed in "pub style" with the dark woods and the large wooden bar - the waitress was very friendly and attentive (with out being overly attentive) and we will definitely be repeat customers.

Stephen - Well this recommendation from Sean certainly did catch us by surprise. I think everyone in the west end of Kingston knows the Rose and Crown for their absolutely fantastic Fish & Chips... not to mention a huge selection of English staples and sweet treats, both on the menu as well as in their Take-Out area that almost doubles as a mini-mart for most things British! (A great spot to browse while waiting for your pick-up.) So we were a little surprised to hear that R&C not only served a burger, which should not surprise us but that it came so highly recommended by the younger crowd.

The R&C has a really vintage feel to it and I can only imagine (having not experienced a typical English Pub in Britain...) that it emulates the real thing across the pond. Certainly my greatest comment will go to the wait staff who every single time I have had the pleasure to enter the establishment, have been nothing short of excellent. Big smiles, happy conversation, very attentive and helpful at every stage of our visit. In fact on this visit, we were obviously spanning two shifts and our original waitress went out of her way to explain she would be leaving us in another waitress' hands and even that waitress came over and introduced herself even though we were almost finished our meal. You simply can't feel more wanted than that!

I ordered the 6oz Cheese Burger with chips, Jo ordered with salad and as always, we shared the sides. As our waitress said, this is a fresh hand made patty, seasoned and cooked to order. I had lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle and added mustard and ketchup at the table. The bun was a good size, kaiser style and the whole burger was again... just like a picture. The flavour was excellent and although the patty was a little on the  well done side (which I love), the flame broiled patty had that great seared edge on it that gave it a semi-steak-like taste. Flavourful, tasty and lots to satisfy, I can tell you from my perspective... it was great! Adding to the burger were the always superb fries. I think that everyone who is a french-fry lover and has experienced them from R&C, would agree that they are among the best!



Overall; simply a great experience. We both ordered the bacon, cheese burger; one with caesar salad and one with fries and we both had a diet-coke for a total of $28.60. A solid meal, a really good burger, excellent fries and a very pleasant surprise.