Review #40 - Lion's Head Tavern & Grill

Lion's Head Tavern & Grill
Variety: Pub
Address: 5833 Sullivan Street
Date Visited: Sunday, June 17, 2012
Orders: Sheppard's Pie, Braised Beef on Grilled Cheese, BLT

Taste: 4 + 6 + 7 = 17/30
Portion Size: 8 + 7 + 7 = 22/30
Presentation: 8 + 7 + 7 = 22/30
Value: 7 + 6 + 7 = 20/30
Service: 6 + 7 + 4 = 17/30
Bonus:-
Minus: -
Final Grade: 65% (Satisfactory)

(Scoring: 100% to 140% = Exceptional, 85% to 99% = Excellent, 67% to 84% = Good, 60% to 66% = Satisfactory, 50% to 59% = Marginal, 0% to 49% = Poor, -40% to -1% = Abysmal)

Housekeeping: In honour of reaching 500 followers on Twitter, we selected one of them, @GrapplinGraboid of local punk act The Graboids, to co-review a meal with us. Whereas our regular scorecard is based on 100 points (50 each), we just added another 50 and the final score was out of 150 instead.

Notes: The Lion's Head is a friendly neighbourhood tavern. While it has a certain charm, this wasn't quite reflected in terms of quality of the meal and service. J's Sheppard's Pie tasted like mushy salt and not much else. It's kind of hard to screw up a BLT, but T's sandwich was more of an LT - one measly strip on each side of the sandwich. And the beef on GG's sandwich was really fatty, though what was edible was tender enough. Although the meal was passable, the service was the pits (not uncommon based on previous visits to this joint). Not only was the server particularly indifferent toward us, but there was also a lengthy 15 minute delay between order and arrival time. Our frustration was amplified by seeing most of the meals sitting on the counter waiting to be picked up, the few other patrons who had ordered after us being served first, and the two cooks in the kitchen standing back and chatting. Would we return another time to grab a beer and watch a game on one of the big screen TVs? Sure. Would we make a point to stop by for another meal? Unlikely.

Thanks to The Grapplin' Graboid for joining us. Check out his band at www.facebook.com/thegraboids.