- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Coffee & Tea |
- All
The Only On King
Category: Restaurants Canadian (New) Canadian (New) [Edit]
172 King StLondon, ON N6A 6H6
(519) 936-2064
- Price Range:
-
$$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Formal (Jacket Required)
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- No
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Loud
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
4 reviews for The Only On King
4 reviews in English
-
Review from Krystina R.
Liberty Village, Toronto, ON
2/16/2012 1 Check-in Here
Foodies be warned, you will want to try everything on their ever evolving daily menu. It's a shame my stomach only holds so much.
Fine casual dining at its finest this place delivers seasonal food that excites and makes me drive from Toronto just to enjoy. Well executed and clean it's French and local influenced food. Try the classic french dishes they are fantastic. The duck took me back to Perigord. Seriously. -
Review from Marko M.
4/26/2012
Every time I visit a new city, I make the effort to find some unique and highly rated restaurants to eat at. This week, I visited London, Ontario. After looking at over 20 restaurant's websites and the reviews about the place, I decided Only on King was my top pick.
I was really excited to tell my colleagues who live in London about my plans to eat at The Only On King. 5 people gave me a weird look and cautioned me against going. I invited a friend to join me, and she hesitantly accepted my invitation. These clues should have been a clear warning. When we arrived at the restaurant, my friend finally admitted that she had been to the restaurant 6+ times and each time the wait staff and the manager (Scott) were super cold and rude.
We walked in the restaurant and politely stood by the hostess stand waiting for someone to greet us and check us in. *CHIRP * CHIRP * No one came to greet or welcome us. About four minutes passed and we waited patiently, despite one manager (Scott) and three wait staff passing us multiple times. Then next, the door opens and the next couple of guests come in and the wait staff immediately greeted them and sat them in their seats. We continued to wait patiently. Three minutes later, the door opens again and another couple of guests come in and the wait staff immediately greeted them and sat them in their seats. I got a bit disturbed with the poor attitudes of the staff, so I went to the bar to talk to the waitress (Erin) who sat the other two parties and asked her politely to check us in. Here's the conversation:
Me: Excuse me, 'Mam. I've been waiting here to check in for my reservations and saw that two guests who arrived after me were immediately seated. Should I check in with you to let you know that we are here?
Erin: I guess you could. [Then, she turned her back to me and proceeded to walk away].
** Note: One observation at this point is that me and my guest were the only ones in the restaurant with black hair. You go figure out what I'm thinking at this point.
My assumption was confirmed when the restaurant manager, Scott, came to deliver our dishes to the table. For the two of us at our table, his introduction of the dishes were pretty rude, as he almost slid out dishes onto the table and only took 2-3 seconds to introduce the dishes - "Here is your flat iron steak order... here is your chicken dish." I observed him deliver dishes to two other tables (again, guests did not have black hair like us) and he took approximately 15 seconds to introduce the dish, explain how it was prepared, and told the guests to enjoy their meals. We got none of that.
My appetizer was the Pingue cured meat and charcuterie plate, pickled veggies, mustard, toasts, $22. This dish was OUTSTANDING. It included 6+ types of cured meats (salami, hot salami, proschuitto, preserved duck confit, etc) and 5 types of pickled veggies (small pickles, pickled green beans, yellow peppers, etc). The dish was served with about 10 pieces of toast (actually dry sliced bread). My favorite thing in the dish was the preserved duck confit, which looked like seared ahi-tuna slices, but had the texture of dried meat. Delicious!!! Grade: A.
For my main meal, I ordered the AAA grilled flatiron steak, mushroom and sweetbread ragout, Thornloe blue cheese gravy, $30. I was super excited to order this dish because it was a combination of several of my favorite ingredients. The dish was served with 6-7 beautiful cuts of flatiron steak. The meat was OVERSALTED, but cooked very well. The cooked spinach tasted like it was cooked in 4-5T of salt. The mushrooms and sweetbread ragout was a nice combination, but tasted like it was cooked in 6-7T of salt. Beautiful concept of a dish, poor execution. I ended up taking 4-5 bites of my meal and gave up on it. HORRIBLY SALTY. Grade: D-.
The saving grace for this meal was our wonderful server, Lindsey. She was super friendly and treated us with respect. She was perhaps the only person in the restaurant with class and grace.
Service Grade from Lindsey: A+!
Service Grade from the manager, Scott: D-.
Service Grade from the waitress Erin: F. (NASTY!)
Food Grade: D (great concept, poor execution; salty).
Overall Impression Grade: D-
The two of us spent close to $200 on our meal, and when we were leaving my colleague turned and said goodbye. Absolutely NO acknowledgement or gratitude from the manager Scott or his staff. We got a blank stare and silence. *CHIRP CHIRP* They looked like they were glad to have us exit their establishment.
Avoid ths restaurant because of it's poorly executed food. RUN from this restaurant because the major attitude from Scott (Manager) and Erin (waitress).
Scott & Erin, sing with me: If you are unhappy in your jobs, clap your hands! CLAP CLAP!
You may not be treated well at this restaurant if you don't fit their targeted consumer base (those with light hair). -
Review from Richard G.
5/15/2012
Interesting menu. I had two dishes: white fish entree was delicious, but the white asparagus appetizer/special was only so-so. Nice atmosphere, nice wine list, good bread.
-
Review from Randi M.
4/16/2012
How come there arent more reviews for this place? I guess YELP hasnt taken off in Ontario, Canada like it has in the US. I lived in Exeter for 7yrs and discovered THe Only about a year and a half before I moved back to Cali. I had 4 amazing meals there. In fact, my last meal in a restaurant in Ontario was here. So good. To me, this was the best restaurant in London. Every restaurant should strive to be as good. I still look at the menu sometimes and I dream about this chicken with Morel mushroom dish I had that was so amazingly good. These guys know food and the service is amazing too.
