Kelly’s Tavern, Granby Street Location

The original Kelly's Tavern opened 25 years ago on Colley Avenue. I have been to several different franchise locations in the past, and never had any complaints. You see where this is going, don’t you…. Their website proudly boasts of "56 Best of Food and Dining awards in Hampton Roads for 2007!" Wow, is that some sort of "Best Of" record?

Let’s see…..where to begin? Kelly's Tavern on Granby is a bar. It looks like a bar, it smells like a bar. You enter to the distinct aroma of cigarette smoke, but once you are in the non smoking section, it is really too faint to notice. It has that worn in bar atmosphere. There are stains on the carpet and heel marks on the wall (yes, I mean wall). The restroom has one "out of order" stall, no lock on the other functioning stall, and a pink sink that is stained brown on the bottom. It was clean, just well used. This is another freezing cold place; really, really chilly. It didn't appear to be very busy when we arrived on Monday afternoon. We were one out of 6-8 other tables, and I only saw one server. She was okay. Not setting the world on fire, but proficient. The big problem here was in the kitchen. It took a good 45 minutes to get our food. The third time we asked if our food was almost ready we were told the kitchen was short staffed with only one cook. When we got our food, stuff was missing. I had ordered a dinner salad that arrived sans salad dressing. Five minutes later the server returned to tell me she could not find the vinegar and oil. Fortunately my crab cake sandwich was pretty good. The floor manager came over and asked us how everything was…I told her she didn't want to know. I mean,why ask? Obviously she knew we were having issues, or she wouldn't be at our table with the missing ingredients to Alex's salad. She backed up the kitchen excuse and offered to discount our meal for the inconvenience, which we gladly accepted. She was very nice and I appreciate that. Hey, things happen, schedules get messed up, salad dressings get lost. And there are about 50 other places to eat lunch in downtown Norfolk.

Laine

'You all are amazing today' is what Laine said to the waitress when
she said she could not find the oil and vinegar. Very well put. I
second Laine's review. My salad was just okay, but missing an
ingredient and you do feel like you are at a bar, not a restaurant.
I, too, have visited other Kelly's locations and have had much better
food and service. Laine and I have vowed to try another Kelly's, but
we need some serious recovery time from this experience. Things do
happen, such as MIA staff, but this was pretty much a full-fledged
fiasco. I am also thankful that the manager discounted us, but
really, could she have kept a straight face if she had not done so?
Laine noticed on the menu that before shows at The Norva, diners of
the downtown Kelly's get in 15 minutes ahead of everyone else. Our
thought is 'thanks, but no thanks, we'll wait in line with everyone
else to avoid having to dine in here again'.

Alex