Rose and Crown
2335 Yonge Street (at Eglinton)
416-488-5557
Dinner for two with all taxes, tip and beer: $45

I’m constantly looking for the Yonge-Eglinton area to redeem itself to me. I try to give the area a chance since my boyfriend lives there, but frankly, I’m sick of people raving about it. Maybe I’m the only one hearing the raves, but I could really get behind a Toronto that doesn’t even have a Yonge and Eglinton. Okay, so maybe I’m being a little harsh, but this area has always really ticked me off, and Rose and Crown just added to my argument against Yonge and Eglinton.

I’ve been to this bar a few times before and even had the food, but I don’t remember it ever being this poor. Mind you, pretty much anything is delicious after five or six beer, but I walked in there without having had anything to drink.

My boyfriend had the burger ($7.95) and I opted for the large quesadillas ($8.95). Despite our fairly generic picks, the menu is long, sprawling and diverse. But if Restaurant Makeover has taught me anything, it’s that this menu needs a serious edit.

The soups, salads and appetizers section alone boasts more than a dozen items. Then when you move into the heart of the menu, there’s everything from meat and potatoes, to Thai dishes, to pasta, to steak. Oh, and let’s not forget all those pub regulars like burgers, wings, nachos, chicken fingers, and the list goes on… and on. This pub is trying to cater to everyone, but I’m not sure how effective a kitchen can be when someone is cooking Nachos (small for $6.50 and large for $8.50) one minute and whipping up Pad Thai ($10.75) the next. And might I say, that’s some pricey Pad Thai.

So back to my boyfriend’s burger; he complained it was a little burnt and not that great tasting, and since he tends to get a burger pretty much wherever we go, I am inclined to believe him. The fries were pretty good as far as fries go. Frozen or not, fries are pretty hard to screw up, unless of course they sit there getting cold. Luckily, these ones came out hot.

My quesadillas were a little on the dry side; not exactly what I’m looking for in a quesadilla. I was hoping for gooey and dripping with cheese. That didn’t happen. Although I will give them some cred for trying to jazz up your plain old chicken and cheese quesadillas by adding in some jalapenos, but that just wasn’t enough to redeem the dish.

I’d probably go back to Rose and Crown for a beer, but even the atmosphere wasn’t all that great. The front of the bar is kind of charming with its typical pub-like look, but the place is unusually bright. We sat near the back of the place in a booth. But between the spotlight above our heads, the sports blaring on every big screen and the old school brown padded metal-legged chairs, reminiscent of a low-budget banquet hall, it was just an overall unpleasant experience.