Neighbourhood: Grant Park
Address: 800 Pembina Hwy
Phone: 453-3631
Entrées: $25-$59
(Editor’s Note – This business is no longer open.)
As the slowest time on the wine-and-dine circuit, post Christmas is the bane of many restaurateurs existence.
You wouldn’t know that from the crowds at the Round Table Steakhouse & Pub one recent Tuesday evening in mid-January.
The traditional steakhouse, which serves prime cuts of beef, has been pleasing diners since 1973.
This Winnipeg establishment—whose stained-glass windows, Renaissance portraits, dark wooden tables, beer steins and decorative plates are reminiscent of Olde England—is obviously doing things right.
For nearly 40 years, the kitchen has delivered straight-up, skillfully executed meat and mashed-potato meals that satisfy a hankering for no-frills dining.
It’s not exactly edgy cooking but these favourites are like a warm blanket.
Sauces and dressings, most notably the house salad’s roasted red pepper Dijon dressing and the prime rib au jus, defy the ordinary.
House salads don’t typically take space in reviews. But the Round Table’s version is an exceedingly fresh and pleasing first course. Prime rib is, as promised, legendary. A thick slab of slow-roasted, medium-rare beef fulfills its mission; delivering hefty meatiness.
While meat brings ’em in, appetizers at the 350-seat restaurant and English-style pub are also noteworthy. Crispy basil chicken bites are addictive little monsters.
Breaded and fried, the all-white-meat mouthfuls are tossed in a sweet chile Thai sauce that turns up the heat with every nibble. Try eating just one.
Palm-sized crab cakes lay on a smear of roasted red pepper and proscuitto cream sauce. The vivid tang of crab pairs well with the smooth, rich sauce.
A perfectly grilled New York Strip loin is simple and satisfying.
Dessert is a must at the Round Table. Chocolate blackout, a dark-chocolate, multi-layer cake with chocolate icing, chocolate ice cream and drizzles of chocolate sauce, is for devout cocoa worshippers.
Sizzling apple crisp is a lavish affair of chunky cinnamon-dusted apples and chewy baked oats with warm caramel and melting vanilla ice cream.
Round Table Steakhouse & Pub is open Mon-Fri 11:30 am-3:30 pm; Mon-Sun 4:30 pm onward. Pub hours Mon-Thu 11:30 am-midnight; Fri 11:30 am-1 am; Sat 4:30 pm-1 am, Sun 4:30 pm-midnight.