DUKE of SOMERSET ~ Toronto ON

= The Duke of Somerset is NOW CLOSED - RIP =

Another review from back in March. Crazy (and makes me a little upset too).

So my good buddy Ricky over at fuzzification.com  was the first of some guest visiting for the weekend. We were hungry, looking for a pub to eat some grub, but not wanting to go far from home base. I knew of this pub not far that used to be the Devil's Advocate. Now it's the Duke of Somerset, and we decided to check it out.

The theme: British Pub. Lots of Union Jacks. Ok not lots, but they were there. The DofS is a chain in the "Duke" series. Not long ago I had been to the Duke of York. The menu's are similar, but not the same.

Inside the place was buzzing on this Friday night. The crowd was mixed of young professionals, business types, older people, younger people. The waitresses were all dressed in kilts (that's typical British right?). The feeling is a slightly nicer than average pub, but not swanky to alienate any one pub going crowd.

Now when you sit down at your table, and you have the above as the placard and they advertise fresh local wings, how can you not order them?

And then again on the menu they hammer in the point 'fresh, never frozen.' I like the sounds of that.

The actual menu description of the wings.

Ricky also ordered some Deep Fried Pickles. I may have stolen one or two. Crispy batter, dilly pickle, ranch dip. While I don't think these are made in house, they are good.

Both Ricky and I were feeling the wings this night. Here he sits patiently while I take a picture. Thanks.

They look pretty good eh?

The wings are ordered by the pound, which means about 8-9 wings in an order.

An order comes with a pile of carrots and veggies. And a side of blue cheese dip. This was pretty creamy, but no real chunks of blue cheese.

Size wise the wings were about a medium. Meat wise they were about a medium too. Crispiness, about a medium. They were crispy, but then were not crispy after a while.

HOT

Standard pub hot. The flavour was good, but they were a bit salty for my liking (and I don't usually mind salt).

Suicide

I got suicide on the side. This had a bit of a kick, but not as hot as I would like. It was good, a little peppery.


FINAL SCORE:

The Duke pubs are pretty decent pubs, and Somerset is no different. The wings were good. Not great, but good. Decent size, decent sauce. A little salty. Too pricey in my opinion and no wing night? Crazy. 4/10

The Duke of Somerset

655 Bay Street, Toronto ON

somerset.thedukepubs.ca