My lady had been in town for business, and then she had to fly home. I dropped her off at the Island Airport (taking the world's shortest ferry ride) and then I took their shuttle service to the Royal York. It was a beautiful day, so I walked down to the St Lawrence Market/Esplanade area.
I was feeling a bit hungry, so I started looking at some outside menus. I came across the Scotland Yard and Sunday was their wing night(day). So of course I went in.
The first thing I thought to myself was "this place is awesome." It was dark inside, it was busy, but I loved the old pub feel. Yes there were some tv's (and one old school projector tv), but this place was well worn but not worn out. Scotland Yard is not hip, it is not stylish - but it has character. Old books, old photos, old school bar but a fairly young crowd.
My waitress was Paula, and she was great. She was really warm and friendly - I really felt welcome in the pub because of her. She brought me refills on my Coke and answered my wings questions, which did not take long to come out.
Wings come in orders of a pound, which on my plates equaled about 9-10 wings.
The wings are deep fried, then sauced. Or not. I had one ordered of Buffalo wings, and the other was Dry Cajun Rub - so it was, well, dry.
Each order came with short cut carrot sticks and blue cheese dip. The dip had chunks of blue cheese too. Tasty.
Size wise these were ok wings - about a medium in length, and about a medium in meatiness. The skin was nice a crispy from the deep frying. My sauced wings were nice and saucy, but there wasn't much leftover on the plate.
The name says it all. Scotland Yard has both Hot and Buffalo, so I asked Paula the difference (just to make sure) - and she confirmed Buffalo was Hot with butter added. And since these wings were deep fried naked, they truly were Buffalo wings.
Dry Cajun Rub
These were ... just ok. Nice and crispy and good texture, the Cajun seasoning was too mild in flavour. The hints of flavour I could pick up were good, but more seasoning was necessary.
Suicide
On the side I went for the hot stuff. The suicide actually had some heat. It was a good burn. It was a vinegary sauce and my only beef was that it was cold. I dunked my Cajun wings in these to jazz them up.
FINAL SCORE: I really liked the Scotland Yard Pub. The atmosphere was old school pub and I dig it. Paula was an awesome waitress. And I had cheap wings. Buffalo was good, Cajun was a bit weak, and suicide had some kick. I would like to come back for sure. 6/10
56 The Esplanade, Toronto ON
scotlandyard.ca
2 comments:
Funny how a great server like Paula can really make the experience, isn't it?
I can always tell how I am going to like a bbq joint by 1) seeing a real smoker out back and 2) how well the service staff know BBQ. I am sure you are the same way with wings.
@Chris - I agree - great service really makes the dining experience right. I only wish I had a way of looking for good wings (there's no deep fryer stack at wing joints).
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