Kingsley Tavern

Lovely setting for lunch. The grilled apricot  salad with goat cheese and Serrano ham was terrific. My hubby enjoyed the mussels. Service was very attentive. Kent is a beautiful old New England town.

The food here is good, not great but good.  Of the other reviews on Yelp, not one mentioned the price of the food.  I thought that this was to be a casual dinning experience but at these prices I doubt that I will go there.  Pork Chop for $26, Steak for $26 and then the most crazy price they have is when you order an "on the rocks" drink, you get charged an extra $2 for the "rocks".  For a Johhny Black the bill was $13.50 plus $2.00 for the ice.  Surely, they have to be thinking that casual mean something other than what I think it means.

I had wanted to get Jen to Kent for a while; it is in a beautiful area of Connecticut at almost any time of year. Of course, walking around, checking out the galleries and shops, food and drink became a subject so we decided to look around. Now, as a matter of fact, there are only a handful of places to choose from and Kingsley is almost right in the middle of town. We stopped and looked at the menu, it was brunch and we were hungry so we went in. Jen was good with The Kingsley Burger but I wanted to try something from the chefs specials and had the Shrimp & Grits. The burger was in the true style of a great burger: the bread was fresh, burger cooked right and the toppings were of the best quality. She gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up and with a good order of fries and beer, "what more could you ask for?" For me (and I lived south of the Mason Dixon Line for a few years), the Shrimp & Grits was a "spot-on" stand out (yeah, I had a pint of beer to go with that too). Honestly, I was so impressed with how good the meal was up to that point, I splurged (the calories I mean) for the special cobbler of "Fig, Apple & Cranberry with Streusel.

Jen and I were glad we tried the Kingsley Tavern. It will be a stop for us when we go back to Kent. We both agreed it was like having a "neighborhood place" away from home. The staff, service and food were great and I can't imagine anyone walking in and not finding the same welcoming experience.