Restaurant Review: The Patio

The Patio - appetizers on September 10, 2014

It's a misnomer to call this a "restaurant review" since The Patio is more like a sports bar than a restaurant. If sports bars can seem a bit more swanky than the usual dive that some sports bars want to be.

Still, it's a good place to go for group events and that's what I went there for as part of a 2-day company conference (the mingling, socializing and eating part). At the risk of showing my age, I remember when The Patio was long ago a bar called Fanny & Alexander's. In my business school days, it was a popular gathering for the weekly beer nights.

It has a similar vibe as F&A's in that there's plenty of room for mingling and schmoozing. In b-school, mingling and schmoozing was part of the curriculum. And The Patio served appetizers that are a cut above the norm.

Bacon-Wrapped, Deep-Fried Prawns

Case in point, my favorite calorie bombs of the night were the bacon-wrapped, deep-fried, breaded prawns. Honestly? There's nothing not to love in any of those words. I love prawns and these were prawns on steroids that did heavy lifting in the gym. Something you can sink your teeth into and die happy. I take my prawns seriously. And while I can take or leave bacon, wrapping bacon around each behemoth prawn, breading it, then deep frying it sent these into the stratosphere. There was some kind of marinade or sauce flavoring the prawns that really set it off and was quite tasty (says the plain eater who typically doesn't "do" sauces). I don't know what it was but if you ever go to The Patio, you've got to get this particular appetizer. Then run a marathon.

Veggie Kabobs

I ate two of the hefty prawns and those were a meal in and of themselves. But that didn't stop me from having a handful of fries and a chicken slider as well. I like sliders because of their small size but I rarely eat them because the typical slider comes with "stuff". You know, ketchup (ugh), pickles (no thanks) and any other stuff that to me ruins my love of plain bread and beef. Or in this case, chicken. But wonder of wonders, these sliders were served plain with the option for people to add their own condiments. Woot! So even though I didn't need to consume more breaded, deep-fried things, I had to have a plain chicken slider. Because it was there, after all.