The Ring-Restaurant

Pretty Decent Late Night Dinner

My friends and I were on a day trip going through the cities of Kitchener, Cambridge, Guelph, and ending in Brantford. By the time we finished in Brantford it was 9:00PM and we were super hungry. We looked up restaurant reviews for Brantford on my friend's phone, and decided on this place (only after did I notice that the reviews are all from 2007 and all but one looks like they're by the same person...oh well). When we parked we noticed right away that we weren't in the nicest area of town. The restaurant/bar is located right across the road from a pawn shop and a loans place...that usually says a lot about the area you're in. Also, the outside of the bar was kind of confusing and we weren't sure which door to go through. Finally we got up the nerve to open the door and I asked the lady at the bar if they were still serving food. She said yes and looked at me like I had a tree growing out of my face. I said ok, and we sat ourselves at a table. The inside of the restaurant/bar/club (whatever the heck it is) was quite tacky and a little bit creepy/sketchy. The walls were painted with caribbean beaches, ladies in bikinis, parrots. There were 3 other people at the bar and two at a table eating. That was all on a Friday night. The lady from the bar soon came over to take our orders. To our surprise she exclaimed that they didn't have menus but that she'd tell us what they had (I can only assume this is because they change up the "menu" every day depending on what they have in the kitchen). I ordered the curried chicken, one friend tried the oxtail (apparently a best seller), another friend got the jerk chicken (which he was told would be spicy if he liked spicy which he did), and the other two friends got plain old chicken fingers and fries not wanting to be adventurous. She also took our drink orders (all the while i was thinking that she needed to stop looking at me like i had 5 arms and smile a little). Our food soon came...or...well...everybody else's food soon came. Everybody was half done eating by the time mine finally came out. We were all pleasantly surprised with the quality of the food. My curry was very tasty and there was a lot of meat on the chicken wings. It came with a side of rice and beans (which were a little bland), and cole slaw which i quite liked. The jerk chicken was very tasty and came with the same sides but I was told that it wasn't at all spicy. The oxtail was surprisingly good (although could have been more meat on the plate), and the same sides again. The chicken fingers were chicken fingers...enough said...but there could have been more fingers (they only gave 2)...also, the fries were decent but not great. During the meal I decided to use the washroom as I was about ready to burst. I was scared to go in, and I should have been. They weren't very clean. Of the two stalls in the women's washroom, one had a toilet that constantly ran and made noises, and the other had a foot print on the toilet seat for some reason I don't even want to know. I also noticed that the ceiling was being held up by a big wooden plank. The water only ran cold. The bathrooms really needed a good cleaning generally. Upon getting our bills we were pleased to find out that the prices were very cheap. My curry was $8 and my pop was only $1.50 (all taxes included), the oxtail was $9 and $2 for iced tea, jerk chicken was $10 , and the chicken fingers and fries were $9. All in all we left pleased with what we ate and with the price (for the most part), although the boys wanted to go to the nearest fast food joint after (go figure). I quite enjoyed my meal although I'm not sure I'd go back. They need a proper menu and somebody to smile a bit, not to mention they need to get rid of the tacky/sketchy atmosphere of the place...and maybe move it to a better location where they'd get more people. The day was quite the adventure to say the least.