Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011

New Conway grill keeping it simple

Kingston Grill & Bar

The Kingston Club was a winner with fresh meats and cheeses and crispy lettuce. Photo by Becky Billingsley for Weekly Surge.

 

Setting the Table

A new grill and bar in Conway has a simple menu and lots of dining room.

Kingston Grill & Bar, which opened Feb. 1, was a Beef O' Brady's from March 2008 through November 2009 before its franchise owner, Tom Marzano, got rid of the franchise and turned it into an independent restaurant called Cricklewood's. That didn't last long, and the strip mall unit sat empty until recently when Jay Dellinger and Robby Warner bought it from the bank.

Dellinger is a restaurant industry veteran who worked for years as a food vendor for a major national company, and then he became a restaurant owner with Jaybo's Pizza and Grill and Myrtle Beach Fries, which are both on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach. He also owns the Jimmy John's sub shop on S.C. 544 near Coastal Carolina University.

Dellinger says he didn't have to do much to get Kingston Grill & Bar ready to open, saying, "It is what it is."

It is one big room with a bar in the middle where most patrons were sitting during the restaurant's second evening in business. In a half-ring around the bar are a lot of booths and a few cocktail tables. Medium-size flat-panel televisions are everywhere you look, and although Dellinger says he is not going after a sports bar image, he'll have the TVs tuned in to major games.

He says he is going for more of a family atmosphere - similar to Beef O' Brady's.

"We'll always play music," he said on Feb. 2, "but I want this to be a place where people can come eat and have a few drinks. Come for our lunch and happy hour."

The music playing at a pleasant level was mostly classic rock.

Down the Hatch

The menu doesn't take any chances, and lacks creativity.

You've got appetizers ($4.75-$8) such as chicken tenders, wings, nachos and fried cheese. The Chicken Quesadilla provides four small slices, and while house-dipped onion rings were greasy, they were crispy and made with nice thick slices of fresh sweet onion.

In the salad department ($3-$7) there are House Salad and the Kingston Tuna salad on a bed of greens. A dining companion liked his huge Fried Chicken Salad. My Caesar Salad was a generous portion, and I had it topped with grilled chicken that was well-seasoned.

My husband loved his Club Sandwich (sandwiches are $5.50-$8 and come with fries or slaw), but thought his fries weren't crispy enough. A few other sandwiches include Drew's Tuna Melt, Robby's Reuben, Grilled Chicken and BLT.

Jaybo's Burgers (that's Jay Dellinger's nickname, Jaybo) are $7-$8, and another friend tried the Cheeseburger. She thought it was "OK" but a little dry, and agreed with my husband that the fries were too limp.

The menu is finished with a handful of $8 wraps (Chicken Caesar, Cheeseburger, Club, Grecian) a 10-inch pizza that can come with a choice of seven toppings, and a few children's $5-comes-with-fries-and-a-drink selections.

Check Please

The four of us agreed this is not a bad place to stop by and have a beer and a sandwich, although we'll skip the fries next time. We wouldn't make a special trip for the food, but the Team Trivia that starts at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays might be fun.

Kingston Grill and Bar (kingstongrillandbar.com) is at 2676 Church St. in Conway (across from Wal-Mart), and the number is 369-2222. Happy hour is 4-7 p.m. daily with drink specials and $4 select appetizers, and operating hours are 11 a.m. until at least 10:30 p.m.

Becky Billingsley serves up fresh news daily at MyrtleBeachRestaurantNews.com.