Kelseys Original Roadhouse Bowmanville

Ouch, they messed up almost everything. Undercooked chicken, terrible wait time, bad service. It was a dreadful 2 hour and 15 minutes of my life, no exaggeration. I work at a restaurant and am very displeased with what happened tonight at Kelsey's. -Brady

The food here is great but I do often have some wait times with the bartenders. I confess, I use this place mostly for takeout. I call in my order and then drive over to pick it up. While I wait, I am never asked if I want a drink or anything- I am hoping things improve because the food is pretty good.

Food is good, but the restaurant definitely needs a face lift inside. The walls have stains and need a good wipe down. The lights have webs and the floor is a different story. Not my first choice when going out.

Will never return. Service was fine despite being a little busy. The food was just awful, one meal was barely touched, as it was both cold and tasted off. They did not take it off the bill. Also the drinks tasted off, a strong chemical flavour and was barely touched, they again apologized and they again were still on the bill. They gave us a coupon for an particular appetizer. Having given this location a couple of second chances now, I will not attempt again.

Yesterday, I realized that I have never had lunch in Bowmanville. I generally do shopping, perhaps get some sorbet (my former hangout closed a while back), and head home. I decided to get some lunch. Where do I go for a lunch bite? I drove across the street from Winners to Kelsey's. I haven't set foot in a Kelsey's in probably a good five years. I was breaking more than one streak. I arrived at around 3 pm. I had to wait for a minute before a man from the bar helped me out. Since it wasn't that busy, I asked for a table and selected a booth in the dining room. Hey, might as well go all out. Another person from the bar came over to take my order. I got a Diet Pepsi and the tomato basil penne with grilled chicken. My drink came out promptly. It helps to have folks working the bar provide you with a drink when you need it! Moments later, my penne was ready. The penne was odd. It had goat cheese on it. Typically, I don't expect goat cheese in penne. I don't mind eating it, but there was far too much of it in my dish. So, I put a lot of it off to the side. The other odd detail was that my grilled chicken had pesto sauce. I like tomato sauce with my penne and the grilled chicken also takes the same sauce. I also like pesto penne where the chicken accepts that it will be coated with pesto sauce. But, to have both sauces in the same dish? It was a first for me. My meal just seemed odd. I loved the spinach, fresh tomatoes, and grilled chicken. The abundance of goat cheese that I didn't exactly want, along with two different sauces in my dish has made me decide to never order this dish again! I wanted dessert. I ordered the go nuts donuts. Essentially, they are donut pillows full of Nutella. You have the option of dipping them into caramel or peanut butter sauce. I went with the latter. I was equally as excited about trying them as my server. She loved my order and said that it would not disappoint. She was right. Oh my goodness... exceptionally delightful! They are light and done perfectly. The powdered sugar married with the slightly salty peanut butter sauce made each donut so tasty. I was in heaven. I should have ordered dessert and nothing else! The go nuts donuts and my Diet Coke would make my review a five-star review. With the odd tomato-pesto-basil-goat cheese-grilled-chicken penne dish, I am giving this restaurant four stars. I was at this restaurant for 1.5 hours. It was a nice, leisurely lunch with wonderful service. (47)