It’s always a pleasure when our girls join us on our adventures, but their moody ways and typical tardy teenage profile almost saw us late for our reservations at Turtle Jack’s Muskoka Grill Upper Centennial in Hamilton. Kieana, Indy and Tehya were supposed to be with us, but Tehya wasn’t feeling well (ended up having surgery a couple days later), so Felicia,  (Kieana’s friend)  joined us for dinner.

We were greeted by the friendly hostesses who directed us to a very roomy booth which was perfectly situated at the rear of the restaurant, directly in front of the beautiful stone fireplace.  With my customary decaf coffee ordered, soft drinks for the girls and Caron was intrigued by the Pineapple Smash Martini (blueberry vodka, pineapple and blueberry juice with a splash of amaretto) so after consulting with our server Cassandra, she knew she had to give it a try. Forget elephants, Cassandra has one of the best memories we’ve ever witnessed. At no time this night did we see her write down anything we ordered and we were amazed that she got everything perfect. Keep in mind it was a table of five people.

With Caron going on how delicious her martini was in the background, we were busy sorting through the appetizer menu. We decided on getting the nacho platter, cheesy bread, Caesar salad,  and I was eager to try their coconut shrimp. Ever since my experience earlier in the year with coconut shrimp in Jamaica, I’ve been on a mission to find a source closer to home. I’m not much of a nacho person, so it’s not something we would normally order…when it arrived at our table we knew we were in for a long night. This is a supposed to be an “appetizer” but it seems the kitchen didn’t get the memo… this thing was built like a volcano. It was a tower of  layers of nachos, cheddar and mozzarella cheese, jalapenos, seasoned beef, olives, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, green onions and salsa.. baked, then drizzled with sour cream. Even with my help, the ladies had a difficult time leveling it. Though I’m not into the nacho thing, I crave a good guacamole and the side order we got hit the spot. Freshly made (no discoloring), with non of that bitter-oily after taste you tend to get at most restaurants. A blend of smooth and chunky avocado, with just the right amount cilantro and other ingredients.

The coconut shrimp was a bit over-battered for my liking, and had the look of chicken wing drumettes, but the accompanying Thai dipping sauce was on point and the Asian coleslaw was quite refreshing. A good balance of exotic flavors, crunch was an amazing partner for the coconut shrimp.

After continued attempts to make a real dent on the Nacho Extravaganza, we had to raise the white flag and concede. Watching the ladies struggle with the appetizers I knew they wouldn’t have any room for the entrees, but held back commenting until they were faced with the task at hand. Once again we were impressed by the courteous nature of Cassandra and we were silently hoping she would screw up one of orders so we could say “should have written it down eh!”. She’s as professional as they come and proves that she knows the menu front to back.

By this time we could hear live music emanating from the bar area (I didn’t get up to see) and we learned that there’s usually a live musician every Thursday… which was quite entertaining while we enjoyed a fantastic meal. Felicia had the Buffalo Chicken Wrap (crisp fried chicken tenders tossed in your choice of wing sauce.. then rolled into a flour tortilla with cheddar, lettuce, diced tomato and ranch dressing), which as I expected (with everyone else) she struggled to finish. Seems that big portions is the common theme at Turtle Jacks and from our experience we could safely say that just about everything on their menu could easily be shared by two people.

Kieana opted for the 1/2 rack ‘award’ winning baby back ribs (Cassandra mentioned that they won some award for their ribs) and from the reaction by Kieana and when I took a sample off her plate, we could see why. Not just your fall-off-the-bone -tender ribs, but well basted with a truly exciting BBQ sauce. Breaking away from her traditional baked potato, with her choice of side she got the coleslaw and fries. Kieana isn’t much of a coleslaw person, but she did mention that it was a bit on the vinegar side.

After many attempts by Indy to sneak a sip of Caron’s Green Apple Martini (another recommendation by Cassandra), she gave up and decided it was time to tackle her platter of  chicken fingers. According to the menu it’s freshly breaded chicken tenders which was marinated in buttermilk… then deep fried to a crispy finish. Not only was this seriously good (according to Indy), Caron took the leftovers to work for lunch the next day and she came home raving how good they were too.  The platter also included fresh cut fries, coleslaw, carrots and celery sticks. Take note that this is not the baby size chicken strips you’d normally get off a kids menu… parents would know what I mean.

I forgot to mention that my customary decaf coffee was excellent. I’m not sure how it’s achieved but for decaf to have this much body and flavor is something you’d expect from good regular coffee. It was so good I forced in a couple cups even though I was stuffed from all the tasty dishes.

Caron decided on the New York strip loin with fresh cut fries and coleslaw, which was surprisingly tender even though it was a bit overcooked from the medium-well she requested. The menu is one which will cause confusion as there are many appetizing sounding options, so after much inner debate I decided on the sort of surf and turf with the shrimp and scallop sirloin in a garlic wine cream sauce. This one was a hit out of the park!  Not only was my steak perfectly cooked to medium rare  as I had requested, the shrimp and scallops in that garlic sauce was simply delectable. The accompanying garlic mashed potato complimented the steak perfectly, but the dirty rice which was quite tasty on it’s own.. was a poor choice by me.

With good food on the table, live music in the background and tons of laughter and good times being had by all.. it was an overall excellent dinner. with no room for dessert, but thinking about our readers we sacrificed our bursting stomachs and ordered the “Fire ‘n Ice” (vanilla ice cream rolled in a cinnamon crust, fried and drizzled with caramel and chocolate syrup. A bit heavy on the cinnamon, but an absolutely delicious dessert to end the night.

After dinner I walked over to the bar area which seemed like a good spot to grab a bite, enjoy a few beverages and watch the game if you’re alone or with a buddy. There’s a nice vibe to this area and like the rest of the restaurant, there’s a comfortable feel to it all.

If you’re looking for a generally good dining experience, with friendly and accommodating service that’s not overly priced, be sure to check out  Turtle Jack’s Muskoka Grill on Upper Centennial in Hamilton and remember to ask for Cassandra (try to get her to forget what you ordered). And according to Caron, you MUST try the Pineapple Smash Martini which according to her,  is out of this world.

Turtle Jack’s Muskoka Grill

125 Upper Centennial Parkway
Hamilton, Ontario L8J 2T7
Tel: 905-662-3120

For a full list of all Turtle Jacks locations, see http://www.turtlejacks.com/locations

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With our daughters back in school after the March break and it being Caron’s birthday we decided to go out for lunch. Originally we were going to hit East Side Marios again, since Caron had a craving for pasta, but we opted for Turtle Jacks instead. She’s been raving about some sort of pasta her and Glenda (my sis) had at JFK last Summer while they waited for their flight back to Canada and since we couldn’t go to JFK just for pasta we thought we’d try the pasta at Turtle Jacks instead. Pasta at a grill?

Though it was the lunch hour there was no wait to be seated and we were pleasantly greeted by our server Nadia, who made us feel very welcomed. After saying the normal “welcome to…” we placed our drinks order. Soda for Caron and decaf coffee for me (nothing special about this coffee) and Caron opted for a starter salad.

Roasted Garlic Caesar.

A lovely (yes I tried it also) and considerably light for a Caesar salad… Crispy Romain lettuce tossed with croutons, bacon bits, roasted garlic buds (amazingly sweet), red onions and Renee Creamy Caesar dressing. We’re huge fans of this dressing at home, so no real complaints here. The juice from the wedge of lemon really sparked-up this salad. Cost: $3.49

I did mention that there wasn’t a wait for a table but between the salad and getting our actual meal there was a 15-20 minute wait, which we found strange since the restaurant was overly busy. Hey, it was Caron’s birthday so we took it easy and patiently awaited our meal.

We ordered off the dinner menu though the lunch menu did have some good options, like the beer battered fish and chips, but we wanted a “real” meal. Caron got her pasta dish…

Chicken Parmesan Dinner

Basically a chicken breast lightly dusted in panko breading, pan fried and topped with a rich marinara sauce and melted mozzarella cheese. This was served on a bed of fettuccine noodles which was tossed in marinara sauce as well. You also had the option of using Alfredo sauce if you wanted. Cost $15.65

It’s always very difficult for me to find something I want to try on these menus, as they all seem the same and nothing really stands out. I did have a craving for some wings, but I’ve learned my lesson with buying wings in restaurants… they’re usually covered with vinegar disguised as being hot sauce. That’s possibly one of my biggest peeves. However I did end up getting…

The Big Wing Dinner.

I thought I’d give this a try since they did have many sauce options. I asked Nadia, which of the sauces they had was the most popular and she said it was definitely the house NY butter sauce. She explained that it had a nice sort of “Franks hot” .. yup! I told her ok, I’ll go with the “jerk” instead. That Frank’s Hot sauce is absolutely terrible… yet another vinegar based sauce trying to fool people into thinking they eating something hot and lively. There was no need for her to continue explaining their house special sauce.

This big wing dinner is basically roaster size wings (pretty big) that dusted and fried, then tossed in the sauce of your choice. In my case it was “jerk”. It’s served with a batch of fresh cut fries which are absolutely wonderful, carrot and celery sticks, coleslaw and a blue cheese dip. Now I’ve been up and down the Caribbean, tried many of the Caribbean restaurants in Toronto and I do a fair share of cooking myself (including jerk) and this was a bit of a disappointment. Now don’t get me wrong, as it’s like nothing you’ve ever tasted before and if I didn’t know (and was expecting) real jerk.. this would probably hit the spot for me. However all I could taste is the undertone of VINEGAR, lime (not bad) and a bit of allspice. It lacked the true “jerk” taste to be quite honest. And with the use of that nasty “Franks Hot” it didn’t really impress me. It would have been much better if the chef had used a true island blend hot sauce to give it that little extra punch he/she was looking for.  But as mentioned, if you’ve never had jerk wings before, it ‘s not all that bad. Price $15.98

Overall Turtle Jack’s Muskoka Grill, Hamilton Ontario will continue to get our business as we’re always pleased with the service, food (just not the wings for me) and overall atmosphere. A typical sports bar/restaurant chain that’s really trying their best to give customers a good time for their dollars. Caron was really impressed by her pasta dish and it being her birthday she got a complimentary dessert, with fireworks included. Kudos to our server Nadia for a job well done. Thanks.

I must also mention that I truly love the theme of the restaurant. The whole Muskoka feel is very warm and welcoming.. almost cozy. The final bill was just over $50 with tip for the two of us. But remember we didn’t order any dessert or booze.

Info:

Turtle Jack’s Upper James
1180 Upper James St
Hamilton ON L9C 3B1
Tel: 905-389-6696

Sun-Wed: 11am- 12am
Thurs-Sat: 11am- 1am

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