Dry Docked at the Jolly Roger CLOSED

Jolly Roger

34661 Golden Lantern

Dana Point, CA 92629

Looking for somewhere different to try, Katie and I decided on giving the Jolly Roger a shot. The last Jolly Roger I had been to was on Balboa Island, and that one is long gone. In fact, there are only two left, one in Oceanside and this one in Dana Point.

On this Sunday night we could have our pick of any table in the place. They were not very busy, so we opted to sit upstairs. The view was great, here is a picture from our table.

Lets hope the view is not the best thing about this place. Onto the food you land lovers! That is my pirate talk.

For an appetizer, we chose the Crab and Artichoke Dip. The menu said this was snow crab and artichoke hearts blended with cream cheese. The first picture shows the oil slick that was very much evident in this dip. The crab was un-noticeable, and the artichoke hearts were non-existent. The second picture shows the trouble we had dipping our chips in this dip. The cheese was very stringy, and made it impossible for us to dip our chips without  creating a big ribbon of cheese with each dip. I am not even sure this was cream cheese in this dish, it really tasted like mozzarella, but I could be wrong about that. Not a very good start to our meal.

This bright colored plate was Katie's Shrimp Scampi. This was a daily special and not on the regular menu. After tasting this, it should stay off of the menu. The shrimp had no taste, even when I drenched it in the garlic and butter. One of the worst shrimp scampi's that I have ever had. The rice and vegetables were average.

So for my plate I went with a Pirate Combo, featuring Prime Rib and Coconut Shrimp. First, the prime rib had fat all through the cut. I was really fighting this meat with my knife. The meat itself was good, but all the fat really made this plate more of a challenge to eat.

The coconut shrimp was heavily battered, and you could not taste the shrimp. Eaten without the orange marmalade sauce, these shrimp were dry. The rest of the plate was nothing to write home about either. The mashed potatoes were dry as well, and the vegetables were just okay.

The service at the Jolly Roger left a lot to be desired also. Our ill fated crab and artichoke dip sat finished in the middle of our table throughout our meal. The waiter himself was pleasant, but not enough to make us want to go back. I would describe the food here as, bad wedding reception food. Everything was bland and very dry.

So out of five skull and cross bones, (because that is what is on the Jolly Roger flag, not because the food is poison!), five being best to zero being worst, the Jolly Roger gets 1 skull and cross bones.

If you would like to visit the Jolly Roger web site, click here: http://www.jollyrogerrestaurants.com/

Tapped Out at The Four Kegs

Four Kegs

276 North Jones Boulevard

Las Vegas, NV 89107

This is part two of my trip to Vegas, and the second of two places that have been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri. This joint is definitely off the beaten track of Vegas. This sports bar/ family restaurant is located in one of the most rundown strip malls I have ever been to. Lets hope the food livens the place up.

The restaurant is pretty busy at noon on a Thursday, but the four of us have no trouble finding a table. From what I can tell they only have one waitress for the whole place, but there are only about 12 to fifteen tables in this small restaurant. The waitress is not pleased when we ask for two separate checks, and says that she is far too busy to accommodate us. She storms off after taking our order. Lets take a look at the food now.

This, no joke, was our order of onion rings that we got for an appetizer. We counted about twelve rings. Not wanting to ruffle the feather of our waitress any further, we did not mention the stingy portion. The onion rings were average tasting, nothing that you could not get at a decent coffee shop.

This is the Steak sandwich. The bite that I had was a little fatty, but I liked this well enough, and the seven dollars you paid for this sandwich was worth it. The bread was not the best and the fries were just okay.

Here is the French Dip. Again nothing too fantastic here. The meat seemed a little over done to me, nothing that you could not get from Coco's or Carrow's.

Alright, so this what they talked about on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, the Stromboli. This is the Original large Stromboli. This was large enough to split, even with my big appetite. This had pepperoni, and other meats in it, not sure which ones, because the menu did not give a description, and I was not going to tempt fate and ask the waitress anymore questions than I had to. The meats were bland tasting, I should have gone for the combo boli, or the meatball boli. The crust was good and buttery. The marinara was alright.

This is Katie's more manageable small Vegetable Stromboli. She liked this boli, better than I liked mine, and it really helped her hangover from the night before.

So how should this place be judged? I did have high hopes going into it, because it was featured on TV. The place did not live up to those expectations. Guy lived in Vegas while he was in school and this was one his favorite spots to hangout, so of course he has an affinity for it. I can understand that, I love Bob's Big Boy, but I know that it is not the worlds best place. I can not give the same amount of love that Guy gave this place. It is just average to below average food, with bad service. They just got lucky that one of their regulars became famous and put them on TV, or they would be like the rest of their strip mall, out of business.

So out of five taps, (because kegs have taps), five being best to zero being worst, this place gets one tap.

For more information on the Four Kegs, there web site is here: http://www.fourkegs.com/index.html