Inventor of the Roast Beef Sandwich? Kelly's Roast Beef
Written: Jan 12 '04 (Updated Jan 12 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: simple and basic sandwiches and platters, large portions, tasty and good quality food
Cons: customer service can be lacking at times, not a very extensive menu
The Bottom Line: Maybe not quite as legendary as they think they are, Kelly’s is a decent restaurant with good food. Don’t go in expecting miracles and you’ll leave happy.
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| jps246's Full Review: Kelly's Roast Beef |
Inventor of the roast beef sandwich? I’m not so sure on the validity of that claim, but Kelly’s does offer a good roast beef sandwich along with some other ‘American seafood fare’ dishes that are quite good. At times though, poor service can mar the experience.
Kelly’s started out as a stand on Revere Beach where the legend perpetuated by Kelly’s states that the first roast beef sandwich was created. That is, before Kelley’s, no one had ever though to put sliced roast beef on a Kaiser roll. Since that time, Kelley’s has expanded to four locations in addition the original Revere location. There are restaurants in Natick, Danvers, Saugus and Revere. My dining experiences are limited to the Natick location, while I have driven by the Revere location.
The Menu
Let’s start out with the obvious. Kelly’s offers a roast beef sandwich in a standard and a large size. Both provide generous portions of roast beef and can be made up anyway you like it (the basic sandwich is just roast beef and the roll).
In addition to the roast beef sandwich, the sandwich menu includes various selections that include: Corned Beef; Turkey Club; Reuben; Fish Sandwich; Lobster Roll; Chicken Salad; Shrimp Salad; Grilled Cheese, Hot Dog; and Clam Roll. The sandwiches range in price from about $2 (for the hot dog) to $15 (for the lobster roll). The average price is around $5.95. Sandwiches are available with whatever condiments you would like (lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, etc.) and items on the sandwiches can be substituted if you wish (for example, the turkey club comes with a spicy mayo, my partner hates this and got it with regular mayo).
Not looking for a sandwich but a dinner plate? The menu offers a Shrimp Plate, a Clam Plate, Fish and Chips, a Scallop Plate, a Chicken Dinner, and a Chicken Finger Plate. These dinner plates come with fries. Prices run from $5 to $15 for the various plates.
The rest of the menu is made up of salads, soups, side order and beverages. They offer several different kinds of salads including a garden salad, a fruit salad and a Caesar salad. Prices for the salads run from $3 to $6.50. Soups include clam chowder and a soup of the day. A bowl of clam chowder will cost you $3.50. Side orders include fries, onion rings, fried clams, chicken fingers and cheese fries. Available in different sizes, the average price is around $3 for a side, larger sizes cost more, as do the clam strips at $12.50 for the small. Beverages include coke products along with coffee, tea, orange juice, bottled water and frappes (in vanilla, chocolate, strawberry or coffee). Other than Frappes at $3.50, most drinks are around $1.50 in price.
An average meal for a single person is around $10 and for a couple, somewhere around $20, depending upon exactly what you get. I’ve gone in and eaten for $8 bucks and have gone in and spent $15 on myself. Be prepared to spend a lot if your whole family is eating.
Portion size is quite large, for both the sandwiches and the other items on the menu. A single order of cheese fries for example would feed at least 2 people and could probably feed four people.
For more detail on the menu, you can check out their website at:
http://www.kellysroastbeef.com/Menu.htm
My Experience
Before I go too deep here, let me just state for the record that I was a restaurant manager for several years before I finished college and went into the environmental field, and my partner and my friend are both store managers. Therefore, we might be a bit more picky than the average customer.
I have eaten at the Natick location on a few occasions. They offer both a dining room and drive-thru service. I’ve been through both. The interior provides a large dining room and lots of counter space. Ordering is fairly straightforward – walk up to the person who takes your order. It is then assembled for you and you go and sit down (much like any other fast food restaurant). The same process for drive-thru, except that you are in your car for the whole thing.
On the times that I have been there, I’ve found the customer service to be fairly lax and generally not all that great. Unlike a McDonalds or say a Wendy’s, speed does not appear to be an important element at Kelly’s. Don’t expect to walk in and within a few minutes being sitting down with your food. The times I’ve been there, it’s taken a good 10 minutes for my order to be completed.
The most recent time, a few nights ago, my partner and I were there with a friend. My partner and I ordered a roast beef sandwich, a turkey club, an order of cheese fries and two medium cokes. My partner got his turkey club without lettuce and tomato and with regular mayonnaise instead of the spicy mayo. I ordered my roast beef with swiss cheese on it. My sandwich was the first to come up and sat under the heat lamp for several minutes before my partner’s sandwich came up and it had lettuce and tomato on it. The quickly fixed that, but told us the cheese fries would be brought out. So we sat down and he discovered that they had put the spicy mayo on. He brought the sandwich back and waited a good 5 minutes for a new sandwich to be made. Just as he was sitting back down, they came out with the cheese fries, at least 10 minutes after we initially made the order. Our friend on the other hand got a roast beef sandwich, a cup of clam chowder, an order of cheese fries and a small soda. Other than the cheese fries, everything was ready for her in about 5 minutes. Her cheese fries came out at the same time ours did.
The employee who was taking our order obviously did not want to be there. He was apparently supposed to be off and was very vocal in letting everyone know this. He gave my partner and attitude when he returned the club with the wrong mayo on it. When he brought out the two orders of cheese fries, he practically dumped them on the table. No apologies for the long wait.
The food quality is fairly good. The sandwiches (even though mine sat under the heat lamp) were hot, and the fries, since they were just cooked were good. The clam chowder tasted excellent, but was a bit on the thin side. I had to ask her if it really was clam chowder it was so thin. In the past food quality has been good, and I’ve never received a cold sandwich or old fries.
Cleanliness in the dining room and behind the counter appeared to be good. We were there later in the evening, so a portion of the dining room had been cleaned and most of the employees were busy cleaning the areas behind the counter. However, the kitchen areas we could see were well maintained and none of us saw anything that would have made us not want to eat there. In the past, when I have been there, I have found much the same, the store is well maintained and the various areas kept decently clean.
It doesn’t take much to make me happy – but on my last visit the complete lack of any customer service bothered me. I don’t need someone falling over themselves to make me happy, but at least be pleasant to the customer. While it probably won’t stop me from going back, it is not something that I was happy about.
Do you want to eat here?
If you like roast beef sandwiches Kelly’s is worth stopping in at. The sandwiches are fairly priced and prepared with generous portions of tasty roast beef. Generally anyone can find something they like at Kelly’s, there is enough diversity on the menu. However, other than the roast beef, it does tend to lean towards the seafood side and not being a fan of seafood, I stick to the roast beef and fries.
Maybe not quite as legendary as they think they are, Kelly’s is a decent restaurant with good food. Don’t go in expecting miracles and you’ll leave happy.
For more information on Kelly’s, you can go to their website at:
http://www.kellysroastbeef.com
Recommended:
Yes
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