I had been in for drinks once or twice before and was very impressed with what they had done inside. Old banged up tables and chairs had been replaced by leather booths and brand new furniture. The pool area was completely redone as well and big screen TV’s were installed throughout. Looking to take a bite out of the lucrative pie shared by Joey’s, Cactus Club, Moxies, and Earls, Rusty’s also hired a team of attractive waitresses and dressed them like referees (albeit with a little more skin showing than you would see on your average ref). Overall, the facelift was a job very well done and it gave the Rusty’s a very clean, modern, and inviting look.Today was my first chance to eat lunch there and I was really looking forward to it. I had eaten at Breakers before and hadn’t been too impressed, but I had heard some good things about the food from a friend of mine who tends bar there.

Our server promptly came over to the table to get us menus and take drink orders. She also told us about the daily specials. For the sake of management I really hope she was new, because if I was her employer I would have been very unimpressed with how they were presented to us. She didn’t have them memorized, but instead read them to us, which isn’t a big deal to me, especially at a bar/pub type restaurant, but the fact that she read them of the back of a crumpled receipt didn’t strike me as very professional. She also did a very poor job of selling the specials, speaking as if she was very uninterested in what they had to offer. She certainly didn’t make them sound too appetizing.

On perusal of the menu I was shocked by the prices. $12 for a basic hamburger is pretty excessive almost anywhere, but at a pool hall (even an upscale one) that’s robbery. If the burger had some bacon, or at least some cheese I would understand, but those were additional. I understand that steak isn’t cheap and it’s fairly easy to find a $34 steak at other restaurants in town, but again, Rusty’s is a pool hall, not The Keg or Ric’s Grille. I guess it wouldn’t matter if they tasted like they were worth those prices, but that remained to be seen. I didn’t feel like I had walked into the type of establishment where I should expect to pay those prices.

After chatting with my friend for ages, our server showed up to take our order. It had been so long that since we had seen her that both of us had forgotten that we hadn’t even ordered yet. My friend was particularly unimpressed as he had an appointment with a client right after lunch. I ended up ordering the Soup and Sandwich Special ($10) despite the poor sell job from our server and my friend ordered the Quesadilla (another small bone of contention – the description of the Quesadilla in the menu was “everything you could want on a quesadilla”, which doesn’t really give me a great idea of what I’m ordering. Is it a chicken quesadilla? Beef? Does it have toppings I don’t like?).

Fortunately the food came out pretty quickly, so my friend felt confident he would have no problem making his meeting. My chicken noodle soup was good. It had lots of chicken in it, which I liked, (I hate when places skimp on an ingredient that is in the title of the dish) and it had very nice flavour. My sandwich was less impressive. It wasn’t bad, but it was basically just a couple of pieces of sliced chicken cold cuts and a bit of lettuce and mayo on a grilled pita. Other than the grilling of the pita, this sandwich wasn’t any better than those found in 90% of lunchboxes in Kelowna.

My friend’s Quesadilla was probably slightly above average for a quesadilla, but it definitely didn’t make me want to go running back to Rusty’s for another quesadilla. It had the usual blend of chicken, cheese and grilled onions. Like I said, it was good, but nothing special.

Our server cleared our dishes away pretty quickly, but when she did so she completely disappeared. We waited around for ages to ask her for the bill, but she was nowhere to be found. Eventually my friend had to leave for his appointment and I went up to the bar to pay.

Overall, I think Rusty’s is a huge improvement on Breakers and would recommend it to anyone looking to play a little pool and have a few drinks to unwind after work. It’s probably even a great place to watch some hockey, football or UFC, but I don’t recommend it for lunch. The menu seemed overpriced and the service really made for a poor overall experience.

Ambience: 4/5

Taste: 3/5

Value: 2/5

Overall: 2/5