Chez Piggy Restaurant & Bar

Good food (gluten and lactose free), great service. The patio is dark and feels very confining. No sunshine at all. It's summer, let the sun in!! $150 for 2 lunches, 3 drinks.

Chez Piggy was my first dinner for my birthday trip in Kingston. Many businesses in Kingston are downtown by the water. Super busy place in the summer, and there was a graduation going on downtown, so there was no street parking. Luckily, there was a parking garage nearby. At this point, I didn't know my way around well at all yet, but it was an easy walk from the parking garage and lots of people around, so area is definitely safe, although there are a lot of homeless downtown, which is shameful in Canada. They are, of course, not bothering anyone, but it was very sad to see. The location was cute. One walks through this little stone enclosure to get to the restaurant. It is not right on the street, adding to its charm. I didn't realize how much history and old-world charm Kingston offers, which was really nice. Chez Piggy was the same. The building is gorgeous. I did see that they offered an outdoor dining space too, which is not for me, especially during the heat-dome weather my birthday trip was serving up. This was a Thursday night, and I had no idea downtown would be as busy as it was, so I didn't even consider reservations would be necessary. The restaurant was packed, and I was asked if I had a reservation, but being a solo diner on all of my trips, it has NEVER been a problem being fit in somewhere, although I never appreciate being offered the bar right away anywhere because for an 50 something woman with RA, that option is often uncomfortable. They made a slight fuss about 'fitting me in,' but there was a small, two-seat table available, so I didn't understand the inconvenience to them? This place had a bad case of what I always refer to as "solo diner syndrome." One is treated with less care than others because they are dining alone. This happens to me with a small percentage of the dining experiences I have on trips...my biggest pet peeve. I don't order cheap and I tip well to make up for the missing person. The food here was very good. I was able to get gluten-free bread before the meal, which almost never happens, but there was a $5 surcharge (I got it as many other restaurants this trip with NO extra charge) and it was cold, which was hugely disappointing. It was dark brown and just okay...nice to have but not fantastic. My server did show up right away and took my order. My server was Karl. I ordered a Da Rico Nico drink... delicious but VERY small (don't the drinks get smaller and more expensive these days?) and $19. I also got the scallop dish. It had corn as a base with popcorn around the edge. It seemed like an odd ingredient choice but really worked. The dish was really good...however... Karl never came back and asked me if all was good. Never asked if I wanted another drink. In fact, he came back as I was getting ready to take my last bite and started picking up the plate before I fully confirmed I was done, but I was like...whatever. He didn't have much care about my service in my opinion. I felt very disappointed as that was the first dinner of my trip. He brought the bill right away, and I wanted to pay with my debit, but needed to transfer $ over from my savings to chequing account. He not only gave me the bill but shoved the debit machine in my face. I felt pressured and just paid with my credit card instead of taking my time to transfer the $ over. That dinner made me feel insignificant and pushed out, very rushed. Although the food was amazing because of the way they treat solo diners, I would not eat there again. But for parties of more than one, the decor and building are gorgeous and the food is very good, but if I'm paying $100 with tip to eat solo, the service should be equally as good as the food. If you want great scallops and fantastic service, Aqua Terra blows this place out of the water.

Charming place. Menu offering a variety of choices with amazing flavors. (Gluten-free options available.) A must-try!