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| - I'm choosing to review not the Keg restaurant but the bar on the upper floor. I've eaten in the dining room, and it's fine, but the bar is where it's really at. I've been coming here for years and have been poured out its doors at the end of the night many times. If I win the lottery I'm buying this place and booting out the Keg, but I'll keep the bar open with the full menu, don't worry.
The bar is sizable and comfortable. It's just too easy to order a Keg-sized cocktail, a little pricey at around $10, but your martini or bourbon sour or white Russian or Manhattan will be delicious. You can order from the full menu at the bar or at one of the tables in the nearby rooms or snugs, so why would you ever bother with the dining room?
I have many fond memories at the Manson. I've seen hockey players walking through after a game. I even saw a couple basically having sex on one of the couches in the bar. That's an unusual event for the Mansion, I have to say, but it's something you don't forget seeing in a steakhouse bar.
Just a note on the building: the Keg Mansion was at one time owned by Hart Massey of the famous Massey family. Former Governor General Vincent Massey and Hollywood star Raymond Massey once lived right to the north of the mansion. Many rumours of spirits and hauntings abound in the Mansion. There's an open oval in the floor near the washroons where a maid who served the family is alleged to have hung herself, and some report they've seen her ghostly body hanging there. Lillian Massey, the daughter of Hart Massey, is said to have died in the mansion and some have said they've felt her presence, especially in the washrooms for some reason. (Why are washrooms often said to be haunted? Would you want to spend your afterlife flushing toilets and turning lights on and off?) There are also reports of children laughing and a little boy who runs around the mansion playing and spying on diners. Despite the alleged hauntings, the Keg Mansion remains one of the most popular places to eat and drink in the area, and I'll go there either until it closes or I find myself hauntings its hallways myself.
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