Ooo! When I find a good spot, I get excited! While I was sunbathing and checking out Yelp, The Shop Ardsley came up on my feed. I b'marked it after checking out the reviews and food pics.
Fast-forward to yesterday when we stopped by as we were in the area. We arrived by 8P, 30 minutes prior to closing and we were never made to feel as though we were being rushed. We had just come from the pool, looking to get some takeaway dinner.
Carolina immediately greeted us upon arrival, gave us some menus and told us to take our time. I noticed that the kid's meals come with an ice-cream and that's what my daughter wanted, so I asked for it while we waited for the food to be prepared. Carolina was nice enough to offer us a table so that we could be more comfortable while we waited and my tot enjoyed her chocolate ice-cream, which tasted yummy. Yes. I had some. My kid offered so don't @ me.
The dining room holds a good amount of people but I could definitely see this place filling up. There's an open kitchen area, so you can see the food being prepared. We had a large order and everything arrived well and was still warm when we got home.
Grub Rundown:
Wings - we got mild and they were very flavorful with a slight kick. They came with a nice housemade ranch dressing. They were mild enough for my tiny tot.
Calamari - packed with a really good housemade tartar sauce and some marinara sauce. These tasted good but I'm sure they're even better when dining in.
Baked Clams - these were good, topped with a nice herbed panko and served with a white wine butter sauce to drizzle on top. The sauce was packed separately to maintain the integrity of the clams so they did not sog.
Tuna Tartare - this was served in the contemporary way, layered with flavourful guac on top and housemade tortilla chips. Very good.
Fried Onions - basically frizzled onions. We put them on almost everything, from the burgers and sandwiches to the mash and short ribs.
Fries - decent. Nothing spectacular to note but good fries all around.
Mac & Cheese - the bake on the mac is great. I needed to add some salt but it was perfect after doing so.
Creamed Spinach - I saw this on the menu and just had to try it. It was tasty! It's seasoned very well and super creamy. I'll probably order this every time I visit.
Mashed Potatoes - It's really good. Flavorful with a great texture. Very creamy because they're whipped. They nailed the texture and taste.
New England Clam Chowder - this soup is creamy, flavourful and chock full of goodness. Be advised that it does contain bacon...totally worth it.
Shop Meatballs - these were tasty. My tot ate most of them with her kid's meal. I with they were a little bit bigger but they were great with a lot of sauce.
Kid's Meal - we got the butter pasta. It came with choice of fries, broccoli or green beans, so we went with broccoli and asked that they mix it all together. We added the meatball app to it also. They gave us some parmesan so I sprinkled that on top and my kid loved it. As previously mentioned, the kid's meal also comes with choice of fruit or ice-cream and she had the ice-cream in house.
Philly Cheesesteak - hubby's choice and this was definitely a grown up cheesesteak. The steak is cut thick and everything in the sando worked together, cheese all melty. My husband loved it.
BYOB - my son ordered the BYO burger with short rib, pepper jack, grilled onion, jalapeño, bacon, guac and Chipotle mayo. I got fries on the side for him. This would definitely been better if eaten in house as it got super messy but still a great sandwich. They were VERY considerate by separately packing all the ingredients that would have made it soggy. He assembled it when we brought it home.
Braised Short Rib Entrée - I ordered this and the serving size is pretty good. They gave me a huge rib, plenty of whipped mash and roasted carrots that seemed to be glazed. The rib is so tender, I was able to cut it with a spoon.
Rotisserie Chicken - I ordered a half bird. You can tell they use very good poultry. They're the size of the chickens I buy when I cook at home so I appreciate not being served a gigantic Frankenbird. It was super tender also.
Desserts - we tried the Apple Berry Crisp AND the Marble Cheesecake, both of which were really nice. Definitely have the crisp in house because it's served with vanilla ice-cream.
Bagels - despite picking them up at the end of the day, they were still soft. All this does is make me want to go back and get one of their amazing looking brekkie sandos.
This was a winner. The staff and the food made this experience a great one. Next time we will have to dine in.
The kid's menu options also offer salmon, chicken parm and a few other items.
Pro tip: check their hours online because they have a couple of very early days where they close at 230P. read more