Pity the food, with few exceptions, doesn't match the ambience

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The Pony Corral evokes fond memories for many diners. (MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

Dining out

Pony Corral

• 400 Wilton St., 475-4464
• Licensed
• Wheelchair access
• Two and a half stars out of five

For some the Pony Corral was their first restaurant, or their children's first, and the name evokes sentimental memories. Actually most of them can't remember what they ate there, although one friend does reminisce fondly about his two burgers-and-eggs breakfast on his way to university. Another has fond memories of what she insists was a real live pony on the grounds.

There's a pony in front of the Wilton Street Pony Corral too, but it isn't live, and this isn't the Pony Corral of their past; it's one link in a chain that revived the name in 1988 and has since expanded to four units. The fact that they are locally owned, and not part of some massive international corporation, was what intrigued me in the first place, but the main attraction of my first visit was its proximity on one nasty, snowy night. I suspect its durability -- nay, even flourishability -- may be due in part to that old mantra: location, location, location.

It's a handsome, comfortable room with a high-raftered ceiling, dark wood panelling and a cosy gas fireplace set in a gleaming ceramic tile panel. Tables are well spaced and the noise level is particularly well-modulated. Yes, there are two television sets -- one at each end of the room, but they are small, placed high up on the walls and silent. An even more tranquil area is down a few steps in a charming solarium. The atmosphere is warm and welcoming, child-friendly too -- there were several little ones present on my visits. What a pity the food -- with a few expectations -- doesn't match the ambience.

I can't speak for the other branches, but if I'd stayed with only certain dishes at the Wilton branch this might have been quite a different review. The best the house has to offer, by far, is the 12-ounce New York striploin, which was flavourful, tender and cooked precisely as rare as ordered ($30). Not quite in the same class, but also pretty good were the meaty and nicely seasoned, albeit heavily oversalted, Greek style ribs ($24 for a full rack, $19 for half). The best starters we had were delicious chicken livers sautéed with onions and red wine -- although we did have to ask for the included garlic bread which, when we got it, wasn't very garlicky ($10) -- and the terrific wings in a honey garlic sauce, which also come in several degrees of spicy ($10 for one pound).

And that's about it -- nothing else came close. A skimpy serving of calamari was in the just passable category, some tiny, others big clumps that were unusually soft for calamari, all in a heavy, floury-tasting breading that was characteristic of other deep-fried foods here ($11). Two skewers of chicken souvlaki were dryish, but also passable, and -- unlike the other entrees -- included both soup and a well-dressed Greek salad with plenty of feta and good olives ($17).

The tenderized-tasting texture of a breaded veal cutlet was partly disguised by a savoury mushroom sauce, but it was still a tenderized-tasting breaded veal cutlet, blanketed by the sauce despite a request to serve it on the side ($17). Chicken cordon bleu was just a dryish chicken breast enfolded by (not enclosing, as a cordon bleu should) a slice of flabby, utterly flavourless ham, the thinnest possible film of mozzarella and topped by mushroom sauce ($19). A filet of sole was flavourless, and the three deep-fried shrimp it was paired with consisted of more breading than shrimp -- even heavier than the breading on the calamari, and with the same unpleasant, floury flavour ($23).

Most entrees include a choice of soup or salad. One night's du jour was a good pea soup, which didn't need the added dice of that flavourless ham; another night it was an odd but pleasant soup that tasted a lot like tomato-spiked avgolemono. Praise for the Greek salad doesn't extend to the included house salad, which was mostly head lettuce, with a choice of what sounded like bottled dressings, any of which would probably have been preferable to the dreadful glue that was said to be raspberry dressing. Lemon roasted potatoes were good but cold; a foil-wrapped baked potato had an almost black skin and fries tasted frozen and flavourless. The simply steamed mixture of broccoli cauliflower, carrots and green beans was acceptable though, as was the dollop of rice that came with most dishes.

Sandwich prices were high enough to raise one's expectations mightily, most from $12 for a western or BLT to $14 for a clubhouse or a Reuben, including fries and cole slaw that was a tad mushy but tasted OK. There was enough corned beef in the Reuben, but hardly any sauerkraut, even less cheese (said to be Swiss but too little of it to be sure) and no discernible dressing. The burger prices were equally astonishing -- from $11 for a one third of a pound pattie to $15 for two patties with cheese, including fries only -- and incomprehensible for a pattie that was totally juiceless, with a topping of good mushrooms, but cheese that tasted processed and chili that was just a thin, almost gritty and truly awful smear on the bun ($13).

The ornate desserts, from Pastry Castle, were delicious, among them the wonderfully chocolatey death by chocolate, and the Ferrero Rocher bombe, which (despite its description by two different servers) wasn't a cheesecake at all, but layers of chocolate cake and mousse ($7 each). In fact, the servers in general, although amiable and attentive, didn't know much about most of the food. There's not a bad wine list at not bad prices, but no cocktail list. They'll make any drink we wanted, we were told, but we had to ask about the prices, which (even though our server got them wrong) were also, as it turned out, not bad.

marion.warhaft@freepress.mb.ca

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Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 9, 2012 D5