KC Crave Restaurant Review

I wanted to give a shout out to KC Crave, a new restaurant in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.  We have gone the past two weekends with different groups of friends and I have to say that everything is SOOOO good.  So far 10 of us wholeheartedly agree.  If you are in the area, you really need to go.

The initial draw for us was that they have an upstairs Tap Room with circular booths that have 2 self-service beer taps right at your table.  We had never been to a place like that, so we definitely wanted to try it out.  I made the reservation and invited 2 other couples to meet us there.  

KC Crave Tap Table

There are 4 tap tables upstairs.  Ours had Miller Lite and a local beer, Intuition Pale Ale.  The other tables had one local beer each, Dukes Brown Ale and Green Room IPA with a national brand and the last table had Sam Adams and Sam Adams Seasonal.  So if you have a particular preference, you might want to try and reserve a particular table. 

Those tables seat up to 6 and I'd say you definitely want to go with at least one other couple.  You will need to reserve the table and you can choose either 5, 7, 9, or 11pm and you get the table for 2 hours.  They require a credit card number to hold the reservation. 

For the regular dining room on the 1st floor, they do not take reservations.  Just get there by 6:30 and in our experience, you won't have a problem getting a table.  Arrive 7pm or later and you may have to wait. 

Tap Table Dispensing System

For the tap tables, the waitress will "check-in" each person that would like to drink beer from the tap, which unlocks 32oz or approx 2 pints for each person.  If you would like more, they can unlock more.  They charge 30 cents per ounce for the beer out of the tap, so you don't have to drink the full 32oz each, it's just a way to keep people from overindulging.  It was definitely cool, but having done the tap tables once, we decided next time we'd just get a regular table downstairs. 

The food is a combination of tapas style starters/small plates, sharing plates and sides.  As their webpage says, sharing is encouraged.  The sharing plates typically have 3 small portions of whichever item is ordered.  However, if you know what you want and don't want to share, you can also turn your plate into an entree that includes two sides for an additional $7. 

We've done it both ways.  The first time we went, we all ordered a bunch of different starter and sharing plates.  We shared the Tsunami Chips, Roasted Pork Corn Cakes, Filet Mignon Medallions, Hawaiian Style Poke, Beer Cheese Soup, Butternut Squash Raviolis and  Bourbon Chicken Stir Fry.  For dessert we all shared the Cinnamon Crusted Fried Cheese Cake, Peanut Butter Ice Cream/Flourless Brownies and Banana Cake/Ice Cream.  Everything we individually tried was amazing.

Bourbon Chicken Stir Fry

Roasted Pork Corn Cakes

Red Potatoes and Artichoke Side

The second time the wifey and I shared some Fried Green Tomatoes and because we loved the Bourbon Chicken Stir Fry so much the first time, we both had that as an entree this time and had a Crave salad and side for our meal.  Our friends and their two daughters shared the Beer Cheese Soup, Coconut Curry Chicken, Roasted Pork Corn Cakes and Filet Mignon Medallions.  We shared the Banana Cake/Ice Cream and our friends shared the Peanut Butter Ice Cream/Flourless Brownies and their kids had the White Chocolate Fondue for dessert.  We have yet to have anyone say anything bad.  All of the items are so well prepared and tasty and service has been outstanding and it is of course always a good time to get together with good friends for good eats/drinks!

Cinnamon Crusted Fried Cheese Cake

Banana Cake / Ice Cream

Peanut Butter Ice Cream Flourless Brownies

On top of that, they have Happy Hour prices on drinks every night until 7pm with $1 off drafts/well drinks and several other drink specials.  Their drink prices are pretty good to begin with, they have several $5 martinis on their drink menu. 

With all the food and drinks we had, we were pleasantly surprised at the final bill as well.  You can't go wrong with KC Crave and we will definitely be back after trying to implement a self-imposed 30 day waiting period on our next visit.  Everything is so good, we tend to over-do it a bit. :o)

Have you been?  Any favorite dishes?  If you have any plans to visit the area, be sure to check it out!

Posted in: KC Crave