The Kingston

Insanely busy on a Friday. Do book a table. Noisy. Friendly staff. Limited beer list. Expensive food: Hanger steak for $39. See photo. I expect a lot more fries and also some veg for that price. Inside and outside tables. There's bar food and a fancy restaurant, but bar food prices still up there.

We have worked in Richmond for over 30 years and have entertained our customers at a number of restaurants in the area over those years. We had heard the Kingston had recently been taken over and we decided to give it a try. Six of us had dinner and were placed in one of the booths which are very comfortable and even better provided room so we were not crammed together. The service from Jordan was excellent and professional and the food was of a high quality and very generous portions.we will be bringing other customers back, only issue the restaurant is not open on Monday and Tuesday.

Really nice experience. Came in on a busy night and were seating at the bar. Awesome Parma! Is it worth $$… I think so.

After anticipating the reopening of the Kingston for quite a while, our Marble & Pearl experience was quite disappointing on a few levels.

On a positive note, the 10 dishes we ordered were all very good. Our waitress was (despite going missing for a while later in the evening) quite fantastic. The cocktails and wines were all great as well.

First of the opportunities for improvement was the acoustics. The noise level was deafening! The dining room was full of people shouting at each other to be heard. We couldn't carry on a pleasant conversation at our table. Our waitress told us she was hoarse most nights after having to shout to be heard by customers.

Next was the "fake" menus. The wine list had "currently unavailable" notes against a very large number of wines. I wondered why would they print them in the wine list if they don't have them in stock? We were told that these wines have never yet been available in the venue - so why would they be listed? Sure, by adding a lot of wines that you don't sell can bolster your wine list to look more impressive however it is clearly misleading.

The same comment is relevant for the food menu that includes a caesar salad "prepared at the table". We ordered it and were told that it was not available and has never yet been served in the restaurant. Once again - why advertise something you don't sell. It seems to be a strategy to attract customers on a promise you can't deliver.

Our final negative experience came later in the evening when we wanted to order desserts and dessert wine. All of a sudden the room was bereft of staff. We waiting 10 minutes and then one of us went to the bar to try to order a drink - but no-one was there. After 15 minutes our waitress turned up but we decided to cut our losses and ask for the bill. That cost them approx. $150- $200 in lost sales.

It's good to have this type of venue in Richmond however Marble & Pearl has quite a lot of work to do to justify it's premium positioning.

New reno kills it!

Staff are freindly, astute and attentative. Utmost proffessionals. Food it's exceptional also.

Amazing experience.

What a great weekend lunch our group had. Josh, who was our waiting was the best! Made our day all the more special with his vibrant & witty repartee! The food was terrific, and the ambiance first rate.
We'll be back again.