Foodie Review: The Tilted Kilt in Allentown, PA

Tilted Kilt
2835 Lehigh Street
Allentown, PA 18103
610-791-2100

As soon as this place opened, we went... it was that simple.

Location:
The location is a curious one, right on the border of Allentown and Emmaus area at the end of the Auto Mile on Lehigh Street.  I look around and wonder if *anything* beside the McDonald's that I can see from the front can actually survive here.  But the moment I walked in I was struck by the size and ambience of the place.  It was like walking into a large, busy pub.  That being said -- the place is VERY loud.  If that's an issue for you, you won't enjoy your meal.  The bar is large, there are a lot of tables and dozens of scantily clad women.

Ambience:
A word about the scantily clad women:  the outfits are super cute.  And throwing all politically correctness aside for a moment, I found them to be very attractive in the outfits.  Yes, they aren't perfect -- but they aren't plastic dolls either -- they are women.  If you are going to see hotties in little skirts and bare bellies with boobs popping out, this is the place.  To balance the scales, there were a number of young, good looking guys in kilts too (bus boys, no need to worry -- the cute girls are your waitresses).  Let's put it this way:  The girls at the Tilted Kilt make Hooters look like Old Ladies.  The only real downside was how many of them looked painted.  There were a couple of girls with visible tramp stamps and tummy tats that I found killed the illusion.  Not my thing...  Note that while were were there they had bag pipes playing every fifteen or twenty minutes.  Fun the first couple of times, annoying after that.  Another notable thing: there are TVs a-plenty.  Looks like a great place to have a couple of beers and watch EVERY football game at the same time.

Service:
Our waitress was very cute, friendly and was TERRIBLE.  She got out order wrong, brought out the wrong food and our dinners came out exactly thirty seconds after our appetizers came out.  Not cool.  But she was visible, refilled drinks when asked and corrected her mistakes quickly -- but she still made more than one.  Her tip reflected that.

The Food:
For appetizers we ordered the Drunken Clams and Irish Nachos (they were on special for $5).  They were both very good.  The clams has a little spice to them, which was very welcome and the chips that the nachos toppings were on were very good.  I ordered the spicy jalapeño burger, my wife ordered the irish dip (think french dip), my friend got the fish and chips and little man for chicken fingers.  My burger was delicious.  The meat was cooked perfectly, the mayo sauce was tasty and the jalapeños were fresh.  The bun was soft and slightly warm.  My only complaint was that beyond the peppers it had no hot spice to it at all.  A very minor thing, but I was hoping for it.  A solid A- on the burger.  My buddy said more than once how he enjoyed his fish and chips -- I didn't taste it but he really enjoyed it.  My wife said the irish dip was so-so.  The meat was ok but the roll was kind of hard -- a definite no-no with a dip sandwich.  She did convey that the sauce was delicious.   I stole one of little man's chicken fingers (he's only one year old, so he wasn't going to eat it) and they were freshly breaded hunks of white meat chicken -- A+.  We got a mixture of garlic fries and regular fries.  I have to agree witha  previous reviewers.  They were just OK.  I was hoping for a Red Robin french fry experience but didn't get one.  A solid B.

Overall, this place was great and we had a good time.  A fun atmosphere, hottie waitstaff, moderate pricing (we all ate with apps for a total of $60) and very good food.   I just reallllly hope the service improves.  The girls are cute, but that only goes so far.

Overall:
Atmosphere: 4/5
Service: 3/5
Food: 5/5
Price: 5/5
Overall: 4.5/5

Pros: Great food, good prices, fun atmosphere.
Cons: Bad service.
Go Again: For sure!


Bruce is the author of four books: Sands of Time, Towering Pines Volume One:Room 509, The Star of Christmas and Philadelphia Story: A Lance Carter Detective Novel.  He also has a new novel coming out in November 2012, Towering Pines Volume Two: The Sound and The Fury.  Follow Bruce's Novel release by pointing your RSS reader to BruceASarte.Com's RSS feed or his Food BLOGS by clicking here.