There’s The Scottish Cheese Steak, a shaved rib eye topped with grilled peppers and onions.
Or your eyes – and appetite – might wander to the Make It A Dublin, a beef patty with double the cheese.
If a burger isn’t what you’re in the mood for, consider the Olde Dublin Irish Stew that mixes beef pot roast, carrots, celery and onions, or Maggie Mae’s Fish & Chips, billed as a “true English Pub classic” on the menu.
Then you remember you’re in the Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery, a chain restaurant that appears to have done quite well by combining three elements into one package.
First, add some authentic-sounding meals from across the ocean in the Emerald Isle, and second, design a genuine sports bar ambiance, complete with large screen TVs showing sports action and a large bar offering happy hour delights.
And third, but not least, important, is the final element: skin.
For all of Tilted Kilts’ European flair, mixing a bit of Tilted Kilt Signature Sauce or the Braveheart’s Chopped Salad with safer and more traditional American dishes like a Black & Bleu Burger or a Chicken Tender Wrap, it doesn’t take long to recognize that Tilted Kilt, like its distant cousins Hooters and Wing House, wants to be known locally for something more than the imported Danny Boy’s Shepherd’s Pie (and the pub even has the audacity to write “Oh, Danny Boy, the pie is calling” on the menu!)
A friend of mine – yes, he’s a guy – convinced me to visit Tilted Kilt last year. His girlfriend was working and he thought it would be the perfect time to check out an Irish-themed pub that he’d heard so much about from his fellow dudes (though I was not, alas, one of them.)
On a recent rainy afternoon during a business trip to Lake Mary, I decided to avoid rush hour traffic on Interstate 4 amidst a massive downpour (which is a sure way to give yourself a three-hour commute for what is normally a 20-minute drive), so I sought shelter in the nearest pub I could find. Not being in Dublin, I settled on the first one I stumbled on in Lake Mary: Tilted Kilt.
While admitting that their Tilted Kilt Jalapeno Inferno Burger – with grilled Jalapenos and Pepper Jack cheese smothering the patty along with the Kilt Burner Mayo – was quite tasty, and that the Roasted Garlic Fries were pretty irresistible, I noticed something else.
But you know something …
…. It was hard not to notice that all of the women looked almost … identical. I mean, every one had the exact same kind of figure. There were a couple of prominent physical attributes that every waitress shared. If I had put masks over their faces, I doubt I could have picked out my own very familiar waitress.
Kind of unusual, isn’t it?
I don’t remember the last time I went to a restaurant and all the women had the exact same figure …. Except for the times I’ve been to Hooters and Wing House.
Interesting.
The women, both blondes and brunettes, wear those exceptionally short red kilts, along with a tiny white blouse that in a couple of instances looked like it was meant for a two-year-old. Maybe they shrank a bit in the wash.
I noticed a large crowd of other men in the Tilted Kilt. They certainly seemed to be enjoying the view – err, I mean the meals.
As for me, I found the overall sports bar atmosphere to be pleasant, the meal to be better than average, and the menu diverse enough to include such tempting treats as the Tilted Guilt – a partially baked Chocolate Chip or White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie served with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. I guess the waitresses are not the only thing that make you feel guilty.
Did I feel like I was in an authentic Dublin pub? Not really. But I did notice the Tilted Kilt has a solid following, even on a soggy Thursday night.
And it’s not all that hard to see why.
As the menu proudly notes, “A cold beer never looked so good.”
And as most of the guys at the bar can tell you, it’s not the only thing.
Tilted Kilt is at 901 Currency Circle in Lake Mary. To learn more, call 407-942-0016 or log on to tiltedkilt.com.
Contact us at FreelineOrlando@Gmail.com.
