King Taps: Handcrafted pizza + family share plates in Langley
I am kind of a basic Vancouver bitch πΈπ» which means I am actually a big fan of Cactus Club (and now by association, Earls, I guess). I like the vibe of these restaurants and the food and cocktails.
I recently checked out a new restaurant/bar that opened in the Willoughby Langley area and it made me think and compare it to Cactus Club. King Taps currently has 2 locations – Kelowna and Langley – and they are opening a new location in North Vancouver this month!
I came with 4 friends + a baby to check out their menu and space and here was our experience.
King Taps – Langley location
6141 200 St, Langley, BC V2Y 1K9
The vibe
The King Taps in Willoughby has a lot of free parking and the restaurant itself is also huge. The exterior looks very modern and cool and they had a hostess outside the front door before you even go in.
Spoiler: they actually have 2 main doors you need to go through (what is this security? π) and both doors are massive. I recommend you to press the automatic door button so you can admire its glory.
We dined here during the May long weekend on Saturday at 1pm. It was bumping inside! From bar seating to dining room to the enclosed patio, there was a lot of chatter and a lot of heads inside the restaurant.
The space felt spacious, modern and airy. I found the decor and furniture choice to be fun and visually appealing as an aspiring sims interior decorator. There is a lot of natural light and high ceilings, and a decent amount of TV screens if you are watching sports as well. Overall, really nice and fun vibe. Seating was spacious and comfortable.
Food review
We are told that the menu is designed for family-style sharing so we ordered everything in this blog post to share with 4 adults. Prices are listed in CAD and rounded to the nearest dollar for simplicity.
Crispy sushi ($18)
Our server recommended several dishes for us and we ended up ordering all the ones she recommended because we had low brain power. The first dish we ordered was this crispy sushi. It had ahi tuna, tomato, avocado, yuzu, serrano peppers, and tamari vinaigrette on little squares of crispy rice.
Now, I am kind of hesitant to order sushi at white restaurants π€. There I said it and I don’t regret it.
In terms of this, it is obviously not authentic sushi so it doesn’t matter that much. True sushi chefs be sobbing at what we do to this rice.
For $18, I would say this appetizer is not that great. You get 5 pieces and I actually thought it was bruschetta when it first arrived because it’s hard to tell what is tuna and what is tomato in the little mountain of toppings they put on the rice. The texture was good and flavour was not bad – I just think it is overpriced for what it is.
Brussel sprouts ($15)
I love brussel sprouts and when this arrived, I knew I would like it. There is a generous shaving of grana padano, toasted bread crumbs and a lemon and truffle aioli dip.
We ordered the brussel sprouts to check off our 1 vegetable dish, but it certainly didn’t taste healthy. It had great savouriness to it and the lemon truffle aioli balanced out the cheesiness.
Again, a little on the pricey side but portion was not bad and flavour was great.
Night market calamari ($20)
My husband and I are often drawn to calamari when we see it on the appetizer list. This one features crispy calamari, serrano peppers and yuzu aioli.
For the portion and price, I think this is reasonable and this had a very enticing smell to it. It looked delicious too! Each piece of calamari was fried well and pretty big/chunky.
Spicy vodka rigatoni ($24)
King Taps’s menu really has a lot of great choices. Another thing that caught my eye was this rigatoni – one of my favourite pastas in Vancouver is the vodka rigatoni from Pepino’s Spaghetti House.
This one uses stracciatella cheese, rigatoni pasta, grana padano cheese and basil. I quite liked this pasta even though it is vegetarian (you can add protein options if you want) and I especially liked the bread crumbs and cheese without it being too cheesy.
For $24, I think this is reasonable and a decent quality pasta. In fact, I would say this is a better deal than some of the appetizers, which are almost $20.
Pizzas – Wild thing + Godfather ($24)
The star of the lunch for me were the handcrafted pizzas at King Taps. The pizzas smelled so good and they had this insanely crispy crust that just puffed up π€©.
Both pizzas had that kind of annoying size to it – too big for 1 or 2 people to eat, but too small for 3-4 people to eat. That’s why we ordered 2 pizzas: the wild thing and the godfather.
The wild thing is a vegetarian pizza with roasted mushrooms, kale and truffle-ricotta cream. I was actually surprised by how much kale was on this pizza and it made it more fresh. The truffle and mushroom pairing is a classic.
The godfather uses soppressata (a type of salami), bocconcini, basil, and Calabrian chili. It looked and tasted like a good margherita pizza but with meat.
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: βοΈβοΈβοΈ
We had a delicious and fun lunch at King Taps in Willoughby. The service and atmosphere was fun and youthful and it was a really nice and modern space.
The food was all delicious. I highly recommend the pizzas for their super crispy crust, the rigatoni, and the calamari appetizer.
Price-wise this is on the pricier side but you do get good quality food (I dare say equal to or better in some aspects to Cactus Club) and the fun ambiance, so it is worth it.
We will be back to check out their happy hour menu!
Sincerely, Loewe
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