Four Seasons Hotel Toronto — Hotel in Toronto

One-Star Review for Café Boulud at Four Seasons Toronto

Once the definition of a Luxe experience, both the Four Seasons Toronto and Café Boulud have seen serious declines in recent years. We have been clients of the Four Seasons for over 20 years not only enjoying the previous and current Toronto hotel but also their properties in Vegas and Costa Rica. I’ll give you the good, the bad and the ugly…

The Good – Bartender at D-Bar has been there for several years – excellent – had a round of drinks before our brunch reservation.. Awesome mixologist with always the perfect mix of a little conversation without being intrusive – great guy! Worth going there just for drinks…

We have traditionally gone down 2-3 times a year to do brunch at Café Boulud for special occasions, birthdays, anniversaries etc. It’s definitely a premium compared to other brunch spots in the city but has typically been worth the extra at least in our opinion.

However, our recent visit left us extremely disappointed.

The Bad….

We were excited to indulge in the $95 per person prix fixe brunch, only to find the food was barely edible at best. The Eggs Benedict was not poached soft, or even medium, hard yolks like you were making egg salad—clearly having sat under a heat lamp for far too long. The fries were cold and unappetizing. Previous visits would border on a solid 9…this would be a hard 5 at best…

The much-touted dessert bar, promised to be an amazing addition for December (and around an additional $20 premium compared to their regular brunch price) , was a letdown as well. It consisted of just three or four sad bland mini desserts displayed on a small area of the actual bar—definitely not the lavish spread they had made it out to be.

To spend $800+ on brunch for four would definitely be considered a special occasion splurge and to receive food that would get sent back at a corner diner is horrible. Not sure if it was the dishwasher’s turn to cook brunch as the line cooks, sous chef’s etc were all off that day….We said nothing just finished our meal and left… It spoiled what should have been a nice Christmas treat for our anniversary…

The Ugly…

We sat in the lounge just in front of D-bar while we waited for the bar to open…nice Christmas tree, festive decorations, picture of Izzy Sharp and his wife on the wall (founder of Four Seasons and a super nice man!) However as I looked down there was crumbs, chunks of food, stains on the carpet like someone dropped a Caesar on a blue and white carpet and just nobody bothered cleaning it up. It looked like it had been there for days if not weeks…..Izzy would have had kittens if his hotel looked like that….I bet $5 that it’s still there…sad for such a previously awesome hotel..

As frequent patrons of the restaurant, my wife and I felt it was important to reach out to the Four Seasons to share our feedback as we’d had many great visits and really didn’t want to write it off as our go to place. I called later that Saturday afternoon and was told the Hotel Asst. General Manager would call me back after 5pm. Unfortunately it’s now been 5 days with no return call . So if they don’t care, at least I can do is warn other patrons to not waste their money…

Overall, this experience was incredibly disappointing and not what we have come to expect from such a prestigious establishment. We hope to see improvements in the future, but for now, we can’t recommend Café Boulud or the Four...

This hotel also stands out within the Four Seasons chain. Simply outstanding in all areas!

Check-in/reception At the driveway, at the entrance are 24/7 very friendly, very attentive and helpful staff. They organize everything from luggage transport and drivers to a simple umbrella. The reception has competent staff

Room The rooms have a high standard, as Four Seasons always have. We had a corner suite with 2 bathrooms, living room and kitchen. The kitchen has a fridge, toaster and coffee maker. The bathrooms are very nice and equipped with good technical devices (e.g. Dyson hairdryer). Housekeeping comes 2-3 times a day and on request. They have a good eye for detail. They are fast and efficient. The rooms can be well separated with doors, so you have a private area with bedroom, bathroom and dressing room. In the reception area you can go separately into the living room or to a table. These rooms are suitable for private meetings or indoor dining. There is also a guest WC. Private security people can occupy the room next door with connecting door. All cupboards are illuminated and very spacious. There is a variety of art and plenty of space. Everything works and is clean.

Fitness/Spa The hotel has a large gym with several rooms. From yoga to heavy lifting, everything is possible here. One floor above there is a pool where you can swim and a whirlpool. This is pleasantly heated. There are also steam rooms and treatment rooms in the respective checkrooms. The checkrooms are very spacious, with staff who clean throughout. The spa experience is very impressive and lacks nothing. The products are very high quality.

Food/breakfast/bar Apart from various 24 room service options, there is a bar, a cafe and a restaurant. We had breakfast every day in the hotel, this is from the menu, there is no buffet. Breakfast is served quickly and there is a wide choice. All special requests are fulfilled.

Concierge At Fourseasons, the internal chat system via app is simply sensational. Any concerns, requests or orders can be placed there and you will receive feedback within a short time. The entire concierge team is incredibly helpful and has done an exceptional job. All reservations were made in advance and everything always worked out perfectly.

Security team They are present in the hotel and are in contact with private security staff. The communication worked well.

I would like to emphasize that we can only give this hotel top marks in all areas. We had an excellent stay. The price/performance ratio was excellent. At the four Seasons, the service, the service area and the friendliness of the staff stood out. The infrastructure or the hotel offers are also top at comparable hotels, but the staff are a class above, especially at this Four Seasons in Tortono.

Special mention and praise goes to: Maria, concierge team Kristi, hotel manager

Many thanks to the entire Four Seasons Toronto team for this...

Our recent "educational" excursion inexplicably landed us at the Four Seasons Hotel, and I can unequivocally state it was the most ill-conceived, unwelcoming, and utterly tone-deaf choice for a school trip imaginable. From the moment our modest school bus pulled up to the gleaming, pretentious façade, it was clear we were about as welcome as a flock of pigeons in a Michelin-starred kitchen. This was not a trip; it was a deeply uncomfortable social experiment in just how out of place a group of enthusiastic (read: normal, lively) students could possibly feel.

The "service" was a masterclass in passive-aggressive disdain. The staff, meticulously groomed and uniformly chilly, seemed to view our very presence as a personal affront to their pristine establishment. Every question was met with a polite but thinly veiled sigh, every innocent student murmur seemed to echo like a gunshot in their hushed, opulent lobbies. We were shuffled through sterile, silent corridors like a collective nuisance, given the distinct impression that our natural youthful energy was a contamination to their exclusive atmosphere. There was zero accommodation for a group of our size, let alone one filled with teenagers; no designated areas, no understanding, just thinly disguised irritation.

And the cost! While our school wasn't footing the bill for individual rooms (thank goodness), the sheer absurdity of the prices for anything within their gilded walls was insulting. A single bottle of water from the "complimentary" minibar likely cost more than our entire lunch budget for the day. This isn't a place for learning or exploration; it's a monument to excess where every single breath feels like it comes with a hidden charge. The idea of bringing a school group here for anything other than a lesson in extreme elitism is laughable.

There was absolutely nothing for our students to engage with, no educational value whatsoever. We essentially paid to walk through a very expensive, very unwelcoming lobby and observe the unsettling quietness of wealth. The entire experience was akin to bringing a herd of rambunctious goats into a porcelain shop – fundamentally incompatible and disastrous for everyone involved. The kids were bored, the teachers were stressed, and the hotel staff looked like they needed immediate therapy.

In conclusion, if you are a school, a parent, or anyone responsible for planning a trip with actual human children, run, do not walk, in the opposite direction of the Four Seasons Hotel. It is a monumentally awful choice for a group visit, offering nothing but a deeply uncomfortable and utterly pointless exercise in feeling unwelcome. We left with nothing but a collective sigh of relief and a profound appreciation for places that actually understand hospitality extends beyond the...