Canterbury — Restaurant in Ixelles - Elsene

We were four friends meeting at this restaurant after a long time we hadn’t seen each other. The bill was almost 300 euros, and we were hoping to have a pleasant and memorable evening.

As part of our order, we had two steaks (each one costing 46 euros). When we placed the order, we were specifically asked how we’d like them cooked, and we clearly said medium.

When the food arrived, the steaks were clearly overcooked, dry, and not medium at all. We told our waitress, who was kind and professional throughout the evening, and she took the plates back to the kitchen.

Just a minute later, the shift manager came to our table with the same plates, put them down, pointed at the meat and said in a harsh and condescending tone: “This is medium.” It wasn’t a conversation, it felt like we were being scolded. We tried to explain they were dry and overcooked, but instead of listening, he started arguing with us in a very aggressive way. People at the tables around us were looking over, and the atmosphere became tense and unpleasant.

Eventually, he agreed to remake the steaks, and this time they came out as requested. But the experience was already ruined. The manager treated us as if we were in the wrong, instead of welcoming us and making sure we had a nice evening.

Also, the place was extremely hot, with no fans or air conditioning. Most people sitting outside were sweating and using the menus as fans. When we got up to leave, we noticed a spiderweb right next to the table. It’s a small detail, but in a restaurant where cleanliness and hygiene should be a priority, it stood out, and made us feel like not only the space needs refreshing, but maybe the management team as well.

We want to be clear, our waitress was excellent and none of this was her fault. But the shift manager made us feel uncomfortable and disrespected. That’s not what we expected from a...

I was in the market for some homestyle food and somehow I found this article from a 2010 FT -how to spend it- mentioning this restaurant , with a little hesitation we went there -after all many things happen in 9 years and Canterbury is not a name that inspires anything to do with local food- From the beginning we were pleasantly surprised, they have seating outside under this beautiful pollarded London plane trees or inside. The decor is minimalist but beautiful, I like their paintings, the place is elegant and chill at the same time. I like their wine list they have a bunch of what in Europe is called eco wines, basically organic, we tried an inexpensive bottle of French Pinot Noir and we loved it. Anything for that price in the US would have given us botulism, but no, this was an inexpensive old country style delicious Pinot, that complimented our dinner of sea snails (not escargot) grilled veggies and a wonderful and plentiful veal liver cooked to perfection. In Belgium they don’t like it when you split a meal in between two but they will tolerate it if you order a bottle of wine (I am on the road for 80% of my life and find that if I don’t split I end up wasting half of my food, which is an epic disgrace) The servers are confident and elegant, the place is great and the setting quite wonderful, I...

Nous avons déjà été plusieurs fois au Canterbury et en sommes toujours sortis satisfaits. Malheureusement, le jeudi 15 août dernier, le monsieur responsable de notre table ne s'est pas montré très correct. Et nous en sommes repartis très déçus. Nous sommes arrivés avec une personne en chaise roulante. Nous avons pensé que quelqu'un viendrait nous aider (ma femme et moi) pour monter les quelques marches avec la chaise roulante. Rien du tout. Accueil du serveur très froid et distant. nous souhaitions nous mettre en terrasse. Le serveur nous a indiqué qu'une seule table mais qui était en plein courant d'air (la personne en fauteuil est âgée de 95 ans et a une santé très fragile). En voulant changer de table, le serveur nous a dit que cela allait être difficile et que nous devrions nous mettre à l'intérieur. Aucune recherche d'une autre solution de sa part. Une fois à table, le serveur a pris nos commandes. Au moment de nous apporter les sets de tables et couverts, il ne les a pas déposés mais quasi jeter sur la table. Nous étions très surpris de cette façon de faire... Ensuite, quand il a apporté nos commandes, le serveur nous a juste dit ce mot "Serviette" (d'un ton très sec et froid). Nous nous sommes regardés sans trop comprendre... Et en fait, il fallait que nous retirions nos serviettes pour déposer nos assiettes. Il y avait moyen de communiquer un peu autrement surtout lorsqu'il s'agit d'un établissement de renommée comme le Canterbury. Et en nous en allant, ni le serveur ni aucune des deux dames qui travaillaient là (une serveuse et une dame derrière le bar) ne nous a proposé pour nous aider avec la chaise roulante. Alors que cela aurait été l'élémentaire courtoisie de proposer. Ma grand mère m'avait dit il y a quelques mois qu'une employée là bas lui avait assuré qu'il y aurait toujours quelqu'un du restaurant pour nous aider. Il est à signaler que cela a toujours été le cas jusqu'à ce jeudi 15 août 2024. Nous en sommes donc repartis déçus de ce manque de courtoisie de la part du personnel. Nous espérons qu'ils seront un tout petit plus attentifs la prochaine fois qu'une personne en fauteuil roulant viendra à cet...