The Octopus's Garden Cafe & Bistro — Restaurant in Alma

Visited The Octopus’s Garden Cafe & Bistro during an East Coast road trip and I can confidently say that it was one of the worst places I’ve grabbed food at in all the provinces I visited.

First and foremost, the attitude of the main manager lady is awful. She has short grey hair and had one of the worst attitudes I’ve ever seen in the customer service industry. Lots of eye rolls and passive aggressive remarks, and just rude behaviour in general.

Even her attitude could be overlooked if the food was good, but it was extremely lack lustre. I ordered a $32 lobster roll for it to come out the size of my palm and practically deconstructed. $32 for something so incredibly tiny is absolutely insane.

I don’t mind paying a little bit more for good quality food and a fair portion - it doesn’t even have to be big. But these people give you practically nothing and called it a meal. Definitely would not be filling enough for one person and absolutely no way you could share this with someone else even if you wanted to.

The only reason why I didn’t give The Octopus’s Garden Cafe & Bistro a 1 star review is because of the other waitress who helped with our order and because of the lemon crumble square I got.

The other waitress who assisted with our order was much kinder and clearly knows what good customer service is. She was kind, quick and communicative throughout the entire process.

The only other thing worth mentioning is the lemon crumble square. One square is $6 which is quite pricey for a piece of pastry, but it was very well done. The lemon curd filing was well matched with the crumble base and the crumble sprinkled on top.

My main takeaways from dining at The Octopus’s Garden Cafe & Bistro:

Food is extremely pricey for the small portion size you get. Chances are you will not be getting your money’s worth.

Customer service is varied depending on which employee is working, but can definitely leave you with a sour taste in your mouth if your are met with the wrong attitude.

Pastries and coffee maybe the only things worth going to this cafe for, as those are the only items that you get your money’s worth for.

In my experience, if you can save your time and money, do it and go somewhere else for your food. There is a fish and chips place down the road that gives you much better food and a much better portion size. Try and save the hassle of having to possibly deal with a cold attitude and try some place that may value customer service a...

The food was good I’m not gonna lie but the wait time was an absolute nightmare.

We arrived at the restaurant at 6:00 PM and our food wasn’t fully served until 8:36 PM. Can you imagine waiting more than two hours for dinner? At first we didn’t even notice the delay since we were enjoying each other’s company and catching up. But things started to feel off when a waitress came by around 7:30 PM to let us know the food was “coming soon.” That’s when it hit us that we had already been waiting over an hour.

By 7:45 PM, still nothing. One of my friends asked the server for an update and she told us it would be about 10 more minutes and they offered some bread while we waited. It was a nice gesture but by 8:00 PM still no food. Another friend asked for a follow-up and again we were told “10 more minutes.” We were ready to leave at that point but the server assured us the food was finally on its way.

The first four dishes came out at 8:25 PM and my order didn’t arrive until 8:36 PM and it was incorrect. I had ordered amatriciana with chicken but it came without chicken.

To make up for the inconvenience they did give us a discount which we appreciated but honestly it didn’t feel like enough to make up for the experience. We’ve been here a few times and really love the food but this kind of delay is just too much. It seems like the kitchen is understaffed and there’s poor communication between the staff and guests about delays.

Great food but unfortunately the service and especially the wait times leave a lot...

Terrible service. Our family of five arrived for breakfast on a Friday morning and were seated fairly quickly. The server said she would bring coffee right away. Two tables were seated after us, received their drinks and orders taken and another table had their coffees refilled we still didn’t have coffee. After about half an hour, we were just about to leave when a different server came to take our orders. Still no coffee. This server was very unfriendly, no smile, no apology or explanation for the wait. She was so curt with us, we actually thought we may have offended her in some way. Eventually our coffee and breakfasts arrived, still no effort to provide friendly customer service. Food was very good, but no offer of a coffee refill, but we eventually were able to get another server’s attention. We sat for a bit to wait for the bill, but none came, so I went up to the counter. Three people milling about behind the counter and no acknowledgement that I was waiting for someone at the cash register. Finally someone decided to come to the register, rang up our total and asked for payment. I had to ask to see the bill. We arrived around 10:00 and left around 11:45. I have never given a bad review for a restaurant, but just couldn’t give this one a pass. The only reason I’m giving two stars instead of one is because the food was good. There are other restaurants in Alma with equally good food and excellent service. Alma Boathouse and Tipsy Tails are...