Bardō Brant St. Burlington — Restaurant in Burlington

Just opened this week.... Summary of party of 5...

Sides: 🦑Calamari with Chorizo Slices - perfectly crispy, red chili sauce is nice and spicy, garlic aioli...mmmm

Bardo Snack Board, with a variety of cheeses🧀, we think Brie, Pecorino, and Vezzena - for which the Italian nonna with us said "Wow, this reminds me of back home".🇮🇹

Mains: Cheeseburger 🍔with Bacon🥓 & Fries - classic comfort food.

Bardo Bowl with Chicken - 😯"yum, yum", "perfect". Chicken was very soft and tender. "It was tasty and filling" A great mix of vegetables and chicken.

🍄Mushroom Risotto with Roasted Chicken Add-on - "Very filling.", "Full of flavour" and "Chicken was juicy", "I wanted to lick the bowl"😋

Seasonal Wild Catch - 🐟Perch with veggies.... Perch had crispy coating but crumbled in your mouth. Unsure what the buttery white sauce was, but it was amazing. Loved the asparagus and thin-sliced celery.

Apple & Bacon Personal Pizza with Fried Basil - 🍕 Fired-oven style. The fried basil was unique, crust was thin in the middle where all the toppings were and outer crust was puffy with a light crunch to it. It was split as a side for two, but as our other dishes were filling, only half of it was eaten. Rewarmed great at home in an air fryer for a snack later.

Braised Short Rib - Sooooo juicy and melt in your mouth tender.🤤

Beverages: Lemon Iced tea is fresh brewed🫖 (no powdered mix). If you are used to Nestea, you'll want it to be double sweetened.

Pomegranate lemonade: 🍋Carbonated heaven. Our table's favourite.👍🏼

Desserts we took them to go... One of each from their menu... If you like sweet the Really Really Fudgy Brownie is the way to go. For a less sweet experience the Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding is great. I loved the Strawberry Cheesecake.

Atmosphere was very energetic.🕺🏻 Multiple speakers outside the building, let you know you are entering an upbeat restaurant where conversation is encouraged.🗣️ Candles on the table.🕯️ Glass milk bottles on the table to top up your own water (for thirsty drinkers or if the server didn't top it up first). Despite POS system down, service was timely. Multiple staff checked in with us at a regular but not too frequent cadence.

It is opening week, and very busy, but staffing appeared to be in excess (likely due to being opening week). Had a couple picky eaters including my nonna MIL, but per review of mains above, all left full and happy. Lots on conversation about the food. Would definitely return. Highly recommended when you are in Burlington area. Located immediately across the street from City hall and only a short walk...

Extremely Disappointed with Both Food and Service

I recently visited Bardo with my grandmother, and unfortunately, we left extremely disappointed with both the quality of the food and the level of service we received.

To start, I ordered the Bardo Bowl, which was underwhelming to say the least. The portion size was quite small given the steep $30 price tag, and the presentation and flavor were both lacking. The “whipped feta” was not as described or expected—it was barely present, smeared thinly along the side of the bowl as if it were an afterthought. The chips included in the bowl were stale and didn’t complement the dish at all. Most disappointing, however, was the chicken. It was completely unseasoned and tasted as though it had simply been boiled with no effort to enhance the flavor.

More upsetting than the food, though, was the experience my grandmother had. Midway through her meal, she discovered a hair in her food. We discreetly brought this to the attention of our waitress, who initially told us they would bring her a new dish. However, shortly after, we were approached by the MANAGER and instead offered us a complimentary dessert valued at around $12. This felt dismissive, especially since we were originally told a replacement meal would be provided.

When I politely reiterated what the waitress had promised, the manager’s demeanor quickly shifted. Rather than apologizing or taking accountability, she became defensive, questioned us about the location of the hair, and carried an unprofessional and condescending tone throughout the conversation. It was a truly disappointing interaction—especially considering that we approached the situation respectfully and were hesitant to even raise a concern in the first place.

Eventually, they did remove the item from the bill, but the way the entire situation was handled left a very poor impression. For a restaurant charging $30–$34 per bowl, one would expect at least a basic standard of customer service and food quality. Unfortunately, both were severely lacking.

My grandmother and I are kind, easygoing people and rarely ever complain at restaurants, but this experience was unacceptable. We won’t be returning.

The manager at the Burlington location is extremely unprofessional and rude!!! She deserves...

Overall subpar across the board. The only redeeming quality of our visit was the contemporary and fancy interior design combined with the clean, modern washroom. Went for a later lunch on Canada Day and ordered the sharable 18" meat mountain pizza ($39) and a creamy garlic dip ($2.50). The restaurant was beginning to die down by the time we had ordered.

The food was nothing special and just okay. To accommodate someone who was lactose intolerant, we asked the waitstaff if dairy free cheese was available, to which it was not which is fine. The waitress suggested cheese on only half the pizza and we agreed. The wood fired pizza truly should not take a long time to make, bake, and expedite, but the wait time from order to receiving food was about 30 mins. About 20 mins into waiting, the waitress returned to the table and let us know the kitchen had misunderstood the order of cheese on only half the pizza as a request for all toppings and no cheese on one half and just plain cheese on the other. She let us know the kitchen is remaking a new pizza. To rectify the situation, the waitress brought over a free order of their fries house (pictured), courtesy of the manager though they never came. The pizza was fine, the crust had a good crunch and the pizza was quite floppy, though it was likely the fault of the combination of toppings added. Everything on the pizza made it a sodium overload, though again, it was likely because of the topping combination.

The staff are somewhat attentive and quite forgetful. The restaurant was only about 30% full by the time we received our food, though everything was somehow still so slow. There seem to be a lot of waitstaff, many of which are running around with no task or goal. The kitchen was unable to understand the waitresses order even though she confirmed it with us to ensure it was what we wanted. Additionally, we ordered one soft drink but it never came nor did it appear on the bill, meaning she never punched it in to begin with despite taking the food and drink order together.

I felt as if nobody really knew what they were doing and didn't know what anyone else was doing. I'd avoid this place if you wanted some good...