Lord Nelson Steak House — Restaurant in Burlington

For my wifes Birthday I wanted to take her somewhere special. After some online searching I decided to take her to Lord Nelson in Burlington. It's located in a small unassuming strip mall.

When we entered we weren't greeted at first and the young coat check/hostess girl seemed a bit timid and confused. Eventually another lady greeted us and I told her we had a reservation, which in the notes online I had requested "a quiet table for 2". The lady explained that they were having an "event" today and we could have a table in a private room that is quieter but the table in the main room is much nicer. Not wanting to make a fuss I told her the regular table would be fine. It wasn't too long after we were seated that I regretted not taking the other table. The restaurant was very loud, and after another group was seated next to us it got even rowdier. Even though it was a Thursday evening it felt more like a pub during a game night rather than a fine dining restaurant. The hostess did check our coats which was nice.

Anyways, I read in the reviews that the Caesar salad is made table side and is really good so we started with that. My wife ordered the Lord Nelson special and I got the Chicken Supreme. Shortly after we ordered we were brought a small platter with pickles, olives, Pate and a bowl with garlic bread. I have been to restaurants before where they bring you complimentary bread but this was 2 tiny pieces of garlic bread. I tried it with the pate but it was better on its own as the pate didn't have much of a taste to it.

Eventually the waiter set up the salad table and began to make it infront of us. He appeared to be making the dressing and everything from scratch but I can't be sure as he didn't really explain what he was doing. He just started mixing and mashing and I couldn't tell what some of the ingredients were. It would have been great if he explained what he was doing or even asked if we cared. Especially considering this salad costs almost $50. About 1/3 of the way through he stopped to help another table light something. He took the lighter they were using to try and start up some sort of fondue or something. Then he came back and continued making our salad without washing his hands. Yeah, he's using utensils to make the salad but he's squeezing the lemon with his bare hands and...well it's not hygienic, ya know?

Anyways the salad and the experience of having a nice Caesar made traditionally from scratch infront of you is great and it tasted good but not $50 good. It was a bit heavy on the dressing.

Our mains came shortly after we finished the salad. My wifes Lord Nelson special featured Beef Tenderloin Tournedos which were cooked to perfection. Very delicious. My Chicken Supreme was also very tasty. Both came with the exact same sides though my cubed potatoes were slightly undercooked. We were too full to finish our meals so we got the leftovers put away for us. They were placed in cheap flimsy containers more suited to Chinese food restaurants, and we didn't get a bag or anything to put them in. Not very fancy at all.

We skipped dessert and got the bill. In my opinion it was too expensive for what we got. I have been to expensive, fine dining restaurants and steakhouses before and this place just isn't worth the cost.

As we were leaving we had to wait awkwardly at the front because we needed our coats and no one was there to get them for us. Eventually the young hostess came over and handed our coats back to us in a big bundle. The poor thing seemed very spaced out and out of her element.

Anyways, the wife was pleased so Mission Accomplished but I won't be back, especially at that price, and I don't recommend anyone else go unless they have money to burn.

TL;DR, Expensive steaks with meh service. Not bad but not...

Last night I dined here with a friend. This morning she asked me to rate our experience out of 10 and I gave it 6.7. If there was a .5 option here, I may have given a rating of 2.5 here instead of 2.

They have the foundation to be a good restaurant ie, atmosphere, cuts of meat, hand made Caesar vinaigrette made at the table, a nice wine list but the execution of the food and the service was a disaster.

My friend ordered her steak blue rare. Which should have still been seared especially on the fat cap and cool to the touch in the middle. It was neither. I ordered medium rare which should have been pink throughout and red in the middle. Instead it was red throughout and raw in the middle.

We ordered oysters rockefeller for our app. They use smoked bacon and unfortunately that’s all you taste. When I mentioned that to our server only one oyster in, he said oh I think those are lovely. And dismissed my comment completely. Had he given the appropriate response, apologizing and asking me if there’s something I would like instead, I would have switched to the escargot, however after waiting at the bar to be seated and then 30 minutes for him to even get back to me on which wine I wanted I was hungry and ate them anyway.

Moving on to the caeser salad that was made at the table. The salad although lacking the zest of a good dressing wasn’t as bad as him using that occasion to boast that they were the best restaurant in southern Ontario after what I had just experienced and having been to Morton’s, hys, Jacob’s, harbour 60, Ruth’s Kris I was wondering why he would be making this claim in such a bold way.

Our outing wasn’t planned and we were underdressed. I wonder if that’s why when I asked for king crab to accompany my steak he said oh that’s $160 with a worried expression on his face.

Unfortunately only the outside of the knuckle meat was warm. Inside was cold. And at $160 yes now it was time to say something…

But after our server quite literally dismissed my friend by turning his back and walking away to deal with another table as she said something about her steak and then dismissing and offending me I asked to speak to the manager.

His response to the crab was I will get them heated and add some. I didn’t mention my steak at the risk of it coming back overdone. But I asked my friend to comment on hers. His response was that she should have asked for it to be seared. Which was not only inappropriate but mind blowing.

When my crab came back it was a watery mess. My plate was drowned, mash potato soup. When he came back to ask how they were. I didn’t even want to talk about it. But my friend urged me to.. so I showed him my plate and shared my latest concern at which point he lectured me on how they cook it in water. As if the oven wasn’t an option.

Was even our dessert comped? no! Did we feel respected? No. Do I ever want to go back? No. Would I recommend this place to anyone? No. Did we think this restaurant is the calibre they claim to be and think of themselves. No! Do we think they need a reality check.. yes!

The best part of my experience was my friends company and the crème brûlée was perfection.

Was the $571 plus the sub par but well deserved $72 tip worth it… no. I think my friend suggested the keg would have been better as least they would have known to sear the steak. And after talking my through my entire experience. The 6.7 rating I gave my friend this morning upon her asking...

Service was horrible. Would not recommend.

Went to the Lord Nelson for the first time on Christmas Day with the accompany of my family. I was really excited to try it because of the many good things I have heard, unfortunately I was extremely disappointed.

We sat at our table and waited about 10 minutes before any staff even acknowledged we were there. Finally, we were greeted by our unnamed Server with a quick “Merry Christmas” and, without any delay, he asked us what we wanted to eat, without asking our drink orders before hand. This made us rush to make our decisions and we regretted it. When our food arrived, we were not asked once if we were enjoying our meal or if we needed anything to make it complete. We were astonished on how lacking the service was. I ordered a steak, I was pleased with how it was cooked, however, the vegetables it was served with were stone cold. The food quality and lack of formal service made the prices seem outrageous. Entrées started at $40.

After our entrées were finished, we were told we had to leave our seats and move to the bar area because of another reservation. This would have been fine, however we waited for our server offer us dessert and were asked to leave before we could order. When we arrived at the the bar, the “owners wife” offered us beverages. She also asked us how our meal was and we were quick to tell her how disappointed we were. The “owners wife” shrugged and went to cleaning dishes behind the bar without even caring about what we had to say. I could not believe this, especially after having worked in the restaurant industry in the past.

Overall, we were astonished on how disrespected and belittled we felt during our whole meal. This was the worst Christmas dinner our family had had in years, service was horrid, food was good… but only ok for the outrageous prices. We will never be returning to the Lord...