Napoleon’s Steak & Seafood — Restaurant in Burlington

It has honestly taken me almost 2 months to write this review, because it was such a disappointing experience in every aspect. I chose napoleon's for its reputation and reviews as a fine dining establishment to celebrate some very big life achievements of my sons. I made a reservation and when we arrived on a bitterly cold night we were forced to stand outside with several other waiting guests with reservations (as many as 12 people) for a table to become available. Why not ensure you have a warm seating area for guests to wait for their reservation or maybe schedule an appropriate amount of time in between reservations? It is clear that more important than customer satisfaction or comfort is the need to fit the most amount of people inside. To make guests stand outside in the cold unexpectedly for a reservation at a high end restaurant is bizarre. To make matters even worse, a table that had arrived well after us got a table of the same size before us. I could only imagine the reason for this rudeness was because they're regulars maybe? Either way does not make you feel very welcome. All this aside, we were there for the food, so still remained optimistic. Turns out there is a lot of testosterone in there and I sadly think our experience would have been much better had I had a husband with me. My kids steaks were at least cooked as ordered, mine was not, which to me is unacceptable when paying over $70 for a steak. It wasn't a bit overcooked, it was a lot off the ordered medium rare. I had also asked for steak Neptune, but to please go light on the hollandaise sauce. The steak was drowning in sauce, pretty sure there was more hollandaise than steak. I guess my request was not even passed onto the chef. The asparagus was so overcooked it was inedible fibery mush. When I asked for a take out box for the 'steak', I was shocked to see that they had also thrown in the discarded hollandaise and mushy vegetables that had been scraped off and had clearly been unwanted. Even the famous Ceasar salad was a disappointment to all of us, way too much dressing and far too overpowered with garlic. The fact that they didn't even question why my meal was virtually uneaten was a bit surprising too, but that again just shows that their concern is not for the customer at all, but more about squeezing in the next diners that are outside freezing in the dead of winter. Even being told to bundle up as you will be asked to stand outside for your reservation, way beyond the specified time, would have been nice to know ahead of time. There was not even any attempt of an apology for the wait, they just let in diners who arrived after us to be seated ahead of us. It was such a disappointing experience, especially when what I was after was a memorable one. For over $300 I just felt very ripped off. I feel i would have actually been happier at the keg for half the price, where they have always cooked my steak exactly as ordered. I did also find only 2 cuts of steak being offered as a bit limited for a fancy...

I don't understand how this place has such a high review! Especially for people of burlington who I would think would have a richer taste if they can afford meals like this.

First experience the lady at the front that greater us had NO personality everyone there seemed to be very dry. The lady that was there made me feel so uncomfortable she walked up and down the small restaurant with not a kind look on her face. The waiters were fine if they were your waiter but if they were just coming around to clean or fill your water if you say thank you there was never a response back.

Service was good I think a little obsessive with filling water but I'd rather full water then none. We actually told the waiter no more water please and he said he had to because the boss wants them topped up at all times... sounded very strict and everyone seemed up tight so I wasn't surprised.

Last thing I want to comment on is the food I see all these great reviews unless this was a bad night for them then I think everyone should really check for cholesterol because the amount of salt in almost EVERYTHING I ate was terrible! 2 of the 4 of us started with onion soup besides the fact it was nearly all bread and cheese it was SO salty both of barely ate any. The other 2 had ceaser salad and chowder, ceased was actually good but very messy display and the chowder was apparently okay. Main dishes 3 of the 4 got steak and 1 got chicken parm. Steak was cooked PERFECTLY that is definitely 5 star but the sauces again were so salty even the tomato sauce was unbearable for the almost $300 bill I would say barely half of the food was eaten. If I ran a restaurant and saw that the food was barely touched I would have asked something to the customers. Lastly about the food 2 of us have food sensitivities 1 can't eat stuff fried in oil and the other is allergic to mushrooms. Everything has some kind of frying or searing of oil and as for the mushrooms you have like 2 choices pretty much. Again for such a "high end" restaurant I would say I'd always pick the keg over this place and I don't even like the keg all that much.

We didn't order dessert but it was a birthday for 2 of us they did give desert with candles which was nice the chocolate truffle or mousse was great but the caramel thing I thought was too sweet but I am not good to judge I don't like caramel.

I feel this place has potential to be much better but hey people like...

The dining experience at Napoleon’s Steak and Seafood was one that truly astounded me and exceeded all of my expectations, it gave me almost every reason to praise and near nothing to complain about it was expensive but well worth it. So I’ll start off with the food, it was exceptional the quality of the steak, the shrimp, the garden salad and the fries were all exceptionally well made and the quality of the ingredients were truly superb, top marks. The only thing better than the food was the service, the staff never missed any opportunity to see how you were doing, and to top up your water at every opportunity, the friendliness and politeness was out of this world for lack of a better word. A few other things to note was that the place was small, so if anything be sure to get a reservation considering it is almost always crowded and deservedly so, (the food is excellent, the service is somehow even better). Now as for the smallest gripe I had it was that the place was small and that at times, (especially when there was a large table) it could get quite loud unfortunately, however that is really just about it, nothing that the owner or staff could help and it couldn’t even come close to making a dent in the quality of the dining experience. A few final notes to add is that the food takes a long time, however it is well worth the wait and while you do wait for the main course you’ll have a choice between a soup or salad (of sizable proportion). Another note to add is that the choice of sides is not so limited here considering you are provided many choices in regards to the sides you could order so whilst a staff member lists them off be sure to pay attention haha. Last but not least the main entrees were large (at least for me) and maybe more so on top of the fact that you receive bread, pickles, a large salad as I mentioned and then the entree, I had no room for dessert by the end of it, a shame considering I would have wanted to try one. P.S the staff was hilarious and for the staff member who waited on us, I can assure that I was too full to go to McDonald’s and order any kind of dessert haha. T’was an unforgettable dining experience props to the staff and the people who run the place,...