Box Social — Restaurant in Centre Wellington

TL;DR: DO NOT GO IF YOU ARE CELIAC

Now that I'm not sick as a dog anymore, here's what happened:

My grandmother, mother, myself, and my daughter arrived; my mother pulled the waitress aside and let her know that there were 2 Celiacs in our party, and we needed gluten free options. The waitress seemed knowledgeable, and said there were corn tortillas and gluten free bread available, and if something wasn't gluten free, it could be altered to be gluten free.

There were lots of empty tables, so we were seated, and got menus.

When the waitress arrived, she took our orders. I made eye contact, and told her that my daughter and I were the Celiacs. She nodded, and I ordered the chicken quesadilla and the cheeseburger. The waitress went away, and we waited.

The food arrived after a bit of a wait, our orders arrived. We asked if the burger for my daughter was on a GF bun, and the waitress said no, they didn't have GF buns. At this point, my alarm bells should have started going off because she didn't seem to have any idea what we were talking about. As she was walking away, I said that the burger needed to be remade.

The burger was taken away, and within 5 minutes, it was brought back on GF bread.

We ate our food. This was a mistake for my daughter and I. An hour and a half later, I started throwing up. This lasted for the next 3 hours. Then my daughter started throwing up. For the next two days (and counting) we have had major gastrointestinal distress. It will take MONTHS for our immune systems to calm down and for the damage that was done to be repaired.

I tried calling Box Social, I got the waitress, I let her know what had happened. She said the chicken quesadilla didn't come on the corn tortilla, and everything is on the shared grill, so maybe it was the home fries, or the grill. And I got a non-apologetic "sorry", just like the reply to this post.

Celiac is a growing problem in Canada. It is relatively easy to cater to it, but it DOES require education.

I felt entirely misled by the staff at Box Social by their ability to provide a SAFE meal to myself and my daughter. And I am NOT happy with their response to it. There was no indication that they even understood what they had done wrong, or that they were going to fix it in the future. I do NOT appreciate lip service, especially when it's my daughters health that has been affected, let...

My daughter and I experienced horrible service from both the owner/chef, and a very grumpy waitress today (the other waitress was lovely), when we made the poor choice to go for a celebratory breakfast at this restaurant this morning.

We were told we had to wait for a table, so we let the waitress know we would go get coffee, and come back, she put our name down, and we left.

Upon returning, one lovely waitress told us our table was ready so we followed along to be seated, when we were rudely stopped by the grumpy one who told us we were not allowed to bring our drinks in. I politely asked a few questions about why, and told her I was fine following the rules but would appreciate not being told in such a rude way, when the chef/owner told me they were his rules and to get out.

So he kicked my 10 year old Daughter and myself out, and we will never go back. Went to another local breakfast spot (The Gorge Country Kitchen on Wellington Rd 7) instead, and had WAY better service. AND they let me bring in my coffee ❤️ (and we didn’t leave smelling like grease, which you will at Box Social every. time.)

No one deserves being treated as we were this morning, and it was an appalling impression to make on a...

I came in on a Wednesday morning around 11:00am and ordered a classic breakfast (2 eggs, ham, and toast), 1 waffle with a parfait at 11:11. Now it’s 11:48am and our breakfast still hadn’t arrived. Meanwhile, a customer who came in well after me ordered the exact same classic breakfast, and her meal was brought out at 11:40 am before ours.

When I asked the staff about the delay, the only explanation given was “it’s just been a busy packed day,” even though the restaurant was far from full at that time. No apology, no effort to make it right, and no clear reason why my order was skipped over.

Watching others be served the same meal faster than me was frustrating and disappointing. Waiting over 35 minutes for a simple breakfast order is unacceptable, especially when others who arrive later are prioritized.

Overall, poor service, lack of communication, and a really disappointing experience. I will not be coming back and would not recommend this place to anyone looking for a reliable or respectful...