Boston Pizza — Restaurant in Cobourg

Went out for a quick dinner last night around 830/9 at BP and will probably not make the same mistake again.

A few things throughout the night didn't make it anything close to a decent experience. Mind you it wasn't horrific, it just was enough for me to deter my business elsewhere.

First, showed up and sat out on the patio and there was maybe 4 other tables getting served at the time . But it was roughly 20 minutes or so from the time we ordered a drink, to actually getting one (usually not a big deal, but things add up)

Never got offered a menu , ( I don't know if that's a covid thing so whatever) but was asked what we wanted as if we knew the menu off by heart .

We ordered a starter and 2 meals after searching the menu on our phones

Eventually food arrived.. sort of . The time it took wasn't the issue BUT the order it came in. ..

Side note - I went inside the restaurant to physically grab our own utensils and napkins because still halfway through my meal we still were without

My meal came first which I was able to fully consume well before my dates dinner arrived and our starter. Kind of annoying eating infront of someone and pointless getting a starter if the order of things is out of wack.

As for the food itself. We ordered shrimp tacos, a chicken club, and spinach dip to start.

Tacos were good no complaints there. The chicken club apparently was decent, but the salad it came with was wilted and kind of sad looking. I didn't eat it, but my date wasn't overly impressed.

The dip and pita it came with was a little on the salty side and bluh . I wouldn't order it again.

Overall . Anyone of these things isn't a deal breaker. It was just overall not worth recommending .

I wasn't going to bother reviewing my experience but I just out for breakfast this AM and the waitress was wicked. Service was wicked and there was never a point where I had think "it'd be nice if I could get...."

I feel a bit foolish for tipping over 20% last night. The service was not deserving . I chalked it up for being covid growing pains and people need to earn an income. But compared to my breakfast . It was an unpleasant experience.

I will not be returning...

Food is great. Service is good. Prices are a bit high. EDIT (Nov 10/22): Food taste is good, food menu is bad. Service is good. Prices are high. More at bottom of review.

Food is great. Things are 9.9/10 times cooked correctly. The wife and I have gotten near everything on the menu and everything was cooked how it should be. The taste is good as well; well seasoned.

Service is good. Sometimes you have to wait for a refill on your drink, even having to track down your server sometimes - this should be something they work on as it happens quite frequently. Food and bill arrives on time though.

Prices are fair for most items, except the Cactus Cut Potatoes. My wife and I used to almost exclusively come to BP because of these bad boys. They were very a very good price for a very good portion. I completely understand raising the price a bit, -OR- cutting the portions a bit as it was such a great deal, but they've done BOTH. The price has gone up by quite a few dollars and the portions have been cut near half. This sole thing is what made the wife and I start going to Casey's/CJ's more often. They have 'butterfly/tornado potatoes' which are a humongous portion for the same price as Cactus Cuts.

All in all it's a good place, just VERY disappointed about the Cactus Cuts. If they reduce the price or increase the portions again BP would start being our main dining restaurant again, hands down.

EDIT (Nov 10/22): They have taken so many things off their menu that my wife and I liked. There's barely anything on there now if you don't want pizza or pasta. Portions continue to be smaller and smaller while prices continue to be larger and larger. When we first starting going, as noted in original review, cactus cut app was huge and was something like $6.99 or $7.99. The portion is now 1/2 to 1/3 of what it was while the price is now $12.29 (I think it's a bit more than that despite it saying that on the online menu). I understand post pandemic pricing but this is ridiculous. The portion now is less than 2 large...

Attended the “dinner with princesses” what a nightmare! The lack of management was appalling. From the moment you walked in everything was a let down. Waited 15 minutes to be seated as they had 100+ people show up all at once. Management should have staggered the reservations every 10 minutes, especially as you HAD to make a reservation so they knew how many people planned to attend. Once getting to your seat waited another 25 mins before you saw a server. Was almost an hour before our drinks made it to the table. Then another hour for food. We were 3 hours there waiting and waiting for the next step of service. The poor server had a huge section(should have been two for that many people) but MANAGEMENT YOU WERE THE PROBLEM!! The poor girl was in the weeds and you just let her sink. Finally I asked while waiting for our bills to see a manager, I ask for someone to come help this poor server get the last 5 tables there out who were waiting on dessert and bills. And guess what their so bad at their jobs they didn’t even come out!! Stayed in the back as they knew how unhappy everyone was, and continued to let the server sink further. Few tips for your managers

Stagger reservations slightly to take some stress off servers and the kitchen.

Staff better, have an extra host/food runner on. A extra bartender and buser. If you can seat 300 people staff for 200 people when you know your going to have 120 people plus walk ins!

Setup your tables before guests arrive. IE: side plates, napkins, kids menus, condiments, roll ups, paper cups and a water jug.

MANAGE BETTER!!! You clearly knew how many people were coming and couldn’t be bothered to do any of the work to make it enjoyable for guests. But still made everyone play full price! Food for thought on doing better. But won’t be coming back again to...