Sõl Kitchen — Restaurant in Collingwood

I wanted to take a moment to share some feedback about our experience at this restaurant. Something occurred that left us feeling unwelcome and disrespected.

A comment was made to me (about my parenting)and quite frankly, the way it was delivered was rude and out of line. Whether or not the owner agreed with what was happening, there’s a way to communicate concerns without being disrespectful. The tone and approach she chose were unnecessary and made us feel unwelcome.

I’ll add that my two year old was with us, and after waiting for his food etc. he was wanting to be out of his seat. He was trying to make his baby sister laugh and fell over into the aisle. The owner claims that my son was crawling all over the ground and basically acting inappropriately. She addressed this and loudly made it known. We quickly left after she felt it necessary to tell her staff about the interaction. We all felt heavy and the stares we got from the other patrons made it feel even heavier.

We expect to be treated with basic respect, especially in a public place we chose to support. I wanted to make that clear because how you speak to customers matters — and this interaction crossed a line.

Update to owner response:

Although you take ownership of how it was addressed. I believe your perspective is skewed. My son is extremely sweet and well behaved. Imagine the child of the parent you addressed had an exceptionality, or it was the first time a mother felt taking her children out for lunch and that was the outcome? While I appreciate you addressing your tone for the next child/parent, we won’t be coming back to your establishment.

I understand that you claim to have been addressing a “misbehaving” child or keeping him safe. However, you were inconvenienced for maybe 10 seconds of your day, where this interaction has me completely distraught as my parenting has been targeted or questioned. If you consider falling into the aisle, or acting as a child, “inappropriate”, then you clearly do not understand how your words etc. can affect a mother, aunt and grandmother.

If my son was screaming, throwing dishes or food, then ok. But, to be addressed for simply “being in the way” or in “harms way” (you were carrying sandwiches and salad at the time- not hot soup)the way he/ I was, I am just mind blown that you found it to be so inconvenient for you or disruptive to your restaurant.

I truly believe if that situation had you so upset ,that you maybe need a break. As a mom, I’m on 24/7, there is no break, so there is no excuse for that sort of thing to...

A friend invited me to join him at this restaurant for lunch yesterday. I will come back again even though my experience yesterday was not the best introduction to this business. I found the tables too close together and the volume level in the restaurant made it very difficult to converse. The specials and the variety on the menu were good, though a little pricey; I know, things are pricier in Collingwood in general. I ordered the Chicken Club and it came on a panini or as a wrap. I chose the panini and I chose the Thai Squash Soup as my side. The restaurant was busy so I wasn't totally surprised at the length of time it took for the meal, but it was a little on the slow side. When the order arrived, I received mushroom soup, not the squash soup, and the sandwich was not served on a panini roll, but rather on a toasted multi-grain bread. The table next to us also received the wrong soup. The mushroom soup was tasty but it wasn't what I ordered. Had I known that they didn't have panini rolls I would have ordered the sandwich as a wrap; I'll know for next time. The service was friendly, and the server was relatively attentive given the volume of customers she was dealing with. My one peeve about this server was being addressed as "Kidlets". My lunch guest and myself are men in their sixties and we haven't been kidlets since the early sixties. That type of familiarity doesn't sit with me any better than being called "dear", "sweetie" or "darlin'" at a drive through window. As I mentioned earlier, I will try this venue again but I hope my experience will be...

I only had a short lunch break, I waited about 20 mins for a pesto chicken wrap with goat cheese and a kale salad with beets and apples (already made at the salad bar) to go...when I got back to work I realized that there was no goat cheese on my wrap, which made it very plain, and there was practically no chicken. The chicken that was there was over cooked and dry. The rest of the wrap was just greens. The kale salad had no flavour, and there was approximately 100 g (tiny side salad) and it cost me $5. I can get a better tasting kale salad at the Superstore fresh to go bar for $1.79 (100 g). There was only 1/2 a slice of apple in the salad as well...literally half a slice!!!. I paid almost $17 for barely any food, that took forever to make, that was flavourless and over cooked. I called back to leave some feedback but the phone went directly to a voicemail that had not been set up...so I couldn't even leave a message. Disappointed. I work locally and am always looking for a good lunch spot but definitely won't be going back to Sol...