Julia's Place — Restaurant in Dunnottar

Choose somewhere else! Owner Julia is rude! My elderly mother and I came in and saw all 7 tables were empty (Red Flag #1) and asked if we could eat inside. Julia said we needed to make a reservation but yet nobody was eating inside. I then said okay and proceeded to leave and then she said if we could be quick we could eat inside. (Red Flag #2)

We ordered 2 combination plates and two glasses of water. She said she doesn’t give out water so I asked if I could see the menu to order something else besides water. She said there are no drinks on menu to see and walked away. She wouldn’t let me know what other choices they had for drinks as she said she didn’t offer decaf coffee which was our only other choice so she left and ignored us and didn’t come back (Red Flag #3)

I asked for just a sip of water then so my mom could take her pill and she said no and I charge for that. I went to car to get a bottle of water so my mom could just take her pill before her meal and she went ballistic when I brought a bottle of water in. She then went and got a bottle of water slammed it on the table and said I am charging for that. (Red Flag #4) She charged $5 for that bottle of water by the way. Receipt to show. Once my mom had her pill I brought the water bottle back outside so not to upset her anymore. We usually don’t drink until after our meal so not ordering a drink was no big deal for us but now Julia forced us to buy a water. She should not have inside service if she can’t deal with the public in a nice welcoming and appreciative way.

Julia also mentioned she hasn’t raised her prices in 7 years so that is why she doesn’t offer glasses of water. Come to find out this was a lie because when I went online I saw pictures of menus from just a few years back and her prices were less. (Red Flag #5)

The food was okay but nothing to rave about. The two cabbage rolls were so small and the three meatballs were even smaller like the size of a crock marble. The perogies were very flat and small with hardly any filling . Very small portions for the price even though on the menu it sounds like a lot. You will leave hungry.

We will never be back and when I heard her talking to others for take out I found out she is Polish and not even Ukrainian and seemed nicer to her take out customers.

We didn’t feel welcome and won’t be back as I believe this owner must be bipolar. When I talked to a customer who left at the same tIme they said she was always rude like that but had a heart of gold. Very hard to believe that based on our interactions because she has two different personalities like Jekyll and Hyde.

Her place is decorated cozy inside like Valentine’s Day and religious sayings so you would think she would exhibit those vibes to her customers since everything is about love and faith but obviously not.

Julia also turned off the window a/c unit half way through our meal making it very hot and uncomfortable as to make us hurry up and get out.

Save your money and go somewhere else where you are appreciated and welcomed and get to enjoy real Ukrainian food from a real bubba.

Worse part of it is that my mom still made me tip because of normal dining out practices. Normally I wouldn’t have tipped with this lack of service and behavior as this goes against my ethics and moral values and definitely...

If you are not aware of Ukrainian cuisine, then this would be a nice place to visit. But if you are - then you will be definitely disappointed. We came there on Saturday. There was only one old lady (seems like the owner). She was cooking and serving only by herself. There were not so many people, but we had to wait for a really long time even to place an order. She immediately told us (in a very rude form) that she has a big party later today and she cannot cook us some dishes as she needs to save ingredients. And that we HAD to book a table before coming. So, it turned out she couldn’t cook half of the dishes from her menu (which is actually not so big)! The serving was really bad. We had a feeling that we are not desired clients here. The food was not tasty. Potato pancakes tasted more like it’s rice rather than potato inside. Fruit perogies disappointed completely - turned out it’s just 2 cherries inside, with no sugar. Everybody in Canada knows that perogies looks and are cooked completely different than she offered us. A/C close to our table was extremely loud. We could barely hear each other while talking. I do support local cafes especially family-owned. But this one is a dishonor for all...

We can't vouch for the food, service or ambiance.  However we can comment on character and integrity of the owner.  We were using the tennis courts next door on May 27 2020 which are just to the north of Julia's.  For the 2 hours that we were there we smelled a toxic oder in the air.  We thought it might be a dump nearby.  At one point the oder became toxic and was associated with black smoke.  I was getting dizzy and noxious.  In any case I went to find the source and discovered a fire in Julia's backyard.  The owner of the restaurant came to her side window (Julia's Place) and was arguing with me about the toxicity of what she was burning and had no end of excuses as she downplayed what she was doing.  She was very defensive and arguementative!! Based on experience, I have no dought she was burning polystyrene foam and plastics.

Numerous witnesses present, including member of the local volunteer fire department.

In any case I could see dialogue was futile so a report was issued with Municipal Bylaw Enforcement, May 27th around 9:00 PM. Suffice to say that even on my death bed I would not, or ever, dine or order from this...