Cora Breakfast and Lunch — Restaurant in Edmonton

I recently had an extremely disappointing experience at Cora in Windermere, Edmonton. Despite the restaurant being empty, our server seemed disinterested and unhelpful from the beginning. After informing me they were out of the bread I initially ordered, she just stood there, waiting for me to ask about alternatives instead of proactively suggesting options.

When I ordered a crepe, I asked the server about the custard sauce option, and her response was, “It’s custard, don’t you know what custard is?” This response left me uncomfortable, as she neither explained what custard is nor showed any willingness to help. I had to look it up on my phone instead of receiving a clear answer from the staff.

The service issues continued when I requested tomatoes and cucumbers on the side. The server immediately said they didn’t have cucumbers. When I asked her to double-check, she discovered that they actually did have them, but I was served only three small slices each of tomato and cucumber. I also ordered two servings of bacon, which were served burnt to the point of crumbling. When I pointed this out to the manager, he disputed my feedback, telling me it wasn’t burnt but “crispy.” After tasting the bacon, I emphasized that it was, indeed, burnt. He then agreed to replace it but brought the replacement with a condescending comment, “Here’s your bacon, not crispy.” I told him that if I say it’s burnt, he should not question me. However, he just waved me off with a thumbs up and walked away without saying another word. This dismissive behavior was extremely unprofessional.

Adding to the issues, we were charged for two coffees when we only ordered one. When I noticed the error, the server couldn’t refund it directly to my card and instead gave me the difference in loose change. The manager was nowhere to be seen to take control of the situation or provide a resolution. He chose not to step in and address the problems, essentially hiding instead of showing any accountability.

In the end, we paid an $80 bill for two people and a baby, with no gestures of goodwill, apology, or offer to make things right. When I shared my dissatisfaction, the server only muttered a quick “sorry” and handed me the machine to pay.

Overall, this experience was frustrating, disappointing, and upsetting. I hope the management takes these issues seriously, as customers should not have to tolerate this level of service and lack of...

When we found out that Cora's was opening in Windermere, we were ecstatic that a location was going to be so close to home. We went to the Windermere location last Friday, expecting nothing less than the always amazing service we have previously received at Cora's. Wow, we were wrong.

We arrived and had to wait 20 minutes, which is understandable considering that this was on Canada Day, to our table. As soon as we got our table, our waitress came over promptly and delivered menus and took drink orders. Although we got our coffee and water quickly, it was nearly a 10 minute wait to get our smoothies.

We ordered within 10 minutes of arriving, and we warned that the kitchen was a bit behind due to the earlier rush of guests in the morning - no big deal we thought. 45 minutes after ordering our breakfast, we STILL had NOT received anything. An hour after we arrived, our food finally came to the table. When it did come, it was disappointing to have so many items wrong on the plate that had taken almost an hour to receive. The English muffin on my eggs benny were completely hard and partially burned, the hollandaise sauce was lukewarm at best, and the potatoes were the greasiest and soggiest I have ever seen them served at Cora's. My boyfriend's plate did not go without it's mistakes either. Eggs overcooked, and when given the choice between tomatoes and fruit, he chose tomatoes and was given fruit anyways. We told our waitress, while we were less than thrilled with the meals we did not want anything sent back as we did not want to wait any longer to eat.

Although our waitress (I believe her name was Karol-Ann), was wonderful, and extremely apologetic for the delays, the food and the extremely lengthy wait time had us leaving this location with (literally) a bad taste in our mouths.

We will not be returning to this location, and instead will be going back to our previous regular...

I've served for 10 years, and I've done brunch for a solid 5. I hate writing poor reviews, but I feel the general public needs a heads up.

We waited 15 minutes for a server to come to our table and even say hi. There were 12 tables in the restaurant, 2 servers, a manager, and a busser. When the server arrived, she only wanted to take drinks. Nevermind that we were pretty ready to order everything. When the drinks came, she only brought water for one person, even though we all asked. Is that really that hard?

40 minutes after we order, our food sort of arrives. The friend we went with who ordered hers to go had to leave without her food. My omelette was dark brown and cool (ie burnt and forgotten), the other light yellow and warm (made on the fly to get the order out). The tomatoes in my omelette were badly overripe and scorched on one side. My partner's omelette was supposed to be the same as mine but looked nothing like it.

The fruit side was a tiny slice of pineapple, a thin, underripe wedge of cantelope, and we got one squishy/moldy strawberry, and one patchy white strawberry.

Coffee was good though. That's a win.

Rather than complain after an hour of waiting, we ate what was palatable and paid and left.

I've never had such a sh*t experience at breakfast. Ever in my life. Tims absolutely backed down the block still produces a consistent breakfast wrap.

The manager needs to go. Zero participation in the restaurant beyond circling the expo area. Get some extra staff on. Hire someone who's been to f*cking chef school who knows how to organize a kitchen. We could watch the kitchen. There was next to no communication. Three separate people working independently. No leadership.

The best thing would be for this location to close and something else take over. Some kind of 50's diner or dive bar.

$60 wasted. I would give zero stars...