Ben & Florentine — Restaurant in Gatineau

Jan 2025 Edit: Finally went back in 2025 food was great but cold...tip options start at 18%?! I know the cost of living went up but so has the cost of the food and tip being a percentage is also already higher.

Went on Dec 1st 2019 and it was very busy but as there was only 2 of us, we were sat quickly. We quickly decided, the order was put in with the very friendly waiting staff and then we proceeded to wait 1hr20 minutes for Oatmeal and an omelette while people that were seated about 40 minutes after us were finishing their meals. That's our entire section had all tables turned before we got our food, my mother and I are very patient and were even making excuses that it was very busy about half way in when tables of 6 that came in after us got up to leave.

My mother said she wanted to go and I said I'd leave some money on the table and we leave but only had a $10 and she felt that the extra would be too nice a tip for just 2 coffees. I said I'd go pay her at the cash and grabbed my scarf as our dishes came around the corner. My mother asked what happened and was told everyone went to pay at the same time. We thought, "yeah, we arrived before they did though" what happened before that we never got our food is really the questions we were wondering. We pressed on and were told it was cause the kitchen was understaffed and the oatmeal takes a while. We would have been ok with, I forgot to put the orders through as we could see all the other tables that also got Oatmeal and a kitchen bursting with staff.

We ate, my mum left cutting through the massive crowd spilling through from the door to the seat behind my mother. At least they weren't gonna also skip ahead of us. When I cut through the crowd and looked towards my destination, the waitress at the cash register signaled me over, at this point I'm feeling a bit like she thought I was running out without paying and thought why not add to this bad experience by giving me this impression. I paid, the waitress was most courteous about the wait, not acknowledging that a long wait was not the issue rather than being served after all tables had gone and new people had sat and eaten and getting ready to leave. I tipped a generous 10% given the situation and will not return. Shame, I felt lied to.

Besides this, the food is generally amazing and creative while still having all...

Almost every aspect of my visit was sub par. We waited inside the restaurant while they prepared a patio table. We were seated by the hostess who failed to mention , let alone try to explain, that they were no longer providing physical menus, and that everything could be done on our mobile phones. The manager came out to tell us rather snarkly that if we were inside the restaurant to use the washrooms that we needed to be wearing masks. Fine, no problem. Just that every single staff member that passed us when were were waiting said nothing and made no motions for us to put on our masks. Our waitress came out several mins later and attempted to take our orders, assisting us with choosing options that were visible on our paper placemats, again, failing to mention that the full menu was available on our mobile phones. We asked for coffees and Cream & Sugar to go with them. The waitress visited our table several minutes later to inform us that our options were not available at that time, as the menu on the paper placemats was for a specific time only. Only at this time did the waitress mention that the menu was available online, and i said i would prefer the physical menu if possible to make things move a bit faster. She obliged, bringing me the menu and i ordered almost exactly the same thing that was said to be previously unavailable at the time we placed our previous order. After about 10 minutes she brought us our coffee, but with noting to put into the coffee. I again asked for Cream & Sugar. She returned with several Milkers and Sweet& Low. Neither of those things, if I am wrong, please tell me, are Cream or Sugar. When she finally returned, our coffee was cold. The wait time for food was surprisingly short, yes it was a busy place, but I would imagine that with the reduced amount of tables, that the food should have come sooner. The food was lukewarm, and for some reason, my breakfast sandwich had the buttered part of the bread facing outwards, so my hands got insanely buttered up trying to hold that thing. My guests meal was fine, and the hashbrowns were admittedly good. Despite the waitress trying to use her naivete as an excuse for poor service, I will not...

We ate at this restaurant on several occasions before and enjoyed the food and the service.  However,  today September 18th around 1 pm we had a worse experience ever. I have ordered the omelet.  It came with eggs looking dry like plastic.  I tried it but it was impossible to eat.  After I addressed this issue with the server, she was very understanding and promptly took it back for replacement.  When the second time omelet came,  the eggs looked much better but the cheese inside was raw, cold and not melted.  I had enough at that point and wanted to speak to the cook.  Instead of an apology I got yelled at by the person named Jamel who insisted that this was perfectly fine omelet first time,  just like they make it. He told me that cold not melted cheese is the result of a eggs not looking dry. I said that if they can't make proper omelet my order could be changed to simple eggs.  I got the omelet out 3rd time,  never mind that we can hear him going on about me in the kitchen. At this point I lost my appetite and was stressed. I must admit that our server was very nice and apologetic for something what was not her fault.  I know how hard the work in the kitchen is. I did this job for a long time.  It pains me to see that someone does not take pride...