Ancaster Mill — Restaurant in Hamilton

Day of the rehearsal the staff member running us through the rehearsal had absolutely no idea what she was doing. She showed up 20 minutes late, had no idea what our names were, had not read through our script for the day so kept asking questions repeatedly, and overall was flustered and disorganized. She kept changing aspects of our ceremony even when stated that that was not what we had in mind and she told us this is how it should be and is normally done.

My husband went at the time we agreed to with staff to set up decor for our reception and ceremony and nothing was ready, in fact they were giving tours of both our reception room and the chapel. He talked to the staff to try and fix this only for them to argue with him for 15 minutes about how that was not in our contract. Except when they actually bothered to read it it was in our contract. So he was allowed to set up but both staff and strangers were walking through the rooms while he was attempting to set up. We had a candy table which the touring guest's children kept trying to eat from. Staff told another wedding party they could walk through our reception room to get to their room and staff kept using our room as a shortcut to the kitchen. We ended up having to lock the gate outside to prevent people from entering constantly. We had to ask several times for tables and easels they agreed to let us use to actually be put out.

Our concierge again was late, clueless, and flustered. The wedding party got there ahead of our ceremony to take pictures which staff agreed to, but there was absolutely no parking in either of the main parking lots because they scheduled 2 weddings too close together. We had to walk all the way from the furthest parking lot to the bridal suite in the hot summer heat. When we voiced our displeasure with that all our concierge said was that there should be parking available when our guests arrived.

While taking photos before the ceremony we were halted and lost precious photo time several times because they had other wedding parties taking photos and they have a policy that the brides can not cross paths. That is a garbage policy in my opinion (we are not children) and it definitely did not make me feel like I was their priority on our special day.

We continued to take more photos during cocktail hour. We had been told on several occasions that the concierge was to bring the wedding party food from cocktail hour while we got photos done as this was part of her job. We had to remind her to do such as we were all getting hungry.

The men had an issue while taking photos as well. Our photographer who is also a friend was shouldered very roughly by a staff member. He is 6'2 so he is not a little guy, hard to miss, and definitely not easy to move but this staff member barreled though him, which is extremely unprofessional and uncalled for.

We then get to our reception where the wedding party was hungry and tired at this point and just wanted to sit down. The concierge kept blocking us from entering saying she needed to set up the audio system in the reception room to play an entrance song even though I expressed several times that we did not want or plan for a grand entrance. I begged her and eventually yelled at her to literally put on any song, at this point we had wasted 20 minutes of her barring us from our own room. I went around her and told our MC to literally put on any song and we just went around her. I have no idea what the hold up was as everyone could see us the the glass windows.

Our event coordinator Megan contacted me afterwards to ask for any feedback. I gave her my feedback and she said she was so sorry and she was going to talk to the team as well as the manager about the issues. She followed up with me and told me she had forwarded it the higher ups and they would contact me to discuss further. I never heard back. I guess the manager had no intention of...

Recently came back here for our 1 year anniversary (also married here) and it was a very pleasant time.

The atmosphere speaks for itself, the location is truly beautiful. It has multiple perfect backdrops for photos and elevated our wedding photos no doubt.

The food we ordered for dinner

Rosemary Focaccia - 5/5 Was baked perfectly with the inside still warm and the outside having a perfect crunch. Served with some type of lemon butter which paired very nicely. Whipped butter was still ordered however as I found the original butter to be a bit too overpowering.

Farm Greens - 5/5 Put together very well with all the flavours meshing nicely. Nuttiness from the walnuts with sweetness from the peaches and a creamy funk from the goat cheese helped pair together perfectly with the greens. The vinaigrette did wonderfully cutting through the flavours and adding good acidity.

Vadouvan Lamb Shank - 5/5 Absolutely well put together and thought out. The curry mixed with pomegranates on the couscous was absolutely delicious. Curry lacked a bit of a kick but was very flavourful. It was also nice and thick so it coated each grain very well. Using pomegranates to cut into the savory with some sweetness really took this meal to the next level for me. Lamb shank was perfectly cooked and came right off the bone. It was a tad salty so my only suggestion is lighten on the spices or to provide more couscous to mix with.

Braised Short Rib - 5/5 Corn risotto was top tier and delicious. Flavours were really well and almost had a cheesey smokey flavour. Risotto was also cooked perfectly. Short rib LOOKED dry but absolutely melted once we put a fork through it. Well cooked and a delicious dish overall.

Chamomile&Plum Panna Cotta - 3/5 Little bias as I think the panna cotta we got in Italy set the standard for us.. however the panna cotta tasted more like greek yogurt.

Corn&Peach Parfait - 5/5 Didn't know what to expect here, but a delicious combo overall. The cornscotti was dry and left aside; however, the peaches combo'd with the icecream and popcorn really put together for a delicious bite.

Pineapple bourbon - 2/5 Could use less bitters and I was hoping for there to be a hint of pineapple sweetness, but overall the drink just tasted like bourbon and bitters. Would've been happier getting bourbon neat.

Baileys Classic - 4.5/5 Simple and classic, could have been better though.

Overall another great experience, the food although priced high does speak for itself unlike a lot of other restaurants. Service is always excellent and polite although I had hoped that it being our 1 year anniversary at a location we got married at that it would be something they would have asked us about. My wife loves novelty gifts such as cakes for birthdays and anniversaries. This was listed on our booking so it would have been nice to have been asked rather than having to mention it.

10/10 would recommend you pick here as a wedding venue and if not that, just come by for their dinner or brunch. You'll walk away full and satisfied and so will...

Gorgeous location and enchanting experience. From the small winding road you drive up when you arrive, to the dining hall it's a lovely experience. When you enter the first building, you're greeted and then led down a glass hall that crosses the stream where you get a stunning and direct view of the waterfall to your right. Then you enter the long dining hall which is beautifully designed and has glass walls/large windows overlooking the waterfall and stream. The dining room is well-lit, I loved their bronze light fixtures hanging from the ceiling that provided a warm, amber tone to the room in the evening. Our drinks were where we discovered one of our favourite items - the blood orange sour stood out to us. It wasn't too strong, it was refreshing, the blood orange purée was delicious, it was a gorgeous colour, and the fine foam on the top was such a treat - I would order a second of this drink, and enjoy the foam just as much as the drink itself. The bread and garlic butter was amazing - we would buy a whole loaf of this. I'm not sure which herbs were in it, but it was fragrant and savoury. We didn't order an appetizer but our entrées were very good - my partner ordered the 7oz tenderloin, which he really enjoyed, including the parsnip and potato gratin, even though he normally doesn't choose blue cheese options he loved it. I ordered the sturgeon, which went well with the bacon, smoked lentils, and cabbage. My favourite part of that dish was the riesling carrots and the bacon jus - I would have eaten a small bowl of just the carrots drizzled in a bit of the bacon jus! For dessert, we ordered several pies, which came with light fluffy crème fraîche and did not disappoint. We tried the pecan pie, green tea with raspberry, chocolate with orange and pomegranate, ferrero rocher, and a creme brulée with honey and lavender. All of these were great, but our favourites were the creme brulée which starts with a burst of the lavender flavour and then somehow transforms into pure honey, and the pecan pie - our server recommended the pecan pie, and he was right! It was amazing, and we normally don't enjoy pecan pie since it can be too sweet, but this was a perfect, almost sticky toffee-esque flavour. We would have ordered a whole pecan pie to take home if we could. That recommendation brings us to our servers - everyone who took care of our table was excellent. They were so friendly, warm, welcoming, polite, professional, and fun. We had lovely conversation with them, and they gave us great recommendations for our menu choices. If you're lucky enough to be served by either Craig or Kevin, then you're in for a great meal! Overall, between the food, service, and gorgeous location, we would highly recommend visiting here at least once. We can't wait to come back to try more...