Cora — Restaurant in Hamilton

This past weekend, my friends and I had a horrible experience at this location. Do not come here if you have any allergies or dietary concerns as the staff here will not accommodate or respect them.

One friend said she had a peanuts and tree nuts allergy and wanted it noted, our waitress said her meal was safe so not to worry. My friend politely affirmed that she still wanted the kitchen to be made aware (we know that hazelnuts are on the menu and just wanted to be sure), our waitress then had to ask what the allergies were again. Seemed as though she just immediately disregarded the severe allergies my friend has.

My other friend ordered her food and said that she has a severe peanut and soy allergy, specifically asking that her smoothie be made with accommodations for that. Our waitress seemed confident in her understanding and did not ask any follow-up questions. She was served a soy milk smoothie that my other friend managed to notice the discolouration of before she drank it. We did not want to be confrontational with our waitress so my friend asked if it was soy-free or made with soy milk. The waitress confirmed it was soy milk and my friend said that that would have killed her had she drank it. She proceeded to ask the waitress to clarify that the kitchen understood her allergies. Cora’s has always been a restaurant where my friend has been able to eat at, she has a significant amount of allergies but the tasty strawberry buckwheat crepes are one of a few things that she can have. Apparently ordering those is “off-menu” as according to the Cora’s reply to her review. Maybe review your own menu to confirm you have your facts straight before replying to reviews.

After several back and forths, our waitress informed us it wouldn’t be safe for her to have them but she could have several other alternatives that we unfortunately had to decline due to her other allergies. My friend has been eating these exact crepes for years and normally they just have to be prepared in a separate pan. The chef informed our waitress that it would take too long to do. The entire situation left my friend (rightfully so) uncomfortable with eating at this particular restaurant and so she decided to just stick with her coffee.

As someone who works in both food and customer service, I understand dealing with allergies is stressful. However, I also know that it is simple to use sanitized tools to make food safe for those with allergies. And I can also affirm that my friend was incredibly calm and non-confrontational with our waitress, despite the severity of the situation. And having seen how other restaurants take this seriously, I know that is possible when allergies and food safety are regarded as important by the management and staff.

To be honest, this is not the fault of an individual employee, but rather the clear lack of education on food and allergy safety that Cora’s has given their staff. Our biggest concern is with the clear lack of empathy and compassion that the owners and management of this location have as my friend literally could have died. It is one thing to misunderstand, it is entirely another to not care about the fact that my friend could have died by eating at your establishment. To proceed to spread lies and paint my friend, the victim, as ‘shameful’ and ‘aggressive’ as a response to her review, just shows the true colours of the team here. And in fact, you should be the ones who...

The following is a response I found where a mom after having a negative experience brings up the issue and describes the worker. (Thanks for the feedback. We appreciate guests input as it helps us to improve our services. However, we need to address few points on your review:

1- We strive to provide a safe, comfortable and clean environment for all patrons. As a part of this commitment, we find it necessary to address any unusually large messes in a timely manner to ensure the safety and comfort of all diners and maintain hygiene standards. It’s understandable that dining with a toddler can sometimes result in an extra clean up, but the extent of the mess left in this instance was way beyond normal expectations.

2- We don’t presume to tell anyone how to parent, but would ask for a degree of consideration for the staff who will be cleaning up and for other guests who will be dining after you. Just as we wouldn’t come into your place and leave a large mess behind, we ask the same courtesy from our patrons in our restaurant. We believe this is a reasonable request and it’s part of being a responsible and considerate member of any community.

3- Your comments regarding the physical appearance and the accent of our manager raise some concerns as these characteristics bear no relevance to the issue at hand, not sure what you are trying to insinuate. As a multicultural business, we value diversity and consider it a strength and these comments are unacceptable and inappropriate.

It’s perplexing to notice that you are perfectly fine with posting body shaming and discriminatory comments but you felt embarrassed when our staff asked “what happened and if you needed help”.

We regret any misunderstanding and we hope that you talked to our staff before you left the store so we could have explained the situation better. If you want a further follow up, please email us)

It's comments like this where someone described a person to better identify an individual so you could talk to the employee, yet you take this out of proportion and spin it to be hateful and toxic. It goes to show the type of customer service you provide, and how you view the world. There was a learning experience here, they are a patron to your establishment, if they are having a difficult time it is not your job to shame them and point out their faults. You should realize things happen when a child gets bored at a restaurant. Looking at your history of comments from other patrons at your establishment; this type of behaviour of a clear repetitive habit. Maybe correct your own actions when it's happening all the time; according to the comments left by others, before you start trying to blow things out of proportion and put words into other people's mouth.

This is the original comment. ("After our meal was over and I was waiting for the bill, a slim older lady with an accent came over and pointed at the...

This Cora’s location is consistently an awful experience. It is not safe for people with allergies and they completely lack compassion. I ordered a smoothie and emphasized that I had a severe soy and nut allergy, then they brought me a smoothie with soy milk in it. My friend noticed it’s discolouration moments before I drank it, and when I told the waitress this would have killed me she was completely shocked. At that point, she said the chef Jay refused to make my breakfast because “it would take him too long” as he would have to use a separate pan. I proceeded to sit for an hour and an half while my friends ate and I didn’t, as the restaurants incompetence and lack of empathy was clear.

RESPONSE to owner: Your response further proves your lack of empathy and lack of understanding. What you say is genuinely not true and very hurtful.

Your perception of my “aggression” was fear for my life and discomfort in my safety. Your response is a complete lie, it would make no sense for me to order something that would kill me and for my friends to standby and watch that. I take my safety seriously and would never make the mistake of ordering something I am allergic to. I have intentionally not added the servers name, as I understand how it was a mistake to not understand what I meant when I said soy and nut allergy, which is why I told her it would have killed me so she will understand next time. I’m sorry if your waitress felt overwhelmed and maybe misunderstood the interaction, but accusing me of not understanding my own health makes no sense and is a lie. However, your chef’s refusal to serve me is not a mistake. I ordered a crepe off the menu with an adjustment to be allergy safe, so I do not understand how that was “off the menu”. I did not “refuse to wait”, I simply was uncomfortable eating as I felt my safety was not being taken seriously; there is a difference and it was done politely.

In attempting to invalidate me with your response, you have actually further proved to any readers that your establishment does not take allergies seriously and does indeed lack empathy for those who live with them. The point of a review system is to ensure accountability and to warn future customers. Your response in calling me shameful and aggressive defeats that purpose and further puts me down after a life threatening incident in...