Golden Griddle Family Restaurant — Restaurant in Hamilton

Today I visited the Golden Griddle. The buffet was on but I decided I wanted eggs Benedict, one of my favourite dishes. My wife opted for the buffet. When my eggs came the Hollandaise sauce was the wrong colour, was flavourless, and had the wrong texture. Further to that, there was barely any sauce on it! The sauce wasn't even enough to cover the eggs. I flagged down our waitress and said the sauce was unappetizing, and her response was "we've been using the same sauce for thirty years".

Where to begin? How about not telling your customers that they're wrong when they give you an opinion? Unappetizing is an opinion, after all, and not a fact. But no, my opinion must be wrong. It took a bit of convincing, but my food was sent back to the kitchen uneaten.

So I decided to go to the buffet instead of trying a different menu item. The buffet was pretty standard breakfast stuff. Bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages, hash browns, you get the idea. I picked up a piece of French Toast (another of my favourite breakfast dishes) and it tasted awful. Instead of being met with a nice egg-soaked piece of bread that had been fried I was left with an absolutely terrible taste in my mouth - I'm not sure if the bread was improperly stored or if it was just plain bad, but both my wife and I left the French Toast on our plates.

Now food alone isn't enough to earn a one-star review. Most restaurants have service that at least tries to make up for the poor quality. That was not the case today. Remember when I mentioned that I had been told my opinion about the Hollandaise sauce was wrong? Well that wasn't the worst of it. This is the first buffet I have ever eaten at where the plates aren't cleared as soon as they're emptied. We had plates stacked up on our table right up until we were finished with our meal. The server responsible for our section wasn't even the one to take them away. Sure, not the end of the world, but also not the sign of a good place to eat. My bill came to $43.48, and I paid with debit. The cashier rung it into the debit machine as $43.50. Sure, it's just two cents, and had I been paying cash that would have been the amount paid, but I didn't pay cash. I paid debit and the store figured it was okay to take that extra two cents from me. Then the cashier asked if I would like my receipt. I said yes, and she handed my debit slip to me, but no receipt. I asked for the actual receipt (that I had handed to her just a moment earlier so I could pay) and it was gone. She dug around all over the place, asking me where I sat and what I had. I told her the value of the bill and she said "sorry, it's really busy in here". BUSY? BUSY? Yeah, it was busy. But I'm not asking you to find something that you had fifteen customers ago. I'm asking you for a record of the transaction that you are legally required to give me in order to confirm that an actual transaction has taken place. Any purchase over $10 on which HST is collected requires a receipt, after all. She passed one to me which was definitely not mine, before eventually finding the correct receipt (right on top of a pile of receipts in front of her).

I almost gave this a two star review because I actually did enjoy one item in the buffet. There were little potato patties that were absolutely delicious. When I finished my meal this was going to be a two-star review. The experience at the cash register changed...

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We recently visited this location hoping for a satisfying breakfast, but my experience fell short on several levels.

Food: • The Big Breakfast Plate ($20) arrived with less than half a cup of home fries, which was surprising given the price. Compared to Other restaurants • The sausage was only cooked on one side, (refer to photos). the eggs were rubbery and lacked flavor, and the rye toast was very hard and dry. • The pancake was stale, with a weird texture that made it difficult to eat. I took them home for the doggies. (Let’s hope they can eat ) 😁 • Overall, the meal was greasy and lacked freshness.

Service: • Initially, we were not greeted or checked on in a timely manner, despite the restaurant not being busy. • The servers who eventually helped us were polite and friendly, which I appreciated. • Unfortunately, the interaction I had with the manager, Dominique, was uncomfortable and dismissive. When I asked about the portion size of the home fries, he addressed me abruptly and walked away without offering any further assistance or concern.

I also noticed that he engaged with other guests in a much friendlier, courteous manner. As the only person of color in the restaurant at the time, I couldn’t help but wonder whether this influenced the way I was treated. I’m not making assumptions, but the contrast was noticeable and disheartening.

Suggestions for Improvement: • Providing consistent, courteous service to every guest is essential. Training in customer relations and sensitivity could be beneficial for management. • Checking in to ensure meals meet expectations and that concerns are heard would go a long way. • Reviewing portion sizes is consistent , and freshness would improve the dining experience.

I’ve read similar reviews about this location, and my experience, unfortunately, aligns with them. While the servers were friendly, the manager’s lack of professionalism overshadowed the visit.

I hope this feedback helps inspire positive changes for future guests. Until then, I would recommend exploring other breakfast options...

Absolutely horrible customer service from what appeared to be a MANAGER of some sort (elderly man with injured arm?) , after we placed an online order which upon entering the building I confirmed with you the nice lady at the front desk the order, the order # and how much the order was, However, when she told me that they couldn’t verify where my order was, so she said the man at the back will help you, so I walk back to the man who greets me with throwing his arms up asking me who the order was for, I said the name, details of order, and he cuts me off to say they dont take online orders and that they never received the order, he then points to a bag to use for a reference and says this is what the order # usually looks like and it happened to be my order bag! It had the name and everything i just told him! Then he said I couldn’t take the order because I didn’t say the right information yet everything matched on the bag to what i said! He proceeds to tell me he needs to “ask the back if its okay for me to take the order” and i waited for him to come back and say “ya whatever take the order” and I responded back with “wow thanks, nice customer service” and his response was “It doesn’t matter” and repeated this numerous times walking me out of the establishment. Ive ordered from these people before MANY times, and never in my entire life have i seen that man or ever received the disrespect we got today. Shame on whoever that is for being in the position they are. Everyone else who works there doesn’t deserve to be stuck in a placement with a person who reacts like that. Even all the customers looked appalled at what was going down while they were trying to eat. Saddened to say I’ll be finding a new breakfast...