Scout Cafe Restaurant — Restaurant in Hamilton

If there was a title to this post it would be, "I visited the Canadian version of Fawlty Towers." After being seated, it took over 45 minutes to take our drink order. Many apologies from the server. Then he came back and said, "There was no ice, do you still want your drink?" Many more apologies.

As we were waiting the 45 minutes for our drink order, the servers were casually talking to another table in Slovenian, or some Eastern European dialect. Then it took another 20-30 minutes to take our food order. Extreme apologies from the server once again. After we ordered our food, he came back and said one of the items was unavailable, more apologies again. Then we waited another 30 minutes for the food. From sitting to paying we were there for over 2 hours.

Once the food did come, I had ribs that looked good and were very big, but they did not taste great and were cold in the center (I guess they were prior frozen and they didn't warm them up enough). I ordered escargot mushroom caps, and it came mushed together in pieces, which was not visually appealing and not that good. We ate very little of our food and the waiter wondered if it was okay.

When we decided to pay, we noticed a family had been trying to pay for over 45 minutes and the server wasn't bringing the machine. So for us, we paid at the machine where they pay the bills. Again, the server was talking to a number of people in Slovenian, or similar, and I had to wait to even pay. I looked in the kitchen and it didn't look like they were chefs or professional-looking cooks.

Now here is the positive: it's a very nicely decorated place and has a great outdoor patio, which is where we were sitting. One of the nicest we've sat at.

Another positive is the prices are super cheap. We go to restaurants all the time that have much higher prices. I would say their pricing could easily be upped by 20% to be competitive with other restaurants.

The biggest letdown was the service (with multiple apologies from the server, and they seemed like very nice people) and the food, which was inedible for us and what we ordered.

They did say their were understaffed, and something about renovations. With that said, it shouldn't have effected the quality of the food.

A suggestion regarding having no ice: "Send out one of your staff to a nearby store and have them buy some" and get a professional chef to increase the quality of food.

Would I go back? On one hand, yes, just to see if it is consistently bad service; however, then I think about the food and the fact that I'd have to eat it, that prevents me from going back.

I hope they read this and take it in the spirit intended, in that I'm providing constructive criticism. If you can get the service and food up to par, I think you have a great atmosphere, and a...

We are not often in the area, but were today and my husband suggested we check it out for lunch. Upstairs looked busy so we opted for seats downstairs. Lovely lovely atmosphere. Our server, Milica was awesome. We had conversations about various topics a number of times that she came to the table. (Travelling down east, the origins of the restaurant and the size of the portions (huge) and the availability of a party room on the lowest level) The food was amazing. As mentioned, the portions are huge. We ordered escargot as an appetizer. We've ordered escargot appetizers many places, but I can guarantee you we never received this large of a portion anywhere. Between the two of us, we couldn't finish it. I took the picture when we'd been eating it for a bit already. It is mushroom caps, escargot and melted cheese. However, unlike most escargot orders, it wasn't one of two escargot per mushroom cap. It was more like 6 or 7 per mushroom cap. Absolutely delicious. He ordered the grilled calamari and absolutely enjoyed it. Again, the portion was huge and we took some home with us. I had the club sandwich with a house salad. There was a large piece of grilled chicken on the sandwich. I was surprised as that is not usually the way club sandwiches come. They usually come with cold sliced chicken/turkey. It was delicious! I wish I'd taken pictures of the salad that came with my sandwich and his calamari. Very very tasty and appetizing. I've read other reviews and I cannot just leave this review without commenting on those other reviews. Our server, as mentioned earlier was pleasant (beyond pleasant actually) and the service was excellent. I don't understand people saying they were treated differently because they are not of the same culture. We did not experience that at all. Between the food and the great service from Milica, we will...

I had a few good experiences here and came back after a year or so with some friends.

Server was ok, but did not check in on how the food was until 15 minutes in. I had cut my burger in half and tried to eat it and after about four bites knew it was not good. Left a large bite and the other half.

I gave her back the burger and was polite about it, and instead of asking if she could offer me a menu to look at incase I wanted something else she took it and left.

Idk if she thought I was going to go full Karen but she came back like ten minutes later and just said the owner said because I ate half she can’t do anything about it, but I can speak to the owner. Weird defence mechanism. Like did he want to come and argue with me about his shitty burgers? At least let me take it home to my dog if you’re going to make me pay full price for it. Looking back though it probably would have made my dog sick too.

I’m not gonna argue with someone who makes bad burgers. Flavourless, like someone took week old ground beef and didn’t season it. It was grey and slimy and the worst burger I’ve ever had. Bun was soggy, lettuce was wilted. Cheese is cheap and plastic. Christ McDonald’s makes a better burger with more flavour.

On top of that, we noticed the vinegar bottle had some veryyyy questionably stuff floating in it, like it just gets topped up and has never been washed. There was definitely something growing in there. Looked like spit.

Those of us who did eat, were quite sick a few hours later, and for us this was our first meal that day as we had exams to write all morning.

Gluten free folks, the waitress was not confident in her approach to what is gluten free on the menu, and that translates to the kitchens ability to understand that. I would steer clear.

Service and food has gone down hill, hygiene (or lack there of) is questionable. Don’t...