Symposium Cafe Restaurant Ancaster — Restaurant in Hamilton

Probably the worst experience I’ve ever had in a restaurant. I’ve worked in the industry for 10 years and still work in the industry to this day and have never experienced something like this. Starting off, once seated we waited at least 15 minutes before someone even came over and said hi. We then received water and waited longer for a drink. We ordered our apps and food all at once, and proceeded to wait for 40 minutes until we were told that the cook had dropped our food and it would be another 5 minutes for the app. The app came out quickly after that but we were left with the impression the waitress forgot to order our food as we had previously waited 40 minutes for food, when it magically came out 5 minutes later after it had been “ dropped.” The calamari was salty, and not fully cooked as it was still crunchy. Our mains came out a little later, the steak was so tough I couldn’t chew it, and our waitress never once checked to see how things tasted, or how we were doing. My friend then had pointed out she received a free dessert with her meal, something that was advertised on the menu that we received at the start of the evening, but then neither the waitress or manager knew what we were talking about but they deceived to “ honour it anyways.” We even pointed it out to the waitress on the website to which she said she went and saw it right on the menu. Our desserts came out at different times, again without being checked on or asked if everything tasted good. Overall we were there for almost 3 hours when the restaurant was dead and there was at max 10 tables with two servers and a manager on staff. Once we paid our bills our server just ran off mumbling things and didn’t say thanks or have a good night. We left laughing at how odd the night was and how slow and long things took for a meal that I couldn’t even finish for how tough it was, and still...

We were there for family birthday brunch on Sunday, March 19, 2023 and it was a terrible experience. We were a party of 8 so I made sure to make reservations ahead of time. Even with the reservations we still waited for at least 5 minutes to be seated. They were extremely short staffed so it took quite a while for our order to even be taken. We finally placed our order and waited 40 minutes. By that time, we asked if they could at least bring the kids' meals. They did but only had 2 of the 3 kids meals available (which caused an argument with the kids as well). The waitress advised they were just cooking the other grilled cheese now (how long does it take make a grilled cheese?). We then received 3 more meals (one of the meals being a garden/medi salad which was pathetic - basically lettuce and onion). Then 10 minutes later another meal - all of which were cold. Finally the last meal was brought to the table at least 20 minutes after the previous meals were brought - it was the only meal that was hot - probably because they only made it when we asked what the delay was on it. Needles to say, I asked to speak to the manager. Frankly, he just made a not very sincere excuse of them being busy. They were busy when we first arrived but it emptied out pretty quickly and by the time we received our food, there was practically no one in the restaurant. He didn't even offer anything. I get that some things are out of people's control (i.e. being busy, low staff, etc.) but if a customer is upset, you should rectify the situation. The waitress ended up taking some money off the bill (however, it only amounted to 1 meal) but I am pretty sure that was her initiative not the manager's. I will not be going there again...

I normally do not do this whole review thing but in this case, it’s pretty necessary! The service was not good. The food was TERRIBLE. I have been to the symposium cafe in Elfrida, Brantford, and now this one. The Elfrida one was ok, brantford one was terrible, but I wanted to give this one a shot as it’s been a year or two since I’ve been to one, totally regret it. This one was THE WORST out of all of the ones I’ve been to. The spinach dip was awful, the worst I’ve ever had, they topped the “slop” off with a good ole “melted” slice of Kraft singles cheese, as you can see in the pictures I was able to pick it right up without it falling apart lol, pita chips were ok. Anyway, we did not finish that, $16 trash. Our mains arrived, I ordered the chicken bacon club, chicken was soooo dry, I almost choked. My husband ordered a burger with fries, pictured is uncooked ground beef (maybe cat food?🤷🏻‍♀️), now I know it’s not going to kill you (maybe) but for the price your paying, ummm it better be cooked, but nope, not here. My husband said the fries were still raw in the middle as well. After all this, we received our bill of $72 (plus we tipped $5), an absolute waste of $77, they need to hire a new cook or send them back to training, so beyond unimpressed with this expensive, terrible excuse of a restaurant. We definitely will not be going to ANY symposium cafe again, especially this one. Mind blown that they are still in business to be honest. Save your money and go...