The Powerhouse — Restaurant in Hamilton

The only good thing about this restaurant is the servers and french fries. I went with my family on Halloween. We asked the server who was nice, her recommendations. She said the burger and chicken wings. I ordered a pound of wings and received 6 small chicken wings for $16. With tax and tip that is $3.50 per chicken wing which is ridiculous. They were not good. I ordered my children the recommended burger and fries. The fries and bun were good however the meat tasted very old, frozen and left a terrible taste in my mouth for the next 24 hours. My wife ordered a chicken wrap the tomatoes appeared to be slimy and old and had a very strange flavour to it. We complained that 6 small chicken wings was not a pound. The manager came over to see what the problem was then she went to the kitchen and came back and basically called us liars saying it was 8 chicken wings. Thinking back I should not of paid at all. But I felt somewhat sorry for the place. It was completely empty at dinner time. and had buckets scattered over the floor near our table to catch the dripping water from the roof. Yikes. It is now the next day and my entire family has food poisoning. Do not eat here or you will be sorry that you came.

UPDATED

Hello Vanessa

Thank you for your prompt reply. Let's clear up a couple misconceptions you have about our stay.

We eat out for nearly every meal. We've eaten at pretty much every restaurant in Hamilton and Stoney Creek. We rarely complain, we just decide to not go back if a place is not up to par. However the fact remains 6 small chicken wings is not a pound of chicken wings.

I was never offered more chicken wings. We were offered a dessert however the food was not good and seemed off so I wasn't feeling like testing one of your desserts. Plus we didn't have much time as it was Halloween and we have 3 small children. The burger had a sulphur like smell and taste that I am still tasting in my mouth over 30 hours later. I am very surprised you would call them freshly made. I believe the burgers is what made us all ill.

My wife who is a manager at a successful restaurant in hamilton for 10 plus years simply said to the manager usually when someone has a complaint the restaurant usually does something. We never said they should be free. You would literally have to pay me a hefty sum to eat at your restaurant again.

Your entire restaurant was empty during our visit from 4:45pm-6pm so I wouldn't imagine anyone else complaining as no one was there. Honestly i'm not surprised.

I believe taxes should be mentioned when referring to pricing as you have to pay for it no matter what. Also I don't where your math is coming from. Where do you get $2.28 per wing from?

$15.95/6=$2.66 then mandatory tax $2.661.13=$3.00 then standard tip 15-18% $3.001.15=$3.45. If the food is good I tip 18% or more.

I graduated culinary college at the top of my class. You are in a great location. Your building "minus the leaks" has a lot of character. However your food and math is simply unacceptable. I wish you all the best however we will never return.

I remain available if you have any further...

In a word, “underwhelming”

I typically write primarily positive reviews unless warranted (check my review history) however I felt that I should offer a candid review of my experience at this establishment. I will state that building is beautiful inside and maybe we hit it when everyone was having an off day but I think the quality of the overall experience does not match the price of an $18 hamburger.

Four of us wanted to go out to lunch to celebrate two birthdays and were referred here by a friend. We made a reservation online and advised about the birthdays in the space provided for special instructions on the restaurant website.

First impressions As stated above, the restaurant is quite nice inside. Upon arrival we advised we had a reservation and were told by the greeter to essentially pick a table. Im’ not sure why the website has the option of this comment when it is obviously not taken into consideration. (not sure what I expected.) No big deal.

The service-mediocre Before the remainder of our group arrived and while we were still standing and in the process of taking off our jackets the waitress approached and asked us what we wanted to drink. I thought that was odd that we were not even given opportunity to get seated, let alone look at the menu. Our friends arrived and we ordered drinks and the waitress left us to review the menu. After coming back and beginning to take our orders she then advised that two of the dishes we requested were not available. Oooops. I ended up with the smash burger instead of the Greek salad. The burger was dry and burned and bland and I had to put on ketchup to give it some taste and moisture. It was supplied with a meager amount of sweet potato fries which seeming ended up being an up charge. One person had breakfast and received dry (barely toasted) toast. He does not like to complain so we will leave it at that. His partner had the flatbread pizza and only finished 1/2 but was never questioned by the staff regarding that fact. My partner had the beet salad which was made with canned beets and she never was able to successfully find the cheese which was purportedly on the dish.

Overall I probably would have just let it all go and simply never darkened their doors again but… Some lady (I thought she was a customer who was leaving) looked at my empty plate and asked “was it really good or were you just really hungry?”. I politely told that I was really hungry and informed her my thoughts on my meal. She said “okay, I will inform the kitchen staff” “thanks for telling me and not Google”. It was then that I realized she was a manager or something. She never did inform us. Well, I felt the need to tell Google after that comment. Oh yes, the restaurant did have lots of good parking spots available....

I don't normally write reviews, but I feel compelled to share my experience at the Powerhouse. I attended their NYE party with my husband and with expectations of a fun evening. We spent most of the evening wondering when we would be served and after the evening I became very unwell. We arrived just before 8:00 for our dinner reservations. It felt like we were stuck in a corner and forgotten for most of the evening. We were afraid to get up and dance for fear we would miss our waiter or food...

To start off, we ordered drinks and when we received them, Toasted "cheers"; took a sip and then looked at each other and simultaneously said "there's no liquor in this drink". Kind of hard not to find the taste of gin in club soda if there is gin in the club soda. Same with rum and coke.

Salads weren't served until about 9. Entrées were served about 10:15, lukewarm. We weren't served dessert and coffee until after 11 and only after people at another table asked their waitress to get it for us. Another coffee was requested but never came.

To top it off - I had informed the Powerhouse on my reservation and the waiter directly of my allergies. I asked specifically about a side dish on the dinner plate, asking if it could contain one of the allergens and was assured that it did not.

A side dish on the entrée plate contained an allergen. A call to the manager confirmed that there were allergens were in the side dish. She confirmed that my reservation indicated the allergy and the kitchen ticket noted it as well and all her staff were aware of the ingredients in the food. Never got an apology nor an explanation of how it happened. No know idea of what put me at risk and caused me to be deathly sick for two days and unwell for about two weeks. The manager suggested I return back for an evening out, but at that point she couldn't tell me what went wrong in their process and that it was fixed - they lost my trust. I wouldn't give even a Michelin Star restaurant a second chance to poison me. Eventually, I got a partial refund for the dinner. It will be the last time I prepay for a dinner and tip. Maybe I should use the money to make a t-shirt " I survived!"Poisoned at...