Toma La - The Portuguese Pit Stop — Restaurant in Hamilton

I want to say that I have always had a great experience with Toma La. Except for today. My friend lost his father this morning, so I thought it would be a nice gesture to have dinner sent to them since they would be consumed with the arrangements and with their grief.

I ordered a meal through Uber Eats through a friend's account, scheduled for delivery between 5:15 and 5:45. When we didn't receive a confirmation of delivery by 6:00, my friend checked the app, which said the order was being prepared. When 7:00pm rolled around, there was still no confirmation. He then called the restaurant only to be told that the driver hadn't picked it up. That the button had been pushed but no driver. They didn't confirm that they would be sending it or that they had found a driver. So I called them at 7:22 and spoke to Aliana who first said that they didn't know where the driver was and were still waiting. Which means what? That the food had been sitting there since 6pm?? When I pressed her further, she finally admitted that they could not send the order out. But that Uber Eats would have to refund our money. Fair enough...I said she should call Uber Eats to let them know that they couldn't fulfill the order. I doubt she did this. What I do know is that it is absolutely, unequivocally unacceptable for a restaurant to accept an order for a specific time line, fail to call to inform the customer that the order will be more than 2.5 hours late, and then refuse to refund/ service the customer when the order cannot be fulfilled. Aliana, you should have just admitted that you forgot to press the button for the driver and then offer something to recompense the customer. This is terrible customer service. Very disappointed, Toma La. Now I have to order a dinner for them from somewhere else and try to get my money back from Uber Eats when YOU messed up the order. Thanks...

This is my first one star review, I feel bad doing it…but I must be honest. We planned a nice dinner with our sons, and decided on Toma La. The Rymal road restaurant is closer, but I saw the the Upper James location had better ratings, so I ordered from there through Skip the Dishes. Oops.

I ordered 2 separate chicken dinners, with 2 sides each, and a 6 pack of natas. I got a phone call saying they didn’t have natas or French fries and to call and cancel.

I had my two sons try to help me cancel the order, but before we were could figure it out, the food (or half of it arrived). One chicken, 3 sides, no French fries, no second chicken, no natas.

Instead of enjoying our family dinner, I found myself calling Toma La and talking to a young girl, Lovua (sic) telling me it was my fault and I made a mistake and should’ve cancelled my order. I asked to speak to someone who could help me out, but she said the answer would be the same.

The only retribution offered was to come in and get a free chicken…the cost of gas to get there. I asked about my dessert and loss of money, but I was informed it was a skip the dishes problem and to call them and figure it out.

Be careful where, and...

I've tried Toma La twice and the first time, we were too early for their lunch menu but the items available for brunch were delicious. The staff was very friendly with their recommendations with what we could order off the menu so early (shortly after opening) and it was a good experience.

My most recent experience, however, has soured how I feel. We were originally told by the staff taking our order that we wouldn't get fries with the piri piri wings, which we said was fine since we were also ordering a poutine. The piri piri wings came with so few wings and in a huge container, so it looks like even less, and it did come with fries anyway. The fries in both the chicken poutine and the piri piri meal had some that were raw and crunchy, definitely under cooked.

We felt like we waited long for our order of two items when they were essentially two of the same things arranged differently when there was only one other customer who came in for pickup while staff chatted and restocked.

It's not the worst experience in the world but it definitely didn't feel like our money's worth this...