Morgan's Bistro — Restaurant in Harrison Hot Springs

My wife and I were planning on a short getaway, wanted to book our dinners - given the COVID challenges. I couldn't find their menu, so I called and was asked to send an email to the person's wife and she would get back. Regardless, I made my reservation. We wanted 8 pm, he asked if we could make it 8:30 - fine, not a problem.

We get there ar 8:30 and waited at the entrance while the lady (seemed like the manager) chatted with two people - only table in the restaurant. A little later, we were shown our table and had a quick chat with the manager.

I ordered my wine and a Chicken Liver Pate to start, for mains - wife ordered the Halibut and I asked for the short ribs (had been drooling for them LOL).

The pate came out quick - was bland, tasteless and the gelee on top could've been anything glutinous. Now 8:45pm

Now the manager is perched on a bar-stool chatting with 4 people around the bar counter - seemed to be staff.

A family comes to the restaurant at 9 asking for a table, the manager tells them the kitchen is closed. The family reminds her their closing time is advertised as 10. She lets them know due to COVID they closed early.

We were the only table in the restaurant, nobody come to our table to let us know our food was coming, did we want something ...nothing.

Now I was getting impatient - 9:15 and NO FOOD!

Close to 9:20 the food came out. My wife asked for fresh ground pepper and she was told COVID, cant have it! Nonsense, 2 doors down night before - server grinds so no touch/infection risk. Instead, we were given regular salt & pepper and told it was fresh ground (Right!)

My short rib was a full blade - not the usual trimmed rib, perched on a lump of mashed potatoes in a swimming pool of liquid with potatoes. As I tried to navigate the beef, the pasta plate threatened to tip over! From my first bite - texture was fine, well cooked but ....NO SEASONING!! What a let down!!

The Halibut my wife had had an overpowering wine taste to it and was dry.

Finally the manager descended on us to see how our meal was - when I said there was no seasoning, she acted indifferently surprised "oh, nobody has ever complained" Well, I really don't care about anyone else - mine tasted horrid!

Well, we decided to have creme brulee (adventurous right?)

The creme brulee was fine, the caramelized top was a thick layer of sugar that had to be cracked open.

Firstly, my fault - no menu, no presence no response should have sparked my concern.

Now, with the careless attitude, turning customers away (did someone say the industry was suffering because business is bad??)

And to top it off - if a cook cannot cook 2 entrees in 30 mins and have them properly seasoned - they don't deserve customers.

As a person who has been in this industry for 40 years, I find it hard to write a bad review as I know jus how hard and demanding this industry is. But this is pure carelessness and I will not put another dime...

My husband and myself went to Morgans last night during a mid-week getaway to Harrison Hot Springs for our anniversary. I read some negative reviews regarding the wait time and service and was a tad concerned what our experience would be, but it was absolutely fabulous! We were attended to by a nice lady with great hair who I assume was the owner or manager based on her run of the place and she was attentive and respectful to both of us. The food is well reviewed online and boy is that ever true! My hubby got the Lamb Shank and I got the Short Rib. Both were fall off the bone tender and the sauce was bang-on. The veg served alongside it was a variety of yam, golden beet, carrot, zucchini and peas - all cooked to the perfect degree with the peas and carrot al dente and the others just the right amount of soft and a perfect amount of butter. The mashed taters had some kind of cheese in them I believe and were anything but chunky or bland. But back to the meat haha - can’t say enough good about both the dishes, we kept sneaking bites from each others plates! Ate every single bit. We were in during a slower season so we were lucky enough to have the chef come out and see how we liked it and we were generous with our praise, he did a really fabulous job and from order to eating there was only a 20 minute wait at most. Some restaurants in seasonal locations can phone it in on the freshness factor but that was not an issue, it was clear that the meat and produce hadn’t been sat around all day - having some broiled menu items was very clever! For dessert we had the Lemon Cheesecake and Creme Brule with a couple coffees that she did up with steamed milk. The Lemon Cheesecake was a big ol chunk and had some fruit drizzle, blackberries, and an artfully carved strawberry rose for decoration and I ate the whole thing! The creme brule had the signature caramel brown broil on top and that perfect spoon crack to get into one of the best custard fillings I’ve had - I’m not big on creme brule as I typically find in too rich, but this was just right! Oh, and we also had an order of bread as a starter between us which was thick and moist and crunchy and served with some oil/vinegar on a plate. Overall the meal came in at less than $100! We had a great experience and tipped decent so in total the bill was a little over $120 I believe. Every now and then we splurge on a “nicer” type meal that costs a bit more and this was a great choice - the price and the quality synced up well. The restaurant encourages making reservations so make sure to call ahead! Great place to eat, especially for a...

Here is the review of me, my wife and my sister in law's dining experience at Morgan's:

We ordered the 8oz sirloin steak, Cioppino (the meal version), and a rack of lamb.

1. Atmosphere was good. 4/5

2. Cioppino came out within 15 minute of ordering, rest within 25 minutes of ordering. Speed of service is good. 4/5

3. Presentation of food was good. 4/5

4. Proportion of food is bad. 2/5

Cioppino (29$CAD) had very very little content (apparently the appetizer version is even tinier). It was mentioned that it would be shared between 3 people as appetizer but it only included 2 shrimps and two tiny pieces of garlic bread. Some clams were just empty shells. It was basically mostly water. I wonder if the content was made smaller deliberately because we said we will share it as appetizer to bring it first before the main courses. I cannot believe this is being sold as a meal...

Steak was more or less what you would expect for the size of 8oz steak (pretty small). Vegetables pretty standard.

Rack of lambs was served divided in 2 proportions as requested. Proportion sizes were small, although it was kind of expected.

5. Quality of food. 1/5

Cioppino was watery with hint of tomato. Not very good at all. The garlic bread tasted pretty good, but I mean that as in it tasted as good as the ones you would get from Costco.

Steak was nice, soft and juicy. Vegetables were decent. The steak knife was actually very nice and sharp. However all of this was ruined by the fact the gravy sauce was terribly salty. It was a bad experience overall due to this.

Rack of lambs were nice and tender and juicy, vegetables decent, but again the gravy ruined it because it was very salty. I've looked at other reviews to see if it was just our experience, but I was able to find several complaints of saltiness within 30 seconds of quick searching.

6. Price. Negative 5 / 5.

Basically paid 108$ (didn't tip) for very small portions and super salty food for 3 people. We are still hungry and will probably go for food again somewhere else.

Much regret not going for sushi next door...

7. Overall experience. 2/5.

The best part of the experience was writing...