Ben & Florentine — Restaurant in Hawkesbury

Be careful ordering online and prepaying on the website. I rarely write reviews but I think this situation warrants one. I had ordered online for pickup and pre paid by credit card. Received the confirmation text and it charged my card. When I got there I was told I never ordered and if I did they never received payment. I was served by a younger waitress who was very polite and helpful; I showed her proof on my bank account and the order confirmation on the website and she told me she would get my food ready regardless and we both were trying to figure out the issue to see where things may have went wrong while I was waiting for the food to be ready. She suggested I call the bank just in case- which I did, but the wait time to speak to someone was over an hour. They eventually called back confirming that the funds were sent, but whoever is in charge of financing at the restaurant did not deposit the funds for whatever reason. I understand, these things happen from time to time, no biggie. My real problem here is that an older waitress eventually brought me my food, agressively telling me to either pay or leave without it. I don’t even think she understood the situation and I couldn’t even get a word in because she kept talking over me saying “I’m not here to pay for your food you pay or leave!” “Don’t expect me to pay for your food so if you’re not paying leave!” It felt like she was very much causing a scene. I, the customer had to try and calm her down. She finally stated “well it’s not my fault you have bank problems!”. I was put into a position, in front of other customers, where I was pressured to either leave 25$ short with no food, or pay twice for my meal. She eventually put down my food and stormed off to the kitchen. The younger waitress came back and apologized for the older waitresses behaviour and let me go with my meal. I tried to call the restaurant to speak to a manager, to let them know that they need to accept the money on their end so the money goes where it’s supposed to at the end of the day. She told me “not much I can do but you can try calling higher up”. I’m trying to make sure you guys get the funds … for a fault in your system…at some point I have other things to do. I came for a quick meal on the go, not a 2 hour...

Let me paint you a picture, you wake up craving a nice breakfast and pancakes, coffee, maybe a little bacon, You walk into this place thinking it’s going to be a solid start to your day. Instead, you’re greeted by the warm embrace of… absolutely no one.

We stood at the stand long enough to start calculating how long humans can go without food Staff passed by like we were part of the furniture ,invisible silent and just slightly in the way. Eventually someone came over, didn’t say a word, and didn’t greet us just rudely directed us to our table like directing air traffic with attitude

Once seated, we entered phase two of the experience, “the waiting game” starring Nobody Bringing You Water and No One Taking Your Order. By the time a server appeared, we were so dehydrated we were considering drinking the warm cream and milk packets.

Now, the food. Eventually…and I do mean eventually..it crawled out of the kitchen looking like it had survived a rough journey from the microwave to the plate. Eggs were cold, toast was limp, and the bacon has the personality of wet paper towels. It was less “breakfast” and more “disappointment served on plate”

Tried talking to the manager about the experience and was met with blank stares, sarcasm, and a general “not my problem” vibe. Honestly, I’ve seen better leadership in a drive thru

In conclusion the food is forgettable, the service is unforgivable, and the management needs a group intervention and a customer service seminar. Go literally anywhere else. Eat cereal at home. Lick a toaster....

Terrible experience. Went at 845 on Sunday morning with my 5 year old son. The service has been sub par the few other time’s we’ve gone but it was empty so I thought we’d try again cause food usually pretty good. Only 7 tables in the otherwise empty restaurant. We asked to be seated at a table where we could sit beside each other and the waitress refused and told us to sit at a table for 2. Even though the restaurant was empty and there were at least 15 four person tables open. My son was upset because he wanted to sit next to me, so we moved. I apologized to the waitress, an older lady, was not pleased with me for moving and gave me major attitude. It then took over 40 minutes for us to get the 2 eggs and bacon I ordered, which arrived cold. Toast burnt and cold, no jam. I counted 4 tables that walked in after we did and they all got their food before we got our 1 plate of bacon and eggs. So pretty sure we were treated badly because I moved without “permission”. Will never be eating there again, awful service. We eat out breakfast most Sundays with our large family and will be giving our business to a resto whose employees values the satisfaction of...