SESAME - BISTRO ASIATIQUE — Restaurant in Laval (administrative region)

Restaurant Review for Sesame

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

I typically don’t write restaurant reviews, but my recent experience at Sesame compelled me to share my thoughts. While there were some positive aspects, the overall experience fell short of expectations.

Let’s start with the positives: the decor and ambiance were inviting, creating a pleasant atmosphere to enjoy a meal. Additionally, the cocktails were enjoyable and well-crafted, setting a nice tone for the evening.

However, things took a downturn once we placed our food orders. The service was noticeably slow, my entrée had been sitting in the kitchen for far too long before it finally arrived— obviously arriving cold. Fortunately, our waitress was accommodating and quickly replaced it for me. Unfortunately, the soup didn’t impress, lacking the depth of flavor, as did the won-ton soup ordered by the others in the group.

As for the other dishes, the pad Thai was quite basic and could use significant improvement. The dumplings were underwhelming, reminiscent of those found in the frozen section of the grocery store. On a brighter note, my husband ordered the General tao chicken and enjoyed it :)

We decided to try the key lime pie for dessert, but it was lacking of the bright lime flavor one would expect. To add to the frustration, our waitress struggled to sort out the bills for our group, which took an astonishing 40 minutes. To make matters worse, one couple was overcharged, and there was no apology offered for the inconvenience.

I had high hopes for Sesame, anticipating a delightful Asian dining experience. Unfortunately, it seems this restaurant has some significant areas to improve. Hopefully they can address these issues, as the potential is...

The evening turned into a miserable experience. The service was so bad, from the lack of attention as to when we were seated and to serving us, to the length of time it took to finally get our bills and get the heck out of there. It took an hour from the time we were seated to the time we actually got our drinks that we had ordered. Our waitress actually served other people their drinks who'd come in after us. We had to complain in order to have our drinks finally served! One of us has food allergies which the waitress "guessed" on some foods would be okay?! We sent her to the kitchen to find out for sure!!! When we finally got served our food, the dumplings were cold, the Tom Yum soup way too spicy, the butter chicken was the colour of orange and looked like it was splattered on like ketchup, the General Tao chicken was overcooked and very crunchy and the vegetables were super spicy. The rice was in abundance and probably the best thing on each plate. We're still waiting for the salt for our edamames. Lol. The bills took over 30 minutes for her to calculate and she had to go back 2 times to redo them; when returning the last time, she stopped off to have 2 other tables pay her ... she seriously had an issue in keeping track of things or was it just that we didn't speak her language that we got this...

Dear Sesame Management,

I’m writing to express my disappointment with my dining experience at your restaurant this past Sunday.

I had a reservation for 6:30 PM. My party placed our order by 6:45 PM, and while our appetizers arrived around 7:00 PM, our main dishes did not come out until 8:00 PM — more than an hour after ordering. By that point, the evening felt more frustrating than enjoyable.

When I asked about canceling the mains due to the long delay, our waitress refused, repeatedly insisting the food would be out “any minute.” Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. I also noticed the atmosphere in the restaurant was quite chaotic, with three people in the kitchen and three servers scrambling and even yelling to each other in an attempt to keep up. There was no manager visible on-site to help address the situation or reassure guests.

For a meal that ultimately cost $150, I expected a far more professional and organized dining experience. Unfortunately, the delays, lack of communication, and absence of managerial support made for a disappointing evening.

I hope you will take this feedback seriously and address these operational issues so future guests can have the experience...