Ship Ahoy Restaurant — Restaurant in Leamington

Yesterday we went to Ships Ahoy on our way out of Pointe Pelee. I saw somewhere smelt dinner was advertised so my Fiancé was happy about that. We walked in and I remembered he takes Cash Only. I confirmed with the owner and he pointed out the ATM machine in this building. Another family of about 6 came in for what I believe would have been ice cream, there were 4 kids. They heard cash only and turned around and walked out. I looked at the owner and said “oh, they must have heard that”. He said “that’s ok”. He looked irritated about that. Next we proceeded to order. The owner explained he took smelt off the menu inside on their menu board because his supplier was trying to sell him very small smelt the size of “guppies”. We understood. I am limited to what I can eat so I reminded him that the last couple of times we were there he prepared tabouli and a chicken skewer. It was quite good. He then told us that he also took tabouli off the menu as he was throwing out more parsley than he was using. We have always thought his hand cut fries were fantastic so my Fiancé ordered that, for $10 which is expensive for French fries, however, we wanted to support him. My Fiancé went outside to look at the scenery and I stayed inside to have another look at the menu. I was reading down the list on the board and the owner came out and told me “the fryer won’t turn on”. I was very surprised by that so I repeated it back to him and he just said “yes”, took the money out of the till and handed it back to me. He was clearly irritated again. I went outside, got my Fiancé and we headed towards the door. The owner proceeded to stir something in a large pail and said “have a good day folks”. He didn’t even look at us. To lie about the equipment not functioning was so surprising to me.

I must say it took me a minute or two to figure out what just happened. He was mad that we didn’t order more that was worth his time. I have been in hospitality for over 40 years and I can tell you that if any of us ever treated any customer like that, we would be called out on it and might not have a job. Also, our establishment would not be open.

We found Ships Ahoy a few years back and we were stopping by each time on our way out. We haven’t been able to get to the park in awhile, we were looking forward to our stop.

We will not be going back. Very...

The location is about the best thing this place has going for it.

Any establishment that does not take debit or credit and asks for cash/atm needs to make that abundantly clear. I don't remember seeing any signage.

The fries were good, but if I'm paying 22$ for fish and chips I would think it would be a large plate size, rather than the size of a big Mac box opened up. There was no lemon wedge or malt vinegar, ketchup also wasn't on the counter which is wild.

The fish I had was very slimy and one piece was the size of a crayon, again for 22$ I would expect to be full after my meal.

I'm not sure how this place has a 4+ rating on here, are the standards this low in the Leamington area? Are people just getting ice cream? (Chapman's btw, probably the worst of the brands outside of Nestle)

I cannot recommend this place to any campers or people visiting in the area, save your hard earned money and look elsewhere, otherwise you may look disappointed.

Edit I'll address the owners response here -

Sorry you had a bad experience it's more likely you had a bad day and took it out on us hope the rest of your summer gets better

Sorry you had a bad experience - thanks for saying this. It seems sarcastic but I'm assuming it is not.

It's more likely you had a bad day and took it out on us - how? With an honest review? My day was great! Went over to pelee island on the ferry, was on vacation.

I just do not want to have people spend their hard earned money on below mediocre food, that is not fair to them. You addressed nothing I brought up and deflected everything onto the customer instead. I think that speaks volumes.

I'm just baffled people will rank this place...

I went to this location with my family based on the reviews from trip advisor. At the time it ranked as the 5th best place to eat in Leamington Ontario. We entered the establishment and found a friendly staff and a limited menu which is fine. As I began to look at the menu I noticed that they were charging $28 for halibut fish and chips. I asked how much halibut fish comes at this price and was told about 5oz, which I found to be very expensive.

At this same time my wife took my two children to use the washroom and prepare for dinner. I kept looking at the menu thinking, if I get 2 fish and chip dinners and a few drinks, I will be paying almost $70 taxes and tip incl. I also thought that I could order something else but the prices also seem proportionally high.

At this point I decided that we should try somewhere else to eat. So I told the waiter/manager that we were good but wanted to go somewhere else to eat. THIS IS WHERE THINGS GOT NASTY.

He said " So what's going on? You just come here to use the bathroom?

I said " No, to be honest I find the prices here to be too high and am going to go try someplace else."

He said " What do you think the prices are up the road? They are the same, buddy!? "

I said " Sorry but I don't want to eat here and I'll buy some Icecream or pay you for the use of your bathroom. "

He said " yeah, whatever you think would help."

I paid...