Cora Breakfast and Lunch — Restaurant in Markham

I had a very upsetting experience at the Cora’s Unionville Markham location involving the manager, Chai L. It was the worst restaurant experience I ever had.

I came in with my sister and a friend (all of us wearing hijab) and from the start, the manager’s behavior toward us was aggressive and demeaning. She was pointing at us, giving us dirty looks, and treating us with visible hostility. One of us had a sandwich from outside and took a bite while we were ordering. Instead of calmly addressing it, the manager demanded five times in rapid succession that my friend put it away, speaking to her in a tone that was shockingly rude. It felt more like she was scolding an animal than speaking to a customer. Even after my friend apologized and complied, she continued to scold her.

The difference in how she treated us versus every other table (who were met with smiles and friendly service) was stark. When I said to her, “It’s giving Islamophobia,” she did not deny it and just nodded along, which said everything.

Later, when I paid and chose not to leave a tip (obviously), she stopped, looked at the receipt, and glared me down for several seconds, clearly trying to intimidate me.

This was an awful and humiliating experience that left us feeling targeted and unwelcome. No one deserves to be treated this way. Not for how they look, not for what they wear, and definitely not because they’re Muslim. I hope Cora’s head office looks into what happened here and takes action. Open Islamophobia has no place in any...

Poor time management, no organization skills, tables were not clean and terrible customer service experience.

If I could it would be 0 stars. I've gone to Cora's all over and never experienced anything like this. When we arrived they had no available menu's. No problem the hostess said there would be a QR code at our table. Where there was none. No problem. We got it online. Waited over 30 mins for the server to take our drink order. After numerous attempts at trying to get her attention for a glass of water. Mind you we were in a area with 4 other tables who she was more responsive to. 20 mins after taking asked how long it would be, waitress stated it would be another 15 to 20 minutes considering we were ordering staples on their menu. As she had just put in our order. To which we said it's okay we would like to cancel our order. We just want our bill for the drinks. She left and came back not even 5 mins with parts of the order. We said okay can we have a to go container. She left and we waited another 10 mins only to find her at the exit billing out other patrons. By the way still didn't have our order ready to go. So I said we're only going to pay for our drinks. I need to leave. The manager comes over and says you were told when you arrived that there would be a wait which we were NEVER told. If that were the case I wouldn't have stayed. He was rude and very unprofessional. And wanted to charge us for the food we had not received. I told him I would only pay for the drinks we...

They were busy and likely understaffed on a long weekend. They didn’t have a table for 5 open and had to convert a table for 4. It was cramped. When the table beside us opened up, we had to ask for them to move over an extra side table for us.

They had two types of napkins. When we asked for extra, they gave us the cheaper kind. Not all tables were equipped with the basic condiments. We had to ask for black pepper shaker. However, when I tried to use it, the holes in the pepper shaker were stopped up so I had to shake it forcefully.

Perhaps they were busy so the server seemed a bit out of it. When we asked for items, we had to confirm because we were unsure whether the server heard us or not.

One member of our party stated that the latte was the worst latte she ever had. She found it so tasteless it would have been better to order regular coffee. The potatoes were soft and mushy, not crispy. The crepe was doughy and chewy. I felt like I was eating uncooked cookie dough.

Positives They open early at 6am everyday except Sunday when they open at 7am. We weren’t rushed to evacuate the table. The servings were very generous. The member who had the pancakes was only able to finish half the pancakes. The bacon and eggs were perfectly done. They offer Canadian French’s ketchup.

———————————————————- For this price point, I expected more. I received a better experience at other places such as...