Espresso 21 Cafe Restaurant — Restaurant in Markham

UPDATE MAR 2021

We’ve been in a pandemic for a year so I’m not sure why this place still hasn’t gotten the hang of social distancing protocols. They allow people to sit for dine-in but do not keep track of contract tracing as needed. I needed to remind the staff. The tables are not separated enough especially in the back. It is not safe to dine-in

——————————————————————————— Came on Saturday for brunch. The service while a bit confusing was friendly. It started off rocky, the cashier and barista seemed new and there was a lot of confusion regarding how to make a drink. Initially I ordered a coffee slush and asked if it came with milk which the cashier said yes. The older lady then explained its the coffee smoothie that comes with milk not the slush. Wanting to make it more simple I just asked for iced coffee with almond milk. But it went from iced Americano to an iced latte, it was pretty confusing. The patio is cute but the social distance guidelines aren’t really enforced or followed. I’m pretty sure there should be a limit to how many people can be on the patio. There are 3 small tables which had two seats each and a bench. 10 people on the patio seems like it’s too much for the allocated space. And the bench which is full is a bit too close to the other table which isn’t a problem if the bench isn’t full. However, everyone did their best to keep some space but there really should be a limit on the patio.

Food: -avocado & smoked salmon toast $12 This is exactly what it sounds like literally rye bread with avocado and smoked salmon. It comes with a salad. Presentation wise it was pretty underwhelming I could make this at home. For $12 I expected a bit more. It was literally chunks of avocado not even spread evenly on the bread and the smoked salmon kind of looks like it was thrown on. I’d recommend maybe some lemon mixed with the avocado to brighten the flavour and to make it more of a spread rather than a literal chunk of avocado. It was tasty but not exactly insta-worthy or worth craving. The bread was also a touch too toasted so it wasn’t that crispy on the outside soft on the inside texture but more crisp throughout. I think I’ll go for the eggs Benedict next time.

Overall, this visit wasn’t that impressive but I’d be willing to try it again it might have just...

My wife and I went here on a Sunday for lunch. It was busy so when seated in the back room corner it felt crowded and was noisy. During our meal there were flies flying around.

The service of this place is horrible. We arrived and saw the place was busy so we waited to be greeted. One staff was at the cashier busy taking orders and accepting payments while another staff was behind washing cups and plates. Neither bothered or noticed we were there. When one of staff came out she busied herself clearing the dirty dishes and after she put those down she walked right passed us. We had to call out to her to let her know we had a reservation. By this time we already got a very bad impression. When we were seated and given our menu we were told that we need to order at the front cashier. However, a moment later there was third staff taking orders from the table behind us. We were puzzled. But anyways we asked that staff to help take our order, which she did. A restaurant can't expect every customers walking in to know how you operate. At least let us know you were busy and will be with us shortly or maybe direct us to the front counter and not leave your customer out in the cold.

Food was the only acceptable thing here and was just ok. We ordered matcha latte, nutella latte, prosciutto egg benedict and a shrimp pasta. The matcha latte tasted what it should, but the shrimp pasta was served hot and the shrimps were fresh. But the nutella latte tasted like a regular latte with no chocolate/nutella taste. The prosciutto was so light and close to being tasteless that the egg benedict was tastier and saltier than it. Again, since this place has little to none service, we were asked how the food and drink was and I wasn't going to pay to do their job to bring the food and latte back to the front. At this point we wanted to finished up and leave ASAP.

When paying I tipped the lowest possible option (10%) on the machine, but I kinda regretted. I should pay 5% for the lady that took our order and served our food. Even fast food restaurants had better service and they don't charge for...

If you're planning to dine here make sure you CHECK YOUR RECEIPTS. You have to order and pay first before you get your food so make sure to especially check as they don't even print out a receipt with your total they just hand you the machine.

The sever handed me the debit machine withthe total of $83.84 and then I added a 10% tip. After reviewing the menu prices, I asked for a detailed receipt to see the cost breakdown as maybe their prices has changed and didn't update the menu as I wasn't sure how we could've spent that much. The total on the receipt is $72.32 after tax which is our base pay. If you compare that to the amount on the debit machine (83.84-72.32 = 11.52) they basically tried to hide 11 dollars in our total. When I confronted the staff, they tried to blame it on the customer and say that it was because I entered the amount wrong on the machine. What kind of place that sells goods allows you to enter your own total? You're saying I could've entered 20 dollars for my meal instead of the 80? Like make it make sense. Then the staff tried to explain that it's how their POS system works, he just enters the item and sends the amount to the debit machine. Then I told them then it's an issue with their POS system and needs to be fixed because this is not right. Then another staff kept saying that it's because I tipped 19.90 so that's why there's a discrepancy and how that debit machine receipt wasn't mine and basically tried to make excuses. But no matter how many times we tried to explain that the base cost of the food + tax was wrong in the first place they couldn't...