Symposium Cafe Restaurant Markham — Restaurant in Markham

If I could give this review negative stars, I would…

I called two weeks before Good Friday to make a reservation for an Easter brunch for 12 people, including my cousin who was in a wheelchair. We were told no problem.

Fast forward to Good Friday and everything started off okay. My husband and I did need to remind the server twice about our drinks (as they brought the ones for the rest of the table, but not ours.. okay that’s fine, slip up).

We all placed our orders and had to wait for quite a while, about 45 mins or so. That being said, we overlooked it given that there were 12 of us and at least it meant they were making the food.

Finally food starts to arrive. We get 3-4 dishes and realize we had no cutlery. We informed the manager as he was standing nearby watching cricket. Not the end of the world, but we had a late start, different people wants another coffee/ drink, etc., and he’s standing right in front of us watching tv.. not the best impression.

Finally manager drops one large plate of knives on our table? So then we ask what about the forks. And he abruptly brings them.

Then it started to get very strange… 3-4 meals are out, wait 10 minutes and another 3-4 arrive (thankfully my cousin, who is in her wheelchair, received her’s right away.. so at least they got that right). Eventually we get to about 30 minutes later and two of my cousins still don’t have their meals. Almost everyone is finished eating. I called the manager over and asked what is happening about 5 times and he continued to reply “it’s coming, it’s coming”. No apology, nothing.

Finally about 45 minutes later I walk up to the manager and told him I would like to know what’s taking so long. And that their food should certainly be free at this point.. 45 MINUTES AFTER EVERYONE ELSE?! Finally they bring one cousin’s food.. she ordered a salad and a plate of fries. You’re telling me it took 45 minutes for you to put together a salad and plate of fries… this could have been fixed in 2 minutes.

Almost an hour later and they finally arrive with my other cousin’s food. At this point, I suggested their entire meal (family of 4) should be entirely free. The manager asks is this what would make me happy? With a half grin on his face… no. What would have made me happy was everyone’s food on time…?

There was no apology, no appetizer or other thing to hold anyone over and no one came to check on us… we had to ASK where the remaining food was because the manager/ server didn’t even notice?!

Finally everyone has finished eating (about 2.5 hours later). We ask for the bills and wait 30 minutes for them to be brought. Finally we pay, after another 15 minutes of muttering around and walk out to the parking lot. The manager actually follows us out to the parking lot and tries to get my dad to get in a FIGHT?! Is this real?!

Sign in the window says under new management.. and I suspect they will either close or be under new management again soon. An absolute joke.. probably my worst restaurant experience ever.

EDIT: The restaurant manager tried to add me on Facebook after completing this review. Blocked him, but that definitely made me feel very...

I WANT MY MONEY BACK

Sadly, we went here thinking it was going to be just as good as the other symposium cafe in Oak Ridges, but we were so very wrong.

Not everyone got water, even waited 30 minutes for a glass of water

REALLY dirty and gross washrooms

Poor service, we had to always get their attention for anything

They didn't take our dirty and finished plates, took 2 but not the rest for some reason

The lighting in here made us feel like we're eating in a cafeteria

$12 for a slice of nasty cake with fake cream cheese icing

food was food...

Fish tacos were basically salad tacos. A very odd version of coleslaw consisting of cucumber and cilantro

$25 burger which was smaller than my hand

$25 for Portuguese Chicken and veg, where the veg is only boiled and the size of my hand, do you expect me to eat a crown of broccoli? The chicken was basically soaked in vinegar.

$23 for schnitzel that was DRENCHED in way too much gravy and onions

$24 steak bites that were over cooked!

$8 milkshake topped with cool whip? Not actual whipped cream. That's disgusting. Cool whip is basically whipped oil, how dare you.

I don't think this place is run very well, the staff and management need to get their place straightened out. You're charging extremely high prices for the worst service. For these prices everything should be excellent. The washrooms need to be very clean, the staff should be more attentive and professional, your serving size could be a bit bigger with better cooked ingredients (not boiled vegetables, or salads placed on tacos), maybe try keeping it simple and don't overload dishes, give everyone water when they sit down even if they didn't ask for it, remove dirty dishes immediately, take orders relatively quickly, there's a lot of room for improvement. You need to fix these issues if you want happy and repeat customers. Or change your prices on your menu. It's just really underwhelming.

Pros: My Moscow mule was fine, and the live music was really good.

In the end, I want my money back, and I hope you get your restaurant in order. You've almost got it, but it seems like it's under new management and you don't know how to have a consistent and good tasting menu. Don't overcharge people like this, and use premium...

Review of Symposium Café – Markham (Kennedy & Major Mackenzie)

I should like to provide an honest and candid review of my recent visit to this Symposium Café location.

On Father’s Day, Sunday 15th June 2025, my father, mother, and I attended the restaurant shortly after it opened at 8:00 a.m. We arrived at approximately 8:15 a.m., and found the establishment entirely empty, with no other patrons present.

Upon being seated, we were presented with a special Father’s Day menu, the options on which we did not find particularly appealing. We politely requested the regular menu, which was provided, albeit with some hesitation.

Our waitress took our orders, during which my mother changed her selection. The waitress then returned to the kitchen and, quite audibly, raised her voice at the staff not to prepare one of the dishes, as it was apparently a mistake. Unfortunately, this exchange could be clearly heard from our table, which detracted from the overall dining atmosphere.

Breakfast arrived in due course, accompanied by our coffees. Regrettably, the quality of the food was underwhelming. The peameal bacon lacked seasoning, and both the poached eggs and hollandaise sauce were devoid of salt or flavour. My Caesar salad was served with Parmesan cheese and bacon, but puzzlingly, without any Caesar dressing whatsoever.

Throughout the meal, no member of staff came by to check on us or offer coffee refills. We had to signal to gain their attention for this basic courtesy. Eventually, we did receive refills, but it required effort on our part to obtain what should have been proactively offered.

Had the quality of both the service and the food been exceptional, I would have been more than happy to offer a generous gratuity—perhaps 25%. However, given the disappointing experience, I left a 10% tip, which, in all honesty, was more than the service merited.

Regrettably, I would not consider returning to this location, nor would I feel comfortable recommending it to others based on...