Habitat Social Modern Kitchen — Restaurant in Mississauga

Difficult to rate as I had 2 very different experiences in the same day.

I hope the owner actually reads and considers my comments.

Went for lunch with a friend. It was our first time. Michelle was amazing. Attentive, courteous, friendly, hospitable, hard working. In chatting with her she sold me on returning that night for oysters and dessert. I inquired about availability as it was just in a few hours but she assured me that it would not be busy and I should return.

Score 1 for Michelle upselling.

So lunch ended at 3. We left after. I went home and excitedly organized a group. I call to make a reservation. It’s about 4:30, resto is closed til 5:30. I lv a voicemail. 5:45 I call back to make a reservation. The waitress/hostess as I give info and ask questions starts to tell me it’s really busy, it will be hard to sit our group of 10. And that there’s only 5 dozen oysters for that night for the whole restaurant. This sounds odd and I question this. She tells me I should have made a reservation earlier and is neither friendly, polite, or welcoming. She then hangs up on me. I call back and confirm my our reservation.

We go to the restaurant, our group went from 10 to 6 after I shared my experiences with the phonecalls.

We are seated. The restaurant is not busy, even the patio is empty. The bartender attends to us, he is friendly and helpful. We ask about oysters. He says nothing about there being a small quantity. The bartender attends to us all night as the waitress who I’m sure is the one I spoke to on the phone avoids us all night.

We get our bill with gratuity for a group added in even though we were only 6. But we pay what’s billed.

Oysters were fabulous. Pork belly was dry pieces of pork. Crème brûlée delicious. Latte and Cortado bad quality and not well made. Great pineapple juice.

There’s great potential for this restaurant with more employees like Michelle and consistent service.

We will try again. Hopefully Michelle works dinner...

The place has that whole "we're trying really hard to be trendy but also approachable" vibe going on. You know the aesthetic - exposed brick, Edison bulbs hanging at carefully calculated angles, and servers who look like they could be in a band but are probably just really good at making lattes. It's fine. I'm into it.

The menu situation is wild though. They change it seasonally, which means you can't just Google what you want ahead of time like a normal person. I spent five minutes staring at my phone in the parking lot before realizing I'd have to actually look at a physical menu like some kind of caveman. The audacity.

Anyway, I ordered the Buttermilk fried chicken burger with bibim sauce because I'm apparently that guy now - the one who sees "Korean fusion" and thinks "yeah, this will definitely not disappoint me." Plot twist: it didn't disappoint me. The chicken was crispy in that satisfying way that makes you forget you're an adult who should probably eat more vegetables. The sauce had this sweet-spicy thing happening that wasn't trying too hard to blow your face off, just enough kick to make you remember you're alive.

Got a side of fries because I'm not a monster. They were... fries. Good fries, but like, they're fries. What do you want me to say? They fulfilled their fry duties admirably.

Then I ordered oysters because I was feeling fancy and/or having some kind of identity crisis. Six little guys on ice looking very fresh and very judgemental. They tasted like the ocean in the best possible way, which is what you want from oysters unless you're into that whole "food poisoning adventure" thing.

The service was solid - attentive without being weird about it. Nobody asked me how everything was while I had a mouth full of burger, which automatically puts them in my good books.

Would I go back? Yeah, probably. The seasonal menu thing is actually kind of smart because it means I can't get too attached to one thing and...

I went with my boyfriend of my cousin here for a night out. When we walked in the ambience was very warm. The staff are all very welcoming. The atmosphere itself is very beautiful and nice for photos. We were seated immediately and served quite promptly. My only complaint was we were seated at a booth across from the entrance and every time the door opened it was absolutely freezing, which would only be an issue in the winter. One of my favorite things about any restaurant is that their servers are excellent, and ours was no exception. I believe his name was Daniel (I apologize if I got this wrong, I am bad with names), he was very knowledgeable, paid attention, and was so friendly, he was an absolute pleasure and made the experience more fun. We started with drinks which were all decent, my cousin and I both got bartenders choice custom drinks, mine was essentially a expresso martini and my cousins was a fruity drink that qas overpowered by tequila. We also shared a charcuterie board, which everything was great on there. I also ordered a Mojito which was also good. I have a seafood allergy and went with the Thai Chicken Curry which was quite flavourful. My only complaint was the chicken was mostly fatty, soft chicken skin and not actual pieces of meat. My boyfriend is gluten intolerant and ordered the Seafood Risotto, which he loved, his only complaint was he wanted more salt and more of the shrimp, he said the shrimp was absolutely delicious and he would have rather had more shrimp and leave the calms. My cousin ordered the Korean Fried Chicken and it was delicious, it tasted like traditional southern fried chicken my dad made and he was from Mississippi, it had a sweet/tangy sauce on it. We were all too full for a dessert. Overall it was a great place and we would...