Symposium Cafe Restaurant Alliston — Restaurant in New Tecumseth

My family used to go to this restaurant regularly. The food is normally good quality. Myself, my mother, sister, and her boyfriend went for my sisters 25th birthday. The server Diane was terrible. We were her only table and she was never around. At one point my sisters BF had to track her down just to ask for butter. She neglected to refill drinks to the point I had to ask and then she forgot so I sat with no drink for 10 minutes before having to remind her AGAIN. The food was good for the most part, except for my sisters steak which was served rare/bloody when she ordered medium rare. This wouldn't have been a big deal, but when it was brought to Sharif(the manager's) attention he dealt with it in the most unprofessional manner possible. He argued that the steak was medium rare and that she just didn't know how to order. Everyone at the table politely stated that this was not the case. He proceeded to condescendingly ARGUE WITH HIS CUSTOMERS. My sister is a very polite server so the fact that it was undercooked wasn't even the reason we were able to convince her to complain. The steak was so fatty it was like chewing rubber. She ate less than 1/3 of it before we convinced her to complain. Sharif informed us that all steaks are this way. He did NOTHING to attempt to ratify the situation. We weren't trying to get a free steak out of it. My sister would've been happy had they just made her a new one. After all of this disappointment, the bill comes and Diane has forgotten to apply the coupon we had brought. Again we are made to sit and wait for this incredibly inconsiderate woman. When she finally returns she hands my mother a bill with a charge on it for a coffee that was included with her meal. Frustrated and just wanting the experience to be over she just bites her tongue and pays the bill. HAD I PAID SHE WOULD HAVE GOT NO TIP. My mom pays the bill and they are chatting friendly. DIANE LOOKS AT THE BILL RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY MOM, GETS A SOUR LOOK ON HER FACE, STOPS MID-SENTENCE AND WALKS AWAY! I've never seen such an ignorant and unprofessional act in my life! We will never return to this restaurant and I recomend you avoid it at all costs. Terrible service from rude people unpdeserving of...

This place is not what it used to be! Stay away! I drove from Shelburne to this establishment as in the past I have had great experience and great quality food. I believe that they are under new ownership which explains the change. I ordered the three eggs with meat breakfast with an extra side of bacon. I am very particular of how I want my food cooked and provided very simple instructions where I asked for my bacon to be soft and not crispy and lightly toasted toast. I never could understand why certain servers rely on memory only and not write things down. But within 30 seconds, the waitress asked about my, "two eggs" where I simply responded by saying that I thought that it comes with three eggs considering it's called the three egg and meat breakfast. I was then asked what meat do I want!!! Where I politely replied "Bacon with another side of bacon but please ensure it's soft and not crispy" (instructions mentioned three times in total) When the food arrived, both my bacon and toast were crispy. When the manager/supervisor, "Pooja" asked me how the food was, I truthfully told her that it wasn't what I ordered. She offered to deduct my coffee from the order!!!! I'm a person of principle and I was offended by the poor attempt at a resolution, so I purposely asked her to put the coffee back onto my bill and I paid $28.98 (subtotal + HST). This offer was a slap in the face as I didn't eat my side of bacon and let her take away the charcoal bacon that my dog would struggle to swallow because of how crispy out was! I told Pooja that I will never return to this establishment again. Also worth mentioning is that the portion was alot smaller than it used to be, specifically the potatoes! So I basically paid $30 for a horrible bacon and egg breakfast. Poor service, poor quality and poor resolution! Shame on Symposium and let this be a lesson learned on customer service and how to LOSE a customer purposely. Positive reviews can be purchased.... But this is a real review of my experience! Shame...

I really like symposium and never have a bad experience so I was happy to see one in Alliston but after going to it twice this place is horrible. Service is extremely slow and food came out horrible. First time we went was about a week after they opened; it was fairly busy and the service was extremely slow which I was ok with knowing it's the first week they are open and busy. As we were waiting for food I ordered a Coors light which came out with something black floating in it. When I notified the server she offered me another one but I declined. The manager came out and apologized, said it must of been a dirty tap (which didn't make sense because the place is brand new) we also questioned why the long wait (almost an hour now) and he gave us a free $25 gift card to come back.

Few months later we came back again, to use our card and give the benefit of the doubt that things have settled and kinks were ironed out since the opening. We brought friends so the girls ordered a dackary (sp?) which came out horrible, no doubt it was made wrong. We felt bad but had to send it back because it was not possible to drink it. For appetizers we decided to get mussels which came out smelling and tasting like bad fish (really strong smell) to the point we were worried about eating it. We had to send it back... the manager came out and offered to re make them with extra wine to get rid of the fishy smell and taste (which at this point we were pretty sure the mussels were not fresh or bad) We politely declined but the manager insisted but we finally got him to back off after minutes of him awkwardly trying to force it on us (lol) Our food came out after a long long wait (restaurant was almost empty) but once the food came out it was actually good. My conclusion is that I won't be going back, which sucks because like I said I really like...