Churchill Lounge — Restaurant in Niagara-on-the-Lake

Very poor quality food that's priced as fine dining food. To say the food was poor quality, flavorless, plain tasting and small portioned is putting it mildly.

We visit Niagara On The lake a few times every summer and always wanted to try the restaurant at this hotel because it looks and feels like a fine dining place.

We finally did visit the restaurant yesterday and it was a huge disappointment to say the least. The quality of food surprised us to be honest, and not in a good way. We had a seafood pasta which was bland, no sauce, just a hint of lemon, oil and "white wine" mixed together with some greens and about 5 small pieces of shrimp and three pieces of scallops. The dish was below mediocre, and pretty much flavourless/plain. Don't forget the prices are up there, fine dining levels for food of this quality, it's disappointing to say the least.

Second dish was a pan seared Bass which was a little better than the pasta but still very mediocre, not to mention the size of the fillet would probably leave a small child hungry afterwards, while also priced way up there at $61.

It doesn't stop there, the service for the lack of a better word, sucked! The lady serving us was hardly paying much attention to us, while taking our drink's order, she was looking elsewhere and started communicating with someone else in the middle of us making an order, which is quite rude and unprofessional, you are talking and ordering a drink and she is pretty much ignoring you, and looking at someone/or somewhere else, leaving you to wonder if she even heard you. We were waiting for the drinks for a long time afterwards and our table wasn't even offered water during our wait.

All in all a bad experience, bad service, food was honestly not good, drinks were mediocre and a final slap in the face the price which you have to pay for something like this. The angry look we got for leaving a small tip was also quite rude, and seems like some people forget that if the service is bad and food is bad, how can you honestly expect a customer to pay a good tip?

We would definitely not recommend going to this restaurant, but if you must, you'll see for...

The good and not so good..

Would like to rate as a 3.5 but not an option

Great lounging atmosphere, live entertainment.

It was full but not noisy.

Service was good but a little sporadic, ie didn't clear glasses, plates when we were done with them but took away a cocktail that was not finished (3/4 finished)

Had the burger and a NOTL Salad.. Promising but not worth the money..

Burger (with cheese and bacon) cost $32 with fries. All the ingredients were good (pickle, brioche, tomatoe etc) but the burger itself was dry and overcooked. The fries were thick cut and very good.

The NOTL Salad was large with nice ingredients however the Apple Cider vinegrette was overwhelming and to acidic. The salad lacked balance. Some honey or maple in the dressing is needed. I say this as someone in the culinary field. There was a 'pool' of vinegrette remaining in the bottom of the plate in the end, perhaps 2 tablespoons or more. On a personal note, the salad would benefit from blue cheese instead of feta.

One observation was that tables were not cleared after the guests left. I observed 3 tables of dirty plates and leftover food that remained that way for a majority of the time we were there. These were in the area between the lounge and the dining room, and were observed as I went passed them on the way to the washrooms.. For an 'iconic luxury' property I would find this to be unexpected and unacceptable if I were working or managing the area and makes me, as a guest, question where else is the oversight lacking..

Nor sure if the TVs detract or enhance the space, as they take away from the live entertainment and can be seen as disrespect towards the talent. It maybe acceptable if it was a sportsbar with live music, but as a beautiful lounge, it deters from the experience.

As someone who frequents the Niagara region regularly (Burlington) we will return in the future but maybe on a Wednesday fir the burger, just to see if our experience was a 1 off or the norm

Digesting whether or not $120 for dry but promising burger, salad, 1.75 cocktails is justified or not.. The space itself is definitely worth a...

They completely dropped the ball. So far I've been to the place 5 times, and had it all (Noble restaurant, Drawing room, Churchill lounge). Yesterday's experience during Peach festival was outstandingly bad. (To be fair the other times it was good enough but nothing outstanding that would make me want to leave a review). Issues with Churchill lounge:

1. Lounge opens at 9 am. We were there at 10:15, this time for cappuccino (last time it was quite mediocre, to be honest but I thought I'd give them another chance to see if it was they standard quality or just a glitch with espresso machine). Also I wanted the Lounge atmosphere. But... the bar-tender was Nowhere to be found.
2. Their cleaners Routinely vacuum Lounge at around 10 am. I say routinely because both times I visited Lounge I came around 10am and both times it was vacuumed at that time. So if you are for the LOUNGE experience, that is not something you can get until 11-ish. So apparently lounge means the noise of the vacuum machine.
3. There were 2 waitresses who served some group of people. That alone was strange because lounge kitchen does not open until 11:30. They did came to see me but said could not help with my cappuccinos request. So double standards: they serve someone outside of the schedule but not you on the schedule if you make it clear that you are not planning to leave there a considerable amount.
4. The waitress suggested me to go to the dinning room and ask for the table. I guess what she did not know is that dinning room has minimal order amount. They don't just serve a 30-dollars cappuccinos. I took it as refusal of service.
5. Atmosphere. So the place (the entire triplex) positions itself as a luxury experience. In reality if consider visiting it you will see bunch of tourists in shorts and yoga pants. The only guaranteed luxury is the prices. The pictures on the web-site are deceiving and even remotely do not reflect reality. Food standards vary a lot. It is not the focus of this review.

So what did I do? Went to a business across the street and got what I need with the quality it is...