Peller Estates Winery And Restaurant — Restaurant in Niagara-on-the-Lake

I recently visited the Terrace Wine Bar and the Winery Restaurant at Peller Estates for my wife's 40th. My wife and I first visited here the night after our wedding and have had many anniversary dinners here. I began planning and making reservations in early April for her 40th birthday on June 8. I tried to book a group room but was told they were fully booked up for that night, months ahead of time.

I booked three tables for our party of 11 for 7:30pm. We had a bike wine tour that day that ended around 4:30pm and so I also made reservations for three tables at the Terrace Wine Bar to have drinks before our table was available.

I received several calls from both Peller Estates and the Terrace Wine Bar telling me they could not accommodate putting our group's tables together. I was directed to a salesperson for the group packages. There were still no group rooms available for our date. By the fourth call I told Peller Estates that other restaurants do this all the time, at this point it seems more like you won't accommodate us rather than you can't.

We arrive on the day of the reservations after biking for 5 hours and 15km ready to enjoy our drinks and dinner. It had started to rain around 6:00pm. The Terrace Wine Bar sat our party of 11 outside under a tarp that does absolutely nothing to stop the rain (why cover the area at all if it doesn't stop the rain from getting through?). The waitress informed us that this was last call despite having a full restaurant under the (non-tarp) properly covered section. I can only assume she meant she wasn't going to be returning because of the rain.

We had a long standing reservation at the restaurant. We were not walk-ins. This choice to seat us outside in the rain was completely unacceptable. As our party scattered with no waitress in sight I had to track her down and cover the bills myself. We had to retreat to the wine shop, where no staff member offered to assist us and when we inquired, told us we could not refill our wine glasses unless we paid for a signature keepsake glass. Where is the customer service? This used to be a high end establishment.

We had dropped off a birthday cake at the Peller Estates Winery restaurant before being seated at the Terrace Wine Bar. The hostess there excitedly told us she was going to be able to seat us together during dinner after all. It seemed like the night was going to turn around.

We were seated in the Winery Restaurant, at two different tables. Four of our guests were seated separately from the party. This was a let-down after the hostess had gotten our hopes up. Peller Estates Winery Restaurant made the brilliant decision to treat our two tables as two different sections with two different servers, the server of the people at the second table treated them much worse, they were not given a friendly greeting, wine recommendations or any embellishment or explanation of their dinner orders, which was the treatment received at the main table. The four at the extra table were from a family of five with their fifth member sitting at the main table. They were told it was "not possible" to share a bill with their fifth family member sitting five feet away.

The cake was completely forgotten by the serving staff until we reminded them to bring it out as people were paying their bills. The restaurant was empty at this point, so our extra four party members joined us at the main table, where we all easily fit.

My wife inquired with the serving staff about how far in advance the group rooms are usually booked. She was told that we could have called last week and booked it. I mean... what?

I am absolutely baffled by the choices made here. Customer service used to be extremely good at Peller Estates and we have a had many positive experiences here for many milestone occasions. I cannot recommend either of these restaurants in their current state, unfortunately the quality of the experience seems to have taken a serious step down.

Maybe Peller should offer to have us all back and...

Lovely afternoon toured hosted by affable Alex at the sprawling Peller Estates on a warm May Saturday. Definitely, a learning experience, from the origins of the winery to appreciating the barrels and process of wine aging, was fantastic. Exploring the Ice Bar and tasting the wine was good value for the $45 per person. The tour was at least a 4-5 rating.

A footnote is that there is the honesty in advertising. At the conclusion of the tour, we brought up three bottles to purchase. As we were cashing out, it appears that it took two individuals to advise us that the $5.00 off was applicable to the Ice Wine only. In fact, the female of the two seemed to enjoy saying 'Didn't Alex tell you Ice Wine only " - Why would someone there for client service take pleasure in the fact that they overtly discredit their own clients and website. How can you have dozens of staff, some of which take pride in admonishing a client at the cash register ready to pay upwards of $100 extra.- with respect, although Alex mentioned in conclusion, your website remains, " When you join us for The Greatest Winery Tour, you’ll unlock savings as you explore our Peller Estates wines. Enjoy $5 off per bottle purchased, up to the $45 cost of your tour -It is clear as day, and for even the casual reader would clearly take this was $5 each bottle. Not to 5 came a few hours just for the 5 to leave on such a dour note for a trivial reason, which is unfortunate.

This is clearly a bait and switch, conscious or otherwise, and going through the expense of having two cashiers at one register embarrassing the customer after spending $150 for the three at tour with a tone as if we misread the website, saying 'we will advise the manager' is likely not an accurate representation of Mr. Peller's vision. All this over $15 dollars and potential lost business.

Notwithstanding, we still purchased two bottles of wine but have permanently been put off by the misleading manner and condescending approach in which we likely will not return. kindly update your website to mention Ice Wine only for the benefit of transparency. Please do not respond until you do so to ensure your future clients are treated with respect...

Could you please help us.

We had a touring pass to try a few wine country estates to see where we would hold our company meetings and had this experience.

1st we thought the wording on the pass clearly said free touring and wine tasting?

2nd we made reservations before arrival for Saturday at 12 for the touring and wine testing and 1pm for lunch in your restaurant.

Upon arrival we showed the pass at the front desk and told them we had reservations for tasting touring and lunch. = They said go out the door and turn right they will help you and show the pass. = we did that and walked to the 2 ladies standing at a location with out side tables and showed them the passes, We asked about the tour and tasting with the pass and they directed us to a table, We set down and picked the wine samples and asked about the food menu, She said the food was not free only wine samples as we kept showing the pass to try to understand and we said we under stand, and would like to have lunch at the out side patio since they would not let us in to eat inside as we thought the booking was for.

After eating and still confused with what was going on we went to pay the bill and got charged for the wine tasting as well, we sent you the pass and bill for you to see.

After we left and noticed we got billed for the tasting we called and the lady said a manager will call us back and refund the money Until now we got no call or refund.

As a customer seeking not only quality but also exemplary service we felt we got pushed out side as we did not meet your standards, and would like to contact the consumer protection act if we do not hear from you. This experience has caused us to reconsider not signing a membership especially given our role in sourcing wines for corporate client meetings.

Peller Estates should prioritize training to ensure customer service standards will meet the following consumer protection act.

Now with the food we did not expect and was very disappointed to pay that much for some thing so low class as a table spoon of shredded lobster sticks on French fries and a 12 inch pizza

U need to put pictures so people will see...