Spitfire Grill — Restaurant in North Saanich

We live in the Westshore, so don’t get out this direction often. We were in Sidney at their Market and decided we would head to Spitfire Grill and try their breakfast. We had only ever been for lunch or dinner previously and it was always delicious. We arrived at 11:45. We asked for the breakfast menu and were told breakfast ended at 11:40. I thought it was 12:00 but was told there was a transition period to switch over. There were only 2 tables of 2 at the time and nobody behind us, so this was a little shocking to me. Pretty easy to make customers happy by having some flexibility, when it is slow and we were there before noon. My Mom and I really wanted breakfast but decided we would stay for lunch. The decision to stay was a bit hard to make, as the host/server was very dismissive and rude. The server came back to our table and set the water jug and cups down aggressively and walked away without saying anything to us. When she came back to take our order, she continued to justify why we could not have breakfast, saying breakfast ends at 12:00 and they need time to transition. No apologies just rude justification. Again, we were both shocked with the way this server was speaking to us. I convinced my Mom to get the Meatloaf sandwich, as it is my favorite. When the server returned, we ordered the 2 meatloaf sandwiches. She advised that not only could we not order breakfast, but the meatloaf sandwich was not available. That would have been good info to have prior to perusing the menu and deciding what meal to get. Again no apology, just rude, behaviour. Nothing about our interaction, made us feel like they wanted our business, so we advised we were going to leave. Just as we were about to exit the restaurant, the server loudly said from across the restaurant, in a condescending tone “good luck finding somewhere for breakfast”. I replied by saying, “we aren’t leaving because of breakfast, we are leaving because you have not been friendly. She said, “I have been very friendly!” At this point, another staff member came out from the back and said, “she has been very accommodating”. We had not seen this staff member the entire time we were in there, so found this very interesting. This restaurant has been one of my favorites for years. I take out of town guests there and always go there when we are out that way. The food has always been delicious and it’s just a really fun experience being right at the airport. The service has always been great, up until this experience. We left feeling shocked, disappointed and a little sad, as that will be the last time we go there. I don’t know what has changed here, maybe a new staff member. I decided to look up the reviews and see we are not the only ones to have a similar experience, and that is just from those who have decided to leave a review. I can see from some of the replies from the restaurant, they are written in the same flippant, unprofessional manner. No humility in any replies written, so perhaps poor leadership here. Whatever the reason, this establishment is falling short, and in my opinion, only because of poor...

Due to the mere fact that I do not see a review from the more affected table from last night dining next to us at the SpitfireGrill I thought others should know about absolutely appalling situation we witnessed.

To begin with, as we were indulging in our meal at one of the booths next to the larger party adjacent to ours, we overheard them say they found a hair nestled in one of the dishes served to the patrons there. Such a blatant oversight on the restaurant's part regarding food hygiene is simply unacceptable.However, what made matters worse was the response from the server when the affected table raised both their concerns and ours. Instead of offering an apology or taking immediate action to rectify the situation, the server was shockingly verbally abusive towards the patrons. It was appalling and completely unprofessional. No customer should ever be subjected to such disrespectful behaviour, especially in a supposedly reputable community establishment.

Adding insult to injury, the restaurant management's handling of the situation was equally disappointing. Despite the obvious contamination of the food, they adamantly refused to remove the affected meal from the bill and refusal to at first let them speak to management. It was astonishing how they turned a blind eye to the distress caused to the customers and insisted on charging them for a dish rendered inedible due to their negligence. After a 20 minute dispute they reluctantly took it off the bill. Completely ridiculous with no regard for maintaining customer relationships.

This entire experience left us also feeling disgusted and deeply disappointed. A dining experience should be pleasant and enjoyable, but at Spitfire, it was nothing short of a nightmare. The lack of hygiene, the disrespectful behavior from the server, and the restaurant's refusal to make amends have left us with a bitter taste, both figuratively and literally.

I hope this feedback serves as a wake-up call for the management to reevaluate their standards and prioritize customer satisfaction and basic hygiene practices. As patrons who had high expectations, we were sorely let down by the dismal service and complete disregard for customer well-being. We did not wish to say anything in the moment as we did not wish to be subject to the same level...

I've actually been here 3 times, knowing that the experience I'm going to have is great food, great prices and inconsistent service. However I'm fully aware that the reason the service not great is because the place is very clearly poorly managed and it has "absent owner" written all over it. There's fingerprints covering every single glass surface, there's a sign excusing the wait times due to short staff before you even walk in and there is usually one lady there who seems to be heavily relied on because she's competent enough to fill in for multiple roles (bartending for the entire restuarant and serving a full section). I've seen and worked in these situations before and I've successfully managed a restuarant myself. The last time we went will probably be the last time. My friend didn't get a drink until after his food came and it took them at least half an hour to tell us that the beer taps weren't working because the servers were just too busy to effectively deal with the situation. His water wasn't even refilled so he just sat there waiting patiently for what felt like an hour for a drink. There was no manager there to help with the lunch rush, pour drinks, communicate with customers, deal with beer taps and take the drink off the bill. The servers just did their best even though they were set up for failure. It's just not acceptable to be open and have no manager on the floor during busy times. If you can't be there don't open your doors. If you are short staffed, reduce your hours and make the hours your are open count for something. If there's something wrong with your beer taps, get some back up cans/bottles of beer. Most people who have a bad experience are too polite to say anything and just won't come back. I would like to return to this restuarant but something needs to change. The sign at the front door does serve it's purpose of lowering expectations but it does not excuse the lack of standards and support for staff that (whoever runs...