Hashtag Modern Kitchen & Lounge — Restaurant in Oakville

How bad can a waitress be? Let me explain. We entered the place. Until we got to our table, everything was as it should be. The person at the door welcomed us well. We sat down at our table and the lady working as a waitress said hello. Everything was great until then. It was our first time there, and we started to examine the place's design, the plates, and the sets used, and we liked it. We looked at the menu and liked the menu design as well. You can comment on and rate the products. I found it creative.

We ordered a shisha and asked the waitress to bring a popular flavor. We also ordered drinks at the same time. Less than five minutes after we ordered, she asked if everything was okay?! Nothing had even arrived yet, so I don't know if everything was okay! :)

The drinks were brought by a smiley lady(probably runner). Then the shisha also arrived. After the shisha came, we asked for a mouthpiece, which they normally should bring, but they didn't. We asked three different people for one, and it took more than 10 minutes to reach our table. At that time, the waitress had only 4 tables, including ours, and it was not busy at all. She was wandering around as if she were a customer, completely unaware of her tables. When bringing the orders to the table, the waitress didn't even want to use a tray, carrying as many drinks as possible in her hands, supporting them with her body, and thinking she was providing service.

After the mouthpiece finally arrived, my friend took the first taste and said the flavor was not good and that it didn't suit our palate. We also tried it, and yes, it really wasn't for us. Then we called the waitress and told her we didn't like the flavor and asked if we could change it. This is a common practice in every shisha lounge, and whatever the company policy is, is applied (an extra fee is charged or, most of the time, it's changed for free, which is very easy to do). The lady acted as if we were asking for a free hookah. Then a gentleman, who seemed to be a experienced server , came and insistently tried to understand what was going on. Eventually, my friends and the gentleman came to an agreement, and they brought another flavor. During this time, the waitress had a conversation with the gentleman in a different language that we couldn't understand at all. Her behavior was irritating. During these conversations, she took on an attitude of refusing to change the flavor and didn't understand why we wanted to change it. We didn't ask her for her opinion. We just asked her to change it. Then she tried to explain the flavor to us.

Anyway, the shisha was changed, and we didn't like the new flavor either, but I was already so disturbed by that lady's behavior that I suggested to my friends we pay and leave. My mood was already ruined thanks to her. Her treating us like we were cheap people was ugly. There was another lady who was very smiley(runner), and I asked her for our bill because who knows where our waitress was or what she was busy with! :) After the runner lady, our waitress came and I asked for the bill. She asked if there was a problem, but she still wasn't aware that she was the problem herself. Without asking for anything to be removed from the bill, I paid for everything we ordered, and of course, I didn't leave a tip. If I had left a tip, it would have been an insult to the other good waiters.

Now, I don't want to lecture anyone, but I have been and still am in the restaurant industry for years. I would like to say this: Being a waiter is not just about taking orders and bringing the bill. Customer satisfaction and customer service are far beyond that. If you can achieve these, you can truly be a waiter. You are as much a waiter as your reaction in busy and problematic times. People who couldn't even be busboys are trying to take orders with devices and serve tables. I don't know who gave you service training, but I saw that you didn't even get the 's' of service. You have no idea why you are there. I could tell more but “my writing limit...

Mixed feelings about this place. Visited twice in the past 6 months, most recently this past Victoria Day weekend.

Atmosphere: Nice decor, clean washrooms, good seating. The most recent time we went, the DJ was amazing! Really good music and mixing. However, for their show, which involves a few of the workers dressing up and dancing around, the volume was raised up and even afterwards was kept at that higher level such that you couldn't have a conversation with the people beside you clearly. Beautiful crowd - lots of bday celebrations, people on dates, and it's a more upscale crowd than other places, so everyone is looking good. I would come back just for the vibes.

Service: Hit and Miss. When we were there a few months ago for our friend's bday the service was good, lots of waiters/waitresses around to help out and meet our requests. Most recently, this past week, we had to deal with their policy of spending $35 per person - not sure if this is new or not. We were aware of the policy when reserving our table, but we began our night with ordering apps while waiting for others to arrive, but the way our server immediately said to us with attitude that we needed to spend this much was not appreciated. Also ordered a water which didn't arrive, so I called our server to cancel it and to give me a milkshake instead, however I was charged for both on the bill. When paying, if separate, each person had to spend $35, or you could pay the entire amount as a table. Normally you'd hit that if everyone is getting a food and drink item.

Food: The food is where I've found Hashtag to be horrible the 2 times I visited. First time, I got their Chicken Escalope. Complete dry, over-cooked and thin piece of chicken - terrible. Second time, got the Spicy Nashville Sandwich, and the sandwich just broke apart and became a saucy mess to eat. However, the biggest disappointment was this thin, nonsensical piece of chicken in the sandwich. The photo on the menu is completely deceiving. For a $24 + tax sandwich with some fries, it was a complete rip-off and upsetting that this is what they serve customers. At least have the decency to give a decent chicken sandwich. Fries and lentil soup are good. My friends liked the food items and drinks they got, so it may be just my luck that I had 2 bad experiences. I think sticking to the arab/turkish food is the safer bet here than other things on their menu. Snickers milkshake was also disappointing compared to the milkshakes I've had at other shisha places.

Verdict: Would return for the vibes, not the poorly made, over-priced food. Shisha...

I went here for a birthday just hang out and chill .. but the hosted is very rude and unprofessional. My friend had to reserve a table under her credit card .. which is fine but upon arriving they surprise us with each person in are party had to spend a minimum of 35$. NONE OF THIS WAS MENTION when we booked on open table. It actually states “during Eid 3 day event that it’s a minimum 40$”.. Eid finish. So this shouldn’t apply. Anyways we then proceeded to ask when did she mentioned this over the phone after we call to get more details. The host thinks she SOO bright and gives attitude and then states that “if we mentioned this over the phone no one would come” UMMMM EXCUSE ME EVEN Mandarin posted there different prices between weekdays and weekends.. I’m sorry but it’s complete unprofessional and if you’re scared of ppl not coming because there is a minimum spending fee. Then clearly you’re not a business. Some business needs to take hits but they still gain customer because of their service. Unfortunately they they dealt with this situation was unlawful and the hostess is a witch I’m sorry to say but she can’t deal with these type of situation and the excuse she has giving us “well we haven’t updated that information on open table but it still applies” anddd. “not to go out if we don’t want to spend money” oh believe we can spend the money lady .. we just wanted to hang out and since this place is a lounge and restaurant we thought it would be okay to go have shisha and get some nice mock tails they had. Since we came from a big dinner. Anyways so disappointed in the experience and you should have a hostess who is ready to fight and belittle customers as if she is all high a mighty. Very disappointed in my first experience. Everyone else was friendly but the...