The Gingerman Social Eatery — Restaurant in Oakville

This was a month back, but having looked at reviews from the pre-fire restaurant 5-7 years ago having the same issues, I figured I'd drop my experience.

Came in for dinner for two on a Saturday at 5pm. No host at the front, and waited ten minutes to be seated. Place was empty except for the bar. Servers walked past and ignored us until a second couple came in, who were greeted like old friends and seated immediately.

Then as an afterthought, we were grudgingly offered a booth "anywhere", and left to our own devices to sit. We chose a window booth.

Shortly after sitting, a young couple came in and sat at the back corner booth by the window. They both sat on the same bench, facing us. They looked very agitated as if they were in the midst of an argument. The waiter came over immediately and offered them water before us.

5 minutes later we were able to place the entire order for entrees, appetizer, and drink. Only then did we get our water.

The surly couple continued to sit there in heavy monosyllabic grouchiness. You might wonder why I care so much about this couple. It turns out they both work here and they were just killing time until their shift started. Given the fact they were sitting next to each other on the same side of the booth, and given the dark cloud between them, and having worked in service and retail in my life, I can only assume they must be co-workers who are sleeping together. Tale as old as time.

It's great that:

A) They got service first by the waiter and

B) they both just radiated their young complicated sad lover energy at us most of the meal.

Worth noting we were never offered refills or even a chance to upgrade to alcohol, but our bearded waiter did come and hang out with the two troubled lovers several times.

Eventually they did clock in and I was able to see the gutless enthusiasm both of them had for their work. I know a job is a job and it's work because you don't actually enjoy it, but even on my worst days I had to put on a face bartending and serving. And if you want to be sour that you have to be here, that's cool too, but at least keep me refilled. You've got better things to do? Trust me, so do I when faced with this customer service.

On second thought, other reviews mention you charge for refills of soda and that's not even noted on the menu, so maybe that's for the best.

The dry ribs were garbage. You're not supposed to take it that literally, kitchen.

Fries were great. Burgers were pretty good. I'll even say the pricing was pretty good given the current economy. It's about as much as a McDonald's combo would run you now. On the other hand, you could just go to the Works right down Lakeshore, where I've had better service.

I would have loved for this place to have left a better impression so that I could hang out here regularly with a beer and some fries, but all three servers I encountered, plus just watching the bartender, who maybe was the manager, just gave the vibe that we were not welcome here.

I contrast this with the sister restaurant The Boot, where I always feel welcome, servers preempt my needs with refills (which are free), in management has even given me Free apology gift certificates or coupons when I never even had an issue but the manager perceived that it did take too long to get my food or something else that they considered an inconvenience to me. Again, even though I was happy.

It took half an hour to get our bill, and another 10 minutes to come back and close that out.

There was nothing standout here that would add this place to my regular haunts, which is interesting because on paper a bar (hell, any place open past 9 on Kerr) with decent burgers within walking distance for me should be an easy spend for me.

I'll stick to the LCBO and A&W for that fix.

Best of luck to the waitstaff and their...

I was a bar patron very slow to acknowledge me it seemed that the bar tender didn’t want to serve me., I asked for the bill and he the bar tender took his time to check me out not impressed., he was at the same time talking to a couple of patrons who were drinking besides me but was neglecting me at the bar I truly feel that I was being ignored for no good reason. Affer sometime I decided to give The Ginger Man Bar And Grill. A second chance at serving me., much to my surprise or desire it was not towards what I wanted or would expect it was the same or less. I entered at about 4pm sat at the bar by the wine bottles no one recognized me for about 10 minutes., a bar customer pointed me out to the bartender who then served me., repositioned myself at a different place at the bar to enjoy my drink., at such time I was approached by the bartender from the past experience who which to make amends for the past experience which I accepted. I wanted to order another drink at which point the bartender on duty had no record of my drink order or present in the bar., he approached the manager on duty who came to me and asked me to leave the bar and establishment without any explanation other then saying we prefer you don’t come back without any reason. I honestly have no problem., I would like wish everyone there all the best in their endeavours and for that of the holidays but I won’t I was not given reason to leave just saying he didn’t want me there . So if you want to go there the atmosphere is fantastic., the food is interesting., and the service is much to be desired and if you want to be ignored then that’s the place to go. I again feel I was singled out for no reason whatsoever and that the establishment in general is seeking a certain level of clientele that I don’t fit into the general description that they want. Yet the money $ that I carry in my pocket is the same as probably everyone else in this country so what is the problem. Please feel free to contact me at your convenience. So once again appreciate your attempt at hospitality but it doesn’t work. I trust you will find your financial gain and goals off of Kerr Street. ( on a foot note maybe you can have a convenient fire ) to reimburise yourself with money you loose in the current financial situation you are in. Question.! So it’s not in your interest to banish your patrons from the establishment for that purpose...

Went here for the first time this weekend. Horrible service. Below average food. Server had little to no knowledge about the food and drinks on the menu. Server came only once after serving our food, around 40 minutes after, at that point I asked for the bill. When looking for the server during the 40 minutes, she was constantly pretending to work at the bar polishing cutlery for no reason and chit chatting with people at the bar while customers waited for service. The server did NOT ask us for refills ONCE (how could they if they were busy polishing cutlery pretending to be busy while chit chatting by the bar). Beer glass was empty for the longest time, didn’t even get a refill on beer. Wife had to refill her own water 3-4 times with a pitcher she found on a ledge! How pathetic the service is at this place, ridiculous! Customer service was horrible, the server acted like we owed her something. Very rude server. Flies everywhere. Would not return. Would not recommend. Would give 0 stars if I could. The person that greeted us was amazing. The person that cleaned our table was super nice. The server we got was just horrible, I’ve never had such a bad experience. She was rude and never smiled. I’m not a picky person, I actually don’t care if my sever smiles or not as long as service is okay, but damn, no refills on beer and water? They disappear after serving food? This place seriously needs to review their customer service and replace stale faced...