The Oakville Pump & Patio — Restaurant in Oakville

It's been a while since I've been so put off by the food I've been served by a restaurant/pub/fast food joint/literally anywhere ever that I've felt compelled to leave a review about it, but...

I ordered a smashed guac starter and fried chicken sandwich -- the sandwich wasn't terrible. It was just fine. They did manage the impressive feat of somehow keeping the bun from getting soggy on a delivery order, and the chicken was a good portion and seemed fresh, but seemed as though they went for the cheapest possible frozen stick fries and some canned gravy for the side. Fine for pub food, but not for pub food at this price point -- this place is WAY too expensive for the quality you get.

But the starter. Wow, was it ever awful -- should be a law against calling what I was given "guacamole". It had a really weird oozing wet consistency, and I could see little puddles of liquid -- since this was a takeout order and I couldn't exactly send it back to the kitchen, I gave it a go, and it was sour to the point I was concerned it had actually gone off -- not that far off from just directly sucking on a lemon. Had to abandon it because it was just inedible. Came back to it the next day, and disturbingly, it looked almost the same except for a small amount of browning oxidization and more of the liquid had separated out. The picture included is from sitting out 19 hours later... I might just do a reproduction of the infamous time lapse McDonald's hamburger photos with this stuff.

This cost me $15 dollars. Since I'm not ill the next day, I think what actually happened is this is not even close to made fresh -- instead, they've loaded it up with some sort of citrus additive (and possibly even oil? I'm a bit at a loss to explain the bizarre texture of this stuff otherwise) to keep it from browning. I wouldn't eat here again, but if you must, skip the guac -- you can get a tub of grocery store guac for half the price, and it'll at least be the right creamy texture and you'd actually be able to taste...

The moment we were all waiting for "Saturday and Sunday Brunch" finally came. A friend of mine and I attended at on Sunday, November 20th. We were very very disappointed in the food as compared to how Sunday Brunch was before Covid. We ordered the Smashed Guac and the GUAC WAS TO DIE FOR - A MUST ORDER AS FAR AS WE WERE CONCERNED, but the chips were cold and did not appear to be salted - not sure if you use unsalted chips, but worth a check. BUT THE GUAC WAS TO DIE - did I already say that. I had the Chicken and Waffles and my friend had the Caprese Toast. The chicken and syrup were very good but I would not order the waffles ever as they were hard as a rock and really had no taste unless you piled the maple bourbon sauce on them and they were cold. We told our server about this and she apologized and we said she was not the cook but she need to pass it on to the line chef as the waffles should NOT be cooked before the chicken and left there to get cold. My friend who had the Caprese Toast said the topping on the rye toast was delicious with the balsamic reduction but the rye toast could not be cut with a knife and she tried to pick it up and bite it but put it down for fear of breaking her teeth. Again we advised our server and she told the line chef and she came back with white bread which was toasted - and this was just as cold and hard and needless to say was not eaten. The deep fried home fries were good with ketchup. Would we order either of these two entrees again - a big fat NO. We will stick to ordering our normal chicken avocado salad and fajitas - hopefully these are still the same. Our server was great and we would give her a 5+ but the food was very poor. Not sure if you have new chefs or what but if your line cooks are toasting the waffles and rye or white toast before the hot food to be placed on them is ready, then it is time to go back to school, or do not leave them under the warming lights...

I hate writing reviews but yesterday was incredibly frustrating that I need to.

I’ve been a long time customer of the Pump & I visit at least once a week for food with my partner. However last night, was the first time I was highly disappointed with the service. We sat down on the patio last night & we sat there for almost 10 minutes without a single server to come up & greet us. I was very close to just getting up & leaving until a server came by & apologized for the wait.

About 3 different servers saw us & made eye contact & never came to greet us or offer us drinks. This was so frustrating to deal with as the restaurant was NOT busy at all- maybe just a few tables on the patio and where we sat, there were about 4 tables around us. When the server came by to say hello to us, she asked if we were served yet and I said no. She was obviously very confused (as we were) as there were multiple servers on the patio & not a single one came up.

This will not affect my service here but I ask that Management retrains their servers on what GOOD Customer Service looks like. A table of guests should never be made to wait more than a few minutes for a greeting. Customer Service isn’t for everybody & yesterday’s visit proved this. I would like to thank the kind blonde, tall woman who actually came up & helped us out.

Lastly, not a complaint but a suggestion..please be make sure the string lights on the patio are on. It was pretty hard to read the menu without the...