Bally's Kitchen — Restaurant in Ontario

Since I ate here for the first time a few weeks ago and had a positive experience with the food, speed, and service, I decided to come back with a larger group of friends. Unfortunately, my second visit could not have been more different than my first.

We arrived as a group of 6 and shortly after, a group of 4 had arrived. There were no other customers at the restaurant other than the two groups until closing time. While we were waiting for our food, the other table received their food before ours. This was fine. I understand that some dishes are much faster to make and we also did have a larger group. However, we ended up waiting over an hour for the first dish to arrive. By this time, the group of 4 had finished eating and had already left. There was also a 30-minute wait between the first dish and the last dish to arrive. By the time all 6 orders were served, the first few dishes had gone completely cold. Not only did they make us wait well over an hour for our food (and we were the only table!), the appetizers also arrived after the main dishes. This made the meal very unenjoyable. At this point, we had been there for an hour and a half. We arrived at 7:30PM and had not started eating until 8:50PM. They close at 9:00PM, so one would think that arriving at 7:30PM would leave plenty of time to eat, right? We ended up leaving around 9:20, since they obviously wouldn't kick us out 10 minutes after we just started eating. I believe the main reason our food was served so late was because of the priority that was given to take out and delivery. There was an overwhelming amount of delivery and take out orders during our stay, and I'm positive that those dishes were prioritized. Not only did we wait a very long time for our food, we were also not given any warning about the wait time. Additionally, there was also a huge fight between a restaurant worker and a delivery man which made us feel very uncomfortable. No apology was given to us about the fight or the absurdly long wait time.

To top it all off, they also forced a 18% tip on the bill and did not notify us about this ahead of time or even when we paid. Since we were not aware, we ended up tipping on top of the 18% tip which totalled to a 38% tip for the terrible experience that we had.

The entire experience was extremely unprofessional and we were all tremendously disappointed. Please do not accept customers if you do not have the time to serve them their food and decide to prioritize all your delivery and take out orders instead. It's sad that we had to stay well after your closing time because the food had arrived so late. It was also extremely unprofessional to have a huge yelling competition with a delivery driver, especially with no apology to the customers afterwards who had to awkwardly sit by while the fight unfolded. And finally, please notify your customers if you are going to force a 18% tip. We ended up tipping a total of 38% since we believe in tipping waiters regardless of the experience, but it really should have been 0%. We felt robbed and disrespected. Originally, I thought that I had found a lovely new restaurant that would be my new go-to but in the end, it had only left me extremely embarrassed that I even brought my friends here. Unfortunately, this experience was hands down the worst restaurant experience that I have ever had.

edit: after contacting the restaurant, the tips...

Bally’s Kitchen is hands down my favourite Asian food place in the city. I live nearby and I honestly walk there all the time. Sometimes more than I should.

The pho is so good. It always comes out hot and fresh and the broth actually has flavor. I’ve tried pho at other places but it never hits the same way. Their stir fries are amazing too. Big portions and they never feel greasy or heavy. I usually get the beef one but honestly everything I’ve tried has been good.

The servers are always really nice. They remember me now which is kind of funny but also makes it feel more comfortable. They don’t rush you or make it awkward. Just really chill and polite.

I bring friends here all the time and everyone ends up liking it. The inside is simple and clean which I actually prefer. Nothing flashy just good food.

If you like Vietnamese food or just want something different from the usual takeout spots this place is it. I keep going back and probably...

Pad Thai noodles way overcooked saggy..cut up omlette in squares soaking up pad thai sauce??? My wife soup was spiced very well but portion not enough to feed 10 year old... when son ordered crunchy Cantonese Chow Mein the noodles should have been placed in the oven to get crispy not be substituted with something not requiring boiling straight from the box.. omg when you combine taste of the food portion size not the best location ..no on-site secure parking zero Thai atmosphere like other places might have I have no idea why so many people gave any rating over 3.. unreal..I tried Thai food from Chaing Rai..Bangkok..Koh Phi Phi.. New York ..Ottawa..Toronto and couple other restaurants in Windsor... I'm sorry but I have to be honest I would never ever recommend food from your place to anybody regardless how pleasant and sincere your staff is. Sorry but your take on some dishes is less...