Crabby Joe's Bar • Grill — Restaurant in Ontario

We chose Crabby Joe's to end our wonderful family night this Sunday, after an evening of family fun we were looking forward to spending some time together eating and winding down. Imagine our disappointment when our server treated us with distain right from the start of service. Assuming he was having a rough night my husband and I chose to ignore the initial reaction and order anyways. Surprisingly our servers attitude did not change, our children felt uncomfortable and we had to place their orders for them which is not normal for our family as we have worked to give them the manners and confidence to do so for themselves. We ordered a few appetizers and three children's meals after seeing on the menu that kids eat free on Sundays, not once before, during or after ordering our food were we told that in order to receive the children's meals free we needed to order adult entrees for ourselves. When we chose Crabby Joes to dine tonight we chose it because of the half price apps, we intended to all order our own, when we saw that kids ate free Sundays we decided to go that route instead of half price apps. Again I feel I must mention that not ONCE were we told that appetizers did not qualify to make the children's meals free. When our bill came we had a different waitress bring it and she was very sweet and apologetic whilst explaining that we would be paying full price for the children's meals and asked if we had been informed about the rule to make the children's meals free. When we explained that we did not know about this rule and we're never told she kindly went to go speak with her manager. Shortly after she returned to let us know that we needed to wait for her manager to come speak to us. When the manager did finally come speak to us I found that he had a rather passive aggressive attitude, seemed annoyed that we were upset about their mistakes and refused to offer any solution. Instead he chose to make everyone at the table uncomfortable and upset while he repeated that they'd made a mistake in what I can only describe as an irritated attitude. No attempt at righting this was made. No real apology given. The only thing we were offered in this interaction was attitude, the sort of apology a child gives when they're upset they've gotten in trouble and an unforgettably bad experience. After that fantastic interaction the original waiter comes over with the debt machine and the bill with only the half priced appetizers discounted, we pay our bill and he storms off back behind the bar, not a "have a good night", not a "sorry for the miscommunication (given he was the one that took our order). Maybe because we didn't tip after the poor service and attitude, maybe because he gave off the same vibe of not wanting to be there every time we saw him. I don't know. My family and I go to leave when I realize that my kids never got the desserts that come with their meals. My husband went back in and asked the guy who served us if they had the kinder eggs that come with the kids meals, he without saying a word turns and grabs 3 kinder eggs from the fridge and hands them to him while walking by to go clean the table we had been seated at, further more just doing whatever he can to get us out and be done. The price was NEVER the problem. The problem is how the whole mistake was handled and how we felt leaving this restaurant. I will never be taking my family back here and will share my experience with any and all when ever I hear the name Crabby Joe's. What can be done about this I don't know but I only hope that this location can have a chance to work on themselves before they worsen the Crabby Joe's franchise any more. I can't imagine how the reviews by other customers will look if this continues.

Store location: Crabby Joe's London East

Date:2025-03-02

Table:...

Sorry for length, start to finish. My family and I had gone with the intention to get half priced appetizers for all 6 of us, large family looking to save a buck. When we got there on a Sunday night we were seated by a very kind young lady followed by a waiter who seemed to be done with the night. We were given kids menu's that mention across them their "kids eat free on Sundays" promotion. intrigued we order 3 kids meals for our 3 youngest and 3 half prized appetizers for the rest of the table. you would think if there was any hook to this promotion surely now would be the time to mention that, but at this time nothing was said. We place our orders, wait a short time and our food arrives. The food was great and the short wait was also wonderful when you go that late with children. After we get our food a second wonderful waitress starts attending our table, we had thought our first waiter had gone home. still nothing has been mentioned about any of their promotions being null and void because of anything we have or have not ordered. We are now done eating our food and ask for some take out boxes and the bill, when the waitress comes back with the boxes she asks if we were informed that the kids meals aren't free tonight because we only bought the appetizers and the kids meals and did not purchase any entrees which then makes the kids meals free. When we told her no, no one mentioned that once she left to go talk to her manager. When she came back she tells us the manager will come over to talk to us because we weren't told exactly how their promotion works and the price would end up being different then what we'd be expecting. we wait a couple of minutes for the manager and he comes over to explain that the servers should have explained when ordering how the free kids meal promotion works and they've been spoken too about being more clear moving forward in the future, but because we didn't order any entrees, that's how the promotion works and they hope we'll choose to come back in the future. Making me pay full price for the kids meals when we would have just ordered the half priced appetizers instead of feeling limited, having to worry about this headache and be told to piss off essentially, but not to worry because the 3 appetizers we ordered are still half off. after that fantastic interaction the original waiter comes over with the debt machine and the bill with only the half priced appetizers discounted, i pay my bill and he storms off back behind the bar, not a "have a good night", not a "sorry for the miscommunication (given he was the one that took our order). Maybe because i didn't tip, maybe because he gave the same vibe of not wanting to be there every time we saw him. my family and I go to leave when I realize that my kids never got the desserts that come with their meals. When I went back in and asked the guy who served us if they had the kinder eggs that come with the kids meals, he without saying a word turns and grabs 3 kinder eggs from the fridge and hands them to me while walking by to go clean the table off, further more just doing whatever he can to get me out and be done with us. the price was NEVER the problem. The problem is how the whole mistake was handled and how we felt leaving this restaurant. I will never be taking my family back here and will share my experience with any and all when ever i hear the name crabby joes.

P.S i wanted to...

My wife and I like to go for the late night apps every so often maybe once a month for our date night. However, we went recently on 22 July (Monday) and the service did not meet the usual standards that this place usually has. It seems that there is only one or two servers working for the entire restaurant and it wasn’t that busy but it took about 15 minutes to get it order and then another 45 minutes give or take to receive that order. The order wasn’t over. It was just for appetizers consisting of quesadillas, fried pickles, bruschetta and Crazy fries. The wife always loves the crazy fries and she never has any complaints and I absolutely love the quesadillas. The fried pickles did not taste. They were quite mushy on the inside and very bland on the outside. I won’t order those again for me. I’ve had better places and the bruschetta we could not eat, but that was not fault of the server or the restaurant as my wife did not actually read the ingredients that were included on it and what was on this bruschetta it didn’t seem appealing as it includes cheese and another type of cheese and a lot of opinion don’t belong in or on a bruschetta. Overall, it was probably just not great night and maybe understaffed but still my favorite place to go for late night apps. We will just have to make sure we choose the right day I guess.

Update: (different visit)

I am a big fan of the cocktails and appetizers. However 8 of us went for dinner today and I have to say that the service was good, price was good but the food was lacking flavor. Two of us ordered 7pm top sirloin steak with garlic mash and asparagus at $24.99. The mash was cold, dry and no garlic flavor whatsoever. The medium steak was dry and flavorless. I’ve had better from local grocery store and fried in a pan at home. The fajitas were good, Thai chicken bowl was yummy and the loaded fries are always a hit. Safe to say we will stick to starters and appetizers going forward. I do not recommend the steak a...