Harbour House Waterfront Eatery — Restaurant in Ontario

Went with my family for dinner. Decor was decent. Needs a little more reno work but it was good considering it's new and they are trying to get it off the ground. The lobster crab cakes were very tasty - the texture was different than a typical crab cake. Overall I was very happy with them and I really liked the sauce. The lobster bisque was rich and buttery with a decent amount of lobster meat - it was probably my favorite of the foods. I split a lobster roll and fish and chips with my wife. Some reviews say the lobster rolls were too small but I thought they were very reasonable for the price. A half order would be good for most people especially with apps and a drink. They had nice chunks of lobster. I thought the lobster flavor was a little overshadowed by the toasting on the bun and toppings but my wife disagrees with me on that. Overall we were both happy with the roll. My wife salad had too much dressing for her liking. The fish and chips were nicely cooked and good but didn't have anything really special about them to spring them into excellent territory. They came with the same sauce as the crab cake. I liked the sauce a lot but it made the two dishes taste similar. The coleslaw was gross. It resembled the green coleslaw from KFC and was very sweet. The vegan chocolate peanut butter tart was a nice finish to the meal. Along the way I had a spicy pineapple drink. It was presented in a fun way but it could be tweaked to be a little tastier. We ordered our 1 year old son the kids chicken fingers. It must have been for those obese kids on Maury because it was bigger than most adult meals. I ended up enjoying some of it myself since the chicken fingers were really good. Our server was very kind and worked hard. You could tell she and a lot of staff were inexperienced but I hear it's tough to find servers these days. She made some small errors but nothing that ruined our experience. We liked her overall. The menu had some interesting dishes and some snoozers. I would cut the boring stuff like the chicken caesar wrap, but maybe some boaters like that, I dunno. The night ended with a parking ticket because the parking lot right outside the restaurant is city owned and not marked well - it would be nice if the restaurant had a sign warning of that. Overall we were happy with the experience. I'm excited to come back after they have had some time to work out the small issues. In the mean time I still think it's a nice place to eat good food for fair prices...

Since our first fantastic visit here, we have unfortunately had three unsatisfactory visits. Our most recent being the straw that broke the camels back.

Friday Feb. 4th 2022 around 6pm my boyfriend and I attended Harbour House for our first date night out since lockdown lifted.

We started with two drinks which were fantastic. Our (Absolutely AMAZING) server, I believe his name was Austin, had asked if we have been before which we stated we had. He informed us there had been some changes to the menu due to covid, initially thinking no big deal.

We started with the shrimp wontons, the stuffing was extremely watery and flavorless! We followed with two cups of lobster bisque (the one amazing consistency we've had with every visit) only to be disappointed. It tasted more like soup broth then the rich creamy texture from our previous visits and absolute minimal lobster in it.

Our entrees came with a salad, I asked if it was possible for me to pay to upgrade to a Caesar and after our server checked with the kitchen he informed me they could not do so. So I hardly touched my salad to start.

My boyfriend ordered the Ahi Tuna, we noticed in the description it had changed from a poppyseed crusted to a pan seared tuna steak. Thought nothing of it. For the same price as before it was not crusted, there was no sauce on the side, no avocado, and the rice was mostly undercooked. The tuna steak was completely cold on the inside, no even temperature at all, but my boyfriend said otherwise the tastes wasn't bad.

I ordered the Seafood Linguine, all of the seafood except for the muscles were overcooked. The sauce was flavorless and bland. I requested cheese to try and make it better and it was okay but still didn't taste appetizing. I ended up eating the salad it was served with instead.

Our server offered to have it remade, I declined as my boyfriend was already almost done eating at this point. He felt so bad and kept offering to do something but as I told him it wasn't his fault. He was a fantastic server and did all he could that night! We did have another couple drinks that were also made very well!

Unfortunately this will most likely be our last visit to Harbour House.. Our two highlights of the evening was our server and our drinks.

I really wish I had taken photos for comparison to our first visit because this was very...

I don’t enjoy leaving bad reviews, but after 3 back-to-back poor and disappointing meals, I feel something’s gotta give! Dined in today - there were several events going on in their private rooms. We stood at the front and had multiple staff members walk by us and not acknowledge us at all while seeking someone to seat us. Had the worst Hot Toddy to date (granted it wasn’t on the menu, but if a bartender doesn’t know to make one..better not to serve it?), an underdressed caesar salad, boneless chicken bites that on the menu were listed as a garlic parm sauce that arrived looking so sad and bare, with flecks of garlic and the smallest amount of shredded parm on top made for a very dry time when it was not listed as a dry rub. I pointed this out to our server, and she stated the garlic is the sauce(?). Next up were sweet potato fries that as soon as they hit the table, my heart sank even further. They were just one step below burnt. Sad, soggy, not crispy, and served with a garlic aioli I honestly wished came with the chicken bites instead. Our server did her best and checked in but had sad excuses for what we were being served. I wouldn’t have served 75% of what we were presented with if I had any pride, unfortunately. I don’t enjoy sending food back and simply accepted this incredibly substandard meal at its’ inflated cost. It was evident that care was not taken by staff making the food, and it managed to be deemed fit to serve & match menu description. A lack of pride or minimum standard is sad to see when the previous owners and staff of the establishment upheld their quality and service for many years to loyal patrons. As someone who used to frequent this location all year round, I don’t plan on returning just to pay for yet another disappointing food experience :/ Hope there is a course correction for everyone...