Neros Steakhouse — Restaurant in Ontario

Alright disclaimer first. I usually hate the pomp and ceremony surrounding expensive steakhouse reviews and read them often with frivolity.Therefore I was pleasantly suprised with our visit to Nero's in the Caesar Windsor's locale, in that it aligned with many other reviews. Nothing bad, lots good, some room for improvement, a complete take on an overall wonderful dinner. A bit of a read so if not inclined just skip the review and skaddaddle down for a totally enjoyable meal and evening out at this restaraunt. First and foremost the atmosphere is not elegant, rather cosy and warm, not over assuming. Thumbs up on this versus being pretentious. Hit my preference box right away especially as we are more on the business casual end in retirement. Very welcoming and less intimidating for those on their first finer dining experience or special night out. No ambient background music on the night which for me is a miss on setting ambience. Maybe someone turned it off or down on our night??? Maestro...if you please. The restaraunt has a special steak and seafood offer for Sundays and Wednesdays. We went for this selection at $63.00 per person which included an appetizer and entree. We chose soup, steak and lobster and salad, steak and lobster. Steak was a 9oz striploin both cuts delivered to perfection on requests of medium and medium rare. The steak has a signature seasoning with a charred surface and there was a side dipping red wine reduction I believe. The steak was so tender and tasty that the sauce was unnecessary even as a finishing touch. A 9oz to me is perfect portion for the wife and I in our early 50's and healthy lifestyle. Lobster portion was perfect, succulent and juicy with a side presentation of butter in a warming basin. Accompanying portions of tender asparagus and creamy mash were of perfect proportion that the overall dinner service of appetiser and entree filled us contently even not too daunting for my wife to complete.(Bummer on the leftovers for me) We were completely satiated. The caesar salad was basic but satisfactory and the soup may have just been odd to my taste and desire. It was a roasted tomato basil and red pepper. To me it had the consistency and texture of Nona's homemade pasta sauce. Again an odd consistency to my palate, however if my Nona made that with spaghetti or meatballs or pasta of any sort, the flavor is wonderful. Service was not fast however not really slow in thinking about it past tense, in that it allowed for ample conversation and caused me to indulge in a second glass of wine to enjoy with my entree. The bread unfortunately was delivered late, almost at the point of appetizers being finished so a bit of a failing grade there. Saving grace it invariably tasted super fresh and warm especially a seemingly sour dough variety with a salty bagel type exterior(I ate the wife's piece too) and delivered with a creamy, whipped butter, unlike a frozen butter patty experienced elsewhere. We weren't going to do desert being conveniently content on the main offering, however we couldn't resist in indulging in a hazelnut daquoise after reading the description. It was a dynamite decision. Totally decadent, presentation splendid. I'm sorry I stuck my fork in before doing it photographic justice. It was not overly sweet and the whipped cream and assorted jelly/jam accompanient on the plate offset the sweetness beautifully. Dave our server was professional, apologetic on the bread and not employed in a capacity like some restaraunts to upsell drinks or additions to a memorable meal. I say in confidence, it marks all my non-pompous points of an unpretentious experience with excellent food, good service, value for money and most importantly, an establishment worth my hard earned dollars and return clientiele we will be. We've discussed the quality of this evening multiple times since Sunday, May 4th, so I personally recommend giving the restaraunt a visit, which is not always reminiscent of all my experiences. Footnote, enjoy utilization of Open Table for booking. Simplicity...

I also have a Tony Story. End of the day - don't accept Tony as your server.

Had tickets for a show - Oct 2, 2016 - 8pm. Had reservations for 6pm. Things started ok. Dropped my knife. Got underneath my glass of water and went flying. I asked Tony to grab it so no one would step on it or get cut. That confused him to no end. He took my wife's knife and put it away. Then I say "No, Tony we both need knifes" Then left two knifes, then he took mine. This went on for 5 minutes. I started to wonder if Tony was on something. "Leave us each a knife and please grab the one on the floor, Tony". He did several different things with knife placement and re-arrangement but never managed to do that. My wife then told me to let it go – we had one knife after the "I'm Tony and confused" show and she let me have it.

Our main course was taking a very long time. We asked Tony repeatedly. Other couples had finished their meal - people who came before us. Finally, our meal shows up and my wife's lobster was cold from the moment he placed it on the table. It was 7:15pm. We sat down at 6:00pm. It's not fast food but wow, and we told him we had a show at 8pm. We asked how this hot meal is stone cold and he offered to heat it up. Seriously, he just put it down and told us, it's now cold. How long had it been sitting in the kitchen waiting for him to pick it up?

We called the Manager. Tony would not go away while we are trying to explain it to the Manager. My wife got up and left and never ate her meal. Can’t blame her – it was stone cold. The Manager offer $50 credit on our next meal if we come back within 90 days. Can't see why I would ever go back. Johnny Rockets probably has better service. We could have stopped at Tim’s and got a sandwich and had better service.

The Manager did explain they were having problems in the Kitchen and between the Kitchen and Tony. He suggested next time we book that request that Tony not be our waiter. That doesn’t really seem to address the problem or even acknowledge the problem. Also, the bill was the full amount and frankly, we probably won’t go back ever again – although we have dined there many...

Updated review and score: 11 years (that's how stubborn I am). Had 5 people with me, decided to give it another whirl. Our dinner was late 9pm on Sat, but what a difference. Special shout out to our server (I'm sorry I forgot your name, but hopefully the massive tip makes up for it, you provided an excellent experience alone). Food was far better, presentation was good. They ran out of a few of basic things (who runs out out of olives?) and certain specialty items that they sub'd for (no problem), but the rest of the meal and experience more than made up for it. Once again, shout out to our server though, people underestimate how much service makes everything else better. I can't recall waiting for anything. Props to you young man.

Previous nightmare below: Where to start. Tempted to give a 1. Went there yesterday for my birthday. Got a Filet, asked the waiter how I should order it based on what I wanted. He recommended medium rare (for slightly red in the middle, pink through it). Came to the table medium well/well done, very light pink throughout and grey 50/50. For a 48$ steak, I'd prefer its cooked properly since it was tough. Told him it wasn't, comes back 10 minutes later with a flash light and asks me to cut into it, then tries to justify that its cooked correctly (stumbles and says its medium). Another 10 minutes later, finally the steak goes back and they're cooking another. Manager comes by several times, admits it was overcooked. Cool. Next steak comes rare. That's fine, I can deal with it (they butteyflied it since they apparently can't cook medium rare. Its 20-30 minutes after everyone's eaten at the table (only one of which actually ate and enjoyed their food).

We get the bill, no credit at all for the steak. Nada. So I ate by myself, full off the bread to begin with. Felt insulted by the waiter (flashlight..., it was day time, and he had me cut into the steak). I was patient, manager could have made it right, chose not to, so that's why they get this review. Service is as important as food, and they got neither right. Shame, could have been a nice place. Now for my 30th birthday I unfortunately will remember this terrible...