Ortona 1864 Cafe & Panino — Restaurant in Ontario

While I thought the sandwiches were well made with great flavor combinations, the way the cafe handled my recent concern has left a bad taste.

I went on Friday, June 11 for their special midnight event to celebrate Ontario entering Stage 1 and patios re-opening. They advertised on social media and via local news that "from 12am-2am Ortona is celebrating and offering complimentary sandwiches" (from Visit Walkerville). We had even made the effort to order an additional item so we could make sure we tipped our server generously. On top of that, we were looking forward to future return visits to support a local business.

Turned out it was a bait and switch. We were charged full price and when we questioned it when we got the bill, were told mini samples were going to be served at 1:30am. I didn't want to ruin our happy vibe so didn't make a fuss at the restaurant.

When I got home, it didn't sit well with me so I posted a polite comment on Instagram. This was deleted within minutes. I then sent a private message respecting their desire to address this privately. An hour or two later, I was blocked from their instagram account without any response. Since I have no avenue to discuss this privately, I am posting this publicly.

So all is out in the open, this was my direct message that got me blocked. Hi, I see my comment on your post was deleted - so I respect your desire to address this privately. To recap, we were unfortunately not pleased when we left your event tonight. We had initially planned to come out after seeing it on the news even before we realized you were offering complimentary sandwiches. While there, we made an effort to order additional items and planned to leave a large tip. But when we got the bill, we were shocked to be charged full price for all the sandwiches we ordered. We did question it later and were told mini sandwiches would be served at 1:30am, a half hr before close. We didn't want to make a fuss on site and ruin the vibe. We have no problems paying - but this bait and switch...

I can honestly say last night was the first time I've ever felt discriminated against. Myself and a couple friends stopped in for a drink. We stood at the end of the bar for a good 20 minutes being completely ignored. The place was full of a younger crowd and we are in are 40s. I think they were deliberately ignoring us so we would leave.

Finally after my friend bumped into her son's best friend he went to the staff and got us served.

I ordered a Manhattan finally and how was was served wasn't conclusive of the price I paid for it. Yes I complained. I'm usually not one to complain .. but come on? Charging people that much for a drink and your bartender doesn't know how to make a proper one? Don't put an inexperienced person behind the bar with no one quality checking. Apparently the waitress was upset. That's management responsibility to train properly.

Then a waitress comes and starts yelling at my friend .. I told her it was me who complained. They couldn't even get that right!! The owner then comes and takes our drinks and kicked us out? Screaming and yelling at us .. it was pathetic!!

I would also like to add everywhere else we went that night...

I'll start by saying this kind of place isn't for me. For that reason alone, I'm likely not to go back. But there were also some really disappointing problems which made it difficult to enjoy regardless of my preferences.

I went here for brunch on the weekend. The food wasn't worth the price, especially the potato gratin which was cold and unappetizing. The espresso wasn't anything special, either, and I would likely get better quality from Starbucks.

The place was dark and dingy—perfect for drinks at night, but very unwelcoming for this kind of outing. It felt as though we were in a dive bar rather than a European-style cafe.

Worst of all though were the flies. Around a dozen or so flies were harassing my party throughout our meal, getting into our food and generally just being annoying. It meant we left as soon we had paid, leaving half of our plates of overpriced food untouched just to get away. I can't see the owners not realizing this is a problem; I can only assume they don't care since most of their clientele consists of the Walkerville club crowd in the evening.

Given these issues, I'm not likely to go back here, despite recommendations and the...