Simcoe Arms — Restaurant in Ontario

If I could less than one star, I would gladly give this place exactly it.

This evening, we decided to go for an evening drink at our local pub.

We received our round of two beers, one red wine, and a Long Island iced tea.

My stepdaughter took a sip of her Long Island iced tea and realized that it was merely just syrup and had brought this matter to the waitress. The waitress then retrieved the drink and took it upon herself to pull down her mask, smell the drink, said will be right back. The “bartender” came over and said “Hi guys. I made this drink and there is absolutely nothing wrong with this drink. I made this drink myself. Here, our Long Island iced teas are made with an ounce of alcohol. If you’d like, I will gladly add another ounce for you no problem. If you’d like another drink, we can do that too but I will charge you for your iced tea as well as whatever drink you’d Iike next.” My stepdaughter responded “Hi. All I’m mentioning is that my iced tea has no alcohol in it whatsoever, and that it’s too sweet and I mentioned that to the waitress. You are being extremely confrontational and come over to verbally attack me and instead of apologizing and making it right”.

Our waitress then came over back to our table, told us that she would take the iced tea off our bill, and she asked what she would like in return. So she asked for a bud light instead. When she came back with the beer, and she was consistently apologizing, we assured her that it was none of her wrongdoings and we appreciated her efforts to make it better.

So it was set, we all had our drinks and are now able to sit and enjoy our drinks and spend time together.

The bartender then came back over to the table and took all of our drinks, told us that “after speaking with the owner of the restaurant, it was decided that we would pack up for the evening and for us to leave. You were being rude with the waitress and you are being asked to leave.” This is absolutely incorrect and false information.

We had asked to speak to the owner so we could discuss our experience face to face. But instead, she, the bartender, came back to the table, and she was adamant that we were leaving. We were completely shocked and surprised as we did nothing wrong.

To our surprise, the owner was outside smoking and watching us leave, waited for us to leave before going back inside.

I invite the owner and manager to contact me directly to address this situation, so perhaps we can have some clarification as to what we may or may not have done.

As stated, living in a small town like Simcoe with a small handful of bars, this whole situation could have been completely different but it drastically turned out to be the worst going out experience I have ever personally dealt with.

You have lost great patronage and will continue to do so if this is what your...

I honestly cannot muster another star here. We had dinner last night with our two girls and I've never been more disappointed. Initially, the atmosphere is inviting, cozy and quaint. The menu offers a great array of dishes, handhelds and apps, but my goodness do not be deceived by appearances.

Let's start with the fact that they do not have gluten free or gluten sensitive options, so if you have sensitives to gluten, you are going to be very limited. Perhaps they should try to accommodate this need. They do accommodate for small children with an assortment of crayon colors and an activity page which was appreciated.

Now food: My husband is ok with gluten so he ordered a burger and fries, that were pretty good, but my 'Pad Thai' - and I use that loosely, was disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. Yes I have been to Thailand and I know what real Pad Thai tastes like, but that does not influence my review of this atrocious dish. I have had Pad Thai at other restaurants, such as The Shier up the street, which is 100x better than the lukewarm slop I was served.

I am not sure if the 'chef' at the Simcoe Arms knows what Pad Thai is, it seems as if they are absolutely clueless. Quite literally, I was given spicy peanut soup that did not taste like Pad Thai sauce at all, with short rice noodles and pieces of chicken breast (not bad) and overcooked rubbery shrimp. I only could stomach the chicken and shrimp. I had to leave the rest. It was less than palatable and awkward with chopsticks.

So if you want to try this place, go ahead be my guest, but I do not recommend the Pad Thai $15 dish, and I suggest the chef please take a class on how to make Thai food properly or simply don't offer it. I doubt we will return there again unfortunately. I'm not saying this place should have been serving food for a Buddhist Monk, but there is a level of expectation when you choose to eat at a Sit-down restaurant that offers a particular dish, of which you trust will not only be palatable but an enjoyable...

We were very disappointed in the Simcoe Arms. We are relatively new to the area and wanted to try it.

I ordered Tuscan chicken, without olives. When it arrived however it not only was missing the olives, but also the Portabello mushrooms and they added goat cheese and spinach.

After discussing with the waitress, they confirmed ingredients were wrong. New menu, kitchen staff not trained properly, etc. They apologized but only removed the chicken, leaving me with the sides, which of course were cold by the time I received a new plate of chicken.

The waitress stopped back to explain she told the owner and he would talk to the kitchen staff.

Plate #2 comes and is also wrong. Gone were the spinach and goat cheese (not in the menu), but the mushrooms were still missing. The waitress came by again and asked if I got the mushrooms and I said no. A couple minutes later the other waitress stops by and drops off a bowl with some regular mushrooms, not Portabello. No apology, no mention they aren't the right type, just dropped them on the table and left so I could add them to my plate I guess.

Time for the bill, where they felt taking $5 off my $18 meal was sufficient compensation, despite the fact I never received the meal ordered as per the menu. And I got an apology again for their error, saying I was the guinea pig. Nice.

I paid the bill, then told the waitress that while I understand mistakes happen, how they deal with it matters. They have lost two local customers without a doubt. She explained a $5 discount was her maximum authorized amount. I told her the owner knew about the issue and should have addressed it if he knew she couldn't comp the meal. Or she should have approached him, but I blame the owner really

I didn't go in expecting a free meal, but don't think they should charge when they can't get it right.

Very disappointing experience. My husband ordered meatloaf which was decent but lacking spices and...