Stone House 1891 — Restaurant in Ontario

After biking more than 30 kms around the island on a sweltering day, my 13 year old daughter and I were looking forward to celebrating my 50th birthday. We were shown to our table by the hostess- a really tall barrel table with tall bar height chairs balancing on the gravel patio right next to the live band. I am quite short. The chair seat nearly reached my bra line. I told the hostess that I could not sit on that seat because I would break my neck and that the band was too loud and I could not hear anything. I politely asked if we could sit elsewhere. I don’t know whether she heard me because she just chuckled and walked away. A man, not wearing the staff uniform put the menus on the table with two small glasses of water on the table. I calmly said the same thing I told the hostess. He appeared miffed. There were open tables and the two guys waiting after us at check-in did not have a reservation and were seated on the upper patio.

We were shown to a smaller table on the lower gravel patio closer to the beanbags, thankfully with regular height chairs. It was getting late and the sun was shining directly on the table. The umbrella was half broken and not in a stand, but I hoped it would tilt to give us shade. I asked the waiter if it tilted and he walked off without a word. After trying to figure out if and how this umbrella might tilt to give us some shade for quite some time, I approached the waiter and asked if he knew if the umbrella would tilt. He was not serving anyone at that moment and after trying myself, I felt it was an appropriate time to ask for help. Apparently not. He got about three inches from my face and YELLED “I’m coming to tilt the umbrella at your table” and something like if you get back to it. I was not only horrified and humiliated, I was frightened. He stormed to the table, picked up the half broken umbrella, leaned the entire pole in the centre hole of the table and shoved the end point by my daughter’s feet, storming off again without a word. My daughter was shocked and wanted to leave. I looked on my phone and unfortunately Pelee Winery was already closed and there was a line up at the little grill. We were stuck or go hungry until 10:30. The granola bar we had for lunch and small ice cream wouldn’t hold us. My daughter noticed sand (or dishwasher scuzz) in our water glasses that we had been drinking from- I swished the glasses and threw out the water. I told her it would have to do because I was afraid to ask for new glasses.

My daughter had been looking forward to getting the penne with plain tomato sauce that she had our last visit (substituted from the cream sauce). We were told absolutely no substitutions that everything is only exactly what is on the menu. I said that she would need a few minutes to review the menu. Twenty minutes later or more, he returned to take our order. My daughter and I were being especially polite with our pleases and thank yous. I taught her to show kindness. I told her he was obviously having a bad day, but there was no excuse for his behaviour and that if we had another option, we would have left. When he returned with the meals, I tried to ask for malt vinegar and salt for my fries. I managed to ask for malt vinegar as he walked away while I was speaking. I was afraid to ask for salt when he came back. My daughter quickly ate her pizza, but my perch needed to cool a bit. I had barely touched my meal, when he returned asking “can I get you a box or are you still working on it?”. The experience was awful. He was rude, hostile and frightening. If he hadn’t been peering over my should as I paid the bill, I would have pushed tip zero because that was what he deserved. The bill said the waiter was Colin, but I don’t know if that was his name as he never introduced himself and did not wear a nametag or uniform.

Time wise, we arrived at our 5 pm reservation on time and our order was taken at 5:45 pm.

The food itself was decent, but not great, though the taste was likely soured by the service. We won’t be returning on our next trip...

Overall, an awful experience.

The main reason for my party of four wanting to go to Stone House for dinner was because they advertise having craft beer, a craft kitchen, and authentic pizza baked in a traditional 800 degree stone oven.

We arrived on a Friday night at approximately 8pm and were seated on the patio quickly. At 8:30pm someone finally arrived to our table to take our drink order. At this point we learned that they only have 2 craft beers on tap (a lager and a cream ale). Two members of our party liked the look of a beer that was ordered at a different table and asked what it was. We were told it was the lager and we ended up ordering 2 lagers and a cream ale. Three cream ales arrived but we weren't given the opportunity to object (he left immediately after). 30 minutes passed and our waiter had not returned to take our food order so we finished our incorrect beers and flagged down another server and asked if we could order another round of drinks and food.

We were told that "there is no pizza". This was a huge disappointment because pizza is over half the menu and the only other items that someone could really order that would make a decent dinner were wings and fish tacos. We had also already been here for over an hour and were worried that this was now our only option for food in the area so we placed our order. My girlfriend and I split an order of wings and an order of tacos. The food was cold and very underwhelming. The fish inside the tacos tasted good, though cold, but the rest of the taco was sub-par. I also found $18 for 2 tacos very expensive. I live in downtown Toronto were there is an abundance of excellent Mexican restaurants that serve much better tacos in the $4-$6 per taco range. I understand Pelee Island is a bit isolated and I'm sure there are supply issues, etc., but this seemed like a bit much for what you end up getting.

After our meal, we decided to move inside to have one more drink before moving on for the evening and we wanted to try out their "craft bar." They didn't have a drink menu so I attempted to order an Old Fashioned but was told that they didn't have the right ingredients to do this. Without really knowing what they were able to make, we decided to leave.

Not once was I offered a legitimate apology or anything for my bad experience (free round of drinks, etc). I paid my $230 bill for essentially some appetizers and a few rounds of drinks and left disappointed.

All in in it was a bit of a shame as this place does has huge potential. It's perfectly situated facing the water and the building itself is quite nice. Hopefully they can find a way to provide better food and service to...

I'm not really sure where to begin, but here it goes.

After biking all day, we were excited for food and drinks. There aren't many options on Pelee Island. The Stone House has a beautiful patio right on the water, very close to the ferry dock, so it was an obvious choice.

First, we stood for several minutes next to the sign that asked us to please wait to be seated before anyone noticed us. When the gentleman came, we were told to sit wherever we'd like. No one gave us menus or came to check on us. Another table was seated next to us. This is when the waitress noticed no one addressed us. She apologizes and brings us menus, explains there was a communication issue between staff. Not great, but okay things happen.

Our waiter comes (he happens to be the person who told us to sit wherever....). We look over the menu and 90% of the items are overpriced. Again, not ideal, but it is what it is. We get beers and chicken fingers. The waiter tells us they're "honestly the best chicken fingers hes ever had", so we were pretty excited.

The beer? A+ Delicious. Cold. Very promising!!

The chicken fingers? I assume the waiter never tried frozen store bought chicken fingers because I guarantee you they're WAY better than whatever we were served.

To top it off? We were given no cutlery, no napkins, no salt and pepper.

I hate leaving bad reviews but this was honestly both the absolute worst food and service I've received in a very long time, if not ever. If you're only getting beer? This spot is amazing and you should absolutely go there. If you're looking for food, I'd recommend picking...