The Local Social House — Restaurant in Ontario

This past Friday night we had a table of 6, I was looking forward to good conversation, a few drinks and some food at a new local establishment. The atmosphere on the patio was wonderful. Our waiter, Colin, took our drink order and brought us water. We waited over 45 minutes for our drinks. We had to ask Colin where our drinks were and also had asked if we could have the outdoor heater turned on near our table. I noticed one of the co-owners turning on the outdoor heaters at a few spots on the patio, but no one turned on ours. After some time, another patron near us turned the heater on. When we received our drinks, we asked to give our food order. I asked Colin if the food was going to take as long as our drinks as we had somewhere else to be. He didn't really give much of an answer, a 'hopefully not'. After waiting another 35 minutes for our food, which I might add was salads, bread, baked brie, a club sandwich and wings (nothing too time consuming for a kitchen) my friend and myself went in to speak with a manager. It was understood that there was a wedding party in another part of the establishment, however it was quiet inside. The manager apologized and said he would look into it. Having a wedding party in another part of the restaurant is not an excuse to ignore the other patrons of the establishment. Especially when other tables around us were getting their drinks and meals. Our food did come out very quickly after speaking with the manager. We were told that there would be a price adjustment. There was nothing done on our bills. Not once through this whole time waiting for our food did Colin or the manager ask if we would like a refill on our drinks. When we were inside talking to the manager, there were staff standing around and chatting at the bar. I think more training is required, organization and delegation to work as a team. The manager should be managing, not doing service unless required. I would imagine Friday and Saturday nights are the busier nights especially with the live music. I hope that things improve as it certainly was not a good first impression. Your website states ' Our service is attentive and unpretentious. The food and experience keeps guests coming back again and again'. I would disagree with this statement after Friday night's experience. I hope in the future things will improve. I certainly do not want to see this establishment fail as having another location for live music in the area...

This was a first visit for my wife and myself. It was after 2000hrs, so it wasn't super busy. Sat on the patio, it was a little dark for reading menus, but the wait staff brought a small table lamp. I found the patio tables a bit small for drinks and plates. We shared the brisket pouting, the fish tacos with side ceasar salad, and an order of Buffalo wings. The poutine was huge, a meal in itself. The fries were great, there's lots of super tender beef, squeaky local curds, and flavourful gravy. The wings were unbattered yet still crispy with really good Buffalo sauce flavor. The three cod tacos came on traditional tortillas, the batter was golden and crispy, not oily, and the fish was flakey and tender. The salsa was bright and fresh with very mild spice. We had it come with a side Ceasar instead of more fries. I usually find most restaurants over dress their salad; that wasn't an issue here. There was nothing on it. Not even a drop of olive oil. It's literally a little bowl of chopped Romain, bacon bits, finely grated parm, and some very hard croutons. For desert, we had the chocolate torte. This was an amazing little disk of dense, silky smooth flourless chocolate orgasm. Moisten with a passion fruit slurry on the plate, topped with a single raspberry and a smoked Tonka bean, for nutty vanilla spice bit of exotic flare. Your mouth will love it from the first bite and hate you as soon as the spoon stops coming. All of the staff members we had contact with were attentive and friendly, without always being at the table. The young lady who served us seemed to have a good knowledge of the menu and was able to make some recommendations since it was our...

We were a party of 6 for my mom’s birthday last night. The view is quite lovely and the patio is a great addition. This was our second try of the restaurant after mediocre first tries which we figured were just working out the kinks of a new restaurant. That wasn’t the case. Our server appeared to be new (which is fine and understandable), he wasn’t sure of the alcohol selections or menu questions a few of us had. We ordered 3 appetizers: chicken wings, baked Brie and the falafel. The falafel was good but definitely not for sharing. The Brie was cold. Our server didn’t bring over plates, we had to ask for them for the apps. For our mains 4 people got burgers - all of which were over cooked. The “char” on the burgers was really just burnt. I had the pickerel which had so many bones it was hard to eat, I don’t think the fish had been cleaned properly. The random raw tomatoes on the side of the plate were strange and then 2 pieces of charred kale, and mostly just fennel. My dad had the pork chop which he just said was “okay”. Our server was so busy on the patio we had to ask multiple times for water, our appetizer plates were never cleared. Our server never asked us if we wanted dessert, tea or coffee so we asked for the bill as everything was so slow at that point we just wanted to leave our reservation was 6:15 and we didn’t leave until 8:20 (without dessert). There were only two tables inside, everyone else was outside. I had told them when I made the reservation that it was my mom’s birthday and it wasn’t acknowledged. I’m not sure if it was lack of training, that the restaurant was understaffed for the amount of reservations but we were all disappointed in the service...