Under The Volcano — Restaurant in Ontario

I visited the restaurant for my birthday this year really excited to eat there. I had eaten there once before (before they relocated) and received excellent service.

This experiences was QUITE different. My company and I were not greeted at the front, instead we were left waiting for 10 minutes while the servers were helping the other customers, which was fine with us at first...

Then when we finally were seated, we looked through the menus and found everything we wanted to order... The only thing missing now was our server... We decided to test and see how long it would take them to notice that they hadn't served us. Half an hour later, we had to call someone over to get us OUR DRINKS. "Oh, have you had enough time to look at the menu?" - Uhhhh... yeah...

The next thing we noticed were the people in the booth behind us, who had arrived about ten minutes after we did, and they were already getting their meals! WOW! That really agitated me, but I kept my cool.

The waiter then brought out the wrong drinks because she hadn't written them down, she was just going to memorize them. So we sent them back. FINALLY we got them! JEEZ!

I had ordered the Black Pepper Steak or whatever it was called. When it came out, it was the most bland steak I'd ever tried to eat. I got three bites in before having to call over the server and tell her that this was not the correct steak, and that I was tired of the screw ups. I wanted to speak with the manager. She nervously obliged and about 10 minutes later, a ditzy lady came stumbling out of the back.

She then informed me that I got exactly what I ordered and that maybe I should have picked a different restaurant. For some reason, they were blaming their mistakes on me, someone who was just trying to get a bite to eat on his birthday before heading to a movie with some friends (Which was already half an hour in by this point).

They did end up remaking a new steak, which tasted horrible and was about half the size of the one I was originally served. By this point I had made it very clear that I was not impressed with the terrible service.

I ended up paying the bill and leaving because if I had stay there any longer, I would have screamed at the manager. She really needs to reevaluate her position and stop blaming customers for your company's mistakes. If you can't even own up to your own mistake, you shouldn't be in the business. I would give this restaurant -10 stars out or 10.

I really would recommend people taking their money elsewhere. There are plenty of places in London to get a better meal for a fraction...

Under the Volcano has delicious food and I always enjoyed dining in.

But, we have had such bad luck with ordering out... that we will not be supporting this restaurant until dining in is an option. The first time we ordered take-out was before the pandemic. We have ordered delivery twice since.

The take-out day... the young girl running that area was just really inexperienced. I basically had to calmly walk her through doing her job because she was mixing our order with others and not comprehending what she was doing wrong... she put containers sideways into the bag and I had to coach her on how to put them in so that peoples food dosen't spill out. It was just a long process as I spent nearly 20 minutes in there helping her figure out our order and how she could hand it to us.

The first time we did delivery, food was missing. It was at the start of the pandemic, so we understood that things happen. The lady who called us back on the phone a day or so later, helped us have that solved and was apologetic.

The other day, we did delivery again for the first time in a few weeks. Food was missing, again (the side french fries, the chips/salsa and the hot sauce), and the beef I got was definitely the chipotle meat not the cayenne meat. When I called, I tried to speak and I was cut off when I went to speak... and put on a hold that lasted nearly 10 minutes. When I finally spoke to someone, I was polite and just asked for the missing fries to be replaced. Shockingly, I was rudely questioned?! It was as if the guy thought we were trying to steal french fries... after putting in an $80 order for 2 people. Like... I just paid $5 for a side of sour cream, you think I need to steal french fries?? It was ridiculous. He offered absolutely no apology for his attitude or for the inconvenience. About 40 mintues later, the fries were delivered to the house.

The experience just sits wrong with me. I will give them one chance when we can finally dine-in. But, if that goes south... I think it will be time to say goodbye after a decade of calling this restaurant, my "favourite," because I would be mortified to bring a guest to dine with me where we may be disrespected, forced to wait while the correct order is remade, or treated like we are inconveniencing staff by asking for what we paid for...

Update: we have given them 3 chances since i made this post 8 months ago. Three strikes, you're out. It just...

Holy Cannoli, This place has completely gone downhill. The staff just don't seem to care anymore.

We had several issues with takeout here this past year (missed food, wrong orders, containers in the bag sideways so they dumped)... but dang. We thought, "it will probably be the way it used to be once we can dine in." So, we headed in tonight for in-person dining for the first time in such a long while.

It wasn't even busy while we were here tonight, and we had a veteran server. But it could have not been worse service.

We waited at least 10-15 minutes before we even got our food order in. The food came out at a decent speed and was delicious and hot, so this review has nothing to do with the Cooks. Once we got our food, we were basically forgotten about. She did drop by and refill drinks a couple times, but was in such a rush that she didn't give us the chance to check in with her.

When we were finished with our entrees, I kid you not-- we waited at least 35 minutes. My patience was completely shot during this time frame, which played out as such: We already weren't thrilled with her, but she was completely ignoring us... despite walking past us several times. She could clearly see that we were finished, and I know this because eventually another server brought us take out boxes. We then continued to wait a significant amount of time, hoping she would come back so that we could each order dessert. Eventually I was done with waiting to order dessert OR even get a cheque and walked up to the bar where she kept returning to. She had the audacity to tell us to "come on up, I'll take care of you" as if we weren't already doing so/ hadn't been ignored the whole time by her... and then make us wait a few more minutes while she did other things.

It is extremely rare that I wouldn't give a server any tip, but she just was terrible; I'm sorry to be rude, but there's no sugar coating that experience. It was our first time back, after alot of thought being put into whether or not we would support this place any longer after the terrible experiences we had. I know one tables perspective / the loss of a few patrons isn't a huge deal... But this was completely avoidable, as its being ignored and not even being able to order what we wanted that has solidified that I will never return to a place I used to refer to as my "favourite restaurant in London." It's a dang shame as this place used to be...