Bâton Rouge Grillhouse & Bar — Restaurant in Ottawa

I am changing my previous 4 star review to a 1 star considering I've only been to this location 3 times and this time was absolutely AWFUL. HORRENDOUS. SO bad that I can't imagine I'd ever give them another chance. First, we were sat down and waited 10 minutes for water (there were 5 tables on the patio total). Then we made our order. Our appetizer (the crispy shrimp) came and was not served as it was stated on the paper or online menu. We got a handful of shrimp on romaine lettuce with a giant ladle of sauce instead of crispy shrimp over an Asian slaw. When I expressed my displeasure at not having been told in advance (I wouldn't have ordered a salad as an appetizer for my salad meal....) the manager came over. I wasn't even apologized to. I was firmly told that 'since covid this is how they're doing it' and they walked away. Well, let me tell you, if you take this much time to print new menus, make qr codes, and update your website for covid - then i would think that you could at least adapt the descriptions and photos of the items you've changed. Moving on, we have now been in the restaurant 35 minutes and are waiting for our meal. Over the next 20 minutes, 3 of the 4 other tables complain about their meals - i watch the manager walk around to them - but not a single one gets a new item. Obviously the floor manager is not making anyone feel any better and not willing to fix any mistakes. After 55! minutes, our meals - did i mention it was 2 salads? arrive. Only 5 minutes after I had told my dinner date that I was going to simply walk out of the restaurant. Oh, this is also at 9pm. I'd understand at 5 or 6 pm... but 9pm for 2 salads? It's okay, not like the waiter apologized for the wait or anything. And our cold salads were room temperature. Obviously they'd been forgotten or their fridges aren't working. Needless to say the waiter (who now only has 2 tables on the patio) doesn't come around until we are finished. As he walks by i asked for the bill. He had the audacity- after not saying a single word to us all dinner, oh you don't want to have dessert? No I don't want to have dessert after being in your restaurant for 90 minutes to have the wrong appetizer followed by 2 lukewarm salads over the course of 90 munutes when neither even require any cooking. But thanks. Another 10 minutes later we get our full price meal - without even an apology or a word. The man who appeared to be the owner was handling a guest at the next table who was displeased. My partner paid and didn't leave a tip (do you blame him) and we got up and left the second the machine beeped - not soon enough though to hear the waiter say, well they didn't tip to the owner, who just yelled out after us have a grwat night folks. Yes, covid has been difficult, yes times are tough for restaurants, but at the very least - I expect a waiter to have the decency to treat me like a person. And I expect for a restaurant to admit their shortcomings. And I dont expect to watch the manager going to 4 different complaining tables over the course of 1 hour. And I dont expect to wait 55 minutes for a salad. At any point an apology could have been made, or the appetizer remade or switched or the appetizer compd, or even a dessert on the house (not that i want free things - but simply to acknowledge that they value my business in some way and that they want to improve my experience). I am so displeased I couldn't even write this review until 2 days later because I was in shock of how bad my experience was for the 80$ it cost me. I guess the customer really doesn't come first anymore and the bottom line is the...

Made reservation 3 weeks in advance. Graduation dinner for family, 6:30 reso! Ordered a vodka paralyzer, they could not make this? I asked what kind of bourbon do you have? Veronica our waitress replied we have Buffalo trace and southern comfort. I said that’s all you have? Veronica said she was just passing on the info from the bartender. I said great but, souther comfort is not a bourbon. Buffalo trace it is I guess. Ordered a spiced rum and coke, sorry no spiced rum! Service quite slow as well…. Dinner time 6:30 pm I order prime rib and everyone else ordered. I’m told they are out of prime rib. Manager Sam comes over, he informs me he works there 5 days a week and he is happy to make sure I get a great cut next time! That’s wonderful! Next time! I proceed to tell him about the issues ordering drinks and so many things 86d. Sam tells me they are a franchise and they only do what corporate tells them. I ended up ordering a rib steak for 47.00, very thin steak for 47.00 and it was so so. Another family member ordered Santa fe chicken, after a couple of bites we call over Veronica and explain it’s over cooked and very dry. Sam comes to the table and says what was wrong with the chicken, it’s explained. Sam asks would you like another Santa Fe ? No thanks, nothing else . Whole experience was not good, they keep saying sorry for the delay we are very busy. I ask for the bill and I pay, leaving 15% for bad service. Too top it all off, they charged me for the Sante Fe which was returned. Terrible experience, poor service, no premium bottles, food was mediocre at best. Hey BR better Step up your game, look across the parking lot! Chop has your number. Best of luck to you. Short staff is not busy. Training training and training is key! December 8, 2023 Take 2 Went last night for a birthday. Reso was for 5:30pm, Friday night. Guess what, no prime rib! How is this possible? I ordered a 57.00 Rib steak, poor quality, under cooked and tasteless. Service was not attentive and everything is over priced. 3 glasses of wine for 57.00. I do not mind to pay for quality, this lacks quality from the very start. Where is the pride of ownership? For 450.00 I have expectations and this restaurant failed in every single area. Get the service consistently good, know your wines and cocktails, stock your kitchen so you can sell. No table touches done. And I assume this is because they only hear problems.

Clearly, this owner goes in the cheap. He does not hire professionals because professionals cost money. Keep hiring inexperienced staff, this will grow your business……. Likely, not professional GM would work in this environment, especially if not being paid for being a GM. Must have product to sell, know your clientele and deliver what they want. I’m sorry, there is no excuse to be out of prime rib at 5:30 on a Friday. This is not a one off as this happened the last time I was there, a year ago. Nothing changed. Still poor management, poor service and poor quality product. And did I mention over priced? There are so many better options to spend your money. This guy clearly does not want your business, do him a favour and give your hard earned money to the restaurants who care about...

So reservations were made for Saturday, January 14, 2023. A booth was selected and we were seated. My husband ordered a beer and then my mom and I ordered the MIONETTO PRESTIGE PROSECCO TREVISO BRUT = Bottle 200 ml at a cost of $16.00. The waitress repeated the order. Our bottle was delivered and served. Then we each ordered appetizers and our meal as it seem to be a busy night as it was the weekend. I ordered the CRISPY SHRIMP (Good - no complaint) and CREAMY POTATO SOUP (BR SIGNATURE) (terrible). The soup arrived. I thought they made a mistake as it had the consistency of porridge / mashed potatoes. You could eat it with a fork. I mentioned to the server and it was removed. They said they would add more fluid to it. Well that came back with the same consistency. I have never in my life had potato soup you could eat with a fork. I sent it back. It wasn't CREAMY as stated on their menu, it was stiff. You could turn the dish upside down and it would still be in the bowl. My husband's caesar salad was not much to talk about. You could make it better at home. Our meals arrived - HALLOUMI GNOCCHI (luke warm temperature) (; FILET MIGNON w/LOADED SMASHED POTATO SKILLET (ENHANCED WITH TRUFFLE OIL) (not hot even though on a skillet) - I think they used the potatoe soup as the smashed potatoes (not impressed); GRILLED MEDITERRANEAN SEA BASS (not grilled, they were either steamed or poached) - which never arrived as they brought a different dish, realizing the mistake that was made by the server, my mother had to wait for her meal while we ate. Meal finally arrived, mom ate alone, I ate half of my meal, my husband finished his steak and vegetables because he was hungry, potatoes were tried and then left. We were offered desert for the mistake, we said no but my mother took hers as take out.

I'm bad that I should have checked the bill when it arrived, but my husband just wanted to get going, grabbed it and paid it quickly. When we arrived home, we looked at the bill, so what we ordered did not match what was on the bill - MIONETTO PRESTIGE PROSECCO TREVISO BRUT = Bottle 200 ml - instead they charged us $50.00 for the 750ml bottle (royally not impressed). Sending the soup back twice, they still managed to charge us for one soup at $7.00.

As Baton Rouge advertised on their website "Bâton Rouge has been serving quality, fire-grilled food and delivering an unmatched experience with attentive and friendly service. Today, twenty-eight Bâton Rouge franchises bring their passion, masterful grill skills, and quality food to each of its locations in Quebec, Ontario, and Nova Scotia." MAYBE SOME DAYS BUT THIS WEEKEND YOUR QUALITY OF SERVICE MISSED THE MARK.

My fault for checking the bill before we left, Baton Rouge fault for their terrible service (from table to kitchen to table). Only good thing, our server was very nice was aware of her mistake with my mom's meal. To us, it was just not...