Colonnade Pizza Merivale — Restaurant in Ottawa

I often see reviews for restaurants where are people state that if they could give 0 stars, they would. I have never done that in the past and sadly, this is my first. I was there on Saturday October 21, 2023. My friend and I have previously had very good pizza and other appetizers at this restaurant and never had a problem any of the times we have visited.

Today we arrived just after they opened at 3 PM for late lunch. There were 2 of us. My friend ordered a toasted Western Sandwich with fries and coleslaw. I ordered a club sandwich with fries and coleslaw and we each ordered a canned pop. Our plates arrived after a long wait presumably because we were told the chef hadn't arrived yet when we got there. We noticed on the door they were looking for staff just as many restaurants in the area are these days.

The first thing we noticed was my friend's sandwich was not toasted. White bread, no hint of color and it was not crispy. It was clearly untoasted bread. My friend commented that the coleslaw had an excessive amount of mayonnaise as well, however, since we were so hungry, she started to eat. We could not locate the waitress to let her know about the bread.

My club sandwich appeared to be 2 quarters of a sandwich instead of the standard 4 quarters. If the bread was toasted, you couldn't tell. It was very soft and smashed together. One of the sandwiches had tomato on it. The other had bread, mayo, lettuce in one layer, another layer of bread, a tiny amount of chicken or turkey, some nice bacon and more bread. The waitress appeared to be new and did not come back to check how our meals were at all. Because we were so hungry and while trying to get her attention about the untoasted bread we had started to eat however I kept one of my parts of the sandwich aside to show her the problem with the bread and the lack of tomato. The fries actually were delicious but my coleslaw had way too much mayonnaise as well.

Meanwhile, my friend was eating her Western Sandwich until the point that she pulled out a large, long, light-colored hair. For the record, she has dark hair. She suddenly lost her appetite and did not finish her meal. After calling loudly (but politely) through the empty restaurant to attract the attention of any potential staff member on-site, the young lady returned to our table. We brought the issues to her attention, very politely and told her how dissatisfied we were with the meal. We mentioned in fact, that it was the worst meal we had ever had there. My friend had only eaten half of her meal until she found the hair. As a long time, customer, this was very disappointing. My friend and I had requested separate bills when we ordered initially. When the bills came, the restaurant was good enough to comp my friends meal. My bill, however, was full price. My friend left $5 for the waitress which I think was very generous. I did not leave anything extra as I was very disappointed in the meal and the service. While I recognize in general that food quality is not the fault of a waitress however, in this case, the waitress admitted that she had prepared it. I had mentioned when we sat down that. I was going to order some food to take home for my family after however given that we seriously questioned the quality of the food we chose not to place the additional order.

This experience was made all the more disappointing given the long time, history and reputation of Colonnade restaurant and their always excellent pizza we have enjoyed in the past. I was able to go to a very nice takeout Pizza restaurant located across the street and was able to pick up a large and a small salad, and 2 orders of onion rings and some drinks to take home so that my family was not disappointed..

I understand restaurants are having a difficult time obtaining and training staff, but In my opinion, it would be better not to open if you don't have staff capable of preparing the food to your standards. I wish them the best but I do not...

Went for lunch on Friday at 11:30am. Restaurant had no customers at all. This should have been my first clue as to how this visit would end up. Colonnade Pizza used to be a quality place for pizza and other food. Haven't gone to one in quite a while. I won't be going again. The best part of the meal was our drinks. The cans of Coke and Diet Pepsi were cold, the glasses were clean and the ice cubes were frozen. That's the good part. I asked our server about their Smoked Meat platter and the Club Sandwich. Which was better? She shrugged her shoulders and let out a noise like a dying Wookie child. That wasn't helpful. I asked for the smoked meat. I haven't had one in a couple of years and it made me crave one. The "platter" is supposed to come with soup and salad or fries and coleslaw. The coleslaw sounded good, so I asked for the fries and coleslaw....except they had no coleslaw. Fine. May I have fries and soup then? Again, no. They didn't have soup. Ok. How about the Caesar salad. Phew! That they had available. My son ordered a chicken and pineapple pizza ( I know I might get grief from the no pineapple on pizza people lol) and onion rings. My brother ordered a Julienne salad. Each item came out separately which meant a person either has to wait for everyone's meal come before eating, hence, their meal gets cold or each person eats their meal while the other 2 stare. The onion rings were not toooo bad. The pizza was a major disappointment. The pizza was 1/3rd crust, a tablespoon of sauce and a sprinkling of cheese. There was sufficient pineapple. Think there were a few pieces of chicken? The Julienne salad had 4 pieces of ham the size of corn kernels and 1/2 an egg. It was a small size. My platter arrived and it was roast beef (1 slice folded over on itself). I had ro unfortunately remind the server that I had ordered a smoked meat platter, not roast beef. She didn't say a word and disappeared into the kitchen. About 10 minutes later, another server came by and I asked her if their was any word on my smoked meat. She pointed at my plate and said that I had smoked meat. I had to tell her that smoked meat was different. It is a different colour and a different type of meat. She didn't seem to understand. She asked me if I wanted a Club Sandwich instead. At that point, I was just too frustrated to order anything else. I just wanted to leave. I told her I was supremely disappointed. The food was awful or not available and the service was uninspired. What a fall from grace. When so many good restaurants have closed in the last 5 years, how has this place been able to last? Unappealing food, if it's available and...

ATTENTION TO THE OWNER

Normally, I enjoy this pizza.

My last experience left me feeling uncomfortable.

There was nobody eating inside, as covid restrictions have changed only recently.

The staff at the cash looked confused when I had entered to place my order on a walk in.

I had to iterate to her that I was there to place an order in person.

I am pleasant and inquired about the help wanted sign.

The staff member seemed reluctant to answer my questions about the job position.

She went into the back for a bit.

Came back out and was not very engaging spending most of her time on her cell phone.

I noticed the person chopping prep in the back was also playing on their cell phone, while wearing gloves.

It left me concerned but I payed for my pizza anyways. Grateful as I was hungry and was looking forward to eating.

I had saved my money for this . Times are tough after covid for some of us.

The cashier had to take money from her own purse to pay me my change, which I found odd.

She seemed nervous and stressed I asked if she had children and she said yes. She worked another job as well.

I thanked her and she was so distracted she didn't smile, or leave me with pleasantries as I left.

I felt sorry for her.

After getting the pizza and eating it, I became very sick.

I was in bed two days on and off the toilet and I felt very drained and tired for about 6 days afterwards.

I don't know if it had anything to do with the pizza or not, but I do little changes to my diet so I was concerned.

I am not sure if I will ever be back at this location.

I've never had any problems with Colonnade Pizza in the past.

It may take some time before I come back to this location.

{IF THERE ARE CHANGES TO MY NEXT VISIT, I WILL...