Cora Breakfast and Lunch — Restaurant in Ottawa

Me and my wife went here for breakfast. We have never been to Cora so this was the first time. We had been away on a vacation for valentine’s weekend away from the kids. We both ordered a western omelette. The waiter who was very friendly asked us how we wanted the omelette. My wife always like extra stuff so she asked that it not have onions as she said she did not like onions. I asked for onions. The food came and my wife’s home fries were loaded with onions she told the waiter so he brought her a bowl of home fries without onions. My wife then went to eat her omelette and it was also full of onions and was completely raw on the inside. By this time I had eaten my home fries and they were not bad and cut into my omelette and it was also raw and had a horrible taste. The waiter came back my wife told him to take it back and it was disgusting but had said it politely. The waiter then walked away without an offer to fix it or anything. At this point I was upset so I decided we get up and leave. I went to the counter and told the waiter there what the issue was and that I didn’t think I should pay for my wife’s plate as she hadn’t eaten anything. She left and went and got her supervisor and she came and spoke to us and we explained the situation she then said she would take 20% off. I then just agreed because I wanted to get out of there and not waste our trip there arguing with someone. The cook then came out and took our receipt and went to cash us out. He was punching the things into the screen at the cash register with such force I thought he was going to break the screen. He then told me the total but it was still the full price. I then said to him he hadn’t taken the 20% off. Well that was that he got very angry and yelled at my wife and said how can you say my food is disgusting told her she didn’t know what she was talking about and that he has never had anyone not like his food. He was so loud the whole restaurant was looking at us. I then told him to not speak to my wife like that and that yes your food is not good and not everyone is the same. He then got very angry with me and told me I was going to pay the full price of the meal and that I was trying to eat for free. I then told him that he put onions in my wife’s food and she didn’t touch it he then told me that it can’t be made without onions. I said yes it can you could just not put onions in it. He then got very upset again and said the mix comes made and it has onions in it already. That makes me think it’s not very fresh. So I said to him if it could not have been made without onions then the waiter should have told us that. I then told him the supervisor told you to take the 20% off he again said I was trying to get free food. I then told him I was not paying for any of it then and I wanted to speak to the manager or owner. He then yelled in my face and told me he was the owner and he was going to call the police on me. He is the bald cook with the tattoo on his neck. At this point I was so embarrassed that this was happening and the whole restaurant was quiet and all watching us. I then just said if you take the 20% off I would pay just so I could leave he then rang it up again and still didn’t take the %20 off so I just paid and left. I didn’t want this to ruin me and my wife’s time away and I didn’t want to deal with all the embarrassment he had caused. This cook should not be in the hospitality business at all very poor customer service and takes criticism very personal. I’m sure if he could have beaten us up for this he would have he was trying to be very intimidating very...

I love Cora and I am a loyal customer. It is always my go-to spot for brunch. However, this specific location provided the worst service of my life. My main problem was with the server we got. I am not sure what his name was because he did not introduce himself, but he was a short, dark haired, middle aged man. His section was not even that big but he clearly could not handle it. He was rushing a lot and barely made any eye contact with us while talking and just seemed like he was in a rush and wanted to get it over with our table (it was a table of two). I was about to ignore his unprofessional customer service skills. However, my friend asked him for maple syrup and when I wanted to ask him for coffee refill, he glanced over me and said "yeah I am bringing it" while running away from our table. He brought her the maple syrup but completely forgot about my coffee refill (usually refills is something that a server is supposed to keep track of but whatever). Then when I asked him about it again, he commanded the runner girl to do it for him (I felt bad for her the way he asked her to do it). Then the girl refilled my coffee and my friends hot water for the tea but left it half empty (look at the photo). The cups are already small, as well as the tea pot, so I do not understand what is the issue of providing a proper refill. I felt so bad at this point for this whole place, that I had to ask the hostess (short hair and coloured mask) , God bless her soul, and then she refilled everything for us and took the empty plates away. I counted the tables, the server had about 4 tables and literally with us all he did was take our order and brought the food. I am pretty sure that was the same service he provided to other tables as well. I am visiting from Toronto and my friend wanted to go to another brunch place and I insisted on Cora, cause I always have the best experience. I wish I listened to my friend and we went to a different place. It was busy but the location is in downtown, so do better. P.S. I have restaurant experience so that is where my whole review is...

Really poor experience here. I’ve been to Cora’s locations before and, although I kept expectations reasonable based on previous visits, this location really dropped the ball. Table for 2 people on a Tuesday at 10am. Took forever to be seated in a nearly empty restaurant. Once seated, we were given menus and then the server left, not asking if we wanted something to drink. After about 15mins, he came back to take our order and drink requests. We waited for another 20-30mins for anything to come back out. I ordered a crepe special from the menu that came with eggs, some fruit and 2 slices of toast. My girlfriend wasn’t overly hungry so she was just going to have my toast, as the crepe would have been enough for me. When our food finally arrived, the server still didn’t bring out drinks or the side of toast. We waited forever until I finally asked someone cleaning tables near us to bring our bill. When the server finally arrived with the bill, he said ‘oh didn’t I bring your drinks?’. I asked about the toast too and he said ‘most people can’t finish the crepe and toast so I didn’t bother bringing it’. Guess we didn’t look hungry enough to get the full amount of food we were paying for??? Not sure why he’s making the executive decision on the toast. So stupid. Service was atrocious. I can understand if the restaurant is busy or chaotic or understaffed (as so many places are these days), but there was a group of staff socializing by the kitchen all morning, ignoring paying patrons and completely railroading the quality of service. Really poor optics. We left still hungry and frustrated. I’m not saying you should avoid all Cora’s locations, as other visits outside of this one were okay, but this location is a complete dumpster fire and I wouldn’t recommend...