The Lakeview Pub — Restaurant in Scugog

Unwelcoming experience and slow service. I strongly advise you to stay away from this restaurant if you are a person of colour.

Right when we arrived, we informed the staff that we had a dog with us. They said we would need to sit near the edge of the patio so our dog could stay on the grass. That was completely understandable, and we agreed. They told us the wait would be around 15 minutes, but we ended up waiting for 45 minutes. When our table was finally ready, we were told that our dog couldn’t sit with us after all because the table was in the middle of the patio, despite the fact that they had known about our dog the entire time. This felt incredibly inconsiderate and avoidable.

We took the table anyway, only to discover that it was a small two-person setup—even though we were a party of three. They had asked us how many people were in our group multiple times, so this should not have happened. Meanwhile, we saw many parties of two sitting comfortably at four-person tables. Our own table barely had enough space for three meals and drinks, and we were noticeably cramped throughout the meal.

To make matters worse, the service was slow and inattentive. Our food took about 30 minutes to arrive, and no one came by to check in on us or offer drink refills. It felt like we were being ignored. As a Chinese family, we couldn't help but feel like we were being treated differently. Nearly all of the other patrons were white, and while this alone is not an issue, the combination of poor service and subtle social discomfort was hard to ignore.

There was also another table of Chinese diners nearby, speaking in Cantonese at a totally reasonable volume, yet we observed multiple nearby tables glaring at them. My family and I also received stares throughout the meal. While this isn't entirely the restaurant’s fault, it contributed to an atmosphere that was not welcoming for people of colour.

IN RESPONSE TO THE MANAGER'S COMMENT: Thank you for replying, but I’d like to address several inaccurate or misleading claims you’ve made.

First, saying your staff or ownership is multicultural does not invalidate a customer's experience of feeling unwelcome. Racism and bias can come from anyone, including people of colour. Simply stating your staff is diverse does not address or disprove my concerns.

Second, we did not ask for a table by the grass. We were told that we could only have our dog with us if she was sitting on the grass, and that the table would be ready in 15 minutes. At no point were we told that our wait would be significantly longer. In fact, your hostess told us “only 2 more minutes” on two separate occasions — only for us to be told 45 minutes later that we’d have to wait another 30 minutes to be seated properly. The issue was not the wait time itself, but the misleading communication.

Also, the claim that we “left the line” is simply false. My mother was told by staff to sit inside the restaurant and wait, and she remained there the entire time. My father and I waited in the car with the dog, but we never abandoned our place in line. Please check your cameras if you doubt this — I’d welcome the review.

Regarding service: our server checked on us only once, near the end of our meal. My father received one coffee refill, but my mother and I never received ours, despite trying to flag down our server. It felt like we were being ignored.

Finally, if it takes 30–40 minutes to get a basic meal at your restaurant, that’s a reflection of your kitchen’s capacity, not an industry norm. We had placed our order before being seated — with the hope that it would help avoid further delay — and we were never informed that such a wait time was typical. That’s important information that should be...

Hi there,

I wanted to offer some respectful feedback about my recent visit. I found a hair in my food, and I did appreciate that the staff remade the dish for me. That said, I was surprised to see the meal still included on the bill.

Just to explain where I'm coming from: in most restaurants, particularly in cities or places with more established hospitality practices, when something like that happens, the affected dish is typically taken off the bill. The remake is considered standard practice, not a favor. It's the basic response to a hygiene issue.

From the customer's perspective, you're paying for a clean, properly prepared meal the first time. When that doesn't happen, and a new dish has to be made because of something outside the customer's control, the replacement is simply fulfilling what was intended to be served correctly, and not offered as something extra.

Charging for the replacement meal after a contamination issue shifts the burden onto the customer for something that was the restaurant's responsibility. That's why I had expected the cost of the meal to be removed from the bill entirely.

I understand that running a small business in a small town comes with its own challenges, and I respect all the work that goes into it. I just wanted to share this perspective in case it's helpful in the future, especially with guests who may have different expectations.

Thanks again, and best of luck going forward.

RESPONSE to follow-up from the General Manager:

Hi Angie,

Thanks for your response and for looking into this further.

I did want to clarify a few things after reading your message. While I appreciate that we received a discount on the second meal, it’s important to mention that this only happened after I brought up the issue myself. Having to advocate for that in the moment was uncomfortable and made it feel like the restaurant wasn’t taking full responsibility.

What stood out even more was the inconsistency around how the situation was handled. I was told by our server that it’s not your policy to remove an item from the bill if the guest eats the replacement dish. That response seemed to miss the point of my original message. The replacement isn’t a bonus or a second helping; it’s simply correcting an error that should not have happened in the first place.

Your message mentioned that these situations are left to the discretion of the manager on duty, which I understand to a degree. However, we were never offered the opportunity to speak to a manager, and based on how things were handled, especially the fact that our server wasn’t even aware of the issue until after the replacement dish had already come out, it seemed like there was a lack of communication all around. When the server did find out, it was mentioned casually, almost jokingly, which didn’t inspire much confidence.

If sometimes meals are fully comped in situations like this, I’m genuinely curious what the deciding factor was in this case. It didn’t seem like there was a clear reason why this one wasn’t, and the mixed messages we received, from the server saying they never comp meals in cases like this, to your note suggesting it’s handled case by case, point to a broader issue of inconsistency.

Ultimately, I still believe the responsibility should lie with the restaurant when it comes to a hygiene issue like this, and in this case, it felt like the burden was put on us to push for something to be done. I hope this feedback helps highlight the need for clearer communication and perhaps a more transparent and consistent policy moving forward.

Thank you again for taking the time to...

It was my first visit to this Pub this past Friday. The experience wasn't the best but with all the covid protocols in place it's very difficult for wait staff . I was one of five senior ladies all in our seventies. Starting with the manager on arriving because we were five persons made it very difficult to seat us. I found her very patronizing. Our server was polite but not overly friendly. I found the food not bad, typically bar food, nothing more, nothing less. We were under the tarp and it started to rain. One of our group tried to move inside further and from across the restaurant was immediately screamed at that she couldn't move her chair because of covid. It was totally embarrassing. Screamed at by staff like delinquent children. We all held high positions of protocols before retirement. This was not how you speak to a quest.

On Sunday we happened to be in Port again with neighbours. They wanted to catch a quick bite and because of the water view stop into the Pub. I had already told them my experience on Friday, but put it down to frayed nerves , being busy and covid protocols by staff. We did get seated with no issues, but wanted menus as three In our party didn't have cell phones. The waitress was so rude when we asked for them. She said it was for their safety we scan and use their app. We had menus on Friday with no issues. She literally screamed at one of our party, and then the manager came over and asked us to leave. This is the first time that my 80 year old husband or myself have been asked to leave any establishment. And this was over nothing. The staff at The Pub need to all get over their self entitlement and the owner needs to send them all on hospitality education. Especially the manager who has no business being in a position of leadership. Even if this doesn't reach The Pubs publication reviews, Yelp, Trip Adviser, Instagram, Facebook etc will all see it, and more importantly..word of mouth. Judy Borg Retired Health...