The Mad Musher — Restaurant in South Algonquin Township

Incredibly shocking service during a pandemic. We ordered the chorizo poutine and was given a regular poutine (no problem thought it was just a slight error so we continued to eat it) but we brought it up to the waitress and she informed us it was someone else’s order. It all went downhill from here after we offered to keep the poutine and have our order given to the other customers (since we already ate some of the food) but the waitress insisted on giving it to the other customers and said (exact words) “it’s okay it was only one bite” then proceeded to grab the food and give it to the unknowing customer. My cousin had to inform the customers himself not to consume the food as we already ate some of it and the waitress grabbed the food and left angrily. I understand it’s worrisome to mess up and have to bring the food back as a cafe worker myself but I would never serve food touched by someone else to a customer. This has been the first restaurant visit my family and I have travelled to since the pandemic and this situation really worried us since we have immuno compromised individuals in our family so we decided to ask for a refund and cancel our food order. When we went to ask for a refund the waitress and the (I assume) manager were very hesitant saying the food was already ready for us and they’re not giving us a refund despite what we just witnessed. I understand that this is money lost for them but my family owns a cafe as well and would never force someone to pay for food especially after witnessing such horrible food handling & safety. Things began to escalate as we brought up the situation to the manager and the waitress began to yell at us accusing us of lying and almost swore multiple times at us. I was so shocked and I could not even believe the horrible customer service this woman had. I have never seen anyone in the food or even retail industry yell at a customer in that manner. After explaining the situation in a calm tone many times, the manager was still reluctant on giving us even some of our money back (we refused the food so we did not ask for both money and the food). After a long discussion and constant yelling from the waitress, we finally ended up getting ~80% of our money back. My family and I always come up to Algonquin park and we are pretty familiar with the area/people so we were extremely disappointed in this establishment. I hope they are able to learn from this experience and educate their staff about food safety especially during a pandemic.

Update: The owner apologized via email and...

We planned to have dinner here when we booked our trip after hearing good things about it. Unfortunately we did not think ahead and make a reservation.

When we walked into the restaurant we were greeted by a large group of people (10-12) who appeared to be waiting to be seated. It was about 15 minutes before ourselves and others were approached by someone who worked there. We were told it would be about a 45 minute wait.We had heard so many good things about this place (and it was the only place open after 7) so we decided to wait.

During our hour wait, we observed a few things worth noting:

Waitress complained to a customer about     how busy it was (quite loudly).

Open tables that had not been cleared for more than 10 minutes.

-Some of the staff rushing around in a hostile manner (ie. slamming open doors and practically pushing through the crowd of customers waiting for a table without saying a word)

-Even more customers arriving without being greeted. Having no idea what's going on and how long the wait is.

Lack of efficency in the waiting staff. They just seemed to not care, while the cooks in the kitchen looked like they were about to have a heart attack.

Eventually we were seated and our orders taken.We had looked at the menus ahead of time and knew what we wanted so this process went very quickly.

Since we had been standing for over an hour we were understandably a little thirsty. It took awhile to receive our drinks and then didn't get a refill until the end of our dinner(upon our request). We only ordered water. We actually witnessed some people getting up and getting their own water from the bar as it was just sitting there waiting to be brought to the table after they had asked for their drinks twice.

We both ordered burgers because we had heard good things. Unfortunately they were very tasteless and not worth the $15.00. We overheard the waitress telling another table they switched to frozen patties about 2 months prior.

All things considered, the waiter we had was very polite and our food came quickly.

In our opinion, this establishment seemed very understaffed for an expected busy fall season. Things could have gone alot smoother with just an extra set of hands to clean up all the loose ends ( filling waters, cleaning tables and greeting people). We are usually not the type to complain as we understand things happen and everyone has bad days but we just hope this review can help iron out some wrinkles...

We came for the restaurant based on the reviews.

I had the pork burger and never ate any meat that dried of my entire life. I know that pork meat can be dried but it tasted like it was frozen and cooked straight to grill making it extra dry.

Surprisingly the bison meat was good. It was the best of all of it (beyond the beef as well). Very tasty.

I don’t agree with the pricing mentioned in other comments. It was not that cheap as sides are not included in your burger meal. The overall total was ok. Not that expensive but definitely not cheap. The quality was not here.

I had a very sticky chair. It was uncomfortable. Despite of wearing pants.

I ordered a mocha and it was not served with the whipped cream. However, when I stood up to ask for it, they kindly added it almost right away. The mocha is very cheap as it is a black coffee based. Not tasty for Mocha lover, but for sure this hot drink was cheap.

The area we were in was hot. Fortunately we could open the window for some fresh air.

What they call ‘homemade French fries’ are not French fries but simply fried potatoes. That was ok. Good with mayonnaise and ketchup. The large potato fries to share for two was perfect amount.

The service was ok. But very upsetting that our waitress that we still nicely tipped even if the food was not so great didn’t even remember we paid when I was waiting for my husband at the cashier and she wanted to charge me a second time. I kindly reminded her that we already paid (my mistake of saying you can keep the receipt - please ask for receipt in case). Once I reminded her that we already paid at the table; she responded ‘go ahead then’ like chasing us from the restaurant. It was probably not a bad intent but pretty awkward and uncomfortable moment.

What I found interesting is that they sell random stuffs, like painting and natural bug sprays. This was pretty interesting and nice for the...