Old Surrey Restaurant — Restaurant in Surrey

This is the letter written to them of which no reply has ever been received !

Hello!

We have lived in the South Surrey area for 9 years and read many reviews over the years for your establishment, and thought we would finally give it a try. My partner and I were celebrating our 21st anniversary. We made reservations on line, specifically made mention of wanting a quiet cozy table for 2 due to the occasion. The reservation was made for Saturday March 4, 2017 at 7:30pm. We arrived at the restaurant at 7:20pm and were greeted by a man that uttered “you are 10 minutes early, I guess we can seat you now”, not good evening, how are you, welcome, nothing like that!

First, our impression of the staff, all of the staff, none which appeared to be happy to be there, none of them smiled, none of them courteous in any way. We thought this is an upscale establishment, how can this be. We wanted the evening to be a memorable one and wanted to take our time, first we ordered our escargot as an appetizer and said we would decide on our entree in a bit, the server appeared to be reluctant but took the order and disappeared. Shortly thereafter he came back and asked if we had made a decision as to our entree we said that we would have the table side caesar salad and then make our final decision, he did not look pleased. He then went on to inform us that the chef was not pleased with him as he did not get our entire order up front, and as such it almost appeared that he had done us a huge favour by only taking the escargot order before pretty much demanding that the rest be placed all that once.

Onto the table side caesar salad, we thought what a treat this would be, we had never had that before, seen it lots on tv, etc. What a disappointment, the elderly gentleman who made the salad for us, said all of 4 words to us, nothing more, no explanation of what he was doing, no personalization, asked no questions of us, like how we were doing, how are day had been, what brought us to them for the evening, nothing, it was borderline awkward to be honest.

Let us pause for a moment at this point to share the quality of food thus far. First the escargot and table side caesar salad for 2 was $64, you would think for that price, if not “a wow factor” at the very least you could say, that was really good, not so, it was nothing special!

Moving on to the entrees my partner had steak and I had the seafood platter, again, $64 for the 2 entrees, the lady who brought the food to us made no mention of what was being put in front of us, she merely plopped the plates down in front of us and walked away. Sadly, once again, the food was merely alright, no “wow factor” nothing memorable about it. Now, here is were it gets interesting for me, so we are now in for over $150 worth of food, and not one person out of the 5 or so people that had been at our table ever asked how our food was tasting, there was absolutely no inquiry as to what we thought of the quality of our food. I was simply stunned!

We asked for our bill and said we would not be needing anything else. This bill came quickly, then another gentleman came even quicker with the credit card machine. My partner said can we please have a moment to look at the bill, he abruptly walked away, but hovered over us waiting for the signal that we were ready to pay the bill. As I inserted my card into the machine, I looked over at my partner and said I am not leaving a tip on this $152.69 disastrous evening, he agreed.

At this point we got up and walked out. We feel it important to say that we felt at no point confident in taking time to lodge a complaint right there as to us the entire staff that we had interaction with seemed uncaring. We saw a woman who we believe was the general manager (as we overheard her taking to other guests and she had made mention of her position and length of time there) she too never once approached us, yet walked by our table several time, no smile, no greeting, nothing.

What an absolute...

Wow, what a disappointment. We had heard such good things and attended as guests of a person who frequents the premises at least a dozen times a year. The price was high, but that can be expected with exceptional food, presentation and service. We managed to escape without experiencing any of the 3.

I ordered venison, was never asked my preference (rare to medium rare). The 2 chops arrived beyond well done and dried out making it difficult to cut even with a serrated steak knife. The consistency reminded me of my mom's pot roast when I was a child and my mom was renowned for her lack of cooking skill. It was dry and flavorless. I would have thought the chef would feel shame even plating it, let alone allowing it to leave the kitchen. The sauce could not save it, it was marginal at best. The potato croquettes were good, but by no means exceptional. the 10 or so slivers of carrot were bland and tasteless, although I will acknowledge that the accompanying 10 or so sweet baby pea pods were done to perfection and definitely the high point of the plate.

My friend had similar experience with her potatoes and vegetables and also pronounced the peas as the high point. Unfortunately for her, the feature of her plate was a chicken breast which was also over cooked and dry.

Nobody asked after the quality of our meal or if it was satisfactory.

We both remarked later that the food quality was more reminiscent of a Denny's or ABC Country restaurant @ $12 a plate, than what we would have expected given the reputation of the Old Surrey.

The presentation was adequate, but by no means what one should expect based on the prices and reputation.

The service was initially fine, we were seated, water glasses were filled, but it dropped off markedly through the meal. There were extended periods of time between water fills, probably less of an issue if the water glasses were of any capacity, but they were about 4 to 6 oz, and just a few sips could drain the glass. Maybe this is to increase wine sales? We weren't having any, so there were no fall back fluids. I stepped away from the table to use the washroom, and arrived back to see the wait staff removing my plate, which I wasn't done with yet...

At least our hostess had a meal worthy of the hype, her seafood platter appeared exceptional, she loved every bit of it, the presentation was exquisite.

I ordered a coffee to finish off the meal, and it was obviously old and had been on the burner for a while with the distinctive burnt taste that only old coffee can have.

The only reason I have scored this rating as a 2 star was because I didn't end up paying for it as a guest. If it had been on my dime, both of our plates would have been sent back to the kitchen, and if there wasn't significant improvement on the re-serve, the rating would...

This is a bit of a non-review because, although I'm sure the food and dining experience here is terrific based on the reviews, we unfortunately were denied the opportunity as the restaurant decided to close on the evening we had reservations for and we were not informed of this closure.

To provide context, every year on Remembrance Day our family chooses a unique "finer" dining experience to recognize and celebrate our children's grandfather that passed away on Nov 11. Because it is a holiday, we always call ahead and confirm with a restaurant to ensure they open that night. This year we selected the Old Surrey Restaurant (based on the reviews) and made a reservation back on Sept 22. I spoke over the phone with the property and they indicated they would be open. Our reservations were confirmed in a text message.

Fast forward to the evening of Nov 11 and we make the 1 hour drive from Vancouver out to the address only to find that they are closed. In our car we have our two children, grandma, my wife, and myself. Its also a Friday night and a holiday. Out in the middle of Surrey we had to scramble and were fortunate enough to find another restaurant out in Cloverdale that could accommodate us at the last minute that fit the bill of being a more unique dining experience (they were awesome).

My intention is not to disparage the Old Surrey Restaurant (therefore leaving a neutral 2.5 stars rounded up to 3) as I can imagine how tough it is to operate a restaurant during these times. However when I first reached out to them through their website for an explanation the following day, I did not receive a response. Later in the week I decided to call them and the fellow I spoke with was aware of the situation and tells me that he (or someone from the restaurant) had tried to call us (they had both my wife's and my mobile numbers) and left a voice mail. Neither of us have a record of any messages in our mailboxes. I wonder why they didn't simply text us the closure notification as that would've provided a more assured way of letting us know. The gentleman then mentioned that the owner would be reaching out to me but I have yet to hear anything. I understand this was a miscommunication on their part and they have the right to close their business if it seemed that there wouldn't be enough business on that night but the effort to contact us could have been much better and should have been a priority. Is this not the same as if a large group booked their entire restaurant on a busy evening and then decided to simply not show up?

I hope moving forward this restaurant is more accountable and thoughtful in how they treat and communicate with...