Gato Sutton — Restaurant in Sutton

We just left, it’s the evening of June 22, 2024.

To give some context to my point of view, I am Canadian-Guatemalan. I moved to France working as a waitress in the food industry of Paris for about a decade. I fell in love with the world of cuisine and savoir-vivre revolving food. I also fell in love with my husband who is from the French countryside, and like myself, has worked in hospitality and shares my respect and passion for food.

We have now been back in Canada for just over a year and love discovering new places to eat, to run, to appreciate the nature. Sutton being one of them. We chose this restaurant because it was highly rated and I was curious to see if it was actually good.

It was! The food and drinks are fantastic, the ambiance is pleasant but the service was appalling.

I understand that the waitress (I think) is young and everyone has a bad day, but it doesn’t excuse my husband’s unpleasant experience.

When he got up to pay, the waitress met him at the bar and quickly tapped in the price but to my husband’s confusion, there was no option to tip… and the price was higher than the bill? “Just put your card there.” The waitress instructed.

He asks her, “Um… Where’s the option to tip?” Flustered, she restarts the process and at that moment my husband realized she had tapped in the tip herself for him. He was bewildered and mortified. Is it because he was French? He pays, leaves 15%, and the waitress turns without even saying goodbye.

To be clear we always tip, having worked in this industry. We both also only speak in French and our accents are clearly French.

All I can say is that, at best, this was an utter lack of professionalism and at worst gross xenophobia.

We will, unfortunately, not be returning. Sad because the food and drinks...

Wow, coming from Brooklyn, New York, I am very impressed with my overall experience at Gato. We spontaneously showed up knowing that the restaurant was closing in 25 minutes. I was greeted immediately and felt extremely welcomed after asking if there was still time for a bite. I quickly called my family and said to come in that we still had time and that the vibe was awesome. A table was quickly and efficiently wiped down and we were seated. Menus were brought and a drink order was taken. We ordered the guacamole which was very tasty. Some oysters that were on the special menu and followed with 2 orders of the fish tacos and 2 orders of the Al pastor tacos. Everything was wonderful. If I lived close buy, it would definitely be my spot to go to. Mostly locals and some out of towners 😉 The music is very cool. It seems to have a lot of regular/locals which should support and give a review. As I almost didn’t come because I didn’t see many. Let’s not keep it a secrecy and support this amazing hidden jewel! Vinny was amazing and after talking to him, we found out that he was the owner. He was very involved in all aspects of the restaurant and very much aware of what everyone needed. His kind and approachable demeanor literally is what pulled me in and we do not regret it! I wish I had taken more photos but we were so hungry and devoured everything.

I wish Gato/Vinny all the best in the years ahead. His establishment is in a very cool spot and deserves to get the word out so don’t forget to leave your reviews after visiting this local hotspot!

Don’t forget to buy a hat...

It was a small place off the main road, seduced by a sign offering tacos, drinks, and a terrace. The interior of the restaurant was bight and spacious and the terrace was ok not too crowded. The menu was simple and offered a small selection of drinks. We both ordered tacos which came quick. We were a bit disappointed there were no sides offered with our meal (rice and bean, pico, sour cream, a vegetable would have been good, even chips and salsa on the table would have been something) making the 15 dollars for a 2 taco meal a bad value. On top of that, the tacos where either bland or tasteless (my wife’s) or greasy, chewy and tasteless. That’s said...