Oliver & Bonacini Café Grill, Blue Mountain — Restaurant in The Blue Mountains

I chose O + B to celebrate my partners milestone birthday. I made reservations two weeks in advance and clearly indicated that this was a milestone birthday in my reservation. Upon arrival, we were met by the hostess (who was also the manager) who was lacking a professional demeanour and dismissive towards my partner. When we arrived, there was no reserved table so he requested a table with a view by the windows to honour the reservation and was informed that “she could not honour that request” despite the tables being vacant, not being reserved, and us having made a reservation. We then had to wait to be seated at a table, only to be given a booth that was in the back of the restaurant, when there were multiple better seating options available. We ordered our food, which arrived 40 mins later, although the restaurant wasn’t busy. The food was okay, but at this point we were just completely underwhelmed with the level of service, especially since I had indicated in the notes that we were celebrating an important day. After the meal, the waiter brought out a small dessert with a candle and just placed it on the table and said “make a wish”. We have celebrated many birthdays at restaurants, but never have we ever experienced such an underwhelming and unsatisfying experience. I was so disappointed about my partners birthday experience that I decided not to tip, and this is something I’ve never done before. At the end of the night we decided to share our thoughts about our experience with the manager to which she was apologetic, however kept deferring fault towards her staff instead of taking accountability for mishandling the reservation. She comped a portion of the bill, however, I’m still choosing to write this review for others who may be choosing to celebrate a special occasion with O + B in the future to inform them of our unpleasant visit. What was supposed to be a really enjoyable celebration with my partner was ruined by this litany of unprofessional...

My husband showed up at the reception at 9:45 and was told that he needed to wait and would be called when a table was ready. We waited in our suite for about 45 minutes and no phone call at all, so I went down and checked with the lady at the front. She told me that the kitchen was really busy and she wasn’t sure if we could be seated for breakfast, she said she recommended lunch which would start at 12pm. She goes “thank you for understanding”, turned around and left the front desk abruptly which I found to be extremely rude. There were lots of empty tables and like others said the restaurant wasn’t busy at all. I waited and told another staff about what happened, and then the First Lady came back and I told her my feedback directly. I told her first off, it is inappropriate to tell a client to wait if you think there would not be a possibility of seating him/her for breakfast given “how busy the kitchen is”, second she saw we had little kids, how’s it possible for little kids to wait for over two hours for food? The lady’s response was” it was on the client if they wanted to wait. The response I find is totally unacceptable for a service industry especially for this well known restaurant at a upscale hotel, and I made sure I let her know that. I also told her that she needed to be direct and tell me if I should wait or so should leave. She backed off a little bit once She saw how upset I became, and she said she would check with the kitchen. Sure enough, we were able to be seated at almost 11am. So why did she not check with the kitchen before she told us no seating was available at the beginning? It makes me wonder if it was because my husband had shown her he had two breakfast vouchers which we were going to use. Poor pooor service! We did order three more breakfasts for our group of 5 though. Food was good, but service was too terrible for a return. Will not...

It is not standard procedure that we write letters of appreciation after a lunch or dinner in a restaurant. However, neither is standard procedure of all restaurants to offer what your Oliver & Bonacini in Blue Mountain offers its guests. We are referring to the excellent service we recently received while dining in your restaurant on Saturday, May 3.

We have enjoyed your restaurant before, and because of the very favorable impression we had of it during our other visits, we decided to return to it. We are happy to state that the high degree of professionalism exhibited in particular by one of your servers (I believe her name is Ashley) and by your manager (Katia) are the reasons for our wanting to return in the future to your restaurant.

Both Katia and Ashley definitely made our dining experience at your restaurant outstanding. They clearly seem to have an intuitive, profound understanding of the process of restaurant service. They are keenly interested in serving their guests promptly, joyfully and efficiently. They seem to possess an incredible energy and capacity for work: during our dinner it was clear that they always went well beyond the required duties, showing at all times a generosity and a dedication that are truly uncommon.

It is evident to us that your restaurant’s commitment to service and client satisfaction are beyond call. Ashley’s and Katia’s characters clearly radiate efficiency, friendliness and thorough professionalism. At the heart of the matter is that your restaurant and your employees are committed to service and not to earnings and hours.

Needless to say, we look forward to returning to Oliver and Bonacini Blue Mountain again in the future.

Our sincere thanks, Dr. Michael and...