The Mill Cafe — Restaurant in The Blue Mountains

I'll start off by saying normally I don't leave reviews of my experience at a restaurant whether good or bad.

I was passing through town with a group of friends and we were looking for a place to eat. Nice restaurant and interesting location. Service was ok. The menu was a pretty basic pub/bistro offering. I ended up ordering the steak and fries ( medium rare ) as I usually don't get too adventurous at these types of restaurant and know when to order the basics so I won't be let down.

I received the steak overly charred and cooked medium well/medium at best. The steak had a very thick layer of burnt crust, past Chicago style and the meat had hardly any pink colour if any.

I waited till the waitress came around and said politely I'm sorry but is it possible to get a new steak cooked as this one is overcooked. The waitress had no problem, apologized and took it back to the kitchen. She returned a few minutes later with the steak saying the "chef" told her to show me that the steak is definitely medium rare and if he should cook another rare or if I would like to keep this one. I told her that is definitely overcooked and I would like one cooked less. I will also add my fiancee who has been a vegetarian for 15 years could tell it was brutally overcooked.

About 5 minutes later I'm going to assume it was the manager who returned with my steak. Instead of apologizing she proceeded to give me a lesson on how the steak was definitely medium rare and that they looked at it under a light and it looked different than what we were seeing ( we were on the outside patio at 4pm in broad daylight ). I was already very annoyed after the initial lesson on steak temperatures so I just said ok and let it go. I cut open the new steak and like I guessed, it was blue. Blackened like the original steak, blue and cool throughout. For someone who likes their steak on the less cooked side I ate as much as I could and left it at that. When the waitress came around to collect our plates she apologized again and asked how it was. I told her it was fine but still not cooked properly and I was obviously not happy. Not surprised it was never taken off my bill.

For someone who works in the industry and has worked in a variety of restaurants I feel it is quite comical and also sad that this is the level of food and service ( from the "manager" ) that this restaurant is producing. I feel bad for the server that had to go through that situation as she was clearly the one receiving the bad end of it. Minus my terrible puck and fries for $32. I won't get into the non seasonal, "seasonal" veg and "truffle" fries that looked like they were the bottom scraps left in the basket that if we were lucky had maybe two drops of truffle oil on top.

Hopefully they were shaving a bad day and they don't normally operate like this but with the reply I got and howIhow empty the restaurant was I am doubtful. Hopefully the owner sees this and makes some changes.

If anything I think the chef should be getting some cooking lessons instead of trying to give them. With the internet being so useful nowadays you can find some great tutorials on cooking a proper...

Was here with my wife on June 14 for lunch on my birthday. Took about ten minutes before hostess seated us. When we were being seated I asked why six people (all adults) were at one table when Covid dictates only four ; response was the rules had been changed to allow 9 or 10 people at same table. I corrected her that it was four unless from same household or one additional living alone person and to maximum of eight. She then said that they were from same household and when I said it would appear that they were definitely NOT from same household, suddenly she was close personal friends with them and knew that to be a fact. Hmmmm. She also said that if we didn't like it to go elsewhere; my not wanting to ruin my wife's birthday lunch to me , we stayed. When we had walked to our table, the adjacent table had a dog (not a small one) laying underneath asleep and while I was under the impression that dogs weren't allowed on the patio, it wasn't bothering us so we said nothing. I later that day learned that rules had changed in the fall of 2020 that allowed dogs so now I know. The waitress was nice and pleasant and we ordered food and drinks. At one point the dog woke up and started whining and barking until the owner fed it food from their plates. When two ladies left the restaurant they had to squeeze by the dog who was blocking the aisle while it's owners did nothing. The barking and whining continued and when my wife saw the hostess, she asked if there was a table on the other patio on the other side of the building and was told no and asked why. My wife told her about the dogs behavior and that it was bothering her. The hostess said she could hear nothing from inside the building ...... ya think ? She then said that the dog was there first and if we didn't like it we could leave. I told her that was exactly what we would do and she threatened to call the police if I didn't pay for the beer that I had two sips out of before they ruined our visit. I should have let her and then they could have checked address on the identification of the "six cohabiters" We have been to this restaurant before a number of times with as many as eight people, but clearly this place has gone to the dogs ... pun intended. To say this place has become run of the mill ... more pun ... would be generous. So if you want somewhere with suspect adherence to COVID safety rules and precautions, and to be treated horribly by the most rude hostess in Thornbury, go here. If not, do what we did and go across the road the Corner Cafe and Grill where they have excellent service, food and they follow COVID rules. Or Collingwood which is where we went after our experience here and has lots of places which are pleasant and safe as well. Interestingly enough, all the patios we were on had dogs ... well behaved. Too bad that the current owners, which seem from their website to be a hardworking young couple, tolerate this behavior. We will not be returning here, and I recommend that others...

We visited Thornbury for a weekend getaway for our one year old's bday. Our treat meal was going to be a nice steak dinner and we chose The Mill Cafe. As you may understand, us being new parents we couldn't leave the little one home alone, so we opted in for take out. Note: they denied us take out service twice, even though on their website it clearly states that they offer take out.

We called on Friday and it was 8:34 pm, the lady on the phone was quite nice and told us to hold while she chatted to someone about our order. Upon returning, she proceeded to state that the kitchen closed at 8:30, and they are super swamped, so we can no longer order. That's understandable, we took a note of the kitchen close time and made a plan for our stake dinner for the next day. We called at 6:30pm on Saturday to place our order (to be picked up at 8:30pm). Went through the same process, the lady on the phone 'consulted' with someone on her end and proceeded to state that they are no longer doing take out because they are too swamped. Even with a TWO hour prep window, they denied us service. As a restaurant, you shouldn't offer take out, if you are unable to provide the servise. During the peak times, it's your responsibility as an entablishment to ensures sufficient staffing levels to provide the service that you advertise. Don't advertise take out, if you can't provide the service. This is not a good business practise and left a sour taste on our experience...