The Copper Mug — Restaurant in Tillsonburg

We used to frequent 'The Mug a few years ago for dinners with a family member. We enjoy the owners conversation and obvious attentiveness, as it's refreshing to see... however:

I never thought I would complain about too much cheese or bacon. I was wrong. I had trouble finding the perogies under what I genuinely think would likely equal 3/4 of a brick of cheese, and no less than a half pound of bacon.

My wife as a vegetarian had few options, and decided on the Caesar salad. With no bacon because of her dietary choices, caesar salads don't have many options. Somehow, of the 3 ingredients it was supposed to have, they forgot the croutons. They served a plate with a pile of chopped iceburg lettuce with a dollop of caesar dressing with a sprinkle of artifical parmasean on top. My wife is too nice to speak up, and decided croutons wouldn't fix the disappointing dish that was served to her regardless. As a former fine dining chef, this food is the absolute bare minimum, on all fronts. I assure you that you can cook anything on this entire menu at home with ease. I'd also like to note that cheese is not a fix-all for culinary inadequacy, as it is being used in this restaurant.

This restaurant brings back some wonderful memories from my childhood but I can't help but feel like it's time has passed.

TO YOU, THE OWNER: I would also like to note, with all due respect, and appreciation for how kind you are without judgement of you as a person:

In every single negative review, you deflect. Every legitimate concern that is raised is countered. You respond defensively, and it seems as though you refuse to accept that your establishment although having been around for nearly 3 decades, is now below acceptable on every front. It seems you are choosing to negate every factually backed complaint, and not taking paying customers opinions seriously. The time allotted responding to every single review on Google may be better spent sourcing some quality vendors, staff, or new furniture. I'm in no way telling you what to do, I want to see your business succeed, but as it stands, i believe you have been on the same rails forever, and you're running out of track. Something needs to improve here, and if it doesnt, I fear we are going to lose another staple in our town. Your biggest customer demographic significantly decreases yearly due to old age, and the void is not being filled by another generation because you haven't done anything to accommodate it.

It saddens me to say that I genuinely believe your longevity can be directly attributed to a sheer lack of competition. I wouldn't personally be happy or take pride in my business if a big reason for its success was due to...

First time customer and last time visit.

The downtown had an event going on this particular friday night so I can understand the restaurant's service being slow. The server we had did provide good service given the pub was busy. However, I don't know how many people were staffing in the kitchen because it took over 30 minutes after we had order to receive our meals.

The food came out lukewarm, over cooked for all parties at our table and the portions were tiny. One person ordered the perch and I joke they must of served goldfish by mistake. They were just two, little, shrivelled up pieces of (what the menu said) perch. You could eat each of them in one bite. The rest of their plate was covered in a coleslaw and a BIG SALAD. I've cooked a lot of perch in my lifetime and I have yet to see them shrink so much. So I'm not sure what happened there.

I wish I had took a photo of my order because on half my dinner plate I received one small bacon wrapped pork medallion (less than a diameter of a small 284 ml soup can) and a small serving of mixed vegetables (which should of been rice). On the other half of the plate - the BIG SALAD!

Given the slow service and being quiet hungry by this point late in the day we just ate, paid for our meals and left famished. Why? It was due to the small meal portions.

It seemed apparent that all the main meal items are served as a very tiny portion and the remainder of the plate is just covered in cheap fillers. If we wanted salad as our main dinner staple, we would of ordered that and I would of not the pub's pork special. A salad outside of that is suppose to be a side. Hence the word 'side salad'. Not your main portion of your meal. The only real value in the meals at this establishment is to the...

It's been awhile since I've been here and prior to this I've never had an issue. Tonight my boyfriend and I went in and he got the burger and fries, I got wings and we shared some battered mushrooms. Waitress was fast and pleasant. When our food came out, we dug right in. The first bite of my drumette revealed blood, not pink, actual blood. I stopped, called her over, she validated and apologized and took it back to the kitchen informing me they would cook a new batch. She apologized for the additional wait. It happens, so I enjoyed the mushrooms and my boyfriends fries while waiting. The wings came out piping hot and looked delicious. I ate a flat, no issue, Another flat, no issue and then ate a drumette, and again blood, not as much, but blood nonetheless. Immediately I told the waitress, she dismissed it this time saying sometimes it's pink at the bone. I've been cooking chicken for well over 30 years. I know blood and I know pink. My boyfriend went to eat one and still blood. The flats were all cooked perfectly. Half of my order was undercooked and left on the dish with me complaining again. She apologized and said she would discount half price on the wings. She did do that, however in my opinion I shouldn't have been charged for them at all. But to add insult to injury, the bill just seemed to blame me. No ownership on their part.

So that is the reason, no tip was left and we likely won't...