A&W Canada — Restaurant in Toronto

In short, EXCELLENT. Clean, bright, welcoming and the food was VERY tasty.

Came here with my wife for a quick bite to eat and we were both shocked at the level of service we received.

There was a very friendly young lady at the counter who helped us figure out what we wanted, and was very patient with us when we weren't sure and still deciding.

After ordering a wrap, onion rings, burger and a poutine, we sat down.

Not long after, massive frozen mugs of delicious root beer were placed on the counter for us, so I got up to collect them. These mugs are awesome! Nice and frosty, and a pretty sizable serving too which is great. The staff remained very cheerful and pleasant throughout our stay.

Shortly after that, a couple of trays of food were presented at the counter, so my wife and I got up to go get them. It's a fast food place, so we weren't expecting table service, and that's okay.

My burger was nice and hot, and the vegetables were crisp and fresh tasting. It was so hot in fact that I could feel the heat emanating through the bun. I know this sounds kinda funny, but honestly it's so nice to see food cooked to temperature. This is important for food safety, and I'd rather wait for a hot burger than get one quickly thrown together and put on a warmer.

I also had a poutine which was delicious! The fries were fresh, and gravy tantalizingly delicious, and the cheese curds were actually melty and soft, not hard and recently frozen like on some other poutines I've had.

The onion rings were MASSIVE! They were lightly breaded and really well seasoned, and tasted fantastic.

Finally my wife's wrap was good, but she described the meat as a bit dry. Overall she seemed to enjoy it though.

We both agreed that the root beer was awesome and we loved the presentation as well as how incredibly nice, friendly and accommodating the staff were.

After our meal, I was pleased to see easy to access receptacles for trash, root beer mugs and trays. Things were nicely organized and that's great to see.

I went to the washroom to wash my hands after the meal. WOW. These washrooms are spotless. If you know anything about restaurants, if the washrooms are clean, the kitchen is most definitely clean as well. You can tell the staff here really take care of their space and respect their customers by keeping the place VERY tidy and clean.

Overall, it's wild that this place is a fast food place. I could easily be fooled into thinking this was a full service restaurant. The food, atmosphere, amenities, cleanliness, it's all there. And the staff are awesome. Whoever manages this place needs a pat on the back, because it's one of the best restaurants I've ever been to.

This is hands down a VERY easy recommendation to anyone who enjoys this...

The WORST A&W I have even been at. I would give it ZERO start if I could.

I went there a few times since it opened. Service were always slow even every time I went they were not busy (most time no orders before mine).

Most recently (this month), I was there three times while they had the free coffee promotion.

First time - I did not order any coffee just the meals (it took over 15 minutes to receive the food).

Second time - I waited for close to 10 minutes from walked in to receiving the 2 coffees with no order before mine. The female employee was short and said they had no sugar and/or cream. I was only allowed to get 2 medium coffees (not large). I found that odd when I saw her emptying the "pot" of coffee filling the 2 cups not to the top, then used another "pot" (different size) to fill more. When I went back to the car and opened the lid of my coffee, I found it was only 3/4 full and totally diluted with absolutely no taste (even it's black coffee). Then I found the other cup the same....we ended up throwing them out after 1 sip. What a waste!

Third time - ok, bad experience for 1 recent time not making the location bad although they were always slow for my orders. Let's give them one more chance. I went in there intended to get 4 coffees and 4 meals. Anna was at the cash. Before I could finished ordering the coffees, Anna cut me off by telling me 1 small coffee per person which I told her the rest of my family members were in the car but because of Covid only 1 of us came in for our orders. I was told Covid or not, 1 free small coffee per person. I asked her where had she found such rules or had the rules been changed that I was not aware of. She told me it's per the owner's instruction. I asked why they were changing the rules and not posting that at the entrance, She told me the owner said they could do whatever they want. I asked for her name which she refused to give me so I ended up getting 1 free small black coffee and insisted on getting a receipt (I asked for it 3 times) so I could reference the name from my receipt "Anna"! After that, we went to get our meals somewhere else. Much better experience!

Do NOT recommend this...

First to review this restaurant

Folks, this is not just growing pains... This restaurant hates your guts... and here's the proof.

Had to repeat my order 4 times.

Teen burger combo, root beer, fries.

It's their specialty.... they should understand this... but it's all fresh off the boat Filipinas that can't understand our canadian English.

A bunch of discount labour to do the job of one real employee.... you know the routine.

Showed two people my flat root beer and they could not undetstand my problem

Ordered a new one...

Flat root beer again

4 bored employees came in on the controversy.

Denied my money back and told to sit down.

"Manager" attempted to put his hand on my chest.

Semi educated non English speaking staff member acting like a manager brings me 1.70 back while he's pretending to be on the phone (apparently they speak something like Tamil at head office)

I guess I have to choke down my over- mustarded burger and salty fries with no drink.

And I'd love to know why my fries are dark brown considering they are undercooked. How does the oil get this dirty considering they just opened?

This will just end up being a hovel for the depraved and indifferent.

Sad. Pathetic.

But no pity from me.

UPDATE:

I thought it could not get any worse.... so I checked out the bathroom... the knob says vacant in green letters. Nice touch. But it's locked amyways... with a code you have to punch in, which is displayed on the door anyways. Pointless waste of money

Same with the girls bathroom. Silly, dirty little buttons. Waste of time. It'll be much worse when the numbers wear off of the greasy keypad in 6 months.

And you have to be gentle with the knob or you get locked in (there's a sign on the door)

But for people that came to listen to music in a cramped dirty brand new bathroom... there is a Bose brand speaker in the ceiling.

When a&w can't get root beer right, you know you are dealing with garbage.

Stay away folks... you'll just get sick...