Aleria - Christmas On Queen — Restaurant in Toronto

I want to summarize myself clearly here by saying: I did not enjoy my time at this restaurant. I have had better greek food from a food truck. I have had better greek food from a mall food court. I have had better greek food at a fraction of the cost. Unless some serious changes are made to the management of quality, presentation, and atmosphere, I would not ever consider returning.

My partner and I were looking for a lovely spot to share some time together amongst the chaos of the holidays. I had been craving Greek and this place, though relatively new, seemed well reviewed and beautifully renovated. I typically love trying out places that I haven’t been to before. We walked down the cool side alley entrance with excitement and anticipation, completely unaware of the utter disappointment we would be feeling on our way back out.

We were immediately impressed with how big and open the multiple dining areas seemed. That was until they walked us right by an empty yet stately lower seating area and lead us up a set stairs, reminiscent of a fire-escape, to be crammed among an overwhelming amount of diners in an upper balcony area.

The decor was that all-too-familiar contemporary dark green with gold accents, but almost too on-the-nose in this case. It was as if they stole every inspiration from a college student’s interior design Pinterest board on how to turn Ikea items into DIY projects.

We waited quite a while to have our drink orders taken, only to be met with an incredibly uneasy and nervous energy from our server. He was the sole waiter taking orders for the entire dining area and it was clear that running up and down those stairs over and over, with armfuls of breakables, was feeding his anxiety. His banter was canned and robotic, offering the same warmth you might get from asking Siri for the weather.

The souvlaki pita, a usually easy-to-nail staple of any Greek spot, was perhaps the biggest disappointment. The chicken itself was seemingly not marinated, underseasoned, and then maybe just left in an oven to bake into dry jerky. I can’t be certain if that’s actually what happened to the tortured meat, but I can be certain that my mouth did not enjoy chewing the large and unsliced chunks that visually looked cumbersome amongst the lack of toppings. Two half-slices of tomato, some roughly diced onions, and few fries was all that they offered to try and save the poorly plated pita. If you don’t pay a hefty up-charge for side salad, it just comes with more fries. It had zero flash or flare.

Perhaps they reserve the wow factor solely for the kitschy smoking bell-jar instagram cocktail. Or for the Saganaki that the already unsettled waiter had to set ablaze at the table-side amongst the cramped and crowded patrons (this dish was also served with no charm to the plating).

The calamari was the only redeemable moment of our whole experience. The breading was light and it was cooked well. Though, it was sliced a bit large and clumsily, which seems to be a running theme for most of the menu’s preparation.

We wished we would have complained but it didn’t seem appropriate, and the timing was never quite right. In the end we decided to bite our tongues, and the bill for a couple apps, unsatisfying mains, and two beers came to a total of $130. We paid and left, the whole way home exasperatedly discussing how our experience...

We booked a reservation on open table for 5pm. We showed up at 5:08 pm. I checked in with the host and she said she didn’t see my reservation. She keeps checking then proceeds to tell me that open table cancels all reservations if not here within 5 mins of the reservation. This is a weird policy that should be highlighted in booking because most restaurants offer ATLEAST a 15 min grace period. And within those 3 mins we were late i highly doubt our table was given away since no one was waiting when i got there. To that response I get “its our busy season thats why we have such a strict grace period”. And to that I have to say there are many open reservations on open table in fact i booked this reservation a week prior. So the host tells us to wait to the corner while she checks if there’s a table. While we’re waiting more people come in while being told that they were over 5 mins late so their table was given away. Which not sure who is getting these tables because in the 30 mins my friend and i were told to wait in the corner we did not get any tables that should have been free since 3 groups of people’s tables were “given away” since they missed their res. Then we ask a worker on the status of our table that the host was “checking on” since she went to check and never updated us 30 mins later. And she says she will ask and never comes back to us. So then we ask the host again. And she says i dont know ill let you know when one is free which is frustrating because we paid for parking for a certain amount of time and can just go somewhere else if they cant accommodate. Then they said 5 mins one will be free since a table paid. We wait 10 mins and still nothing that we have to ask again. I probably had to talk to 5 different people give me name 10 times just to find out a status of a table being available. Finally we got a table and the service continues to be bad. I asked the server which drink came in the gingerbread mug and he said the smores one so i got that and then it came in a crhstimas mug. If he was unsure or it’s random we should have been told that. Not only that, the drink was 90% ice, 5% marshallows and 5% actual beverage. Secondly, the server brought a second drink that we did not order and i told her this and she gave me a weird look and said ok?. Customer service and mannerism could be improved esp when we’re already annoyed from the start. I ordered feta fries and they didnt fill the plate up meanwhile the table next to us also got the same thing but their whole plate was filled. My friend got a dinner plate (not pictured) which was not great. Overall the quality of the food was not delicious. When we were ready to pay we had to wait 15 minutes for the server to give us our bill. Not sure why… but if there was an issue that should have been communicated. Overall i have nothing good to say about this place and will not be returning. The staff just kept justifying this poor experience with “it’s our busy season” but again there are so many open reservations on open table and there are so many ppl missing reservations with the 30 mins we were standing there that there should have been...

Decided to hit this place up for their Holiday Pop-up and was super excited to see what the vibe would be! Upon arrival things were looking great, we did have to wait a while because it was rather busy and we didn’t have a reservation. Fortunately I was in good company so that was the least of my problems that night. The issue really came from the moment we were seated. To put it plainly, we were so undeniably forgotten it almost became humorous. Tables sat long after us were served almost to completion before we even got our drinks. Then came the most painful part of the night, when we placed our order. My friend who is vegan and unable to consume dairy confirmed with the server prior to placing her order “is the drink i’m about to order dairy free?” the server lazily replied with “i’m pretty sure” which honestly is just negligent. It’s completely fine not to know, but if someone tells you their dietary restrictions as a server you should make sure your response is 100% accurate. Then the drinks arrived, and we come to find out the drink my vegan friend ordered had dairy in it. What came next - an absolute circus it took us 25-30 minutes to get a server to actually even notice us. We would call out to them and we were so sadly ignored. Then finally, when it came time to present the problem, we were met with indifference and a lack of empathy. It almost felt like we were being blamed for our “mistake.” Another issue of the night was it felt like we were being juggled between multiple servers and every single time we had to fill someone in on the story. We began to wonder, is anyone communicating or does anyone even know what is going on. My friend attempted once the confusion was finally cleared up (spoiler alert it wasn’t) to to place another drink order to which they said they noted. Another 30 minutes passed by and still no drink. It was just incredibly disappointing as you can imagine especially when you’re looking to have a great night out with your friends. Finally we got so fed up with waiting that we decided to ask for the bill. And as you guessed it we waited another 35 minutes to get the bill. Once the server came over to cash us out, we had to remind her to remove the drink my vegan friend did not touch. Which was also frustrating because we had already been through this when we initially explained what was wrong with it in the first place. Annoyingly, she then said “i have to go double check this with my manager” we wait another 30 minutes for the manager then when the manager FINALLY comes over, she has the audacity to say to my vegan friend, “How did you know there was dairy in it”

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