Betty's East — Restaurant in Toronto

Went there on a recommendation from a friend. Wanted to get pre dinner drinks and some apps. Unfortunately, had a horrible time. Hard to review food that NEVER arrived. I thought perhaps even if the food is mediocre, I'd be able to get some fresh air, but the horrible smells outside ruined that thought.

Decided to try it out on a beautiful Sunday evening. Several seats of 4-8 with low and high bar tables. Initial service was okay, was acknowledged and given the choice to sit anywhere in the patio area. Looks like it would be a busy "chill" atmosphere to get a drink and people watch. First of all, despite it seemingly in an open area, there were cycles of rotten, pewtride smells?? Possible from nearby neighbors (house and autobody shop?)? Wait staff seems informed, even discussed what was in the signature Betty's layered bean dip. Ordered it, along with fries at around 6pm. Drinks came after 10 min of ordering. Had the brunch sangria which was orange juice with white wine...tart, little bit watery but it was a whole wine glass for $8. My drinkmate had the Curacao cocktail with cranberry juice, lemon juice and vodka...very tart and expensive for $15, perhaps add more Curacao to offset the lemon juice?...I guess that's the price now for drinks. Waited until 7pm ish. Still no food. Wasn't sure if bakes dip took an hour to make?!? Then a second server we hadn't spoken to until then asked if we wanted anything, but by that point I was too hungry and didn't want to smell garbage. Watched at least two tables, who arrived after us, get served food first. Can attest it is a busy patio...Thus, we asked for the bill. At least the bill did not have charge for the food items, thus it would seem the wait staff didn't even order the food we asked for. The second server seemed either too busy, or mad that I didn't tip....for no service given by her. Felt like the visit was a waste of time, starving on a hot patio Sunday... Only positive was we sat beside a couple with a super cute puppy, but even the people at that table didn't like the tacos they got. Best part of night, went home and made myself real dinner.

Disappointed and if possible I'd give a -2*.

Had higher expectations, but obviously getting some food should not...

It is a good patio. Went here for a late lunch on Sunday. They had closed Brunch menu by 3pm and informed us before seating us that kitchen reopens at 3:30pm but we could have drinks in the meantime. I appreciated that since we could make a decision before we sat down and got comfortable.

However, I would expect that since the kitchen was closed and we had still chosen to sit there n wait, the staff would make the wait time enjoyable. But, the staff chose to be non attentive. The server would hear half the things and we would be left talking to them while they turned their back and walked away. The drinks were brought in by another server and they did not bother to ask who ordered what and just plunked the glasses on the table and left. We ended up sorting the drinks ourselves.

I am a vegetarian and do check menus online before heading out to a restaurant to make sure I have options. While I understand that it is not the restaurant's responsibility to cater to all dietary preferences, but if you have something on your brunch menu which 1 of the veg items, why would you take it off the menu for dinner. They did have 3 vegetarian options on the dinner menu, a shareable, a flatbread pizza and an impossible burger. The shareable had guacamole, which i wanted on the side since I am allergic to avocados, but they had no option of doing that since it was all mixed together, even when their kitchen was technically closed. The flatbread with 3 cheese (i ordered this) was basically that, no pepper, no herbs, I had to eat it with ketchup to add some flavour to it. My boyfriend ordered a chicken sandwich, which had shredded chicken and a very runny sauce, which drips all over when eating the burger. The best part about the food, it came in quickly as the kitchen opened and it was hot. The staff tried to be friendlier later, may be they sensed something, but we were already in a bad...

Beware they have ill-mannered servers 🔴

Yesterday on Victoria Day's night, my friend and I experienced shockingly unwelcome treatment at Betty's East.

It was semi crowded, around 12:30 am, the minute we entered and took a seat at the bar, the bar tender saw us with a stare and walked away.

After about 20 minutes on nobody attending to us, despite this server walking past a few times, attending others: She finally came. No greetings, no chatting and stood silent and made a gesture. My friend asked: " Can I please have the menu?" To which she said: NOPE with a Blank stare and left. Shocked, we said Excuses me which apparently triggered her to Yell at us saying: "I don't have a menu." On asking how do we then order? She pointed at a board above.

We gave it another try and politely asked for her recommendation for a light beer? She yelled even louder saying " they're all on the same gas!".

She then asked us to "leave". I won't serve you today. We objected to her behaviour asking for her supervisor to which she said I am "Carly" the "Manager". Sounded fake for sure,... she wore a Black top, green pants, and was a brunette, white girl, in early 20s.

We left harassed and were even more disappointed that there was no redressal mechanism for such ridiculous behaviour. Perhaps she had a bad day, disgruntled or just over-worked, but that certainly doesn't give her the right to misbehave even if she...