Bistro Grande — Restaurant in Toronto

Food: BBQ cauliflower - was very tasty. Nice crunch, cauliflower was not overcooked, BBQ sauce was seasoned just right. Tagliatelle romana - this was so tasteless.. no mushroom flavor, no salt, no hint of white wine sweetness, nothing... It was just creamy plain pasta. The server did not come back to check on us and ask us how was our meal. The meal was nowhere near worth its price.

Service: We arrived to a nearly empty restaurant at lunch. The server took a couple of minutes to greet us, as it seemed that she was busy taking orders on the phone. This was just a preview of the priority she gave to providing service to our table.

Luckily our table was already set with some bread and water, so that probably meant she didn't have to get to us immediately. I think there was only one other table that needed to be served, but she didn't get to our order until an hour later. She said there was an "emergency". Meanwhile, I can see the chefs in the kitchen standing around, probably waiting for orders, then finally slowly heating up the meals that were finally coming in from the other table.

When it was time to pay, she asked if we wanted the bill on one or separated - we asked for separated, and then she says "why didn't you tell me earlier?" If it was an issue to do that at the end, why didn't she ask us at the beginning? Or why did she even give us that option?

Ultimately, I wasn't happy with the food or the service, so I changed the tip amount to much less than the suggested amount, and the server says to me "mandatory minimum tip is 15%"... Since when??

Atmosphere: The bright side of the server leaving us alone for as long as she did was that it felt laid back, we didn't feel pressured for just sitting there chatting and...

I came by for a Christmas lunch with my colleagues on December 14. We were a table of 3.

This has been by far the worst customer service I have ever received. First it took us 25+minutes for the waitress to take our order after we had told her we were ready. There were maybe 6 other tables being served. On two accounts she stopped by and said she will be with us in a second. But those two times she could have stopped to take our order especially when we already said we were ready.

Service was absolutely slow. It took us 30+ minutes to get our food. We ordered 1 appetizer, 2 sandwiches and 1 pasta.

When it was time to pay we asked for separate bills. The old waitress complained how we never told her in the beginning. Is it difficult to split a bill? How is it good service to blame your customers for not informing you ahead of time? Better yet, why wasn’t this asked when we were putting in our order?

When it came time to pay, not all of us felt like she deserved the 15% tip. She didn’t check in on us throughout the course of our meal. When one of my colleagues tipped less, the waitress rudely said the minimum is 15%. Tips are not an obligation and definitely shaming your customer for not “paying” enough is absolutely rude and uncalled for. If the restaurant wanted to impose a 15% tip they can include it in the bill. However based on the quality of the food and the service, certainly I would not have even tipped her if I had a choice.

This was an upsetting way to end our work year. I am absolutely baffled by how terrible the service is. Definitely “memorable”and not...

This was by far the worst service I have ever experience. The waitress so beyond rude. We had an older lady serve us. We walked in and she yells for us to sit wherever we want, does not greet us. Then I sat and she came to the table and said you can’t sit here and I said you said to sit wherever. She said it was the owners table/ office. I said ok would you like us to move ? And she said actually it’s ok he isn’t in today. We ordered 3 appetizers and 2 entrees. I had something in my pasta which I didn’t even complain about however I pushed the plate aside. She came over asked I told her there was something wrong with the dish and she took it away. Then she went over to talk to 2 staff members about me and said “look at this she eats half of the plate and complains (when I had only has 2 bites) then she goes over to another staff member and says loudly “Fuk her, I’m charging her for it” when I didn’t even ask her to take anything off the bill. We then asked for a pop and she never brought it. So we asked to the bill and she literally threw it on the table. So I left cash and left. This was by far the RUDEST person I have ever met. Also when they brought bread to the table it came with 4 small pieces. I would steer clear of this restaurant...