Boxcar Social Harbourfront — Restaurant in Toronto

We recently dined at this restaurant with friends visiting from the UK, hoping to treat them to a waterfront view and a memorable evening. I had made a reservation for a party of eight and, upon arrival, requested to be seated outside as it was a beautiful evening. The hostess appeared visibly irritated by the request but eventually prepared a table on the patio.

As we were quite hungry, we ordered appetizers right away — the poutine and nachos. The poutine was passable, but the nachos were extremely disappointing. For $25 (plus an automatic 20% gratuity), we were served what looked like the lowest quality bar nachos topped with processed "squirty" cheese, a few canned pickled jalapeños, scattered tomatoes, and red onion. Unfortunately, we ate them only because we were hungry — not because they were remotely enjoyable.

When our mains arrived, the feedback continued to decline. The filet-o-fish was compared unfavourably to a fast food version, and all the fries were served cold. We also had to request condiments such as ketchup, which should have been offered or available by default.

The final bill came to over $425 for our group of 8, including one person that only had fries and a coke, and I genuinely felt disheartened to pay that amount for what was, quite frankly, one of the most disappointing meals I’ve ever had in Toronto — a city known for its excellent dining scene. Our guests were equally unimpressed.

I rarely leave negative reviews, but I felt compelled to share our experience. I understand the cost of operating a business in a waterfront location, but this level of food and service simply doesn’t justify the pricing. I will not return and cannot recommend this...

Ok, so we have a family visiting from Italy with their baby. We take them out for dinner, and there’s a huge awkward language barrier between us. We know they want espresso, so we decide we’ll drive to Queens Quay and see a few things along the way. We check the timing for how late this location is open, and it’s until 10pm. We think, great, it’s 9:20. We pay the $7 for parking and language barrier raging we try to explain how the coffee here is really good. We tell them it’ll be the best coffee they’ll have until they are back home in Italy.

Hoping this will be a nice cap off to our evening we arrive at 9:23. Upon walking into the restaurant immediately we are bombarded with “we are closed!!” Firstly, we’re humiliated because we drove specifically to this location bigging it up the whole way using our stupid language translator. We say “even just for an espresso, these guys are visit from Italy?” Hard no. Meanwhile, there are other patrons drinking and sitting at th tables.

I’m red in the face. We start to leave, and I tell the guy , politely, it would have been super nice if you updated your hours online because we came all the way here cause we thought you were open. He responds “sorry, but we’re closing cause of the rain”.

Sure, it was rainy today, but at the moment we arrived, and for the few hours before, it had not been raining at all.

We love boxcar, have been going to all the locations and frequented Clocktowe when it was opened. This was a big let down that I think was really unnecessary and cold. Why not make us...

It’s a shame to have to write this after being a patron of a coffee shop I truly love for many years. However, I do not feel this location deserves the name of Boxcar Social when compared to the others. The manager decided she could not accommodate me on an empty patio because of my bike. She suggested I put it on the rack below. Unfortunately, I forgot my lock and was hoping for a better solution. Both her and the hostess acted as though my bike was going to be a nuisance. Clearly, if you look at the pictures provided, there was ample room for storage. Her second solution was to give me coffee in a paper cup, which I now regret paying for. Usually, coffee from Boxcar is served at the perfect temperature using balanced, delicious espresso and perfectly textured milk. The coffee pictured does not resemble the typical cup of coffee served by Boxcar, though I must add that I’ve only been to this location once before for drinks. To me, it is clear why this location is faltering in terms of reviews. The attitude of the host and manager exemplifies a lack of hospitality and care for loyal customers; the quality of the coffee was subpar. I will gladly go back to the Rosedale location in the future for my sometimes $26 bags of coffee; I will happily go for a drink and a snack at the Queen St. location, however out of my way it is (especially on Tuesday for a $5 beer). I will not, however, come back to this location. Please spend your money at the dozens of other good places for food and...