Brazen Head Irish Pub — Restaurant in Toronto

Let me start by saying my visit was nearly a year ago, and that’s how long this experience has stayed with me. I used to frequent the Brazen Head regularly when I worked in Liberty Village. It was our go-to spot for group lunches, farewell parties, and birthdays. The food was always solid, and the atmosphere made it a great place to gather.

So when a former colleague invited me to her farewell party there for old times’ sake, I was genuinely excited. Unfortunately, the Brazen Head I remembered was long gone.

We were a group of about eight people arriving at different times. Before everyone had even shown up, our server asked if we’d be okay putting everything on one bill, citing some vague “machine issue” that might make splitting payments difficult. That immediately set an awkward tone. No one wants to deal with the stress of figuring out who owes what at the end of the night.

I ordered a beer, the Chicken Mexican Rice Bowl (I don’t recall the exact name), and asked for water. The rice bowl was one of the pricier items on the menu, so I expected a decent portion. What I got was laughable. The bowl was physically large, but barely a quarter full. It looked like a garnish. I hoped the flavor would make up for it. It didn’t. The rice was dry and chalky, the chicken was scarce, and the whole thing was flavorless. I finished it in under five minutes and was still hungry.

Worse, I couldn’t even eat it right away because there were no utensils. I also still hadn’t received the water I asked for earlier. I reminded the server twice before she finally brought a pitcher and some glasses for the table.

I’m not a difficult customer. I understand it was a busy night, and I’m sympathetic to how hard service work can be. But between the poor food quality and the inattentiveness, it was already shaping up to be a disappointing night.

Then came the bill.

I had to leave early to get home to my wife and baby, so I asked for my bill. The server returned with the machine and told me, in a lecturing tone, that an 18% gratuity had been automatically added because we were a party of eight. This was the first time it was mentioned, and I was shocked. After the experience I’d just had, it felt completely undeserved.

I said, in disbelief, “That’s BS.” I told her I had no problem tipping, but I should be allowed to choose the amount. She replied that it was management’s policy and “standard procedure” at most restaurants in the GTA. She also said she could call her manager if I wanted to argue with him directly. I obviously didn’t want to escalate things further, but I continued to object. Eventually, she handed me the machine.

For the record, I have never not tipped a server in my entire adult life.

While I was going through the payment screen, she turned to my friend who had organized the event and, right in front of me, asked her if anyone else in the group would have a problem with the gratuity. Seriously? That was not only incredibly unprofessional, but also unfair. My friend doesn’t speak for everyone at the table.

Expecting the gratuity to already be included, I instinctively hit “No Tip.” Only then did I realize she had actually removed the 18% from my bill. When I handed the machine back, she looked at me and asked, “Do you have something personal against me?”

What?

I told her it wasn’t personal, but I’d had to ask for water twice, and I didn’t get utensils until after my food arrived. That was the truth.

I left feeling genuinely bad about not tipping. It’s not something I’ve ever done before. But the more I reflect on that night, the better I feel about it. A tip is earned, not owed, and nothing about that experience...

My partner and I went to Brazenhead on Saturday for his birthday, as they serve his favourite spicy chicken sandwich. We were going to have a few friends meet up with us, so I asked for a table for 6. The hostess was not very friendly and tried to shut us down immediately by saying it would be at least an hour wait. This was surprising as when I looked inside the restaurant, it did not seem very busy. I asked if we could put our name down, and was told that they didn’t take names and that we would have to stand there and wait. It was clear the hostess was trying to get us to abandon our hopes of getting a table. We stepped outside and chatted about our options, and then I stepped back inside to wait in line for a table. When I came back in, the hostess was surprised to see me again, I told them that we would wait for our table, the hostess again tried to tell us it would be an hour, when I said “no problem”, they seemed annoyed.

Everyone who came in after us was told it would be a 20-30min wait (not an hour). And we did end up being seated after 20 min (not an hour). I used to work in the service industry so I know when staff are trying to make you leave and that is how it felt, it was very unprofessional.

Once we were seated, our server was great and the food was delicious, it was only the struggle of fighting to get a table, in a not very busy bar, that soured...

I made a booking for 5:30 and got there a little early. Was trying to beat the rush. We were seated quickly and when asked if we could have a different table, we were told that there were a lot of reservations so, they don’t think so. We were sat in the middle of the big back room with only two there tables with people. We were directly in the path of the patio and there was a lot of action. The service staff were waiting for it to get busy, so they were all standing around and hard to get our server when needed, was told her name. As the patio got busy and we are trying to enjoy our time, constant traffic. If we were sat out at the window as I had asked, it would have been great. Instead so distracting. We were there for a little over an hour and no one was sat were we wanted to sit. The rest of the room started looking o fill up, but slowly and there were so many other tables that would have been perfect for 2 people, mother and son having a meal before the rush. The food was fine, but nothing spectacular. Way too much bun and toppings instead of beef for the smash burger. Upgraded to sweet potato fries and they were are the bits. The beer selection for an Irish pub was weird, and hard to find a nice pint is weird in an Irish pub. No need to go back, sorry, just not a great time. If we had a better spot, maybe we would have...