Cafe Landwer — Restaurant in Toronto

Visited this location with some work friends because it was the most accessible location to all three of us. Much like the Rutherford location, this location also offers the Yelp Waitlist so you can get your name on there from home before you get there. I arrived early, and got my name on the waitlist during their off hours around 2PM.

By the time everyone arrived, most of the restaurant started finishing off their meals, but every now and then, a table would trickle in. I emphasize that they weren't too busy, but perhaps because we were downtown, they wanted to ensure customers could leave whenever they wanted. As such though, it seemed like they were primarily telling us to order online despite the fact that there were many servers free at the time. Again, I do see the merit of having every individual pay online at each table - allows people to split their bill without having the servers do it but it seems quite odd that they ask for tip on the online system when the only people we spoke with at this point was the hostess.

Food was pretty bleh, as was the coffee which I found to be strange considering the Rutherford location has always been consistently good over the years. I ordered the same dishes today that I normally get at that location, but goodness, I could not finish my food this time

-[HUMMUS MUSHROOMS] $15.95 🍄 Homemade hummus topped with sautéed mushroom & onion. Served with Landwer's Moroccan pita and a side of pickles. 🥒 The only passable items in this hummus were the pita, and the pickles 🍄 The flavor was off, and I know they make their own hummus, but the seasoning was just not even remotely as good as the one from Rutherford

-[LARGE LATTE] $5.25 ☕ Not sure why this was but the coffee tasted burnt ☕ I truly had to force myself to finish this off as it felt like such a waste but wow, I was quite saddened by this drink

If we were served like normal at the other locations, perhaps I could have told our server but given the way we placed our order, we were only ever served our items by random servers. It didn't feel appropriate to bring it up to them. I don't recommend this locatiom based on my experience here.

My friend also found that the food here wasn't nearly as good as the other location downtown as well. Now we know better for next...

Alright I really wanted to like this restaurant but there are a number of issues.

Firstly, the food is ok. There are a variety of options and what we've tried is acceptable for the price. I haven't had anything that really blew my mind but it's ok for the neighborhood.

The interior design is nice, I love the cafe style. The booths and outdoor patio options are nice.

Unfortunately things aren't perfect outside of that.

Stop with the digital QR menus. Literally no customers like that. I saw a bunch of people sit down and had no wait staff approach them. Viewing the menu in the app is painful, all the text is small and there's a million pages to browse to try and see the whole menu. Then it says you can order in the app for 'contactless serving' but at the same time a waiter came up and asked for our order? To the owner - don't overcomplicate this, just print menus and have servers sit people, give menus and take orders. Young and old people hate QR code menu stuff. It's a restaurant, we come because we want that service. Why take something so simple and make it weird?

The music is atrocious and doesn't match the aesthetic at all. This is a classic diner design with 1920s style posters and color scheme etc so why am I listening to the Jonas brothers and music for 12 year old birthday parties? Completely ruins the atmosphere. You should be playing nice smooth Jazz, you have a classy looking restaurant so why are you degrading it with such ugly music. Class it up.

Again I was so looking forward to this place but midway through the meal I was waiting to leave.

Again, to the owner, seriously consider changing the server greeting to simply seat and provide menus, don't push the QR code menu. And for God's sake please put some classy jazz or something to match the beautiful decor you clearly spent so much time on. I'll give it another...

I was sat at the bar, wish the staff had told me I’d have to scan the QR code to see the menu instead of waiting around for someone to come around.

Decided to go with eggs Benedict. Their default was Florentine (sautéed spinach), and they charged $3 extra for meat when ham is the default everywhere else. To make matters worse, the meat options were limited to salmon and turkey bacon, with no option for ham in the first place. Tragic.

I then had to add the food to my cart, make an account, verify it, type in my card number, billing address, and phone number to order my food. At this point, I’d rather just make the food myself… If I’m paying $20 for eggs, it’s because I want a relaxing, convenient experience which doesn’t entail entering my address and credit card info (even if I have autofill on). Hot take: ordering breakfast shouldn’t take as long as submitting a credit application.

When it comes to the food, I was disappointed once again. Firstly, the spinach was not sautéed. It was simply raw. All Florentine eggs Benedict’s have sautéed spinach, including the one they showed in the photo when you order. They got it wrong even by their own standards. The two people beside me ordered the same thing and all 3 of us didn’t have sautéed spinach.

The eggs were room temp, if not a little colder. The potato’s had great crispness, the flavour was great but it was completely let down by a lack of salt to bring out the flavour. It seems they hadn’t been salted whatsoever.

Eggs Benedict is my go to for breakfast/brunch, this was...