Charcoal Kebab House downtown — Restaurant in Toronto

TLDR: good value for good food, poor service from an unprofessional manager and what seems like willful miscommunication!

My partner and I have been to this restaurant several times since it opened, and the original location before that. The food here is very good, but our first experience with takeout was terrible. I called in at around 5pm to place an order for samsas and kebab noodle, and was told they'd be ready in 20 min, great. At 5:15 I got a phone call back saying there were no samsas available but if I wait another 30 min there will be. I confirmed that if I arrive around 5:50 it would be ready. He said yes absolutely and he was personally driving them over. (I believe this was the manager.) Ok, odd, but I didn't question it. He confirmed and also said sorry, will give you a discount for the trouble. I show up at 5:50 and the waitstaff have the kebab noodle (which has been sitting out since 5:20) and they tell me there are no samsas and the manager is not here yet. I call the same number and he tells me he will arrive in 10 minutes for sure....but he neglected to tell me until this point that the samsas are uncooked and needed another 30 minutes. At this point I'm pretty annoyed given it's been almost an hour since my original call. I told him this seems to have been miscommunicated as I confirmed 5:50 arrival beforehand. He started raising his voice while saying that "this is what I get for trying to be a good person" and "don't be so upset." Interestingly, I actually felt quite calm at this point, just incredulous at his responses. While he interrupted most of what I was saying, I did try to tell him that the problem is that an accurate picture was not portrayed. He said (in Mandarin) that his English is his 3rd language so it's hard to communicate. I firmly told him that it was not a language issue previously but rather incorrect information. He told me I could cancel the samsas without charge (well of course?) and get a 10% discount on the kebab noodles. I expressed disbelief at this given this was 40min since the kebab noodle dish had been prepared and half my order was not fulfilled. He told me not to be greedy and ask for 50% 😂 which at no point I did. Another odd miscommunication ended up resolving the issue by 6:10pm: the waitstaff at this location (who are perfectly professional) ended up having samsas ready at that point and gave me my order 1h 5min after I initially called in. At that point the manager was still en route (so would have been another 20-30 min!).

Overall, very disappointing interaction for my first takeout experience here. There would have been no problem if there was initial honesty about the lack of availability or need to wait til 6 or 6:30. Lots of other items I would've been happy to get. I wonder if it would have been different (being interrupted, talked down to by the manager) if I were male. The waitstaff at the restaurant were much more...

A Nightmare Experience: Heartbreak and Crushing Disappointment This was supposed to be a long-awaited, celebratory dinner with a dear friend who traveled a great distance to visit. I had built up so much anticipation, so eager and determined to finally try the "lovely food" I had heard about. This wasn't just a meal; it was part of a precious reunion. To call the experience a crushing disappointment is an understatement. When our food arrived, I was immediately choked by shock at the pathetic quantity of meat included. For the price we paid—a hefty $36.10 (receipt attached)—what we received felt like a cruel joke. It was hardly a main ingredient, resembling garnish more than a substantial portion. We did not want to make a scene; we respect the establishment and simply wanted the food we paid for. We quietly reported the issue to our waitress, who acknowledged our complaint and assured us she would "report it." That was the extent of the response. There was no attempt to correct the dish, no genuine apology, and certainly no attempt to resolve the fact that we were paying top dollar for almost nothing. We were left feeling utterly taken advantage of. We wasted our money and, worse, we wasted precious time on an experience that left us heartbroken, frustrated, and still completely hungry. We left immediately after paying our full bill and had to go looking for food elsewhere. This was a nightmare dining experience that ruined a special evening. We feel deeply disappointed and will certainly not...

I’ve been to their Scarborough location before and always had a great experience, so when I heard they finally opened a downtown branch, I was excited to bring a friend to try it out.

We arrived around 4 PM, with only two tables occupied. The server asked how many of us there were and directed us to a two-person table. We politely asked if we could sit at a nearby four-person table for more space, but she refused, saying that those tables were reserved for four people. However, the other two groups in the restaurant were also two people seated at four-person tables, and it was clear from the setup that each table had four chairs (the two four-person tables in the attached photo were taken from restaurant’s own video).

When I asked why those two could sit at larger tables, the server looked right at the four-person table with four chairs and told us it was a “two-person table.” My friend and I looked at her in disbelief, and she insisted that was a two-person table.

We weren’t insisting on sitting at a larger table, but we couldn’t understand why the server treated us this way and even lied in front of us.

It’s really disappointing to encounter this kind of treatment. Service should be fair and consistent, no matter the location. This was a really...