Demetres Desserts Kingsway — Restaurant in Toronto

As someone who worked in customer service and is empathetic on how difficult the day to day is in that field - this had to have been the worst Demetres dining experience I've ever had.

The three of us all ordered at the same time, 1 waffle, 1 crepe and 1 ice cream scoop with sliced fruit. One waffle dessert was served. We waited 30 mins until we reached out to the supervisor behind the counter asking where our other two desserts were. She followed up and 5 minutes later the waitress advised there was no crepe batter left and asked if a waffle was okay. We expressed this delay was unacceptable, we should've been told of this 30 minutes prior when the first waffle was served, we agreed and asked why it was also taking this long for just a ice cream scoop, but there was no comment on that. We waited another 10 minutes for the ice cream scoop, and 20 minutes for the other waffle. Prior to the waffle being served, we observed the gentleman behind the counter with no gloves, and no handwashing go to pick up the strawberries and bananas by hand for my waffle. We asked the waitress if this was protocol and she said yes as they have a hand washing station behind. The supervisor on duty approached our table and confirmed this was indeed protocol that they wash their hands before handling food. We mentioned we did not see that happen, watched him come from the backroom to the front touching his phone and going straight to preparing food. They were apologetic and offered to comp our second waffle and ice cream, and gived us a free pint.

Highly suggest upper management needs to be involved, monitor their staff, and provide better training. The young staff at this location needs to be taught how to multitask and organize preparing priority orders. We watched one waitress serve 10-15 people, and 4-5 people behind the kitchen prep area. Each were making one dessert at a time moving slower than a turtle, one was even wearing headphones in not listening to his coworkers around him. They all looked to be staring in space working. These young workers need to move with urgency and be assigned one station to work at to run the service...

I recently visited this Demetres location on Bloor after not having the best experience at the Courtneypark location, and had a mixed experience. While the desserts themselves were delicious and much more enjoyable this time, the overall visit was marred by some notable issues. The staff, though well-meaning, seemed quite stressed and new to their roles, which led to delays in getting our order. It was clear that the place was busy and predominantly staffed by newcomers, which might explain the slow service.

The summer items, though being told was the last day for them, were not available to order. We were originally told only the blueberry cheesecake ice cream was out, but quickly learned that the summer program was over completely (hence there was a miscommunication in terms of relaying the right information to the customers, between the front staff and the waiters).

However, the biggest concern was the lack of hygiene practices. I noticed that no gloves were being used when handling food, and staff members were frequently touching different surfaces and then handling desserts with the same unwashed hands. This lapse in cleanliness was quite unsettling and detracted from the otherwise enjoyable dessert experience. The fact that the couple sitting beside us also mentioned it as an issue confirmed that we weren't the only ones disgusted by this act. We noticed that the same cutlery that had touched the garbage (after discarding of crepes that were not made properly) were being used to make the other orders.

If you're planning to visit, be prepared for a bit of a wait and keep an eye on hygiene practices. While the treats are tempting, I hope the management addresses these issues soon to improve the overall experience. I liked the strawberry milkshake but found the cheesecake to lack some sauce. The honey vanilla ice cream complimented the...

I came here on a Saturday around 10 pm, we were seated right away and given our menus. The cleanliness of the place was OK, I did notice some menus and utensils on the floor. The place wasn’t too busy but it did take our server about 30 minutes to come and take our order even though we were sitting right in front of the server stand. I ordered the red velvet cake and my friend ordered the biscoff milkshake. It took about 15 minutes for me to receive my cake slice, I was waiting for my friend to receive their milkshake to that we could eat together but around another 10 minutes had passed by, we are just about ready to leave due to how long we had been waiting for every aspect of this experience when i notice the milkshake on the counter, My friend grabs it from the counter because we were expecting to have to wait another 10 minutes for the servers to bring it. Mind you the two ladies working were chitchatting right in front of us and the place wasn’t too busy. We were using two tables when one of the ladies asks us to move separate our tables, I was under the impression that a large group had come and they needed to use them but nope, the rest of the time after she had split the tables not a single person had sat at them. The cake was good and was a large portion, the milkshake was also good. When it came to asking for the check we were so fed up we had to chase down the server for our bill, she did not ask us if we wanted separate checks and by this point we knew if we asked to split them we would have to wait another ridiculous amount of time for our new checks. Overall the service of this establishment has definitely influenced me not to come back. If you are looking to wait an hour and a half just to get some dessert this is the perfect...