Duke's Refresher St Lawrence — Restaurant in Toronto

We came here for a friend’s bachelorette party. We had an email confirmation that we would have a private area upstairs, with sofas, for our group. When we arrived, we found that our area was occupied by another group and we had been allocated 2 tables in the main area which would split up our group.

While we did eventually move upstairs, we were still split into two different tables, and the group that had the sofa area we booked kept encroaching on our space - sitting at the empty ends of our tables, leaving their empty drinks on our table etc.

Upon arrival, when we ask for our original reservation to be honoured, we were dismissed with being told “we don’t know anything about that.” We had an email from Kathleen confirming the reservation as described. While she is apparently no longer at Duke’s it felt like we were being blamed for a disconnect between current staff and former management. It would have been appreciated if they acknowledged there was a miscommunication and tried to work with us to resolve the situation.

When we spoke to the on duty manager Neil about when we might be able to use the area we booked and to address the other party’s encroachment of the space he was dismissive of the situation; he said he couldn’t ask a party to leave before they were finished and told us it looked like the party would be leaving soon. I appreciate that pub culture is slightly different in Cork, but I’ve been to numerous bars and restaurants in Toronto and other major cities where reservations (especially on busy nights) are for a set time.

I understand that there can be breakdowns in communication especially when there is a change of staff and management, but overall, we were treated like we were being demanding nuisances for wanting our original reservation honoured. If we had been offered a small consolation prize like a round of drinks or a discount on our appetizers, I could let this go and chalk it up to a miscommunication between management. At no point did anyone even apologize for the confusion, which would have been greatly appreciated especially considering we had emails documenting the arrangement.

Food and drinks were good and served in a...

It was the most horrendous bar experience we’ve ever had. When we first got there, the server asked us to order drinks from the bar and so we did. One of our friends though got rejected and was instructed to go back to the table and wait for the server to take her order, in which she also did. A couple of minutes have passed and no server has come. We decided to ask a server and she said she’s going to have our server come and get her drink order. She spoke with our server and from the looks of it, our server declined to do service. No the other server took the liberty to ask us of the drink order and assist us with it. But again, she came back and said that it was bar service. So my friends went to the bar and ordered. NOW!!!!!!!, the bartender charged our friend for gratuity since we are 6 people in the table. It doesn’t make sense since we ordered individually. So now we tried to ask another server about it. He explained that tip is necessary so that the tips for the kitchen staff, bar backs and whoever else will not be from their pay. I don’t know but it’s ridiculous!

Next, one of our friends was heading home first so the two guys that we were with decided to walk her out and take her to her uber. But when they tried to go back in, the security people did not allow them back in. Even though they were also the guys who let them out and saw that they were just there to bring their friend out. They still had drinks left by the way. 🙄 It’s hilarious and just down right stupid!

Coercing for tips without...

One of the servers screwed up my bill with an extra drink. Honestly, not a big deal. I politiely informed them about this mix-up, and they went back and corrected the bill. I happily paid it off with a tip.

Then as I'm walking to head out with my friends, I get pulled aside by the shift manager-- who informs me that, "they're not in the business of giving out free drinks, but they'll let this slide this time". I'm not even sure how to respond to that. I was certain I paid for the right amount of drinks, and I also understood how the waiter could've misaccounted my share of drinks--as I was the only guy on the table who skipped a round.

Even if the manager was correct here. There was no need to frame his statement in way that was a foregone conclusion. He could've politely pulled me aside and brought up this discrepancy in a more diplomatic way. I'd be more than happy to explain my perspective in a more cool headed manner as well.

Needless to say, I didn't take kindly to being accused of freeloading a drink off these guys. I made it known that the manager was incorrect in his assessment, and I wouldn't be visting this establishment again.

Soured the entire evening for me, and lost a customer for life. I hope that was the...