Evangeline — Restaurant in Toronto

I have been here before and have never had an experience like this. I am quite disappointed with the attitude and quality of service tonight. I arrived with 3 friends and we were meeting up with 2 friends already sitting at a table in the lounge. We sat down at the table with them and no server was to be found. We asked someone clearing the tables if they could find the server. It took about 15minutes to have someone greet us and take our order. We ordered our drinks and then also asked for some water and the male server never brought it. We each ordered 1 drink. He then let us know it was last call and we said we were all good with 1 drink. He then placed the bill in front of me without even asking if it be 1 bill or separate. If 4 people join 2 people that were previously there why assume it’s 1 bill? At least ask. I went over to ask for separate bills (as we didn’t all arrive together) to which he hesitated and replied with attitude “uhmm, hmm, well no, that’s gonna be about 20 minutes then”. I said okay and put the bill down and walked away. He then came over to the table and singled me out to tell me the “machine wasn’t connecting” and called me over to lecture me about asking for separate bills. Then told me we should be grateful he served us at last call (which he did last call after we ordered?) and that how dare we move the round table beside the other round table? When we asked first and had permission from the hostess to do this, as it was not a busy night and there was lots of empty space. Overall poor service and attitudes. Not something I would expect from an establishment like this. Another staff member got involved. Not sure who they were. Maybe the manager? Another server? She was very polite. However her reasoning was it’s been a busy night so maybe he just assumed it was a group over 8 people so gave 1 bill then. But it was very clear it was 2 people sitting alone and then 4 people joined later on in the evening. If everyone got just 1 drink that’s only 6 drinks so not sure how the bill was confusing or he could even see or assume it was a table of 8??? Not a good time at all. It’s not hard to ask a group (that didn’t even arrive together) how they want the bills. No need to make a fuss about it and say it’s gonna take 20 minutes. It really wasn’t that difficult and just unnecessary. Disappointing night out when we were all just trying to meet up with some friends for...

EDIT in reply to Evangeline's reply I respect the decision, the issue is how it happened.. If the team felt that strongly, they should have made the call immediately and not made us wait almost 30 minutes before making it clear they wouldn't serve one of us.

second edit to their edited reply I see they’ve edited their reply to include words like “urgency” and “immediately”. This was not in their original reply and I stand by my frustration that they let us sit for almost 30 minutes before the final decision.

3 stars off for whoever was managing last night.

About 20 minutes after a gorgeous dinner at Alder downstairs (at which we spent four digits), we decided to pop back in and head up to the rooftop bar for a night cap. Our server (Matthew, I think?) was lovely and brought us menus and water and later returned to take drink orders. We ordered and THEN he returned and regretfully said he couldn't serve us because his manager believed one of our party was already 'over served'. We were gobsmacked and asked why she thought that... Admittedly, one of our party was slurring, but was NOT stumbling, swaying, and was not even loud. But apparently the way he greeted her in passing when we arrived led her to believe that. We had a few more back and forths with our server, (who, again, was wonderful), but he said his manager wouldn't change her mind or elaborate. I'm knocking three stars off because it feels outrageous that this manager did not come to speak to us directly and chose to make such an assessment not only from afar, but from a 2 second greeting. It felt unnecessary, drastic, and like poor management to make that call without even speaking with us and also to force her server to be the communicator.

I love this place and I've been a number of times, but will now hesitate to return, especially with clients.

Btw, afterwards, we went for cocktails down the street...

I mulled over sharing my experience but another friend recently had a similar issue so I feel those booking large groups / events should be warned.

For my birthday in June I booked a table for 14, paying a $500 deposit upfront. The 2 weeks leading up, I was in contact with one of their staff who by all accounts was prompt and friendly.

Upon arrival I was asked to wait at the bar, but as my party arrived they were told by staff that they “just found out about the reservation” or “didn’t know about it”.

Over 30min later we were finally shown to our area. There was no apology, no kind gesture to make up for the inconvenience and mistake on their part - there were also food substitutions made to the pre-ordered food without discussion.

When I emailed my contact to express my negative experience, I received a response from her and another Ace staff member outlining how they planned to prevent this in the future (great - but that doesn't make any amends for my experience) and another saying that they’d love to host us again (also ? - I don't intend to re-host my birthday and spend another $1500). I replied by asking if they had any intention of rectifying the situation aside from offering to 'make me another reservation', which is frankly just a bizarre suggestion, and they ghosted me.

Disorganized. Inconsiderate. Very bad...