Holts Café | Contemporary Canadian Cuisine — Restaurant in Toronto

I had a very confusing experience for the Lunar New Year afternoon tea. My friends and I were really excited and had high expectations only to be left underwhelmed and disappointed.

First, this may be tied with staffing/training issues but there was a major lack of communication with our table. I feel that we could had been informed more of how afternoon tea works but we were told nothing. I had noted on my reservation that 2 party members had a shellfish allergy and 1 other had a red onion allergy and no one asked if anyone has allergies or addressed the note I left. It was quite concerning as the set menu does contain items with shellfish and usually the question is asked right at the beginning of your dining experience. After around 30 minutes, I ended up asking if the note about the allergy was received and was relieved to hear the kitchen was informed. However, our server came back to ask what exactly were my allergy and made me think the note wasn't seen by the staff since when we received our food my other friend allergies wasn't accounted for as only 1 serving was shellfish free. Fortunately, my friend was only allergic to specifically oysters and could dine safely. This could had ended up terribly due to lack of clear communication.

Service was quite slow as it took an hour for us to receive our food. We would had understand the long wait time if we received updates throughout our wait time. We only received one update around 55 minutes of waiting that our food should be coming soon. It was interesting that a set menu of easy to prepare food items took an hour to plate. As mentioned, a reservation was made and it was a set menu so we expected faster service. Honestly, only 4 food items needed to be warm when served. When we did receive our food, majority of the savory food items didn't seem to be freshly made and appeared to be sitting around for a while before it reached our table. Circling back to their poor communication, we received no explanation on which food item is which so you are left to figure it out yourself. Aside from being informed my tower was shellfish free, I was not informed on what the substitutions were (which I concluded as an egg salad sandwich and half of a chicken bao). The whole experience seem to go with the theme of "do it yourself" since you receive a tea bag in a sachet and a tea pot of hot water (mine was lukewarm) for your tea!

The food itself was ok. A couple of the dessert items were too potent in one flavour, such as the yuzu creme brulee which was way too tart and the mango cheesecake where it felt like you were eating a dollop of pure cream cheese. We did enjoy some of the food items, such as the scones, peking duck wonton and sesame ball.

In the end, we were left feeling unsatisfied with the food despite being full. The service and dining experience was subpar but the washroom at Holts cafe was spectacular and deserved to get its own star. We will not be coming back to dine in but would come back solely for...

I went for the holiday high tea experience to celebrate my cousins 18th birthday. I had noted on the reservation that we only wanted vegetarian/ seafood options and the restaurant called the day before as well to confirm the dietary restrictions and let us know that because it’s a birthday we will get a complimentary box of macarons. When we got there the server got our tea orders and then her shift seem to have ended. Then another server brought us our food, she didn’t know what any of the items were and had to grab another server to explain the menu who said there’s meat in the items. Then our new assigned server came over and said we never said we only wanted vegetarian items. Mind you, this new server had never come to our table or let us know she was taking over, and our previous server didn’t ask for anything except drink orders. I also told her that it was on the order note and the restaurant had called and told it was confirmed yesterday too. She then said she’ll send it back and bring the new items back, since then she seemed to have an attitude with us and it wasn’t great considering we were celebrating a birthday. The food itself was amazing but the service really lacked. At the end we left after paying the bill and soon after I realized she never gave us our complimentary macarons either. I had to call and go back an hour later just to get them. Although they’ve nailed the food, the service could be a lot better. The front desk staff was...

I know lots of peeps are leaving reviews for the previous cafe, but just an FYI, I am reviewing the brand new Holts Cafe that is just open with new decor and food items. Just wanted to clarify and bring out this point.

Holts Cafe on Bloor Street is now open, so on a first look to check this place out. It's located inside Holt Renfrew on the 3rd floor. This place has nice colour combinations, from the navy blue furniture, matching red chairs, nice white marble bar countertop, mixing in with the gold decor. It's nicely done! Classy, chic and modernly artsy.

The service was excellent. Our server Mimi was very knowledgable with the food items, she also told us that Holfs Cafe serves brunch, lunch, dinner and afternoon tea.

Holts Cafe also have a charitable initiative called "H-Project", be sure to ask about it. Food selections ranged from appetizers, salads, entrees to dessert. It's a short list of items but enough selections. If you are veggies or vegan, there are food options available as well.

We enjoyed our dining experience here, especially for those who needs a break from all the shopping in Yorkville and want a nice view sipping a nice bubbly while overlooking the streets of Yorkville from 3rd floor perspective or at the bar area which...