Kellys Landing — Restaurant in Toronto

Visited kellys with colleagues during lunch, came in with high expectations, left on a more disappointed note. Sharing my honest review with pros/cons.

Pros: We were asked what drinks we want as well as what kind of water we would like (ex: carbonated). Pudding and Mousse were good. ~ 9/10 Pizza Margarita was very good ~ 8-9/10 Menu had gluten free and vegetarian options

Cons: Communication/ Service: Waitress has not asked if any of us have any allergies/ dietary restrictions It was difficult to approach waitress as she was not checking on us We had to call waitress in order to finally make an order and kellys was not even as busy We were told that we cannot order mains at same time as appetizers since it is hard to punch it in the system considering that we already waited for around 30mins for our orders to be even taken, we then had to wait again to place mains order. When mains were finally served they were not served at same time to everyone , one table got it around 10 mins earlier and even when they brought mains to 2nd table one person still had to wait for next 5mins for his main. And I understand this can happen, in that instance waitress has to communicate it to set expectations. Basically it comes back to communication issue again. To add once all mains were served three people did not get any cutlery to eat with , and again we had to catch waitress since she did not bother checking on us and our experience Water was only refilled at the end once There were not enough napkins When time came for desserts we were not approached by waitress and we had to again make attempts to call her over and then once we managed to do it , she said that apparently dessert menu was always there just in the drinks menu.

Food: Despite it looking good on pictures most of people rated it as 6/10 where my rating would be closer to 4/10 for my dish which was Moroccan chicken with salmon add in, which tasted like poor imitation of Indian chicken curry, salmon was very good though. For desserts we tried all three that are presented on the menu including mousse, pudding and cheesecake. Mousse and pudding were pretty good however cheesecake was clearly in the fridge for a very long time, i tasted that. Mousse & pudding are 8-9/10 while cheesecake closer to 2/10. No Vegan dessert options

Additional feedback/ needed improvements: One of the plates was dirty and we had to ask waitress to get new one Was hard to get waitress to bring us a bill It is important that waitress set right expectations and continuously communicates of any issues/ delays to avoid ruining experience

Overall, in conclusion service is at 3/10 it was bad, i got strong feeling that waitress just did not care about us neither about our experience. Food was rated 6/10 by most people while some people rated it as bad (~2-3/10). Definitely not a place you ever want to go to unless you want overpriced poor tasting food and even...

The steak was perfectly medium rare as asked, cannot complain about it. Although, the service was truly and utterly disappointing. This was my first experience in a landing group restaurant and although the food was okay overall, the staff was completely unwelcoming and inattentive. The two of us came to celebrate a relationship milestone. When we walked in the two hosts at the front didn’t greet us, they were busy conversing and I had to wave and say hi to get their attention. That was nothing compared to the 25 minutes we spent waiting to even be greeted by our server, she was nowhere to be found. After the 15 minute mark, we started to look around for our server, and I personally made eye contact with 4 workers who either just stared back and didn’t do anything or question why we were seated with no food or no service, or LITERALLY made eye contact and turned the other way as if they hadn’t seen me. (Happened twice) My girlfriend even made eye contact with the host who seated us and she looked back and didn’t think anything wrong of us seated for all that time without even asking anyone why we hadn’t been seen by a server yet. 3 servers were at the bar chatting and watching the Argentina-Canada game, completely oblivious to our presence, nobody seemed to care or know we were there despite being seated by the hostess 20+ minutes prior with nothing ordered or given but menus. Finally, a server with tattooed eyebrows shows up, lidded eyes and speaking slowly as if to avoid slurring. I don’t want to make any assumptions but considering her mannerisms and her completely neglecting us in presumably her section…well you know what it seemed like. I thought that was the end of it, but our food took another 30 minutes to arrive even though they weren’t very busy and our server probably knew we had been waiting for so long already. I understand that in relatively nice restaurants like this, dishes are made with care and to order, but by then we had waited an hour. Eventually I got my Steak and Shrimp, and she her Steak Frites. Now for the cherry on top, the steak was nicely done to medium rare, but admittedly it was a little bland. About 2/3 into finishing my meal, I got curious and checked the menu only to find out my steak should have come with the ‘house-made demi glacé.’ My girlfriend got hers but I assumed mine wasn’t supposed to come with it until I confirmed on the menu posted online that it should have. None of the chefs, and neither our server caught this. I didn’t even bother mentioning it to her at that point as the meal was practically done. Albeit lacking the glacé, the meal was not bad. Although the work ethic of the hostesses, the servers, the bartenders (who also ignored us) was honestly really...

My recent visit to Kelly’s Landing left me with the impression that the staff are not especially dedicated to creating a positive customer experience.

I was dining with a group of 12 who had all participated in the Toronto Waterfront 5KM Run that morning. This outing has become somewhat of a tradition, as the same group dined at Kelly’s Landing after the run last year as well. We had an 11:30 a.m. reservation, and the restaurant opens at 11:00.

Our first group member arrived shortly after opening and informed staff that she was there for the reservation. She was told she could not be seated until the entire party had arrived. As the rest of us gathered outside — including several older adults who were understandably tired from the run — multiple people went in and politely requested to at least take a seat while waiting. Each time, they were refused. The reason given? “Your designated server hasn’t arrived yet.”

Once we were finally seated and our server arrived, things initially went smoothly with drink and food orders — impressive given our group size.

However, when my friend and I requested that our poached eggs be cooked firm rather than soft (for our benedict and avocado toast), we were bluntly informed that the kitchen “does not typically accommodate changes beyond what’s stated on the menu.” Not only was the restaurant not busy at the time, but such a simple request could reasonably be tied to personal or health preferences — which any restaurant should be willing to respect. Thankfully, the kitchen did ultimately honour our request.

Another guest expressed concern about pistachios in her dish due to a recent recall. Her concern was dismissed immediately without any verification. If the server was truly confident in the safety of the product, fair enough — but that confidence should be explained, not brushed off.

The final issue came when it was time to settle the bill. While I understand some restaurants have policies against splitting bills for large groups, this policy is not mentioned anywhere on the website. When we requested individual bills, we were told it was impossible because the reservation had been made under a single name. Even when we explained that this same group had been accommodated in that exact request the previous year, there was no flexibility. One of our group members ended up paying the full amount and collecting reimbursement from the rest of us.

Overall, my impression is that the staff lack adequate training in customer service and flexibility. Small gestures of accommodation go a long way — especially for loyal returning guests. I will certainly take this experience into account when making future...