Manita Ossington — Restaurant in Toronto

I recently dined at Manita with two friends and we were all disappointed with the service, atmosphere and most importantly the food.

After seeing such long wait times, we had assumed that it was worth the wait, but sadly we all left unenthusiastic about our experience.

Firstly, we put our names down for a table and were told by the hostess that the wait time would be 45 mins. While I understand that this is an estimate, for guest experience, it would be better to quote a longer wait time for your party in order for them to decide if it works with their window. We ended up waiting an hour and 10mins.

Once we got to our table, they sat us at a table for 2, for three guests, and at the front of the restaurant. Again, if that’s the only table that’s available, and you’re trying to get us in so we don’t wait any longer, I get that, but if you’re going to make a table wait 30 mins over the estimated time, seating them in a less than ideal spot doesn’t further help guest experience.

Now the food - I always like to order apps and shareable for the table, but I can’t tell you how relieved I am that we didn’t. The food was SO underwhelming or bad.

I ordered the falafel plate, and at $31 it was absolutely a waste of money. Falafel is a street food and made from inexpensive ingredients. Around the world it is known to be widely affordable. However, seeing the price, I was willing to order assuming the flavour would be outstanding. While the falafel was fresh, and the rest of the plate was filled with fresh greens, and fresh bread. The falafel itself was terrible. It was extremely salty. It masked any flavour because that’s all you could taste. They give you four pieces, and I only made it through three because that’s all I could handle. I forced myself to get through eating three purely because I didn’t want to waste any food. It was not enjoyable at all.

My friend ordered the lemon pasta, we both agreed it was extremely bland and tasted more like a butter pasta, with little to no lemon at all. It was fine, but again very underwhelming and would not order again.

My other friend only ordered a croquette and bread and butter. She was fine with what she ordered.

Lastly, the overall service was lacking - no one checked up on us at any point of the service. They took our order, cleared our plates and handed us the bill. They did the bare minimum, there was no customer service at all.

Overall, we left thinking there are a ton of other great restaurants on ossington, why Manita has a longer wait time than others...

I come to manita often - with the boyfriend, with girlfriends, whenever my parents are in town. The food is consistently decent with something on the menu for just about anyone. The issue is the absolutely horrendous, rude service here. This place gets very busy, so if you walk in there’s often a wait. The issue is that I have NEVER felt genuinely welcomed - the girl who is often the hostess on the weekend is cold and makes you feel like you’re annoying her by just walking in. The last time I was in, I put my jacket on the seat behind me (the restaurant was empty), and rather than let me know where to hang my jacket when I first walked in, the hostess walked up 5 minutes later and demanded (quite rudely) I move my jacket to the hooks in the back of the restaurant. I was taken aback by her tone, and she quickly followed up saying ‘I’m not your servant’. I was absolutely rocked by the entire experience. This is not the first time I’ve witnessed this hostess’ blatantly awful behaviour, and the worst part is everyone working at the restaurant saw the whole incident and didn’t do a thing. The entire meal was awkward after that but I was relieved knowing that I will never be coming back. When I think back to the many times I’ve been to Manita, I actually recall that it has never been a warm experience. When I shared my experience with my girlfriends, they all said they have also had the same impression of the place. Save your peace of mind and go to milou around the corner, or if it’s for lunch - Haifa room or union (higher end but much better food and...

Edit:

Was walking along Ossington after having dinner at Astoria and was looking for somewhere to have some cocktails. We noticed there were a few open tables on the patio so we sat down. A waitress showed up a few minutes later and scolded us for seating ourselves. Then a couple minutes later the hostess showed up and scolded us again. It’s not like there was anyone else waiting to be seated. We ordered some drinks and the waitress was extremely rude to us. We had a few drinks and asked for the bill at 10:45om. When asking for the bill the waitress pointed out that it is “illegal” for us to be there after 11pm yet we were leaving anyway. She could have told us this in a nicer manner and we were leaving anyway so I didn’t see the need to point this out. I hate to say it but this waitress was a total b1tch. I have been to this restaurant several times and never had such appalling service. Management needs to get rid of this waitress and the hostess was equally as bad.

Headed here to try out the burger that is plastered all over Instagram. While the burger was delicious, I was disappointed they would not accommodate my request to have half fries and half salad as my side. My choice was one or the other. Meanwhile my friend ordered the steak frites with half fries and half salad. The service was also very slow and their wine selection by the glass was way overpriced. Good little spot but these little things...