THANKSGIVING DINNER

This review is in regards to the Thanksgiving Dinner they offered. Overall, you will see this review is aligned with other reviews left over the past year or so. Ever since 2020, the food has gone down hill. I have been to the Old Mill a handful of times over the past 10+ years and after our Thanksgiving 2024 experience, it will probably be our last.

The saving grace is the atmosphere and service. If you really want a beautiful place that has the ambiance, then you really can't beat the Old Mill. It's a shame this beautiful venue is being drowned by the poor quality of food.

The food was honestly terrible. Basic and cheap side dishes to give the illusion of choice but nothing too exciting that you couldn't find at a grocery store's hot table / salad bar. (i.e. cold cuts, fruits, macaroni salad, pasta salad, bread, etc.)

Here are a couple of notable dishes I tried that really stood out the most to me and were by far the most disappointing.

The mashed potatoes were not fluffy. They had the consistency of a baked potato - soft to where you could scoop them, but not fluffy. After scooping the mashed potatoes and trying to plate it, 80% of what I had scooped stayed on the spoon. After a couple of attempts to get the mashed potatoes onto my plate, I gave up because if I had used any more force, I would've flung the potato across the room (that is if it would actually fall off the spoon).

The meat had no flavour and was overcooked. It was tough and dry and one piece of meat was undistinguishable from the other (which hopefully tells you how bad it was). The two meats I tried were turkey and lamb. When I asked if they had a medium rare cut of the lamb, the individual cutting said what he had on the cutting board was medium rare. Spoiler alert - it was not medium rare - it was medium well - barely any pink left.

The last item that deserves to be mentioned which prompted me to write this review was the waffles they had at the dessert table. I honestly would've been willing to write this all off had I enjoyed the dessert but the waffle was the most disappointing part of it all. When you think of a Belgian waffle, you probably think of a warm and soft waffle that could be cut by the edge of your fork - no need for a knife. Nope - this Belgian waffle was cold and hard like a bread biscuit. You would either need a knife to cut it or you could break it by hand and crumbs would be left. Dry crumbs should not be left trying cut a Belgian waffle. I've been to 3 star hotels like Holiday Inn Express that had better, softer and warmer waffles than the Old Mill.

All in all, for a $75 per person dining experience, the Old Mill really missed the mark. I truly hope they take these reviews to heart and review their menu and dining experience because I'd hate to see what's next for this historic Toronto landmark if it can't get one of its main revenue producers (the restaurant) to meet the needs and expectations of what they're advertising.

We all agreed AYCE sushi would've been a better Thanksgiving Dining experience.