Pogue Mahone Pub & Kitchen — Restaurant in Toronto

I have been coming to this place on and off for over a year and a half since I moved into the neighborhood, sometimes service is slow but usually they communicate this so I'm ok with it. I was here about 3 weeks ago with no problems. However, this past weekend I came in to celebrate my birthday with a couple friends. I came here last year for my birthday and it was fantastic, but unfortunately this year it was so awful I won't be coming back here for quite awhile.

First of all we had a reservation for 7 and we ordered drinks fairly quickly. They took awhile to come out and when the server brought them I asked to order food and he said he hold on. He then cashed out 2 tables and took other orders which would normally be fine but as we found out at 8:30 when we were still waiting for our food the kitchen was backed up. If you knew that why wasn't this communicated and why weren't orders taken more quickly over cashing out tables? The table next to us sat down after us and ordered way after us and got their appetizers before ours and their food before us. When the food finally came out my pizza was missing toppings and wasn't made correctly. When I asked about it he ran back and slapped uncooked toppings on top, not the same thing. The pizza (which is usually my favorite) was soggy and gross. The server never checked in on the food quality.

When we were asking for our bills he asked if I wanted to pack the pizza up and I said it was gross and soggy. It wasn't until we were paying he asked about our experience and I said it was my birthday and I was sorely disappointed in the quality that he offered me free cake, but at this point it was 9:20 and I wanted to leave. Then he got the manager and while she was nice, and gave me her card for a future discount, her explainations of being short staffed and having wifi problems would only be acceptable if they were communicated. I'm extremely disappointed that my birthday dinner was so filled with problems and I won't be back for...

POCs don't spend your money here! The tall, slender manager with glasses and blonde hair is not welcoming at all and he treated my partner and I in a very disrespectful, discriminatory manner from the minute we arrived. When we walked toward the host booth, the manager approached us in a very unfriendly and standoffish manner, with a suspicious, unpleasant look on his face as if we were not meant to be there. He did not say hello to us, but rather reluctantly approached us and stared at us as if we were dangerous people. I said to him "hi, a table for two please" he then abruptly responded with a stern voice and an attitude saying, "do you have a reservation.." to which we replied no. He then rolled his eyes, laugh to himself under his breath, (kind of when someone is blowing you off and laughing at you like you're dumb) and made it seem that it was a problem, even though when we looked around there were many empty tables. He then shook his head and said, “umm..ok” in a frustrated tone, as if it was an inconvenience to him, so we chose to sit at the bar.

Our bartender Robin took very good care of us and was very lovely. She was definitely the only reason we stayed. As the night went on I asked the bartender if most of the guests that night had a reservation or if they were mostly walk-ins, to which she responded that they were not taking reservations that night because it was slow - Sunday Night. So, the manager disrespected us as soon as we walked in, made us feel unwanted and unwelcome to be there, got annoyed and frustrated with us for not having a reservation, and it turns out that no one in the bar that night had a reservation. He just didn’t want us there because we were black/brown men. I even observed him throughout the night and he was so much more friendly and accommodating to all the other guests who walked in. We will never spend our money at...

This was my first and also my last time to ever step foot in this place. I attended a work function and as soon as I sat down, I poured a glass of water (bottles sitting on the tables). The water tasted like it was extracted from a toilet. It tasted, smelled and appeared off! In terms of lunch, I ordered the $24 smash cheeseburger (with added bacon) and fries. I specifically asked the server to ensure that the fries are salted straight out of the oil. The fries were presented to me cold, soggy and salt free (they likely salted cold fries which is pointless). The burger was absolutely horrible in every which way. The bun was soggy and fell apart as I was eating it and I ended up using a knife and fork to consume the patty. The bacon that was added tasted off and had what I would describe as a gamey flavor. I left most of the fries and most of the bun on the plate. Observations of other orders, led me to the conclusion that this place relies on its location for it's traffic and revenue and not on food quality. The drinks were cold, which is the only thing that I would recommend. Eat elsewhere! For those giving positive reviews, you really need to explore other culinary options for a proper baseline of food quality. There was a person who I assume to be the manager who asked me how the food was...in fairness to him and to my coworkers, I didn't want to express myself publicly to embarrass him. So to that person who asked me how the food was....please see my honest...