The Friar: A Firkin Pub — Restaurant in Toronto

I waited 20 minutes before I was even seen by the server. When I came in (friday) it was very busy. The bartender who is lovely (I come here often) was handling a large rush so I didn't mind waiting a bit. Another gentlemen started worker (A server) he made eye contact with me SEVERAL times so he knew I was there and essentially ignored my presence. After serving a group of other customers who came in AFTER me he proceeded to go to the debit machine cash area and punch things on the computer. Then after that he started filling water jugs and cups (they weren't for any particular table) I guess he felt prepping water was more important than simply coming over and chatting with me. I started to stand up and stare towards the front of the bar where the staff were. I stood for about 5+ minutes while they aukwardly made eye contact and ignored. FINALLY after I changed my seat CLOSER to their eye sight they came (server) and said "Have you been serverd yet" of course he knew the answer...I said "No, and I've been waiting a LONG time." He said, "Oh really? How long? I said almost 20 minutes" he was very rude and gave me a lot of attitude. It's as if he thought I had no right to be annoyed after he deliberately ignored my presence. I don't think I'll come back at this point. Interested in knowing who owns this location because being understaffed on a Friday is foolish...BAD customer experience. And secondly, the young man (obviously gay) not that it matters because I myself am gay, I'm just describing who it was - was VERY bad at customer service. When a customer is upset you have to DESCALATE the situation...not give attitude back. Did I give him attitude? Yes of course. Because he deliberately ignored me for 20 minutes. No water at my table, no drink, no hi or hello. Nothing. He should have appologized and taken my order in a very apologetic way....

My friend likes Firkin pubs so he chose this one because it was close to the cinema. After all, we were going to see a film after a bite. I arrived before him and saw there was no one on the patio and thought how lucky I was to get first dips at an empty patio. After sitting there for about 10 min I went inside and asked if the servers were out on the patio or did I need to place my order inside. I was told there was service and someone would be right out to help me. As I was sitting there my friend arrived and we got to catch up.. Still no one came out.. I went back in after another 10 mins and asked to place an order for two glasses of water and 1 Diet Coke for my friend. I was told someone would come to take my order. After another 5 mins of waiting (Note there were only two tables of people inside), a staff member came and took our drink orders - we placed our food order as well at the time. I had to go in again to ask about our drinks - I carried them out for they were on the bar waiting. When the food came.. only mine arrived. The waitress never entered my friend's meal. We are not the ones to make a fuss.. I just said.. oh.. um.. unfortunate. can We just get the bill now please - We split my meal for there was little time to wait for his to be cooked. All in all, this was probably the worst service I’ve had in Toronto.. I mean the staff would have been better off just telling me - “hey we're not into serving people today, try another time” I would have preferred that. Note to Firkin - I am not looking for or want any discounts. I won't visit your...

My friends usually come here often, but after the service we had last night we will never come back. We were a large group of ten people so we understood if we had to be split up, they told us they had no tables so there were 2 tables beside each other we pushed closer to accommodate everyone. They told us we couldn't do that, then gave us a large table that was unoccupied in the back. 15 minutes later a blonde bartender asked what we were drinking, we had no menus and asked her what was on tap. She told us there was too much on tap for her to say and asked again what we wanted to drink. She took four peoples order and then said she will be back because she had to pour them. Eventually we all had drinks and still no menus, it was just after 11pm and we asked her if there was a food menu. She told us the kitchen was closed but she was able to grab chicken fingers for another one of her tables so she could do that for us. We quickly saw that other tables had Late Night Munchie menus and were pretty upset that everyone else could get food. we told this to her, she said she told us it was closed because the kitchen was busy but she might be able to do nachos.. Overall the whole experience was awful she did not come over and ask if we wanted another beer, she never gave us food or drink menus, she just wanted us out of there and she was very rude in the way she spoke to us. My friends and I will never go to this...