The Rushton — Restaurant in Toronto

Disappointed to have to leave this review considering my husband and I specifically chose this spot as it was the place we had our first date 10 years ago and so it had sentimental value. It’s a great location on St. Clair Ave and especially for the Salsa festival. It’s bad enough that they upcharge you because of the festival - eg. $14 for a can of beer - but we let that go. Then on top of that they automatically include a 20% gratuity. Not great, but, again, it is what it is. But then the ripping off continued. We paid for our bill in cash, then waited and waited for our change. The waiter claimed to forget. When he finally brought our change he said they didn’t have enough cash and gave us $10 instead of $13. As if that was acceptable. I’m pretty sure, shoe on the other foot, if patrons all of a sudden started paying less than their bill, they wouldn’t be OK with that. And neither should we. So then I said give me back the cash I’ll pay with a card and he said he couldn’t because he’d already closed the bill and that I would need to talk to the manager Frankie. Long story short, Frankie essentially tried to belittle us for wanting $3. I explained to him it was the principle of the matter and he can’t expect people to pay what was effectively $40 for 2 beers and use an excuse saying “it’s a festival”. This was a clear and blatant example of going beyond taking advantage of your guests. We had no issues paying the already inflated prices, but it was the added sneaky behavior of trying to not give us our correct change and belittle us when we raised it. Do better...

The Rushton is a lively little spot in midtown Toronto. Close enough to downtown. Lots of regulars, which is a good sign. We must mention that we wanted to eat inside the restaurant, and went to sit down, but the fruit flies were completely overwhelming. We moved a chair to sit down and swarms flew up. The art work around was covered in them, and they were flying around in droves. We chose to stay, but sat outside on their lovely patio instead, and we took the fact that it was packed, edge to edge, as a sign that we should stay and try it out. But we do hope they do something about the fruit flies. The food was good, not wonderful, but well executed and fit our needs (a spot to eat, not far from where we were staying, but we wouldn’t choose it for a special occasion). There were lots of large groups! Summer in full swing. The staff are working so hard here! Our server was the best part of our meal! I wish I’d caught his name! Also the cocktails we had were beautifully crafted, however they were slightly, highly priced for the size of them, and for not being in the downtown core. They were delicious and authentic and we would’ve had a few more, but for the price-size ratio. Overall, this is a cool spot in...

My sister and I came for lunch on thanksgiving ( yesterday.) When we first arrived there was a red headed woman wearing a pink long sleeve ( she looked like a server) who came off annoyed because we wanted to dine in. We entered the restaurant & she purposely said loud enough for us to hear “ is the kitchen closed cause people keep coming in.” I found that very rude and ignorant of her to make a comment like that when we walk in. Then she tells us to come back for 5pm, because thats when they re open. So my sister and I came back for 4:45pm to have a drink until the kitchen opens. We walk into the restaurant again & its the same red headed woman with the same attitude. She sees us standing at the host stand and goes to a group of people behind the bar and tells us “ yeah ill be there in a moment” with attitude once again, as if we were a bother to her… Then she proceeds to continue being in your face ignorant by telling the staff behind the bar “ i told them to come back at 5, not now.” I’ve been to the Rushton 1 other time & it was great. But i have to say that red headed woman definitely left a bad taste in our mouths with unnecessary attitude & the level of ignorance was...