United Bakers Dairy Restaurant — Restaurant in Toronto

At United Bakers, the food is okay but the service is terrible.

The food is typical Jewish deli (dairy not meat): bagels, lox, chopped egg/tuna, etc. There are some kids' meals like mac and cheese or pasta and sauce. There are some hot meals like eggplant parmesan. There is also all-day breakfast including omelets. The food is average quality and average price.

However, every time we have eaten here, the service has been terrible. The servers very rarely check on you to see if you need anything. If you need more water, you will have to ask for it yourself (if you can ever catch anyone's eye to do so)!

Our waitress today asked me what kind of bread I wanted with my meal. I asked "what are my choices?" She said "bread or bagel" without elaborating on what kind of bagels or bread they have (they are a bakery -- surely they have lots of options!). I chose bread, she asked what kind, and I asked yet again to outline my choices. Only then did she list rye, pumpernickel, and some other choice. She forgot to point out that the kid's meal I ordered for my son came with a drink, and when I remembered later on, it was impossible to get her attention at any point in the meal to request the drink. Eventually I asked the people clearing tables for more water and for the kid's meal drink. When we finally got the bill (miraculous that we got her attention), my dad pulled out his credit card, she came by a few minutes later and ripped the bill and credit card out of his hand.

Also, the food comes out whenever it is ready. It is not timed so that the entire table's order is complete. If you order a hot meal (e.g. eggplant parmesan), expect to start eating 15 minutes after everyone else at your table who got chopped egg or soup or an omelet.

We ended up leaving a pitiful tip. She came back and pointed it out to us that we left her 70 cents on a $50 bill. I said the service was abysmal and pointed out what she should have done differently.

In my opinion, a waiter or waitress has three tasks: (1) know and explain the menu (like what bread choices there are and that a kid's meal comes with a drink); (2) refill our water glasses ideally before they are empty; (3) check on us at least once or twice during the meal to see if we would like anything else. If you do these three things, you get a standard tip (15% at an average restaurant like this one or 20% at a high end place). If you do none of these things, then you don't get a standard tip. It should not be expected that a 15% tip is mandatory: when did that become the rule?

Conclusion: the food is decent, if you like Jewish deli style meals, and it is not super expensive. However, expect terrible service. You are better off catching the attention of the people clearing tables than your own waitress. Bring your own water bottle if you drink more than a half-cup (125 mL)...

I've been to and driven by this plaza thousands upon thousands of times over 30+ years, frequently shopping at the Winners and Metro, but yet somehow never stepped foot inside of United Bakers until today at my friends suggestion while waiting for him. I mean, maybe I'd been there as a kid, but cannot remember. Anyways, I immediately loved the oldschool vibe inside, but will be honest: seeing photos in the reviews, I didn't expect much... looked like pretty standard, bland, Jewish fare (which I'm very well acquainted with). Thankfully, to my surprise, we ended up being thoroughly impressed by the majority of what we ordered. The pea soup was really fantastic and so too was the cream cheese & lox platter, as well as the blueberry cheesecake. That made for a fantastic three course meal. Unfortunately, the macaroni and cheese left much to be desired, with barely any cheese flavour being perceptible (it was very, very, bland) and the texture being a touch too pasty, almost fresh cement-like, for my liking. Secondly, the oreo cheesecake left very much to be desired after the super soft and velvety, delectable, blueberry one. We expected they'd be of a similar texture, but the oreo one was significantly harder and really not to our liking, but certainly edible. Oh, I don't want to neglect the sides that came with the cream cheese and lox platter; both their coleslaw and potato salad were absolutely fantastic- could eat a bowl of each on their own, happily! Coffee was also surprisingly tasty. Service was great- very warm and attentive, and food comes out quickly yet is very obviously fresh and of high quality. My only other criticism is that I felt a couple of items were maybe ever so slightly overpriced, but in retrospect, maybe not even by todays standards. Overall, extremely pleased with my first experience at this institution and will certainly be back in no time to explore more of their menu, as well as to revisit a couple of the...

A Jewish restaurant in business for over 100 years, established in 1912! The restaurant looks like an old school diner, and there’s a bakery on the side for take out. I got several interesting traditional Jewish dishes:

Nova Lox Appetizer $12.49 Gefilte Fish (Sweet) $10.99 Green Split Pea Soup $3.99 Potato Latke with Sour Cream $2.99 Challah French Toast $9.99

These dishes were rather simple, and most of the items I ordered were of Eastern European / Ashkenazi Jewish origin. However, I was glad to have this new experience. My favourite here is the pea soup; it had a nice touch of dill and good hearty creaminess. Reminds me a bit of baby food then. Most interesting dish is the gefilte fish. It was served the traditional style, chilled with horseradish (tasted like the fake wasabi made from horseradish). The waitress saw that I wasn’t having a good time, and offered me a heated version instead with hot sauce, and that was a lot better.

Service here is top-notch. My server, Gloria, was very helpful and explained the dishes to me in detail and making sure I was comfortable with my dishes, as I am new to the cuisine. I give this 5 stars because of her! However, food presentation was incredibly sloppy, which could be off-putting. Items also come at very spaced out...