The Dockside Bistro — Restaurant in Trent Hills

I should have read the reviews before going here. It was a horrible experience start to finish. For reference, the patio was about half full, so there's really no excuse for part of the problems, and the remainder were simply an owner that shouldn't be in the restaurant business.

After being seated, nearly 15 minutes for water. We weren't allowed to order until "Sandy" talked to us. 10 minutes later this guy approaches the table and says "has anyone been here before", and when we say "no", he says "are you from around here", and we answer "no, Toronto". He then says "so I can treat you bad and it won't matter" and laughs. I wish I was joking about this. He said this as if it was a joke, but the foreshadowing couldn't have been any more transparent. What followed was a nightmare.

He brags about the menu, part of which he highlights "If the smoked meat sandwich isn't the best you've ever had, it's on me!". Two of us order it. We also order a kids Mac & Cheese, a Greek Salad, and a Fettuccine. But, we couldn't order with Sandy, instead he's just the owner who needs to talk to everyone before they order, for what reason, I have no idea. We wait another 10 minutes to order (if you're counting, we're now at 35 minutes just to order). We're then told "the kitchen is really backed up, it's going to be 35-45 minutes for the food to come". We honestly should have just left at this point and I deeply regret not doing so.

While waiting for food I use the bathroom, which the moment I step inside it's sweltering hot. Why? There's a kitchen exhaust which blows right into the bathroom. That's GOT to be against building codes. I use the second bathroom which looks like it hasn't been cleaned in a few weeks. Disgusting.

The kids Mac & Cheese comes, and we're told "the bowl is super hot, don't let her touch it". You served a scalding hot bowl to a toddler, and expect them not to touch the bowl? What in the world were you thinking? Pure stupidity. The Mac & Cheese is horribly over-salted (remember, this is for a kid!), and tasted like off-brand nacho cheese sauce. Horrible. How this cost $11 is highway robbery.

The greek salad and fettuccine were mediocre at best. I wouldn't have written this review based on them, but I wouldn't have gone back. The smoked meat sandwiches weren't good at all. Watery meat, flavourless, and barely a spread of mustard on super thin sliced bread.

When the cheques come I ask "is this Sandy person being serious when he said it's supposed to be the best sandwich I've ever had", and the waiter says "well, you can try" as if he knew exactly what was about to happen next. Sandy comes out a few moments later and opens with "what do you mean it's not the best?". I tell him it was underwhelming at absolute best and ask if he was serious about his claim it'd be free. He says "you ate it, so obviously it was the best and if you take more than a bite and don't tell me immediately, then it's your fault". I said "so you lied". Immediately Sandy escalates the situation, loudly starts yelling at me and my family saying I'm the rudest customer he's ever talked to, and I need to pay my bill and leave immediately. I told him, not to worry as we wouldn't be back. He then starts telling me I don't know what I'm talking about because he's an award winning chef. I laughed. He grabs a local magazine, pushes it into my face and says "I am on the cover!".

Congratulations Sandy, you made it on the cover of the local town of 3500 people's magazine, with a restaurant rated 4.2 stars, and a long list of people with similar complaints.

Sandy continues to tell at us, we laugh at the absurdity of it all. Everyone is looking at him like he's this erratic fool. Sandy walks away, and I say to the server "I feel sorry for you, must be hell working for that guy". The poor kid looks at me and says "I'm so sorry". We pay our bill and walk out laughing.

This place would be out of business if it wasn't one of the only options in town, and relied on tourists who didn't know better or checked Google reviews...

I was debating leaving a review, as I do think that supporting local, small businesses is important. I went through the reviews just now, so I figured I’d give my 5 cents.

*Note: we came once, gave it time, then went back to give it a second chance. This is a review based on our experiences with friends and family.

I do realize that it takes time to get things right so we will be giving them another chance, if not chances, as this town doesn’t have much to offer to begin with so I’m really hoping for improvement, given that the location is impeccable, as well with the patio vibes!

First time we went was in the winter time, sat inside, no music playing, just a small television with a fireplace playing on it. First time there, there were 5 of us, and we were there for about 1.5 hours, however one of us didn’t eat, and only had a tea, so basically 4. There was no one else in the restaurant, until two others were seated.

There were no sports on. I think sports games, television and music will definitely draw people in but if that’s not the vibe you’re going for - to each their own!

Second time we went was on the patio, long wait time when not many tables present, no music playing. Might have just been the day of that it wasn’t working? However I’ve heard multiple other people say their patio needs music, so I don’t think this is the case.

I agree with the comment about the powdered parmesan on the Caesar salad, as well as the deep fried naan bowl, overall the Caesar salad was sub par.

I do not agree with the comment on the brussel sprouts. Out of everything my friends, family and I have tried I think the brussel sprouts were the best! However, my soup that I got (was the soup of the day… maybe some some sort of curry/rice?) was delish.

Time management could improve, as well as communication. I saw the business owners comment about the said staff member taking a “much needed/deserved break”. From personal experience, if I were serving and needed a break, I would kindly let the table know. Ie. “hey! I’m going on a quick break, we’ve been swamped all day. Can I get you anything before I take a few minutes?” Simple! Also, I understand it’s busy! You wanna jam pack your indoor and outdoor dining, that’s how money is made! Communication goes a LONG way. If the wait time has averaged at 1-1.5 hours all day, let the customers know before they commit to sitting down. You don’t know where they might be headed afterwards, and if you’re trying to stick to a schedule it’s very frustrating when you run behind due to an overrun restauraunt.

I agree with the comment not to trust the photos on the menu - not sure where the photos came from but besides the brussel sprouts, not much on the menu looks similar… whatsoever. I also agree their menu could be cut by 1/3. This would give them time to perfect their menu items!

All in all, the stars in my review came from the drinks, and patio atmosphere. The beer was cold, Caesar I had was also pretty good, as well as the brussel sprouts and soup of the day.

Last but not least, to the owner leaving comments to paying customers, being VERY passive aggressive - this is not a very good way to get already unhappy customers to return. No restauraunt is perfect, and a major key to being successful is how you take...

Good service, nice staff, disappointing meal

First, I want to say that the staff was very friendly, our waiter did an excellent job. Our food was timely. It was a bit odd that when we arrived there was a sign on the door saying the dining room was closed and to go around back, but when we (us and a couple other groups) got around back we were all directed to go back around to the front entrance. Weird, but not really a big deal, just unorganized I guess.

My husband ordered the butter chicken and I got the lamb curry. We had high expectations because of the price, our love of Indian food and the way the owner hyped up the food.

The food did not meet our expectations. We did speak with the owner about the butter chicken, in that it did not taste like any butter chicken we’ve had in India or anywhere else. To which he responded that his white wife (? Odd that he felt he had to say she was white) made it and everywhere else makes it wrong. He explained that it’s not supposed to be made with bone in chicken (because that’s being cheap) and it’s not supposed to be sweet. We backed down pretty quickly, because if someone leads with their wife made it, I don’t think they are looking for honest feedback. I understand that there is a difference between what is considered classical cooking and more home style food, but to say that all other butter chicken is done wrong is a bit much. It’s not a moral issue, it’s a style preference. The struggle is when (I think it’s fair to say) most customers would be expecting the sweet, creamy butter chicken and then they get served something else. It makes it hard to appreciate the dish you’re given and you’re left paying a premium for what you really weren’t looking to eat. It wasn’t bad by any means, still a nice chicken dish, but it wasn’t what we were expecting. So if you are expecting creamy, sweet butter chicken, this isn’t the butter chicken for you.

The raita was great.

The rest was even worse unfortunately. We said the rice was like uncle Ben’s rice, it was colourful, but bland. I don’t know why the dishes weren’t served with white basmati rice like is shown in the picture, that would’ve been better honestly. My lamb dish was bone in, which in the owners words, is the cheap way of doing it. The little meat there was, was shredded, not at all like the picture of the large chunks. It was very nicely cooked, juicy and tender, but bland. The chole dish was a one note wonder, it was cinnamon and a bit of spice, but no depth of flavour. The naan was very disappointing, run of the mill flat bread you’d buy at a grocery store. When the owner boasts about the quality of the lamb, I would expect a high standard for the rest of the food on the plate as well, and unfortunately it did not the bar that he had set.

The raita was great though.

I don’t know about the rest of the food, maybe their western selection is great but I’d say if you’re looking for Indian food, go to an...