Regalz Kitchen & Bar – Woodbridge, Vaughan — Restaurant in Vaughan

Let me start by saying, I really wanted to love this place! The food looked so delicious and moist from the pictures I saw from other reviewers online, but sadly, that wasn't our experience. 😢

We were a party of 11, celebrating a birthday and trying Nigerian food for the first time. 🥳🎉 We started with appetizers, the beef rib bites, wings, Asun (flamed goat meat), and the coconut shrimp. I think my favourite was the goat. However, it was so spicy. I like heat but I could barely enjoy the flavour it was so hot!!🥵

For our mains, we had a small platter of Jollof rice tray (which we were charged $85 for), Spaghetti Jambalaya that was to have chicken, sausage and shrimp in it. All I got were pieces of hot dog.😩

We also wanted to try the Suya meat because they looked so good in pictures seen in reviews. We ordered one small chicken tower and one small beef tower, and unfortunately, not only were they overcooked, dry, and tough, but they were overpriced at $85 per tower!!🤯 The catfish with a few pieces of dried plantains and a cup of coleslaw was also quite spicy.

As far as drinks go, the best bang for your buck would be the beers, at $10 a bottle. The ladies tried the cocktails, which were ridiculously overpriced at $15 and $18 per, with only 1 oz of alcohol??!! So we requested a little more alcohol and was charged $30 for another oz in three drinks.

As we were a large group, it was difficult to carry on conversations without shouting at each other because the music was so loud!! I understand that the DJ starts at 11, but when you can barely hear what the person next to you is saying, and it's only 7:30 p.m., it is ridiculous.

Our host Henry was lovely, very polite and respectful, and our server as well, (I'll call him B because I don't know the correct spelling of his name and don't want to mess it up 🫣). However, the service was extremely slow!! We ordered appetizers around 6:40 p.m. and got them about 30 minutes later, so we ordered our mains after 7, seeing how long appetizers were taking; dinner came out at 8:45 p.m.!

To cap off the night we brought our own birthday cake which they graciously brought out for us however, we had to ask three times if our table could be cleaned and cleared of our dirty dishes, empty glasses and bottles three times before the cake came out. 😕

Overall, I think we were way overcharged for what was ordered. If Nigerian food is traditionally spicy, then guests need to be made aware so that they can decide if they should order that item because not everyone can...

So the food was good for the most part (suya was cold, the chicken in the egusi was tasteless and the nkwobj was way too spicy that it felt like torture) and it came out very quickly. My experience turned negative when it was time to pay. They sprung an 18% gratuity fee on us for a group of 5. The lady said “it’s on our website”. As if I had told her I booked through their website. I had called to book. So it was on the person that picked up the call to inform me of this. Or even the lady serving when she saw our group of 5. She then proceeded to say that she can only split our bill into 2. So each person can’t pay individually for their own food. I was shocked by that because I’ve never heard such a rule. I would have fought harder against it because it was clear that it was due to laziness that she didn’t want to divide the bill. That part of not splitting the bill was not written on their website and is not a rule. So she basically left it up to us to sort out the bills between us later. I would understand such a rule for a very big group. A 5 person group would be a typical family going out to eat. It’s not a lot to just give us our individual bills. Just because something isn’t the most convenient for you doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it as a business. It would have been the least they could do after springing the gratuity fee on us.

Forgot to mention that I had ordered soup with chicken and my sister ordered soup with beef. The server brought our food and handed me the one with beef and my sister the one with chicken. I had started eating when we realized. I understand the top was covered with soup so it wasn’t noticeable but attention to details or even asking clarifying questions before handing the food out would have avoided that. This was my first time eating out at a restaurant where the servers didn’t care to ask how you found the food at any point while we were eating or even after while we were paying. So clearly customer satisfaction isn’t a priority. So many reviews complaining about the same things for over a year. Same response from the owner about training staff. Yet no difference in customer experience. I won’t be going back or recommending this...

Birthday Celebration at Regalz Kitchen and Bar – A Mixed Experience

I celebrated my birthday recently at Regalz Kitchen and Bar on Steeles. We had half of the VIP section reserved, and while there were some enjoyable moments, the experience was very mixed.

Let’s start with the positives: the food was absolutely excellent—top tier, flavourful, and made to our individual spice preferences. Once your order arrived, it was a solid 5/5. I would definitely come back for the food alone, though next time I’d likely opt for takeout instead of dining in.

However, the service did not live up to the VIP label. Despite having over 40 guests in our section, there was only one waitress, Emma, who was kind and did her best, but clearly overwhelmed. This led to several major issues:

As the birthday girl, my meal was completely forgotten. I waited two hours while watching everyone else eat around me.

Drinks that friends ordered and paid for never arrived, yet we were still charged.

We were billed for items we never received, with no effort to correct the charges.

After midnight, we were told only appetizers could be ordered, but then told certain appetizers were no longer available—confusing and frustrating.

One guest was told there was no soup, while two others successfully ordered it minutes later.

Overall, it felt like unless you were African or had an African accent, you wouldn’t receive the same level of attention or service—even in the VIP section.

The music was decent and the crowd was a good size, so the vibe was there. But again, food took excessively long to arrive, and multiple guests had to walk to the kitchen/bar to inquire, as we waited over 1.5 hours.

The washroom situation also needs improvement. The women's restroom had only two stalls, and due to the layout, you risk getting hit by the door depending on where you stand.

All in all, Regalz Kitchen and Bar serves amazing food, but the service, especially in a VIP setting, needs serious improvement. I’d return for takeout, but not for a dine-in celebration again until these issues...