The Old Spaghetti Factory — Restaurant in Victoria

I usually try to make the best of any situation, but my experience at the OSF in Victoria last night was the worst dining experience I have had in many, many years. The food was mediocre, the atmosphere was chaotic, but the service was abysmal, reaching the level of offensive. Only because it was my birthday and I refused to engage in an even more negative experience did I not directly go to the manager to lodge my complaint at the time. To briefly describe the experience - the waitress was abrupt and rushed throughout our service. My wife received the wrong meal (chicken instead of seafood). I had to track the waitress down in the restaurant to bring it to her attention and when a replacement was brought it came without apology or explanation. Afterwards, the waitress performed a perfunctory check on our food, but was clearly rushed, distracted, and not at all interested in our dining experience. Drinks were practically thrown at our table when delivered and one of our drinks never even arrived. Dirty dishes were left to pile up on our table throughout the meal and even when several people had come to the table to deliver food, they did not remove the dishes. Finally, I asked the waitress to clear them and although she did clear some of them, it was with an attitude of deep annoyance, as if I was ruining her experience. By this time we were so frustrated and disappointed that we decided to pay the bill and leave without dessert. To be clear, I understand mistakes occur, but the measure of service is how mistakes are handled. No apologies, no effort to improve our experience, and no apparent interest in anything other than having us pay our bill. Our waitress was incompetent and disrespectful, but no one appeared to be supervising or overseeing her work either. There are many other restaurants located in this area of Victoria, so I highly recommend that everyone avoid Old Spaghetti Factory and save themselves from an...

Everyone who listens to the podcast "Party Among Yourselves" knows that I only give 5 star reviews....but I am knocking one down to 4 for the atmosphere. It was a super busy night, and a long wait is to be expected. I loved that we could put our name down then just head back when we got a text. That was great because we needed to walk back to the car 4 times and it was pretty close to OSF. Do you guys like that acronym? I'm not sure how I feel about it. I ordered what's known as "The poor man's salad" which is a salad pack with half wilty lettuce, you know the kind with the julienned carrots and flakes of cabbage? Then it has 1000 island dressing unceremoniously dumped in the center as if poured by a mother who hates her husband so she is mad at his children. We were also seated next to a heater that did not heat, it wouldn't light. Our waiter put in much effort on his tippy toes, but soon declared it to be broken. As we were enjoying our spamone ice cream another waiter told us he can get it going with a lighter. I said some things in jest at that moment that I think we're not taken the way they were intended. I was never mad, but I was very cold. When my mother counter part turned Karen on the staff they were kind enough to bring us bread, blankets and refills. Imagine if YOU were in a lifeboat lost at sea in the night just how happy you would be to get these provisions. I gladly wore the thin blankets until I could get back to the car and get my daughter's medium sized hoody with stains on the front, she says I stretched it out, bit there is no proof of that. There was a woman at a different table that did not enjoy the excitement that my seat mate shared for old photos and dinosaurs, but when she left I noticed that she had a seat by a heater AND a blanket,so she was probably too...

My partner was looking forward to eating here since a very long time. Took one of her girlfriends who was visiting Victoria. Upon arrival there was a wait time of 10-15mins which is completely reasonable and expected. However, when they were being helped to their table, they found several empty tables indoors and on the patio (which is again okay because they might be having staff shortages). They were seated outdoors. However the real fun started when the food came and a wasp decided to make it theirs. They tried and tried but the wasp wouldn’t budge. The ladies tried to get a table indoors by asking the front of staff but she said they would have to get waitlisted again! Firstly, there were indoor options, which they did not give to these ladies. Secondly, Why do they have to wait again on a wait list!? Their food is served! Did they expect them to hang around in a line with cold food? What a joke.

All in all, go there if you want to be waiting despite empty tables. Go there if you want to be waitlisted along with the food in your hand, maybe take some boxes along with you. In a modern world, this was definitely an old factory. Zero professionalism and old seat management structure. Front of staff was really not in a good mood, maybe the management isn’t doing enough. The server was really good and professional and took responsibility to actually right the situation.

PS: the food is mediocre and I get that not every restaurant can be the best. However, simply asking for decent seating and respect should not be something management and staff should strive for. That’s the basics. This old factory does...