Symposium Cafe Restaurant WHITBY — Restaurant in Whitby

Disclaimer: Lengthy and honest review.

I honestly don’t understand how this restaurant has a 4.3 star rating! Because the food quality is absolutely the WORST!

Our kids and I decided to treat their father, my husband to a Father’s Day dinner yesterday. When we arrived at Symposium for our 4pm reservation. We were greeted at the door then brought to our table. Our server took our drink choices and appetizers to start but failed to introduce herself. We had no idea what her name was. On top of that, she didn’t ask if we celebrating anything special…keep in mind, this was Father’s Day (June 16th, 2024).

Our drinks, appetizers, and one kid meal (for our 11 year old daughter) came out. Our daughter took 2 bites of her cheese pizza, and didn’t want anymore. I knew she didn’t like it, as she preferred to eat her side order of fries instead. Our adult son ordered steak bites, when asked how it was, he said “it’s ok”. My husband and I shared the deep fried shrimp and spinach dip. The shrimp was decent, and dipping sauce for it was Frank’s Hot Sauce. Not sure why. The spinach dip was eatable and not enjoyable. I thought to myself, maybe our main entrees will be better…I was wrong.

Our twin adolescent boys ordered chicken and waffles with fries, and the other ordered chicken tenders with fries. Both twins didn’t care for the fries, but said the chicken and waffles were good. I ordered fettuccine Alfredo with chicken. When my meal came out, it lacked presentation and colour. The plate of pasta did not appeal to my eyes, but at this point I was hungry and decided to taste it. I only had one taste and it was enough for me to put my fork down and not eat anymore. I have had Alfredo at many restaurants, and this was not it! It was bland. There was no flavour of Alfredo and just overall, disappointing.

Our oldest son ordered ribs with fries, and had one bite of his ribs and couldn’t eat the rest. My husband, ordered the ribs & wing combo with fries. My husband also could not eat the ribs due to the terrible taste. By this time, I’m extremely unhappy. Another server (gentleman) comes out to bring an order of fries, and that’s when I mention to him that the food was terrible. He went on to say the ribs were very popular and that people loved it. I told him I completely disagree and the ribs are not even eatable due to the fact that both my husband and our son couldn’t stomach it.

My husband asked the server why he only had 5 wings as opposed to at least 8 wings, as his order was a 1lb of wings with the ribs. The server replied “1lb is 5-6 to wings, not 8”. My husband debated with him for a few minutes, then let it go. When he took a bite into one of the wings, my husband asked “What flavour is this? Because I asked for Thai wings”. The server went over the various wing flavours, and didn’t even mention the Thai flavour, even though it was in the menu. My husband reiterated that wings he received were definitely not the right flavour of choice. The server offered to bring out the sauce, and my husband could dip it. My husband at this point was very annoyed and I was very upset. My husband told the server he does not want this flavour of wings and wants the one he ordered. The server asked my husband to transfer the wings to a side plate, and he would bring those wings back to the kitchen and add Thai sauce. Now, I was irate! I couldn’t believe that was his solution, instead of bringing out new wings with the appropriate flavour. I interjected and told him that he needed to prepare fresh wings and that I couldn’t understand why he thought his recommendation was suitable. After a few back and forths, he took the wings and said he would dump them and make new ones. 6- 7 minutes later the new wings came out and my husband took one bite, and said to me “I’m not eating this. This is not Thai flavour “. The same server came back to our table and my husband expressed his sheer disappointment.

I would never, ever eat here again! Since only eating the spinach dip, I’ve been nauseous. DO NOT EAT...

January 8, 2025 - Finally closed for good. Poorly run and managed restaurants serving less than mediocre food at premium prices should not survive.

November 2022 - We haven't been to Symposium in some time – almost two years -since we were too often disappointed with the service and food. Our first couple visits when it first opened were the best and it was downhill after that. However we were curious and thought we'd try it again since it is under new management and there are generally positive reviews now. My wife, my son and I decided to try it out.

We went this Friday to give it a shot. First off the menus are physically huge... and you get two; one for drinks and one for food. With three of us at the table the menus took up all the space and were overlapping. Not sure why they do that but it is very unusual. Secondly, we were surprised it was live music night which we weren't sure about considering we came for dinner not entertainment but thought we'd stay anyways. The band warmed up while we ordered and was a little annoying due to squeaks and and off-notes typical of a band warming up. The band were made up of well seasoned seniors and were 6 pieces in all – which is way too big for this restaurant. The band and friends accompanying took up a large portion of the restaurant and from what I could gather there were only 7 patrons in the restaurant, including the three of us, not connected with the band. Once the band started up the music played was basically country – mostly songs from the 50's, 60's with some reaching into the 70's. OK songs for my wife and I who are in our late 60's but our 29 year old son couldn't appreciate it at all. There were some younger folks coming in to dine however when they heard the music they turned around and walked out after a couple minutes. Inserting this band (or any band) is a big mistake since this is a restaurant and not a country and western bar. The whole thing just didn't fit. To further distract from the experience there was a friend of the bandmembers who kept telling everyone that this huge vase was a tip jar and solicited patrons to chip in. This was just poor taste. I didn't come to be bothered by someone trying to coerce $5 out of me... which he didn't... you have to stand for your principles.

Now on to our food. We ordered Calamari and dusted shrimps for appetizers. Both were OK however the calamari was slightly overdone making them a little rubbery. The shrimps were a good size and were breaded and tasted OK. Nothing was spectacular.

My wife and I ordered the fish taco which came with clam chowder. Our son ordered the fried chicken waffle. The server brought out my wife's chowder. I thought it odd that I didn't get mine at the same time. After a few minutes the server brought out my chowder which looked like dishwater. I asked my wife to spoon her chowder and pour it off her spoon. It was thick and rich while mine poured like skim milk. I told the server the chowder was not right and she looked at it and agreed immediately. It appears as though they tried to stretch a little bit of chowder from the pot into a full bowl. It should have never left the kitchen. The fish tacos were both quite good and my son enjoyed his fried chicken waffles. We finished our meal paid and left. It is not a five star restaurant by any stretch.

I came away not knowing what Symposium is. Is it a restaurant with roman-greco décor. Is it a country bar, is it seniors club that chases away younger patrons. This restaurant needs to figure out what it is, stick to it and get it right. At this rate, soon enough, it will be told what it is... out of business.

Won't return since we've given Symposium enough chances. I can get far better value for my...

We went to this location on a Sunday evening- dinner time with family. The restaurant was empty with only with guests at one other table. Our server sat us down in a booth and then immediately came within 1-2 mins to ask for our orders. We politely said we would need few minutes more to decide as we had some first timers who were just deciding on what should they have. Server went away and then came back again after 1 min to ask again? This was all in the initial 4 mins of us entering the restaurant— arriving, seating, menus etc. We obviously didn’t have the drinks order ready, so off she went in a huff. And after that the whole experience felt like we were being scolded for anything we would ask/say. She didnt come back for our order for the next 5-7 minutes, all the while cleaning at a nearby table. We had ordered freshly squeezed orange juice, which we specifically confirmed whether it was fresh or from a carton. We were told it was fresh but it wasnt( didnt hear the blender running and the juice came out immediately like within the same minute of ordering n tasted exactly like the tropicana juice). The food was good, at par with other symposium locations. We had broccoli cheddar soup, Mediterranean veggie wrap, veggie grilled flatbread and beyond meat burger — and all things were amazing. But the overall attitude of the server made our experience bad. She didn’t come in to check in anytime, we asked for extra side plates/spoons & she literally plonked them on the table with a thud - like she was angry. After that for the next 10 mins she was nowhere to be found. We wanted ketchup & hot sauce with our wrap but couldn’t find her. After 10 mins we found her and literally had to wave her down to get some kind of attention. & even with the hot sauce she literally just plonked it with a thud. All the while— there was no smile on her face, no eye contact with us, no pleasantries/courtesy. It felt like we were troubling her by dining there & we were afraid to make her more angry. My 2 stars are only for the ambience and the food. Never have I ever not tipped in a restaurant but yesterday we did not tip. And obviously we would never go back to this...