Ben & Florentine — Restaurant in Winnipeg

TL;DR

1. Servers overworked but very friendly - best part
2. Atmosphere was unhygienic - worst part
3. Food was overcooked, some missing components

Poor management resourcing.

Pros: The server serving me and my family was very welcoming and patient even when my mom took several minutes to decide. She was the best part of today's restaurant experience. This was after the lunch rush so the restaurant was fairly empty when we got there, a little busier just before we left.

Cons: The food and atmosphere here were poor quality at best. COVID shields between tables no longer up with other tables sitting with a short thin barrier between. This also makes for an uncomfortable setting when those beside you can clearly listen to personal conversations without interference. And feeling a strangers spit mist across my cheeks and food when they are talking is a preventable issue managers choose not to remedy during a pandemic.

Furthermore the path from the kitchen entrance has some food spills that had not been cleaned. The kitchen floors do look cleaner than the seating area of the restaurant at least.

As for the food quality, it was something else. I originally wanted pancakes as it is my comfort food. Under the section titled crepes, Pancakes, waffles & french toast. It was missing any pancake options.

I was asked when I was ordering how I would like my eggs. I said 'Basted please' but was told the cooks don't cook eggs that way at this location. This is certainly odd though it is not a huge deal to me.

At our table of 3 we all ordered something with bacon in it. When the food arrived we all had bacon that was black and burnt to the point it snapped rather than bending or cracking.

I ordered the Maple Skillet. When a different server provided our food I immediately asked for maple syrup as my food was visibly dry, syrup was part of the menu description. The server quickly replied "No sir, I cannot provide maple syrup. There is syrup underneath the food" and left immediately before I could say anything else. I also wanted other condiments like ketchup or hot sauce if they have the option. However no one checked up on us. Without much Hollandaise sauce I would describe my food as crunchy more than crispy. Onions were honestly really good though. Soft, sweet, and the right type of crunch.

Another issue was difficulty getting more coffee. I spent almost the first half my time here with an empty coffee cup waiting for someone to be available to assist getting my first refill (I chugged the first cup within a minute of getting it). I normally drink at least 3 to 4 cups before I finish my meal in any restaurant but was only able to get a half cup refill one time before we were asked how we would like the bill.

Looking around it was apparent the location was fairly under staffed which is a manager issue to resolve, not a worker issue. The likely reason why the restaurant is unhygienic, food was burnt & incorrectly made. Boils down to managers poor health practices and spreading workers too thin to be able to be proactive for customers. It is very apparent workers do want to do a good job, make customers happy, and retain repeat customers. Workers cannot afford it with the resources they have.

My recommendation to management is to put up COVID barriers between booths, raise wages to a living wage to get more workers & reduce burnout, and then these problems...

Honestly food was amazing, service was out standing, and we got there at a good time so there wasnt a wait of more than a few minuets. Now as for why such a review?

There were 5 and a half of us out for breakfast (one todler), fathers day, (two fathers one meal, not bad) we sat down about 9 am, our food was brought to us about 9:30 and it was really very good, noones coffee ran even low, the wait staff were really on their toes. However, my brother ordered the 3 meat skillet, but what he got was almsot entirely potatoes? We asked about it and they of course brought us a plate of meat so it was a little more fair (others at our table had different skilles, that had FAR more meat in them). The staff were very quick to correct the issue and brought him a plate of the meats that would normally be in the dish.

However. While we were waiting for his meat we could hear one of the male chefs in the kitchen having an extreme anger explosion, shouting and yelling loud enough to quiet nearly everyone in the restaurant. I could clearly hear him yelling at someone about "not enough meat" then a plate being tossed down on a table (not breaking) then hearing "take that to him." As we watched the kitchen hoping to see what was going on (i was near stepping in to separate people my self if needed) several servers and what i assume were helpers walked out of the kitchen fighting back tears with complete and utter fear on their faces.

It is my opinion, that this kind of behavior is completely unacceptable by anyone in society. And people to take frustrations out on minimum wage employees like this, deserve at very minimum and immediate dismissal. This is extremely unacceptable and absolutely classifies as bullying in the world place. And i will not support business that employ people like this. There...

How to start well I didn’t even get to make an order because of how bad the customer service was YES I understand it busy it is 1120 am and I can see how busy they are but when you don’t greet meet or explained I’ll be with you in over 5 min you kinda wonder what’s going on then after 5 min this man comes over asked the group with kids before me how many and then walks off he’s sits them about 3 to 4 min after he greeted them he then comes back to the hostess counter at the front and say to the girl in front of me wait a min and looks at me and ask what I need I said I would like to place a take out order he then looks up doesn’t say a word and walks off he’s comes back 3 min later sits the girl in front of me and tries to hand me a take out order I then which reply I haven’t order it yet I tried explaining I was calling before and tried skips the dish and door dash so I wouldnt be bugging them at there busiest time also I order from this restaurant all the time because you can order from calling the store directly or all these place for pick up and always friendly service and staff but not this time all he’s said very rudely was can you not see that we are busy want do you want and hurry up I’m sorry but I’m not going to be talk down to like that when I was just saying i understand your busy I call the other location in the city to find out if they are all owned by the same person I was told no they are not and under description the person asked me they said that probably the owner so owner who was so rude to me I will never go back I will tell friends family and customer to go to the other location since you were...