I’d be leaving ‘Zero’ stars if that were an option. We visited ION on Mother’s Day after I (a long-time vegan) had been looking forward to trying it for months. Sadly, what should have been a joyful family celebration turned into a two-hour+ ordeal—with no real effort from the staff to make it better.

Yes, Mother’s Day is a busy day for restaurants. But poor planning—limited kitchen staff, no table seating system to match staff’s capacity, and no meaningful communication about wait times—left us with a deeply frustrating experience. Our pregnant daughter had to sit outside in the sun on a hard bench for over two hours before any food arrived, and we had to go inside 4 times to get any help from the staff. We eventually moved ourselves inside, and still received no attention.

It wasn’t just that food took a long time—it was that we were never seen, never cared for, and never acknowledged. When our food finally did arrive, no apology, no discount, no gesture. Just a bill.

We emailed the manager privately before posting this review, hoping for an honest conversation. Instead, we received a polite but deflecting explanation about staff shortages, with no apology for the breakdown in service—or any offer to make things right.

We love supporting small, plant-based restaurants. But hospitality isn’t just about food—it’s about people. And sadly, that part was missing.

Edited after the business reply here: No one came to us and apologized during the entire time we were there. We needed to go inside 4 times to endeavor to get service and a sense of timing on when our meal might have been served. We also did not request a refund. We specifically waited to see if there would be any acknowledgement from the staff that we had waited so long and if this might be reflected on the bill. It was not. I wrote an email directly to the manager awaiting her answer before writing my review here. Her answer was deflection and simply that they were, like all restaurants, short staffed. There was never any acknowledgement that perhaps clientele could have been told to expect long wait times for food to come out of the kitchen, nor was there any adjustment to how many guests they seated, based upon their known-to-them limitations in the kitchen. I find this the hardest part to comprehend - they are in the hospitality business. When they know what they can and cannot provide to their paying guests on any given day, and choosing to ignore that and allow their guests to suffer the consequences is simply disrespectful and the antithesis of hospitality.