NORMS Restaurant — Restaurant in Ontario

This was our second time going since the Grand Opening last year AND we will never go back at least not to this location. We will stick with our Montclair location. Hostess was pleasant but the waitress seemed annoyed & no smiles seemed to Rush us, to order & it wasn't busy yet, it was 4:30 not even the seniors were in yet for the early bird. The meatloaf dinner wasn't like the other Norms presentation or taste they added bacon & mushrooms on top & it wasn't the comfort food Meatloaf meal that we thought we'd be getting like other locations. No Brown gravy, it was dry, the veggies were tasteless not even salt helped, only good thing on that plate was the baked potato. My chicken Fettuccine Alfredo was so bland & flavorless, the sauce on it was almost soupy not thick & creamy & the chicken was tasteless, no amount of salt & pepper was going to improve it plus they covered it in Parmesan cheese from the bottle you use for spaghetti it completely ruined it, if it was fresh Parmesan cheese it would of been different. The soup was ok & the salads we asked for to go boxes ( I fixed mine up at home to make it edible it looked sad & lifeless) we both took our food home & had to doctor them up to be edible. Wasn't going to waste it at the prices of eating out now. We didn't even get to order dessert because again we couldn't find our server, because she was so busy complaining about everything to her coworker & we had to ask the host for boxes & the other server for refills, then our server would come because they told her we were looking for her. What made me really upset by now was the fact that she brought us the boxes, but when I asked for two bags for our food boxes she said oh get em at the check out with the host he'll give them to you. I'm already paying for food that we didn't even eat & are going to take home to fix it so we can eat it & she can't even get us bags to put them in we have to get up & get them myself which I didn't. I sat there then she makes a face then she speaks Spanish to the guy & tell him to get us two bags because we're lazy to get up to get them ourselves & were two feet from him, you know she shouldn't assume that we didn't speak Spanish. My friend said she was only leaving a $1 tip & I said that's $1 more than I would!! I waitressed for years & was a Manager & catering director for a total of 37 years!!! I know that tips is what you work for & not just deserve because you showed up. Your smile, your attitude, your engagement with guests make a big difference in $1 or $15-$20 tip, which we have left before , but I would have left a 1¢ so she knows we didn't forget but to show that's what we thought of her service. We paid over $50 & didn't even enjoy the food, nor get dessert, but had the worst server & having to hear her complaining about hours, shifts, co-workers & all the other crap, I wanted to tell her to be thankful for the job. People will go to restaurants that have great food but if service is bad just once they never go back & some people go to a place with mediocre food but great service over & over again because the service is great, but when you get both bad food and bad service you get people like me that will leave this long review to let other people know. Now everyone's entitled to have an off day but you can't let your guests know that, you need to check your baggage at the door put on that big smile & engage with the people, make your tips & do your job, then pick up your baggage at the door on your way home. Be pleasant to your co-workers be pleasant to the guests a little effort goes a long way. I will give great reviews but I will also give the rare unfortunate bad reviews as well. If management doesn't know there's a problem then how can they fix it. There wasn't one there that day when I asked, so I waited till Google asked me how my visit was. God Bless & if you do go to this location, Good Luck for a better server & food then we got...

Norms is so different now compared to 15 years ago. I would only go here if it's the last resort and no other options available now. Service is so terrible every time, so I don't even know why I even bother still. Whenever I was here, I would always have to replace/change my order 15-20 minutes (at least twice) AFTER it was placed because they're either "out of stock/ran out" that item or "the person that cooks that's isn't here to make that now;" said the waitress.

Why couldn't they just let customers know what is available or not beforehand? If you can't make the items you have on your menu; honestly, it's better to just take it off if it's never available instead of substituting someone's order with a different item without their acknowledgement or consistent first (whenever one been there multiple times before; at least 12 times since it opened.)

The food at Norms used to be great, and service was always quick, neat, and organized; with employees being respectful, but it's seems like quality and service just hit rock bottom these days.

The last time I went will be the last time I will ever go to Norms. I never had to wait over 20 minutes for a server to show up and then just disappear for another 20 minutes without taking our drink orders after saying "what would you like to drink" (was said as a statement instead of asked as a question); without taking our order and just disappearing to another table. We waited over 40 minutes (yes, it was 40 minutes; I have a watch and I use it) just to get water after the second time the waitress showed up when she remembered about us.

We also had plastic utensils given to us without even requesting it. What kind of sit-in diner/restaurant gives customers plastic utensils? I'm surprised our food didn't come on paper plates to go with it too.

Also, the syrup they have for their pancakes have water in it!!! Either they mix their syrup from a concentrated liquid to serve to their customers or someone child was playing or tampering with it ADDING WATER to the syrup dispenser from their drinking cup with a straw! 🤮 You can't really see the layer of water floating on top of the syrup in the container since it's a clear fuild, but it's there! (Water has a lower density than syrup, so it floats on top.) We poured water out from it on our pancakes! Water shouldn't even be in the syrup dispenser in the first place!! (Even if you're making your own syrup from boiling and melting sugar in water, it would never separate like this!) I never been to any place before that had water in there and been so grossed out from it! (Still thinking some kid had that water in their mouth before relasing it into the syrup dispenser because their parents allowed them to play with it; cause that shouldn't be there!) (The image is the one with the black plastic lid. It looks empty, but it's "water"... I think. Hopefully, it's "just only water!")

(Other imagine is another syrup dispenser our server just switched out for us; the one with the metal cap.) Also, the syrup dispenser we had that had water in it was given to a different table from ANOTHER server.

Maybe it will be the last time I go to this Norm location; I honestly love Norms still, but what I experienced here would have never happened in any other business...

This isn’t the first time for me and, looking at the reviews, I’m not the only one. This location’s graveyard staff is subpar. Right when I walked in, I went to the restroom, turned around & came back, because I needed the code to the door lock. The guy at the register was helping a couple, but he could see the distress & need in my body language. Apparently, multitasking is beyond him because he completely ignored me. After a while, he was just making idle chit chat with the lady of the couple. It wasn’t even business related. The guy of the couple, doing the server’s job, finally gave me the code. Upon my return, my “appointed” server sat me on the opposite side of all the other patrons & all the activity of the restaurant. I was literally “out of sight & out of mind”. Thrice, I had to stand up to flag someone down for a coffee refill. 2 of those times, I was helped by a different server. When ordering my meal, my choice of sides were only partially offered to me. I had to tell her what my choices were. When my food arrived, I was not given napkins. AllI had was the single napkin that came with the knife & fork. Also, people normally don’t want to use the same knife used on the steak with their pancakes with butter & syrup. None of this was offered to me. I had to impose like some kind of burden. In regards to the food, I asked for over-medium eggs. The eggs were over-easy & too runny. Over-medium does have some runny yolk, but not to the point where both the white & yellow are that runny. I would have told her, but she not once checked on me to see how the food was. Overall, she just went through the motions. She took the order, brought the food, and collected the money. The only real “service” only came when I had to bother her for it. You should know that there were lengths of time when all staff was off the floor. I understand that there’s work in the back, but there should always be eyes on the floor. There was a point when I was standing for a coffee refill, there was a pickup order, and people waiting at the register. Honestly, I wonder if the fault is with the staff or with the training.

09/19/23 As soon as I inquired about the coupon for a burger meal, her tone changed and talking sped up as if to rush my order in & out. I noticed the ice bin open with a vent directly above for the entirety of my stay. Who knows how much debris goes into that ice? I asked for another cup with no ice. She dumped out the contents, and poured into the same cup. I watched her get other people’s ice by scooping with the cup. The ice scooper was RIGHT THERE. Plastic cups - not glass?…ok. After a habit of doing it that way every hour of every shift for months upon months, however, you don’t think the hands ever touch the ice??? This particular Norm’s has an “out of sight/out of mind” kind of work demeanor. Most of the time, every single server and manager stays in the back. Obviously, they come out to serve the food and stuff. Other than that, though, it’s eerily vacant as far as staff for long periods of time. You would think just one person would be on the floor, at the door, or at the register at all time. I’ve never experienced this at any...