St. Joe's Cafe — Restaurant in Scarborough

Staffing shortages are miserable. At least that's what I believe was today's Occam's Razor. We called at least a half dozen times to pre order, no answer. Arrived to find only one poor girl taking in person orders and making drinks on a busy weekend morning while ignoring the incessantly ringing phone. The food came out reasonably quick, even for the 2 people in the kitchen running around making 615151 orders. But with short staffing on a busy day comes an obligatory decrease in the quality of product. But even on these days, there still should be quality assurance limits. Receiving your much anticipated breakfast order should not be met with disdain on unwrapping the meal. I had such high hopes for the pumpkin waffle sandwhich to only unwrap 2 half burnt waffles with some half cooked egg and bacon in between. Even on a busy day with a skeleton crew, this should not have come off the line and considered good to go. There's still a price the customer has to pay. I would've gladly waited another 5 minutes for a new waffle and my meal to be cooked...

The food was very tasty and good quality and the coffee was ok, but unfortunately the girl taking the orders and making the coffee was not very friendly. I don’t like to write bad reviews but I feel like it’s a common thing now for any one under 25 to just have poor customer service. I walked up with an intentional smile and I was just stared at in return. So I asked “… Do I order here?” And she respond “yeah”. Again, I try to be understanding, she probably had a long morning? But then I asked her if they had oat milk for a a latte and she almost rolled her eyes in response, and asked if they had lavender syrup and she said “no, but I asked if you wanted hot or iced”. So I passed on a syrup because obviously I was asking too much and just went with the oat milk iced latte. I also specifically asked for a “sausage and cheese sandwich” for my son that doesn’t eat egg and it was made with a lot of egg. I wish it could have gone better, again customer service goes a long way. Again food was very tasty and...

Terrible first impression. No customer service, whatsoever; didn't greet me when I walked in, menu is crowded and somewhat confusing. Menu is directly in front of cook, but you must turn around and order food at register. Cook did not look up, not even as I stared at him. I eventually figured out where I was supposed to order, but the guy taking my order looked very disinterested in being there at all. A bit of an attitude, a little rude to a first-timer. I got a hot coffee with a bacon, tomato, omelet, and cheddar breakfast sandwich on a biscuit. Bacon was cooked into the omelet, so no crunch, just chewy. Couldn't taste the cheddar, tomato was very thick. Very little contrast at all, just blame. Needs a sauce or something. It was big, and filling, but ultimately forgettable, especially for $6. Coffee was underwhelming, too. Just disappointing. If I wasn't so hungry at the time, I would have totally left after the first interaction. I won't go back...