It was our last night with The German and we wanted to send him off in style so we went to The Reef for dinner.
It is not my first choice for a place to eat – but the boys at the shop seem to like it there so we went… It was a comedy of errors from the start.
We made a reservation for 10-people for 6:30 and were told that we had to arrive promptly at 6:30 or lose our reservation. They also told us that it had to be the ENTIRE party at 6:30. Not just one person coming to hold the table. Everyone had to be there or we would lose our table. … Um. Ok.
So we arrived at 6:25 and the greeter at the front said in a bitchy way “You are too early! Go outside and wait.” … um. Ok.
They finally sat us. Service was s-l-o-w. It took forever for us to get water. And for-e-v-e-r for drinks and appetizers. They serve an appetizer/bread called a Johnny Cake which arrived cold and stale. Yuck.
Colin ordered a beer. It was stale/flat. Undrinkable.
I ordered a veggie Jamacian patty as an appy. It was inedible. Stale. Cold. No flavour. I didn’t finish it. I also ordered a salad. It was also inedible. Old. Unispired. Dressing was awful. I didn’t finish it.
Cody ordered a fish-dish with rice. It was inedible. Cold. No flavour. He didn’t finish it.
Becca had a salad… it had a BOLT in it!!
A BOLT!! A F-ING BOLT!!
The manager/front end bitchy lady came over to talk about the bolt. She gave us a WEAK apology. I kept waiting for her make things better but instead she was just super bitchy and offered us a round of w-e-a-k shoots to make up for the bolt.
Then the chef came over to our table – I thought FOR SURE he was coming over to say sorry but instead he cleared our table with such force I thought he was looking for a fight.
I wish at that point I had just organized a “walked out” and not paid the bill but I kept waiting for them to make things better … and it never happened.
I want to say that while I know we were a large table and we look like crazy tattoo people – we are a polite bunch of Canadians (and 1 German) … so the bad behavior from the staff was not a reaction to our behavior. Everyone paid their bills (begrudgingly) and poor Becca even had to pay for her salad with the bolt. It was incredibly disappointing way to celebrate our German.
This was probably one of the WORST experiences I have ever had at a restaurant and I will NEVER EAT AT THE REEF AGAIN!!
Everyone was super bummed out so Gerry and I rounded up the troops and we headed to The Lotteria which is this little internet cafe/karaoke place. You get your own private room where you and your friends can act like fools without strangers watching.
We had a great time …
Cody on the mic
Colin & Bryan singing a duet
Bryan & The German singing
Even Colin … who swore he wouldn’t sing no matter how much we begged … sang all night long.
It was a great way to end the night … Thanks for all the fun Roberto!
We miss you already!!
Aw, come on Sarah – tell us what you *really* thought of the place!!
Wow…that’s insane! Makes me wonder if the vegan dishes are actually vegan, based on their level of disregard….?
At least the salad was a good source of iron. har har har…
Un-freaking-believable! I’d call the health authorities. Seriously! A BOLT?!?! And no apologies or comped meals? Wow- well, it’s up to the rest of us to spread the word then, no? Good for you for being the polite Canadian but really, they deserve to be shut down.
Harumph.
That’s such Bull S&$T! You should consider writing to the owner. The service in there is always lacking but to have a blatant disregard for the fact that there is metal in someone’s food is actually baffling. Maybe the owner doesn’t know or at least doesn’t know how his staff are responding to situations like that. Either way, I’m sorry you had to deal with that.
brings back bad memories of biting into a bone in a salad at a “restaurant” named Earl’s many years ago which led to a fractured tooth needing a root canal. The bone magically disappeared by waiter when brought to their immediate attention. Needless to say, have never and won’t ever eat there again.
I did write The Reef’s head office. They wrote me back and apologized.
I cannot believe that they made her pay for the salad? That is HORRIBLE! Just horrible! I hate poor customer service. That is the worst thing a company can do is not correct a problem. They say, that when someone doesn’t like something they end up telling 10 people! And when they do like something, on average, they tell 3 people.
SO to the REEF, welcome to your 10+ people who will never be going there!