radius restaurant

blah. this whole restaurant is like what some small town person imagines a cool restaurant is like. there's a dj playing very loud, bad dance music that makes it hard to hear, the dishes are overpriced and nothing special, theserviceis mediocre at best, and there's a big screen tv showing sports.

one of the best in hamilton!. the food/drinks are great, theserviceis fantastic, and their recent bar renovation makes it the nicest in the city.

not up to the standard that the web site touts. the restaurant is large but strategic walls and stairways give it a more intimate look.
we ate in the restaurant in the corner by the two windows (james street and augusta). being ushered to the table, we were presented with the wine/beer list and the food menu.
we chose a bottle of creekside vqa pinot grigio ($39) - not too bad a wine.
fish cakes ($12) and mussels ($16) for starters. the two fish cakes were a bit dry and contained large pieces of potato. probably close to a kg of mussels were not the best i have ever had but at least they were not dried and small - not bad. the white wine sauce was bland and nothing to rave about.
fish and chips ($15) and manitoulin rainbow trout for mains ($26). the small piece of atlantic haddock was quite good but the chips were inedible - soggy and not properly fried and of course they were saturated in salt.
trout was over-cooked and a solid mass instead of being flakey and was on a bed of rice with the daily vegetable which turned out to be a few pieces of carrot. very disappointing.
i then ordered a glass of beer (they don't have pints but serve beer in 18 oz. glasses). the muskoka detour ipa was no longer on tap so i settled for a glass of goose island ale ($7.75). it was not on the menu. i asked about the abv and the ibus. both questions were properly answered by the waitress. that is a lot to pay for much less than a pint of beer which, i thought, was really only 16 oz when i saw it in the glass.
our waitress was quite attentive and charming until we told her about the chips and that we didn't want them. she went away and came back saying the cover would be removed from the bill. after that she was cold and left my finished plate on the table for a long time.
the verdict? nice setting and goodserviceif you are willing to accept poorly prepared food. poorserviceif you complain. overall, the food was not properly prepared. total price was $112. 72. well overpriced for what we got.

what is it?. have been a few times and i find the place just seems to get more and more confusing. when they first opened, it was pretty clear that they were trying to be a higher end establishment and, while the food was not quite there, it was still very good, theservicewas consistently good and someone in charge always came to check on us.

now, the prices and décor suggest upscale/fancy while theservicelevel and menu suggests roadside diner. they never ever seem to have enough staff on, you wait at the front door for some kid to come and nod at you, none of them seem know the menu and the place just seems completely disorganized.

terrible service. not worth the price.. i've been to radius several times only because i live close-by. every time i have visited it takes ages to be seated. the building is such that no one sees you when you enter the door. get a hostess! its ridiculous to stand in a freezing cold foyer for over 5 minutes waiting to be greeted! on my most recent visit, my husband and i shared the mac and cheese, charcuterie and cheese plate. although the food was good it was overpriced and theservicewas preposterous. the wait was long. the server kind but frazzled. the manager a young and clueless girl. it was impossible to enjoy good food under such circumstances. radius is understaffed and the staff they have, including managers, are clueless, antisocial and utterly disrespectful. i will never return to radius. it seems like a cheap joint trying to come off as a fancy restaurant. the young female manager seemed bitchy, disrespectful and rude for lack of better description. i am utterly shocked that a restaurant trying to come off as a high end place would put a young seemingly irresponsible girl in charge.

i can't remember which steak i had but it was fabulous. perfectly cooked and seasoned


-----30 sep, 2014-----

radius is a better dining option for the neighbourhood. radius has the advantage of location in a great space. we find theserviceto be quite competent and helpful. the menu has a number of interesting options. the thai salad has nice bite, the falafel sliders are an unusual variation on the standard, the caprese salad has locally sourced buffalo mozzarella. the patios have been a very nice place to while away an evening; lots of fun during the world cup.

worst service. don't know why i keep coming back. convenience of location, i guess. baristas always seem to be too busy taking to each other or straight up ignoring customers. when they finally do pay attention, it's fake, which is worse than being rude. terribleservicewhich makes for a terrible atmosphere. instead of hiring "cool" or pretty faces, maybe they should try hiring personable, honest human beings. such a beautiful spot. what a waste.

not sure why the low percentage! came here on a saturday evening (6pm) and it was not busy at all. greatserviceand great food. whomever is giving this place bad reviews is simply impossible to make happy. i'd go again, but i'm leaving canada. thanks ay!

absolutely awful service. i was there for a lunch break with a friend from work and we only had an hour. we thought we would check out radius, because it looks really nice from the outside and had never been in. we were seated right away, and someone came to take our drink orders within 5 minutes. he dropped off the drinks and turned away before we could order....and then we sat there and waited for twenty minutes. our waiter was no where to be seen, and then when he was around, he was doing anything and everything except taking our order. we even thought he was finally coming over, but decided to clear plates on a close by table instead. the place was not overly busy, and there was no need to clear the plates before taking our order. we were getting so frustrated with the lack ofservicethat we decided to leave. when we told the waiter and hostess that we were leaving they both just said "why?", and when i told them we had been waiting for 20 minutes, they did not even attempt to apologize or offer to take our order at that moment. we left, without eating, and would never ever go back there again. it has great decor, and probably good food, but theserviceis absolutely awful. the owner of this restaurant should be ashamed of his/her staff and should look into hiring some competent people.

radius is not the same. i have lived in the radius neighbourhood off and on for over 30 years. i leave to go somewhere else for whatever reasons but i always return. when radius opened i was happy. now i am not. theserviceis the pits; the attitude is nasty and "who cares". this is unfortunate. the décor and visual things are all good. i can tell immediately whether i am a "bother". in radius; apparently i am.


-----29 sep, 2013-----

radius...hmmm. i started going to radius after they first opened; it's in the neighbourhood and remember going in there when it was a dry cleaner...marci set up shop there for her wonderful baked goods and now it is radius. it has become slightly snobbish; or really snobbish depending on the day. keep it simple; be respectful to your customers; learn people skills and you will last.


-----21 mar, 2013-----

cool place. i really like radius; it is my neighbourhood coffee place. i am never disappointed with the coffee and the occasional biscotti. i have read that their flourless brownie is worth devouring. i have not had lunch/dinner @ radius; perhaps soon!

so sad. i attended there on sunday, january 26 with a friend of mine. he had gotten there before me, had received a coffee and there were already two menus on our table. we had chosen to sit on the cafe side of the restaurant. there was a girl behind the counter the entire time we were there. i went up to the counter twice and even said hi to her one of those times, but never received an acknowledgment. we sat for at least 20 minutes, she walked by our table a number of times as did another employee working on the other side of the restaurant, but again we were never acknowledged or spoken to. only when we started to leave did the girl from behind the counter say, "oh did you want breakfast, like do you want me to come there so you can order something?" to which we politely declined.

whether or not it was her job to actuallyservicecustomers i can't not say, but it would definitely had been the prudent thing to do. only three other people came to her counter the entire time she was, a little initiative would have gone a long, long way. i run a small restaurant and this would never, ever be acceptable of my staff.

therefore, i can not comment on the food, nor will i ever have a chance to as i will certainly never return.

great food, not so great service. absolutely loved my plate, and so did the people dining with me,
howeverservicewas mediocre, and during the coffee/tea/dessert order, she completely skipped my end of the table although i was waiting eagerly to order a tea! i had to call her over a while later, which she responded with a booklet full of types of tea... and 15 mins later, i had to track her down myself with my choice.. at which point i barely wanted it anymore..
loved the meal however, i would go back and hope for different wait staff.

service improvement. we were excited to try radius after hearing about their use of local food and their downtown location. everyone in my group was happy with their food but theservicewas poor. when asked about items on the menu, the server seemed clueless. the place wasn't busy andservicewas slow. appetizers and mains all came out together & were just thrown on the table without regard for who ordered them. i wouldn't rush back!

my first time here i was impressed with the food, i had the chicken sandwich and it was great. theservicewas poor: they never brought out the appetizer we ordered and it was very slow. she ended up telling us that someone didn't show up for their shift but this was after being ignored for a considerable time and she was trying to recover a tip out of the poorserviceshe gave. i tried it again for dinner and even my friend commented on how unorganized they seemed. it took over 10min just to find a late night menu for us. we had shrimp, sliders, and wings...all of which disappointing. good atmosphere and nice for a drink but slowserviceand sub par food makes what seemed like a promising place a flop...too bad.

brunch service-- no toast. fancier and fresh offerings.servicewas deadly slow. one of our two meals was sent back; the restaurant was great about that. the potatoes were terrific. i'd go back, but not for brunch.