symposium cafe restaurant & lounge

notoriously bad service. theplace'looks' cool, so i've tried it a variety of times - bad bad service - and, everytime i go, i think, 'please, let it be better this time.' - but i've had enough. seven times is enough. having been in the 'biz for many years, i can tell the service stations and their methods are not arranged for efficiency - so . . . if you go - be prepared - you'll wait 10 minutes for a server, 10 minutes for a drink - and wilted green garnishes (because they sat under a heat lamp for 10 minutes).
sorry, symposium - get your act together.

nice quietplacewith old fashion booths for some great privacy. light, healthy and appetizing food. we loved the experience

ummm...continued. okay cake is $10.
(sysco/flanagan's)
why again am drinking from a plastic class?
hell at least they could have splurged on the fancy black straws?


-----13 mar, 2014-----

ummm...continued. okay cake is $10.
(sysco/flanagan's)
why again am drinking from a plastic class?


-----13 mar, 2014-----

ummmm..... so paid $12.95 for a pesto chicken wrap, while drinking out of a plastic water glass?
okay the ikea candles are nice.
great staff, but honestly food from the freezer section of sysco ...for $13.00?
...and the plastic water glass?
i'm not sure what thisplaceis trying to be--but its not working.

ok, no more no less. we have been a few time now. breakfast , lunch and dinner. number one, the hosts are always very friendly which is more than i can say about the servers. only once have we had a friendly server (male, older). always slow to get to us, slow and we always end up asking for everything, from ketchup to water or more drinks. the food has been hit or miss. never a problem with breakfast or sandwiches. the mussels are fantastic. the burschetta was very soggy once, the goat cheese sandwich was good (not enough gotacheese), the steak was not bad, just not as tender as expected. theplaceis not bad, it doesn't "wow" us but have gone back. the service and prices are what keep us form going more often.

well, we've found anotherplacefor breakfast in our hometown. our friends picked it as a breakfast spot for today and i'm glad they did! symposium cafe is part of a chain with locations in kitchener, london, guelph, brantford, hamilton and cambridge.

just decided to look out of curiosity at how thisplaceis doing after having multiple poor experiences. my girlfriend and i went shortly after they opened because having been to the location in waterloo a few times, we excited to have one within walking distance of where we live. our first time we had some mussels and beer. nothing exceptional but the staff were friendly and the bill wasn't too bad, so we decided to try it for a full meal. this time around was different. we both had pasta and more mussels. this time the mussels were tiny and bland. i had flank steak pasta and my girlfriend had (i believe) carbonara. portions were actually way too much (so much so that we could have split a meal). i know many would say this isn't a bad thing but it was a huge waste and neither our pastas had much flavor- really quite bland. service this time was slower. we waited almost 15 minutes for our server to come for our drink order. from that point he basically never left us alone, but not in a good way. we were constantly being interrupted with random conversation- i think we actually spent more time in conversation with him than we had ourselves ! after this experience we figured we would give it one more chance in the hopes it was just poor luck. not so much. this time we tired the mussels marinara which again we tiny and tasted like someone opened a can of tomato sauce on them. for dinner we both had burgers ( turned out to be the "special") both burgers were overlooked and dry and didn't come with fries (they were extra) which pretty much negated the "special". service was average- kinda slow but our server was nice so it balanced out. at this point we decided we wouldn't have dinner there again, however they had a mojito and sangria pitcher night we thought we would try ( we have had these in waterloo and they were great). first and only time in my life i have sent drinks back (tried the mojito- fail, sangria-fail) both were made with sprite- i'll say no more on this. a final note: my patents went with friends for dinner and said the food was almost inedible- a friend couldn't even eat their meal ( this is a very unpicky person) on our final visit we actually witnessed a couple on what appeared to be a first date complaining about the food and actually pay while leaving their plates mostly untouched. all in all a horrible restaurant i would never recommend.

if you don't know about thisplaceyou've been living under a rock. hands down the best dessert restaurant in town. my favourites are the loaded waffles/crepes and the hot chocolate. i love that they are open very late.

chai + amaretto = why didn't i think of this sooner?. symposium is a goodplaceto curl up in the evening with a dessert and a friend, a date, or a book*. i was lured in by a "cake tour" - seriously, who refuses an offer like that? - and ended up spending a great summer evening talking over colossus chocolate cake and their signature chocolate brownie cheesecake. yum.

if you like your chai lattes mild in flavour but with a spiked twist, the amaretto chai is worth a try. it's definitely not as spiced as other chai i've tried, but this makes a tasty after-dinner drink.

*unfortunately, depending on how busy it gets, some small print on their menu notes that tables may be limited to 45 minutes - i'm not certain if, or how often this happens, though.

a greatplacefor coffee, yummy desserts and atmosphere. highly recommended.