Canada-Complaints.com » Cafes, Bars, Restaurants » Complaint / review: Espresso, Etc - Horrible place, terrifying story! | #23439

Espresso, Etc
Horrible place, terrifying story!

When our party of seven stepped out of the bitter cold into this quaint-seeming cafe/sandwich shop for a "quick bite, " none of us were prepared for the harrowing experience ahead of us.

For starters, it took the staff more than two hours to serve all of us. That's OK in a place were the food is carefully prepared, but absolutely none of the sandwiches were as described on their menu. Even the espresso machine wasn't working. (Not a good thing in a place named "Espresso, etc.") I noticed that the lady ringing us up at the counter charged me $1.25 for my drink instead of $1.00 as printed on the menu, but I didn't say anything since things were taking so long already. We wished we could leave, but stayed because they staggered the orders so that some people in our group were long finished eating while other folks with us had food still to come. Why, for example, did one person's soup arrive a full half-hour after he was done with his sandwich? (And it was the wrong soup!) And why was the second person to order the last to get her food - even though she'd ordered the same sandwich as three other people? Yet none of us complained about anything.

After this lengthy ordeal we got up to leave and the older lady who took our orders told me she had made a mistake; my generic bottle of root beer did not cost the $1.00 as printed on their menu, nor even the $1.25 she had charged me, but rather $3.75 and that I needed to pay the difference immediately. I said that I didn't think this was fair and went on to finally mention the poor food and appalling service. Respectfully, I asked why I should have to pay three times the advertised price based solely on her word. Amazingly, the man who made the food who appeared to be in his 70's and was possibly the owner - jumped from behind the counter and shouting "So what!? I did not force you to eat it! ", waved his finger in my face and again demanded that I pay immediately. I was taken aback but at this point I was definitely not about to hand over money to anyone who behaved so inappropriately.

Incredibly, when I turned to go the guy suddenly lunged in front of me and, pushing me from behind, violently shoved me into the doorframe. He blocked us all from leaving and screamed at the top of his lungs, "Call the police! Call the police!!! " In spite of his being a senior citizen, my first instinct was to get physical with him, but another member of our group stepped forward and, exchanging harsh words, handed him the couple of bucks. The guy then went about his business as if nothing had happened and let us go.

At first I was upset with my friend for doing this, since I was sorry to see these unethical business people essentially get away with theft, but in retrospect it was probably best just to get away from this wretched place without further incident. This place certainly tops my "all time worst" list. That's extremely sad because this was our last meal in Toronto. I'm going to report them to the authorities. Needless to say, if you actually believe that a business should treat you with a modicum of respect, NEVER, EVER go there!

Date:

Company: Espresso, Etc

Country: Canada   Province: Ontario   City: Toronto
Address: 350 Dundas Street West
Phone: 6474762195

Category: Cafes, Bars, Restaurants

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