Weekend trip to Niagara on the Lake! With weekends comes this little thing called breakfast; my favourite meal of the day! Sadly, we slept in and no restaurants serve breakfast past 10am except Escabeche at the Prince of Wales Hotel and Eggsmart. Since we were looking for local flavour, we headed to Escabeche. The menu out front looked good, a little pricy, but we didn't care; we were so hungry! They took our names and we waited. We waited about 15min and were seated right by the windows in the sunroom. Nice! The another couple was seated at the table behind us at the same time. We ordered our meals as well as some water and coffee. Then we waited........ And waited.... And......the couple seated after us got their food. And they sent it back. They received their corrected meals and then we got ours. A little pet peeve of mine is people seated after me and ordering after me getting their food first. Grrr. I, of course, ordered Eggs Benny. I've had a few Eggs Benedicts in my day, so I'm pretty sure I know what it is. I'd like to think the meat should be under both eggs, but this did not happen for me. Luckily, I took a photo before I dug in. I had started eating when I realized there was no meat on half. I called the server over and told her. She said it's 1 piece of sourdough and 1 large piece of meat with the 2 eggs on top. I showed her the picture and she nodded like that was normal. For $18, I'd like actual Eggs Benny...especially considering there was no side with it. Half a strawberry, 1 slice of bread and 2 eggs seems hardly worth it. I gave them the chance to fix it and they didn't. We ate and then ran out of drinks. No server in sight. The table with the water jug was across the aisle from me, so I got up to fill my glass. Other customers saw me serve myself and they came up to fill their glasses. Not cool. They saw us all filling our glasses and walked around us. This was another chance to do something and they didn't. I will never be back to this place. My recommendation is to get up before 10am and go somewhere that has service, good pricing and actual food. read more

Escabèche Restaurant - All this for $18. Hope you didn't want meat under both eggs. - American Near Me - Niagara On The Lake, Ontario

I ate here twice: once for my wedding menu tasting, and the other time from their pub menu. So my review is not based on their "regular menu"--although the items that were chosen for the wedding was very close to the actual restaurant dishes. Moving right on to the food... SALADS: Select Hand Cut Leaf Salad - Has goat cheese, candied walnuts, dried cranberries, roasted pear and is coated in light sherry vinaigrette. Very refreshing yet warm at the same time. Crisp Romaine Heart Salad - REAL BACON! Crispy, like chips! Great dressing, and great crostini instead of croutons. ENTREE: AAA Canadian Beef Rib Eye - It was a nice piece of steak! About 7oz or so (perfectly cooked to my liking, medium), and came with herb mashed potato and horseradish jus. Real jus. Roasted Breast of Chicken - Bone in, skin on breast, and came with sour cream mashed potato with natural pan jus. Perfectly cooked, very juicy. "Comforting" comes to mind right away, albeit a little on the boring side. DESSERT: Traditional Creme Brulee - A proper creme brulee. No shortcuts here. Just quality stuff. I'm not a custard fan, but this one had me. Bitter Chocolate Cheesecake - Did not like this one. But then again, I hate cheesecakes, so... (threw up when I was a boy from eating too much of it) Impressive selection of wines! The most impressive part though, is the service. In my humble opinion, the best trained waiters in Canada. They are amazing. We had the pleasure of being looked after by Dan both times, who is one of the senior staff there. Words to describe the service: warm, polite, attentive to details, accommodating and comfortable. Other restaurants can learn a thing or two from here. read more

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Now I will admit that when five Americans in jeans and tennis shoes (one of them a toddler) traipse into a dining room like this, they may be asking for it by conforming to some unfortunate stereotypes. But by the end of the meal I wished that rather than sweetly seating us, they had turned us away. The service was inexplicably slow. We were there on the late side for lunch (2-ish) and the dining room was empty enough that they were putting other chairs on top of the tables. But it nonetheless took more than thirty minutes to turn out our simple lunches. (Even the two scoops of ice cream that came out at the end took an inexplicably long time.) And what came out wasn't great. My fish sandwich was dry and a little off (I hope that the breaded filet had just spent too long in the freezer); the cassoulet was also mysteriously dry, and pretty bland. I know they were Canadian dollars, but it was still an expensive, slow meal of dry underflavored food, unfortunately confirming all of the stereotypes that us jeans-wearing Americans have of stuffy places like this. At least the dining room was lovely! read more

Awful customer service. Waiter never came to refill our water glasses. When I asked for water, he asked that I wait until he was finished clearing the plates. Really? What takes precedent? Clearing the table or giving the customer a glass of water from the overly salted and expensive food. We ended up paying $900 for a dinner for 8 people and 2 bottles of wine. Not worth going. Not worth paying the money for eating here. read more

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I took my mom to Escabeche this past Mother's Day for brunch buffet. This was my first visit to this restaurant located inside the gorgeous Prince of Wales. The restaurant did an excellent job to cope with their Mother's Day brunch theme. Once we walked in the restaurant reception, we were greeted with several friendly and cheerful faces by saying "Happy Mother's Day" to my mom. We were both given a mini pot of roses when we were paying the bill. This really made our days:) We were given a nice table by the window as per my reservation request. The restaurant manager and servers checked on our necessity several times without too disturbing at all. As to the buffet food, I would not say it was excellent but well worth what we paid for $38 per person. There were roast beef, roast turkey, French toasts, egg benedict, sausages, bacons, omelettes, pasta, hot soup, smoke meats, smoke salmon, salads, fresh fruits, breads, croissants, etc., and of course variety of desserts. The restaurant arranged a musician playing harp during the first half of the brunch. Cool! All-in-all, it was a very nice experience!! read more

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The best place to start the morning in Niagara-on-the-Lake is here at Escabeche at the Prince of Wales Hotel. If you are hungry and here on the weekends, there is usually a brunch buffet that is much nicer than the word buffet suggests. Carved ham service and eggs benedict are available. But the draw here is to experience coffee and breakfast served with silver and silverware. The coffee is a good roast and brew well and served in a silver carafe. There is just something nice and upscale with such details early in the morning. There is a Starbucks in town now as well as a Balzac's but coffee is simply so much better seated in one of the town's more posh hotels as you watch tourists start to come. The pasty basket is a nice pairing. But every item on the breakfast/brunch menu is exquisite. High tea is an experience. Pricey but it completes an English service. For a romantic dinner with an experimental menu, Escabeche offers something the other hotels and restaurants do not offer. One early spring visit seemed to have been inspired by bacon in all variants. Bacon powder and bacon broths. Sure. The Prince of Wales is about experiencing gentrification from another era. Sterling in parts but a luxurious experience for a fair price if you're looking for a silver experience. This hotel and its restaurant is the spirit of Niagara-on-the-Lake. read more

The food was good, the service was excellent. The hotel staff even drove my son's stuffed animal to our cottage after we accidentally left it at our table. Our server was wonderful. Highly recommend it. read more

Epic Fail! - I made a reservation at this place for High Tea... and traveled from Chicago to have it. I planned a nice Valentines day weekend with this visit as one of the pillars of the trip. When I arrived I was told that I did not have a reservation even though I had a number. Even more ridiculous was that I watched them seat walk-ins while we waited... but they would only let us sit in the restaurant next door. I went to the management and they did not even check into it, they just validated the Tea rooms rebuke. The town is nice and there are lots of shops... eat (or Tea) somewhere else. read more

I stopped by here twice this past weekend with my wife for breakfast. It was certainly a tale of two visits as the first visit on Friday morning was relaxing and good while the second visit on a much more crowded Saturday morning was very underwhelming. The inside of the restaurant is nicely decorated with white tablecloths and a good clean appearance. Most of the seats are facing the large windows out to Queen Street so that you can see Simcoe Park as well as everyone walking up and down the street. On our first visit we were lucky enough to get one of these tables while on our second visit we got put next to what used to be a fireplace. On the first morning that we were there we were immediately greeted. For breakfast I had coffee as well as the eggs Benedict and rye toast. The eggs Benedict came on top of a Rosemary focaccia instead of a normal English muffin and man was it good. I sort of wish that there had been more of it but unfortunately there was not. The rest of my breakfast was good as well with the eggs being cooked nicely with the yolks dropping onto the bacon and focaccia when I cut into them. Contrary to the first morning, the second morning was a lot more hectic. Our waitress was in the weeds whenever we got there and took between 5 - 10 minutes to even get to our table. On this morning I ordered the egg white, cheddar and tomato omelette and a side of oatmeal. Whenever I first cut into my omelette I thought it was watery. The more I cut into it the more liquid that I was able to see and the fact that it wouldn't stay together at all combined with the liquid confirmed my suspicion that it was not fully cooked. Thankfully the bacon that came on the side of the dish was cooked nice and crispy and tasted quite good. Similarly the fried potatoes were also good although not so much whenever they got soggy from the liquid coming out of the omelette. Our waitress on this day never did come back to check on our food and my wife had to track her down to get the assorted mini croissants which she had ordered and never received. What was weird with this was that on the first day the assorted mini croissants consisted of 3 different croissants: plain, chocolate and iced. Then on the second day the forgotten mini croissants were only two plain ones. It's odd that a standard menu item was that different between the two days. The bottom line for me is that I might stop here again in the future. It seems that on a slower day it easily worth a 4 star review and a wonderful experience can be had. However on a busier day it is probably worth a 2 stars review as the mistakes piled up and made it an experience that probably wasn't worth the money. read more

Sometimes it's VERY NICE to dine like a princess! I've had afternoon tea here twice, and dinner here twice.... including dinner before a play at the Shaw Festival this past Saturday night. The service is very good... but the waiter appeared to be trying a bit too hard. We really don't need to have every ingredient of the dish we're ordering explained to us as we order... and then again as the food is brought to the table. The two of us shared a perfect bottle of "Tavel Maby Domaine" rose which was crisp and wonderful. Nothing beats French rose in my book! Then it was on to an amuse buche of a tuna tartar which my dining companion absolutely loved, but I passed on...just not my thing. I'm sorry to admit, but I only like my tuna from the can, mixed with mayo and chopped celery, and smushed on a bagel. For my first course I had the most delicious salad of organic field greens with toasted hazel nuts and blueberries. So fresh and delicious with a light, yet flavorful dressing. Then for my main course I had the "Pan Seared Scallops with Sweet Corn Coulis, Roast Poblano Peppers and Watermelon Relish". Those scallops were cooked perfectly, and the accompaniments were perfectly balanced and flavorful. For a side we shared the "Creamed Potatoes" which actually confused me. I was imagining something like a scalloped potato dish, but it was simply mashed potatoes..... very tasty, but not what I had imagined. Maybe it's a regional difference between Canada and the United States. The desserts all sounded wonderful. I chose the blueberry creme brule. It was very rich and the sugar topping was a bit thick for my liking. It was actually difficult to crack with my spoon. The blueberries at the bottom were a great addition though. read more

Valet parking - excellent. Friendly attentive and courteous. Restaurant service - very friendly and attentive but a little inexperienced. Food - looked nice enough but flavours and preparation missed. Had a soup of the day (ale and cheddar). Overly bitter from too heavy on the ale or wrong choice on ale. Was served just like warm which was probably from using a cold dish. Had a chicken in pastry dish with salad. Pretty dry chicken but seasoning was okay. Salad was all spinach with barely any dressing so made for a very dry main. Bread was nice flavour but for a sour dough would have expected it to be more of a chewy bread. Our table also had a wonton dish as an app - came quite greasy. If I had to guess fried temp was too low so wontons just soaked up oil. For the price I think you can do better. read more

My wife and I dined for our 25th anniversary. Fisrt, I too had to request a window, and wait. I saw on their lunch menu "Lobster Poutine", and had to try it. I asked our server, Brad, if they could prepare one as my appetiser. And they did. OMG, talk about heaven on a plate! Home made pommes frites, topped with Quebec cheese curds, some au jus, Nova Scotia Lobster, and all topped with Bearnaise Sauce! It was so so so good! Then I ordered the Lamb Striploin, med rare. Well, it arrived medium, and I sent it back. Expecting to wait 15 minutes, I was surprised when Brad brought me another one, in less than two minutes. He said they had another one ready for another order, and gave it to me. It was perfect! Thank you Brad! My wife had the Artic Char, and it was delicious as well. I would go back, but mostly to have the Lobster Poutine Again! read more

We stayed at the Prince of Wales for my birthday weekend and we were hesitant to go to the hotel restaurant as we have been displeased with other hotel restaurants in the past. This was not the case here. Breakfast: I personally chose the buffet, which was filled with delights. Classic choices such as eggs, bacon, amazing farmer's sausage, seasonal fruit, cereals, the works. For Sunday brunch, it was even better. There was eggs benedict (which you can order off the menu other days), a smoked ham, cut fresh off the block for you, smoked salmon, plus everything else from the other days. Overall, it was a party in my mouth early in the morning. Dinner: We had the tasting and wine pairing menu. It was pricey, but worth every penny. I am iffy on seafood, so I asked for a swap for one of the courses and they had no problem with it. The wine connaisseur was in the know about all of the wines, and even gave us some bonus wine because he also thought it would go well with what we were eating. Service: For dinner, we had Travis who was polite, jovial and knowledgeable. This guy is the real deal. For breakfast, I wasn't overly impressed, but not necessarily unimpressed, with the service. I don't remember the girls' names (from the breakfast service), but they were a little scattered and dopey, as if we weren't really there and they were operating on routine. Why I didn't give it a 5: 4 is good. It's really good. If I could have given it a 4.5, I would have. That being said, to me, 5 is perfect, and there are some changes to which I would attend: 1)The restaurant has a section that is under a solarium. It's beautiful. People want to sit there. So when someone asks if they can sit there and there are plainly 4-5 tables that have been vacated and can be cleaned off, it's best to say "Not a problem. It will just take us a few minutes to get something set up for you." There you have it. I get it. Back in the day, I was a waitress and it sucked when everyone wants a booth and you're swamped and people want you to clear and set a table when there are plenty of other good ones...but when we're dropping $2000+ at your establishment (hotel stay included), I want a table in the solarium. 2) The breakfast buffet needs a toaster. You're serving bagels...it needs a toaster. They do offer to make you toast, but I'm already at the buffet getting all my things. I don't want to have to return to my table, order toast, wait for it, and now my food is cold...but I have warm toast. No. 3) The peach crème brûlée was mediocre and kind of weird. Without discussing it, both my husband and I scraped off all of the peach stuff and ate the crème brûlée underneath. Afterwards, when he noticed the pile of peach goo on my plate, he laughed and showed me his pile. Overall, it was very good and I would recommend it to others who are dining for a special occasion (it is a little pricey for everyday, I-don't-feel-like-cooking-something, let's-go-out dinners). read more

Never go to this restaurant. Very rude and unprofessional. Had reservations but still couldn't be seated. Waited 45 minutes before giving. Wouldn't have minded waiting if it wasn't for the hostess lying to us repeatedly. Go anywhere else. read more

Went with a group of four for New Year's Eve and had a great time. The fixed menu selections were all delicious (I had the venison), and the staff were very helpful. Great cocktails and wine list. read more

The tasting menu is amazing. I loved every bite and the wine pairing was excellent. Our server, Brad, was amazing and very accommodating at modifying the menu for us (I.e. allergies). It might seem pricey but I dare say it's a bargain given the volume of wine..! read more

Love this place. The food is always fantastic, the service is always excellent. Tasting menu has been great every time... although sometimes very out there with what they offer; but I respect them for pushing the boundaries in trying new things rather than doing 'safe bet's' like many other restaurants in this kind of category do. If you stay on Saturday night, the buffet lunch on Sunday here is fantastic to wake up to! It's pricey, but worth it if you want to stay at NOTL in style. read more

Terrible service! We had reservation at 12noon and told we were too early when arrived at 1150am. The waiter never refilled our water glasses. We do not feel giving more than 10% tips but the waiter stood by our table and literally counted our money and told us we should give 18% as a party of 9, but if it is the restaurant policy how come it is not in the bill? We cannot leave until giving the waiter 18%. Never go back or recommend anyone to go there. Also with reservation few days ahead, our table were by the entrance! read more

Terrible,sub par service. 8:00pm reservation and still waiting 40 minutes later. No explanation. Complete gong show. Dine elsewhere.

Terrible menu. Very unusual offerings for what we expected to be a fine dining experience. Service was on the low end except for Virginia. Wine list was huge, but they are either out of or only have a small supply of many. read more

I like this place but it seems really overpriced. We had dinner for our anniversary last week and it was good, not exceptional. My low fat vegan husband is really difficult to cook for but we gave them a heads up about his dietary concerns 3 times and he got a decent polenta dish. But it wasn't creative. It seemed that the chef put together something at the las moment when other chefs in town went out of their way to accommodate his picky ness. I had a chicken dish that was good, not great. I would recommend Stone Road or TReadwells for outstanding. read more

We went there for an evening tea with dessert. Although we did not have a reservation and considering it was Jan 1st, the young lady greeting us managed to set up a table for 8 which was really appreciated. Considering everyone else in the restaurant was in for romantic dinners, it was easy to spot the server being underwhelmed by our "holiday-stroll" attire. When he found out we were not in for a full 5-serve dinner, Wayne started treating us like we were some uneducated peasants bringing in the rest of our cattle families for dinner. Quick note for anyone working directly with customers, do not assume. All of us have either lived or extensively traveled to France, have tried actual haute-cuisine, and know how to spell "crème brûlée". I wish for all staff to get an opportunity to try haute-cuisine as well. The food was "honest" and I wouldn't say no to trying their tasting menu on a different occasion, however the servers and Wayne in particular need to stop pretending to be serving Heaven in food format to undeserving customers. If you are a gourmet, you already know that there aren't any Michelin Guide starred restaurants in Canada, and this one wouldn't make the cut either. read more

We have been to Escabeche several times, and most recently had dinner there for my wife's birthday. We had the tasting menu with wine, and almost everything was uniformly superb -- we were less thrilled with the desert, but after about 5 excellent courses we were not going to worry about it. The service was perfect, the food was outstanding, and we've put it on our list of regular special-occasion restaurants. read more

We celebrated our anniversary there for Sunday brunch. However, it is nothing special even though the price is good. Servers are nice and professional. We might head back and try their regular lunch or dinner menu. Hopefully, it will give us surprise. read more

A group of 5 of us went to Escabeche for a birthday dinner. - Atmosphere is nice, and location is wonderful - Value is terrible. Strongly advise against getting the tasting menu, as it is the same cost as getting individual items from the menu. We had initially ordered thinking that it was a "true" tasting menu, and provided allergies/restrictions. They substituted for cheaper items for me/my wife (significantly cheaper for her, as she's vegetarian), but still charged the full price of the tasting menu. This is particularly upsetting, as we specifically asked our server to charge individually if it was better value. - Service is hit-and-miss. The server did apologize that they were understaffed, but I actually found the speed of service quite good. Attitude did come across as somewhat condescending, as none of us felt the need for a 5 minute exposition on the benefits of rapini, or to be told when a good time to go the washroom is. We noted that our server offered to personally drive an inebriated diner who was seated near us home. - Food is generally average to good, except for the chicken, which is terrible. Ironically, the rapini on the chicken was the worst dish of the night. read more

Not great for the price.. The salmon was OK but the pureed asparagus with Parmesan was nothing special. My partner's lobster salad was good. The chocolate bombe was also very good. The portions are generally very small.. So you will go away hungry... I won't be back. read more

First the positives: nice decor, comfortable with pleasant view. The service was very good. Now for the negatives: small menu and poorly conceived. We had the chicken with truffle pesto, and a roasted tomato/exotic mushroom ragu nesting on rapini. Summer truffles are subtle and were destroyed by the tomatoes; the rapini was so bitter it had to be consumed separately or ignored. And the exotic mushrooms were canned, small button mushrooms, definitely not exotic. What was inexcusable is the fact the that sous chef, on his rounds in the dining room, admitted that he ran out of the promised wild mushrooms four days earlier and this was the last of the sauce he had made four days earlier. Then he told us that the second seating was going to get the proper ingredients. He had never informed our waiter, who was unaware of this substitution. Either we should be informed in advance or please take it off the menu. This was frank dishonesty. I must admit, however, that the exotic mushrooms would add little to the overpowering flavor a already surrounding our slightly over cooked free range bird. Really, this was a 35$ entree and a lesson in how to abuse your customers. read more