My hopes were high for my first S+L experience because it's a Joseph Richards joint and typically the organization turns out restaurants that do things well. Sadly, even with years of experience competing in Vancouver where guest expectations are high, the S+L in Abbotsford didn't even compete with IHOP.
The hostess seated us fast, but that's where speedy service stopped. They seemed to be frustrated or put out that with the twenty-plus open tables, we had to ask for a table with chairs rather than a booth because we had people with mobility issues joining us.
There were only about six tables seated and I counted at least four staff in the front of house. I had a lot of time to count, unfortunately. The table next to us got seated ten minutes after us, and was served first. The staff was awkward and talked over top of each other. It was hard to feel welcome when staff didn't seem happy to be there, or happy we were there.
When they brought menus, they didn't bring brunch menus despite us being there during the well advertised (there's even a sandwich board outside) brunch focused Sunday morning. We made a reservation for brunch specifically. I thought it was odd the menu didn't say anything about brunch, until I saw them bring brunch menus to other tables. We finally asked for them and they were nice enough to include us even though they seemed surprised we'd be interested in brunch. Sadly I wish I hadn't been.
The menu items looked fantastic! With so much staff, I expected that we'd have pretty quick service. But up until the point the food finished arriving, it took forever for everything and it felt like no one knew who was responsible for our table. I've had more dialogue with McDonalds staff at the order counter. When they brought out the first plate of four, it came five minutes before bring the next two plates. The fourth plate arrived five minutes after that... After our food was served they were all over us, refilling coffee multiple times and more than one staff asked if we needed anything.
Do we really have to teach S+L to bring out the meals at the same time? Why did one server bring one plate, then two plates, then another single plate instead of getting one of the other staff to help in one trip?! And why was it so long between each deliver of food? We came to eat together, not in shifts and its not kosher to dig into a meal while other people are still waiting. It all seemed status quo.
We were really excited to try some cool brunch, like their Strawberry Cheese Cake French Toast battered in corn flakes. One of us asked for syrup for it. The server made a point of telling us that "syrup doesn't come with it, but I'll go get you some anyway..." like asking for syrup for French Toast was somehow an odd request that required passive aggressive commentary.
In the end, the French Toast was just not good, and tasted like they fried it in the same oil they fry fish in. Neither was the odd tasting brown butter hollandaise with the poached eggs just tasted off, burnt, or something and sort of gritty. The poached eggs were cooked unevenly with one underdone and one medium poached. The best parts of the breakfast was the average sourdough toast and the fried potato hash browns.
I get restaurants are having a hard time staffing due to the fact they offer tough jobs for poor pay. And I get that servers have a rough job that is often full of nasty people giving them crap. But that wasn't this restaurant today. They had more than enough staff, not a lot of guests, and they had only been open an hour or so. The servers behaved like they were coming off a 12 hour shift in a truck stop full of Donald Trump clones; confused and shell shocked.
One of our people decided to politely let the server know that the French toast was not very palatable. We didn't want a refund or anything. We had already paid, content with chalking it up to a bad experience. Saying something was intended to be feedback they could use so that other guests would have a better meal.
It would've been nice had the server been gracious about it. But all she said was that we should've told her sooner so she could bring her something else. And then followed it up with, "well I guess next time you'll know what not to order..."
Next time? Pft. No thanks. There are a lot of restaurants in Abby with good service to choose from. read more