My wife and I just dined at Symposium Ancaster for our Anniversary. Very disappointing experience. Both ordered Maple glazed salmon as part of the Thursday special. Worst entree we can recall having in any restaurant. Small, overcooked salmon, dry bland rice, undercooked vegetables. We never complain at restaurants but had to tonight. Could have gone to so many other restaurants where we have had great meals. Really bad. read more

We weren't impressed. We were seated promptly and given menus - they're huge. Drink order was taken and delivered by a friendly waitress. For the meal we ordered the Schnitzel dinner and Chicken Pad Thai and it came out in a reasonable time. The taste/quality was another matter. My wife's Schnitzel dinner was disappointing - the schnitzels were soggy and covered in a plain gravy; the potatoes were tasteless and the vegetables were very al dente. My Pad Thai was pretty good, but nothing exceptional. For the price of these entrees - Schnitzel $22.95 and Pad Thai $25.95 - we expected much better food. Many of the chairs & benches were worn and the decor, in general, was a bit neglected. The restaurant was also very cold. We had to keep our coats on. It's not worth coming back. read more

I'm a fan of the chain and been to the original one many times. First time here and would of given 3.5 stars. Food and drink was decent but service lacked timely communication. It's not fun when you have to get up twice to get attention to first time to place order then find your waitress to find out how long the food will take, due to covid , you can tell service has suffered and location has pass through traffic to survive on. The prices went up sadly too. Avg cost of a plate is 15$+. Portions are decent. Atmosphere is chill and they got a patio. read more

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Came in and was greeted by a disgruntled employee right off the bat. The attitude of "im here but dont expect much. I pointed out the 'open' sign was off and was met with oh well it shouldnt be with a tone of 'oh thats YOUR fault'. Was put off but whatever, wanted food not her attitude. Ordered the butter chicken poutine, it came out with maybe 5 cheese curds. Sent it back explaining the issue and she gave no shits. Order the terriyaki chicken. Its weird that they hid the chicken inside the mix instead of it being presented right on top. Okay fine. Dig out the chicken too see the portions and they couldnt even be bothered to give a full breast of meat. The manager claims they only provide 4oz of chicken with the meal. Okay fine, thats not posted on the menu anywhere and the picture in the menu shows a full chicken breast sliced up not diced into subway sized squares. I returned the food, not gonna pay +$22 for "4oz" of chicken with rice. While my gf was starting her soup the waitress brings out our bill. Now i get it ive sent back the butter chicken poutine and the teriyaki chicken but bringing out the bill while guests are still eating, thats a red flag. I dont care the setting, if the bill is brought out, that for me is a time to leave. So GF has had 5 bites from her soup and half of her smoothie. They wanted us to pay in full and leave. When i refused, the waitress actually thought she could hold my gf captive by blocking her from getting out of the booth, even threatened to call the police. Until I threatened to physically move the waitress she didnt move. And then immediately started berating me about oh this is how you treat women, and 'this is your bf? Im sorry that you have to deal with this' and 'oh this is what you have to deal with' and the cream on top is she was so sexist after i threatened to get physical if she didnt move out of our way. Terrible location, terrible staff and manager. This location should be shut down. Not even worth re-hiring positions. read more

Happened to be there yesterday, totally loved the place. The decor is amazing, the waitress who served us was great. The dip we ordered for appetizers could be better, but other than that, the overall experience was amazing. Would definitely go again. read more

Great outdoor patio place for breakfast. Pleasant staff. Generous portions. Meals are inconsistent. One time good, the next time really Really poor. Dinners I agree are either cold or tasteless. Sad.wont go back again. read more

Yummy food, great service! Love this place and their yummy cakes you can get two for the price foo e on Sunday's! My boyfriend and I always come here read more

My friend and I had dinner on April 6th, 2018. We were both sick that night. We both had fish. I had fish and chips, and my friend had fish and a salad. We complained that there was too much batter on the fish and that the batter was so hard you couldn't pick it up with a fork. The chips tasted like they had been fried in very old oil. The fish was very sparse - once you were able to peel away the hard coating of batter. Had lunch there a week ago and the food was a BLT and another tasty dish - which my daughter raved about. However, when we complained about our fish, the manager wasn't all too cooperative. Waitress was friendly thought. I wouldn't recommend this restaurant any time soon. read more

Took forever to get the food. My wife was sick TWICE after three separate visits apx 1 year ago. I called the restaraunt to let them know. I will not return. Good location for the ancaster expansion. read more

Food was great and the staff was very nice. Not one of my top places to go. The decor is pleasant inside and I like the all day breakfast. Considering it's a chain it has that square cutter feeling. read more

I'm not sure why there is so many negative reviews about this restaurant. This symposium looks very beautiful from the outside and inside compared to the other symposium cafes I've seen. I got the eggs benedict dish for breakfast and it was alright. The prices are affordable and the staff was great. The weekdays special they have is not really a deal. When they say it's $5 burgers on Mondays, it actually is if you just get the bread and the meat. However, if you want toppings on top or sides with your meal, it all costs extra. That part is very deceiving and not really a deal. read more

Symposium Cafe Restaurant - Desserts Near Me - Ancaster, Ontario

So many things went wrong! 4 out of 7 orders were messed up, wrong items or lack of items! Toast was wrong, fried eggs, not poached as ordered, no bacon, no potato's...no water or cream after twice asking. Had to go find a server for coffee refills after 45 minutes wait. Our birthday breakfast was a dud! The server arguing with me about a stated menu item that was missing from a breakfast topped the read more

Honestly, this restraunt isnt bad. The food is Ok, But the place is tacky. Customer service spilled my drink,and food took 30 minutes to just get a salad. (Seriously, there are pictures of naked men on the wall!!) read more

We have given this place a try at least a dozen times. I try to support local businesses. The service is slow, takes forever to get a drink either from the bar or just a coffee. When food or drinks finally get to the table they are either too cold from standing around or over or under cooked. The food is generally ok, when they get the order right. Usually the order is wrong, staff are inexperienced and drinks will sit on the bar for a long time before the servers bother to look for them. We have had our food served before our drinks arrive. Not willing to give it another try. We won't return. read more

Arrived and seated at table with ridiculous chairs that made several of us look like little kids. Ordered food and appetizers. Chicken appetizer arrived cold. Not lukewarm but cold like it hadn't been cooked. The Spinach dip is terrible don't order. I had Chicken Cesar. I asked for a spice rub on chicken. Waitress said no problem. Chicken came plain with franks red hot sauce on the side. They did get the dressing on the side right. Another person ordered Pad Thai. It was not tasty and spicy as menu stated. In fact she felt like they had just dumped in franks red hot sauce. Approximately half an hour after order was put in they came and told us they ran out of one of the dishes. Meal was super delayed. Ran out of the type of wine we were drinking. Restaurant is a big square with super tall ceilings making it very loud and cold feeling. Free dessert for the person that didn't get the meal they ordered so that was good. Rare/medium steak came out well done. Staff was great. Star is for them! I have eaten at several Symposium restaurants. Don't think I will go back to this one though. read more

Get there before 11am during the week and order off the special breakfast menu. Good service, choices and decor. Enjoy the patio on those balmy days. read more

The staff at this restaurant is excellent - attentive and extremely friendly. The disappointing part is the food and the atmosphere. They seemed to be going for something chic and sexy but missed the mark and ended up with something that feels cold and dark. The food is very 'chain' tasting, like it lacks any kind of love or passion or invention. The quality of the food is definitely not reflected in the price. Too expensive for what it is. I've tried, and it just doesn't work for me. read more

My wife and I went to the Symposium on June 4, 2016, after Wimpy's Diner lost our order and did nothing to rectify it. Anyway--we loved the decor of the Symposium and everything was exceptionally well ordered and clean. Our waitress was very police and efficient, and the food was great. We got just the right amount of attention--not too much and not too little. We would definitely return to this restaurant! read more

the worst.food moderately priced but usually cold and tasteless.alcoholic beverages are over-priced and watered down.management ignorant and dishonest. a good night out for eating over-priced junk and run by dishonest rude management who treat customers like dirt!the best thing i could say i did not vomit after meal-but that was because it was inedible. read more