Across the street from one of my favourite restaurants here in Ottawa (Back Lane Café) is an "Italian inspired" restaurant called Burnt Butter. My husband and I had gone there once before about a year ago, and had a pretty decent meal, so we thought we'd give it another try and take my parents there last night.
The evening started off OK and then just went downhill. We all enjoyed our appetizers. The Malbec my dad and I shared was good. Then my husband was brought his main (he though it was a bit bland). Then our server brought out 2 more mains...for another table. Huh? Then mine came. Then we wondered what the hell was going on. Our server came over after a couple of minutes mumbling something about combining bills and some mistake so my parent's food would be another 4 minutes. WHAT?!?! So my husband and I slowly started eating ours before it got cold. The 4 minutes turned into about 14. I shit you not. The server finally brought over my parents mains and said NOTHING. WHAT?!?! My mom thought hers was a bit bland, and the potatoes were undercooked (uneatable). My dad and I had dessert (not bad) and we all had coffee... and when my dad asked for a second cup of regular (the rest of us had decaf) the server didn't hear him I think, then my husband flagged him down a few minutes later, and then a couple minutes after that we were told the cup of coffee would take about another 3 minutes. About 5 minutes later we asked for the bill, and a minute or 2 after it was brought to the table, my dad got his cup of coffee (which, needless to say, he didn't drink). To our shock there was no compensation whatsoever on the bill or during our meal (ie. free glass of wine) for the fact that may parents had to wait at least 15/20 minutes for their meals and essentially had to eat after my husband and I. And the server barely acknowledged this. And to our amazement, the owner who was walking around didn't say a word either, and it was clear he was aware of the situation. Yeah, the server didn't get a tip. And we will NEVER go back there. Worst service ever. It's one thing to have mistakes happen, it's another to not apologize adequately. To top it all off, as we were leaving we walked right by our server and he didn't even say a word, not even a good-bye. So folks, this is my first restaurant review on here that was so bad I am telling you to STAY AWAY. Do yourself a favour and go across the street to Back Lane Café. Tell them Kim @ DTI sent you. :)
Sat, 10 Nov 2012 
