Emma ordered all supplies locally and insisted on the best quality; therefore, the Estaminet quickly became known for serving the finest foods and providing the most sought-after lakefront atmosphere.
I feel the need to share due to safety concerns for others. Emmas security (bouncers) are unpredictable and hazardous.
Enter at your own risk. No one has the right to use bullet words or violence like they did, especially not to paying customers, and certainly not to women.
Will never be returning. Enter at your own risk of safety.
The servers spent more time socializing than serving, the food came out cold, the fries were soggy and the taste was mediocre. When I tried to wave over my server so I could get a drink refill, and possibly some warm food, she just stood in the corner on her phone and talked to the other employees. We eventually gave up, ate a few bites then paid for our bill and left. For a place thats been around for so long I was quite disappointed in the quality and experience that my family and I had.
It must be the view that keeps this place in business because it surely isn't the food or service. Although I wouldn't rank it among the dregs, we were completely dissatisfied with the quality of food, the price and the service. At first glance, you get the impression of a comfortable yet rich culinary experience........and then the food is served. The steaks and prime rib (I didn't taste them) appeared ok. My pickerel special with a calamari appetizer was ho-hum. The calamari was especially bland, over battered, and tasteless. My wife ordered the "traditional" pasta bolognese mainly so my infant daughter could have some. When asked, the server said its perfect for young kids. It arrived with an odd brown hue and tasted more like hamburger helper stroganoff. It was far from what a traditional and simple bolognese should be. We actually could not even find remnants of tomato in th esauce. Poor food aside, the service was friendly but impersonal and sparse. Lastly, the dishes were very overpriced.
Unfortunately, we hadn't read the reviews on this site prior to going. Lesson learned!
Two of the four apps were excellent(spring rolls/baked goat cheese) and two of the entrees were excellent(beef tenderloin/ribeye). However the below average service brought down the entire experience. One of the steaks was way over cooked and all of our sides were wrong, unfortunately no one ever returned to see why we weren't eating. When I finally ate the risotto I didn't order it was way under cooked and the seafood stew my wife had was awful. The white wine we order came warm and the beer we were drinking they ran out of at 8:00pm on a saturday night. We sat back and watched the table behind us receive much more attention from the same server. I assume that is because they looked like they had more money than us?LOL! Our tip either confirmed that for her or just maybe she will realize it reflected the service!
This is the second time that i have visited this establishment. We had early dinner reservations for our group as it was a friends birthday. It was not busy inside, but for the amount of time it took to get our drink orders, and worse - our dinner, everyone was starving!!!! Drinks took about 20 min, while the food took....wait for it, 1 hr 20 min!!!! Dinner orders were very simple, nothing that took too long to cook. By the time the food had arrived, everyone was ready to go.
There was no point in taking this out on the waitress. Food took to long, and it was meadiocre and overpriced for what it was. Should have all just gone off to the lcbo, picked up some wine and pizza!
A group of us got together to have brunch at the Water Street Cooker. After waiting a few minutes at the door to be sat, we were seated right at the window. Excellent view! The service was O.K. We noticed after they fill your glass the first time, they are not to quick to fill your glass back up. The food was O.k. The eggs benedict weren't very hot, and looked like they had been sitting out for a while. The omellette station was good, but maybe they could find a friendlier cook. Salads all were average, nothing creative. I would maybe give it one more try, maybe for dinner, probably not brunch buffet.
I did find the entrance a little strange, in that they do not have a hostess on the first floor. I thought the building was unique and overall had a quaint atmosphere with a great view. Our service was great, despite the size of our group. The appetizer was filling enough to be an entree, although I did manage to wolf down my beef tenderloin special that was cooked to perfection. Other people in our group had similar experiences with their entrees. The menu is limited (often are in fine dining), but they have many specials to choose from and they all sounded good.
On a nice sunny day, the view over the lake is very nice. That was the good part, and I could have had that from a park bench! The selection and variety of the food was small and poor. The "Couscous salad" tasted like sawdust from the very small salad selection. Flies were buzzing around the food - very unappetizing. The roast beef was gross, the eggs benedict overcooked, and the other hot items just marginal..The seafood soup was very good, but this and the fruit for the waffles were the only things with any redeeming quality. Not nearly worth it for the price. I won't be back.
