Absolutely agree on Thai Lime...food is very good and the interior of the spot makes you pull a double take on where you actually are. Let's support this place. And oh, the Sharwma place next door is pretty solid too! Good on these folks for coming into the neighborhood with something different. You grow a bit tired when all you can get within walking distance of the area is Portuguese chicken(and I wouldn't trust Eduarda's on Dupont if it was the last meal I was to have)
The nachos that you had the other night at Boo's were indeed half-price. If there was some confusion in the pricing or my server was unable to explain, then we would be happy to look after you the next time. I apologise for your being charged $1.50 too much on already discounted item. However, how am I going to right the wrong when your posting does not include a name???
As for the comment "watch your reciept at Boo's". That comes close to suggesting that we are in this business to rip people off.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Please let us know the next time you are in and perhaps we can make it up.
As residents of the Junction Triangle we were interested in this place - really hoping they'd have some solid espresso etc.
On our first, and only, visit here, we (mom, dad, toddler) were initially pleasantly surprised that they were open, had a reasonable board of food on top of cafe fare and were actually licensed.
However things went quickly downhill from there.
We ordered a latte, an americano and a simple pastry basket to share.
The coffees came quickly but 10 minutes later and no pastry basket.
You surely just need to pick a few, cut 'em up, put them in a basket and bring them to the table.
After fruitlessly trying to get the attention of our harried server (they were quite busy - only one server on the floor) I decided I'd ask to see how the pastries were coming on my return from using their ATM at the back (they currently only accept cash, not the best customer service decision to start with, especially when they charge two bucks per transaction at the machine AND are saving money per transaction by not accepting debit or credit of any kind - "the owner of this establishment, Cafe Neon, charges $2 per transaction", hmmm...but I digress).
As it turns out, our server and I met up at the ATM and I asked how the pastries were coming.
She replied icily with "they're in the line, as you can see we're very busy here".
She then, crazily, asked me "would you like me to cancel your order?".
I had a hungry toddler and I surmised it shouldn't be much longer now for one small little pastry basket so I replied, cheekily, "no, are you baking them fresh?".
To which the server replied "What would you like me to do?"
Not caring to engage any further in this silly and reckless game of "the customer is never right" I brushed past this now nearly combative woman and said, incredulously, "just order it!".
Well, the pastry basket arrived to our table maybe a couple minutes later, and was dumped unceremoniously at our table with intent by said server.
A few minutes later, the bill was literally thrown at my partner, again with no discussion. Wow.
Sorry. But it shouldn't take even a busy little coffee shop / resto close to 15 minutes to pick a few mediocre pastries from the pantry, cut them in half and bring them to our table.
Clearly there's dysfunction along the line in this place as the orders just go in and there seems to be no division of labour between server and kitchen to handle these types of basic requests - felt like a brewing "not my department" kind of thing coming from our server.
Basic word to the wise - don't lay your problems on your customers - particularly shiny new faces like ours who would have gladly returned had we been treated with simple respect and decorum. Now we'll just spread the bad news; I'm sure management will approve.
We will never return and will now post this same complaint directly to the fine folks at Cafe Neon as well as anywhere else we can. In a city this big and with such exemplary options available everywhere for anything this type of attitude is akin to commercial suicide.
Horrible experience.
Naive and self-important service overshadowed our entire, potentially, good experience.
In my experience working at Campbell, I have found some rink users are confused by the word shinny
For those who don't know, shinny is hockey without full equipment and usually no goaltender. Since players aren't wearing equipment, there is no body checking or raising the puck. Shinny is the informal hockey you see at most outdoor rinks in Toronto. People also call it pond hockey or pick-up hockey.
I was at Boo's the other night and had the, supposedly, half price special. Turns out it wasn't half price at all but some "creative" pricing that meant the nachos were one price and the beef or vegetables were another price and therefore an additional charge... huh? Pretty dirty stuff. Not a way to treat the customers who have been supported them for so long. Boo hiss to Boo's.
Hear hear I'm afraid. My husband and I are avid cyclists, cycling as much as poss. around town, but equally we own a car and drive when needs be and as pro cycling as we are, we are constantly talking about how much bad cycling there is on the roads and how much cyclists (obviously some, not all) think they can get away with things that are wrong and dangerous. Sure, drivers can be lousy, but so can cyclists, they also don't own the roads.
Needless to say, this was a horrific and utterly heartbreaking accident. I am also a 40 yr old female cyclist who regularly cycles on that corner on a Monday with 2 young children in a trailer (and infact, when my husband heard on the news he assumed it was me) and this news leaves me with serious chills.
there are many buildings in the city that turned out to be unsafe because there is no oversight from the province or the city, someone should call the health department and find out what is going on. I highly doubt it a public health official would make a statement that wasn't true, but it could have been doctored. i think we have a responsibility to our kids to look itno this further
Jen phoned me couple of days ago, letting me know that she has asked the two level of government City and Provinical for documents showing that the place is clear to be used not only by Adults, but for youth and children specially.
I write in response to your email of November 29, 2011 as sent to our Office.
The email was written to 'Jack' and mentions a circus school on Sterling Road, which I believe to be the 'Centre of Gravity West'.
For your information, the Ombudsman of Ontario is given the authority, through the Ombudsman Act, to review the administrative conduct of provincial government services and agencies. Our Office acts as an avenue of last resort.
Should you wish to discuss your concerns you are welcome to call me direct on 416-646-8005 (Monday to Friday 8.30 am - 4.30 pm).
Regards,
Calum McCowan
Early Resolution Officer
Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario | Bureau de l’Ombudsman de l’Ontario
1-800-263-1830 - Complaints Line | Ligne des plaintes
1-866-411-4211 - TTY | ATS www.ombudsman.on.ca | Facebook | twitter
Subscribe to our e-newsletter | Abonnez-vous à notre e-bulletin
hi michael...i have heard that campbell park rink may not be in operation after december...can you confirm or deny this? it would be such a shame to lose our rink!
Hi Tipera,
I can help out. Do you want some craft supplies for lanterns in case people would like to make one there? I can bring a bag of tea lites too. If you are able to get a fire permit, should we have hot chocolate simmering? Love the campfires.
Brenda on Dupont
Hey Michael, will there be any music with the pleasure skating like last year? I was just at Harbour Front rink last night and they have a DJ Saturday nights. It was a blast!! People even dress up in wigs and costumes.
Hi, I play at this facility all the time and am skeptical about the "report" that has been quoted above.
Why would a health official say that something is unsafe for only kids to do recreational activities in a place? Would an official report not state that a building is "not safe for occupancy" or "not safe for use"? For any building that has been repurposed and zoned by the city for Commercial use, there are precautions to follow. If people could just walk in and claim a building safe to operate in, why hasn't anyone taken over the building across the street that has been abandoned for years?
I know that we can't believe in everything we read online, but why is it that I can't Google, Wiki or Bing anything about this building being unsafe (other than this posting ofcourse).
If we all jumped to conclusions, we would all believe in the House Hippo... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBfi8OEz0rA
(By the way, if you believe in the House Hippo, perhaps you need to review the youtube commercial above)
Absolutely agree on Thai Lime...food is very good and the interior of the spot makes you pull a double take on where you actually are. Let's support this place. And oh, the Sharwma place next door is pretty solid too! Good on these folks for coming into the neighborhood with something different. You grow a bit tired when all you can get within walking distance of the area is Portuguese chicken(and I wouldn't trust Eduarda's on Dupont if it was the last meal I was to have)
The nachos that you had the other night at Boo's were indeed half-price. If there was some confusion in the pricing or my server was unable to explain, then we would be happy to look after you the next time. I apologise for your being charged $1.50 too much on already discounted item. However, how am I going to right the wrong when your posting does not include a name???
As for the comment "watch your reciept at Boo's". That comes close to suggesting that we are in this business to rip people off.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Please let us know the next time you are in and perhaps we can make it up.
As residents of the Junction Triangle we were interested in this place - really hoping they'd have some solid espresso etc.
On our first, and only, visit here, we (mom, dad, toddler) were initially pleasantly surprised that they were open, had a reasonable board of food on top of cafe fare and were actually licensed.
However things went quickly downhill from there.
We ordered a latte, an americano and a simple pastry basket to share.
The coffees came quickly but 10 minutes later and no pastry basket.
You surely just need to pick a few, cut 'em up, put them in a basket and bring them to the table.
After fruitlessly trying to get the attention of our harried server (they were quite busy - only one server on the floor) I decided I'd ask to see how the pastries were coming on my return from using their ATM at the back (they currently only accept cash, not the best customer service decision to start with, especially when they charge two bucks per transaction at the machine AND are saving money per transaction by not accepting debit or credit of any kind - "the owner of this establishment, Cafe Neon, charges $2 per transaction", hmmm...but I digress).
As it turns out, our server and I met up at the ATM and I asked how the pastries were coming.
She replied icily with "they're in the line, as you can see we're very busy here".
She then, crazily, asked me "would you like me to cancel your order?".
I had a hungry toddler and I surmised it shouldn't be much longer now for one small little pastry basket so I replied, cheekily, "no, are you baking them fresh?".
To which the server replied "What would you like me to do?"
Not caring to engage any further in this silly and reckless game of "the customer is never right" I brushed past this now nearly combative woman and said, incredulously, "just order it!".
Well, the pastry basket arrived to our table maybe a couple minutes later, and was dumped unceremoniously at our table with intent by said server.
A few minutes later, the bill was literally thrown at my partner, again with no discussion. Wow.
Sorry. But it shouldn't take even a busy little coffee shop / resto close to 15 minutes to pick a few mediocre pastries from the pantry, cut them in half and bring them to our table.
Clearly there's dysfunction along the line in this place as the orders just go in and there seems to be no division of labour between server and kitchen to handle these types of basic requests - felt like a brewing "not my department" kind of thing coming from our server.
Basic word to the wise - don't lay your problems on your customers - particularly shiny new faces like ours who would have gladly returned had we been treated with simple respect and decorum. Now we'll just spread the bad news; I'm sure management will approve.
We will never return and will now post this same complaint directly to the fine folks at Cafe Neon as well as anywhere else we can. In a city this big and with such exemplary options available everywhere for anything this type of attitude is akin to commercial suicide.
Horrible experience.
Naive and self-important service overshadowed our entire, potentially, good experience.
LAME.
Nice to see girls under 18 getting some time for their own shinny at the rink. Great work Michael.
In my experience working at Campbell, I have found some rink users are confused by the word shinny
For those who don't know, shinny is hockey without full equipment and usually no goaltender. Since players aren't wearing equipment, there is no body checking or raising the puck. Shinny is the informal hockey you see at most outdoor rinks in Toronto. People also call it pond hockey or pick-up hockey.
I was at Boo's the other night and had the, supposedly, half price special. Turns out it wasn't half price at all but some "creative" pricing that meant the nachos were one price and the beef or vegetables were another price and therefore an additional charge... huh? Pretty dirty stuff. Not a way to treat the customers who have been supported them for so long. Boo hiss to Boo's.
Thanks for your response! Please email me directly at shaziamccormick@gmail.com and I would love to have your involvement!
Hear hear I'm afraid. My husband and I are avid cyclists, cycling as much as poss. around town, but equally we own a car and drive when needs be and as pro cycling as we are, we are constantly talking about how much bad cycling there is on the roads and how much cyclists (obviously some, not all) think they can get away with things that are wrong and dangerous. Sure, drivers can be lousy, but so can cyclists, they also don't own the roads.
Needless to say, this was a horrific and utterly heartbreaking accident. I am also a 40 yr old female cyclist who regularly cycles on that corner on a Monday with 2 young children in a trailer (and infact, when my husband heard on the news he assumed it was me) and this news leaves me with serious chills.
BlogTO has a review of Good Time Bad Times today:
http://www.blogto.com/cafes/good-times-bad-times-cafe-toronto
It was the work of the Urban Repair Squad (http://urbanrepairs.blogspot.com/)
Some coverage online:
Torontoist: http://torontoist.com/2011/12/a-bike-lane-for-jenna-morrison/
BlogTO: http://www.blogto.com/city/2011/12/urs_installs_bike_lanes_at_dundas_ste...
The Urban Country: http://www.theurbancountry.com/2011/12/torontos-urban-repair-squad-strik...
BlogTO has the latest on the bikes lanes and the turquoise addition http://www.blogto.com/city/2011/12/urs_installs_bike_lanes_at_dundas_ste...
I guess it's an updated version of this, but I didn't get a picture.
http://torontoist.com/2011/11/scene-diy-bike-lane-at-dundas-and-sterling/
The colour of the new lane is interesting. It's unusual. I wonder if there is a story to it.
there are many buildings in the city that turned out to be unsafe because there is no oversight from the province or the city, someone should call the health department and find out what is going on. I highly doubt it a public health official would make a statement that wasn't true, but it could have been doctored. i think we have a responsibility to our kids to look itno this further
Philip/Brett,
Jen phoned me couple of days ago, letting me know that she has asked the two level of government City and Provinical for documents showing that the place is clear to be used not only by Adults, but for youth and children specially.
Onced she sents them to me, I will post them. JF
Just a friendly reminder that Campbell has a new pleasure-skating time-slot 4-6pm every Wednesday. There will also be a campfire.
From: cmccowan@ombudsman.on.ca
Subject: Re: Your contact with our Office
Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2011 16:29:14 -0500
To: brycombel@hotmail.com
Dear Mr. Rycombel,
I write in response to your email of November 29, 2011 as sent to our Office.
The email was written to 'Jack' and mentions a circus school on Sterling Road, which I believe to be the 'Centre of Gravity West'.
For your information, the Ombudsman of Ontario is given the authority, through the Ombudsman Act, to review the administrative conduct of provincial government services and agencies. Our Office acts as an avenue of last resort.
Should you wish to discuss your concerns you are welcome to call me direct on 416-646-8005 (Monday to Friday 8.30 am - 4.30 pm).
Regards,
Calum McCowan
Early Resolution Officer
Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario | Bureau de l’Ombudsman de l’Ontario
1-800-263-1830 - Complaints Line | Ligne des plaintes
1-866-411-4211 - TTY | ATS
www.ombudsman.on.ca | Facebook | twitter
Subscribe to our e-newsletter | Abonnez-vous à notre e-bulletin
Hi Sharon,
Campbell is scheduled to close at the end of February as in past years, but there could be a lockout of city staff in the middle of January.
hi michael...i have heard that campbell park rink may not be in operation after december...can you confirm or deny this? it would be such a shame to lose our rink!
thanks.
Hi Tipera,
I can help out. Do you want some craft supplies for lanterns in case people would like to make one there? I can bring a bag of tea lites too. If you are able to get a fire permit, should we have hot chocolate simmering? Love the campfires.
Brenda on Dupont
The Globe and Mail has a story today about the development plans for the Tower Automotive property on Sterling Road. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/developer-nestl-at-...
Hi Katie. At the moment we don't have plans for another skating party.
Hey Michael, will there be any music with the pleasure skating like last year? I was just at Harbour Front rink last night and they have a DJ Saturday nights. It was a blast!! People even dress up in wigs and costumes.
Just did the survey with my kids. They really wanted to give their input as well. Looking forward to seeing the results.
Here it is:
http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/local/article/1254107--youth-have-a-ch...
Hi, I play at this facility all the time and am skeptical about the "report" that has been quoted above.
Why would a health official say that something is unsafe for only kids to do recreational activities in a place? Would an official report not state that a building is "not safe for occupancy" or "not safe for use"? For any building that has been repurposed and zoned by the city for Commercial use, there are precautions to follow. If people could just walk in and claim a building safe to operate in, why hasn't anyone taken over the building across the street that has been abandoned for years?
I know that we can't believe in everything we read online, but why is it that I can't Google, Wiki or Bing anything about this building being unsafe (other than this posting ofcourse).
If we all jumped to conclusions, we would all believe in the House Hippo...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBfi8OEz0rA
(By the way, if you believe in the House Hippo, perhaps you need to review the youtube commercial above)