The Bean Bar

Great place. Been here several times. Nice cozy atmosphere for lunch and dinner.

Go here regularly even though the service ranges from slow to very very slow. Atmosphere is casual and loud, as you'd expect in a bar. Decor is ugly mix of orangey walls, mangy fabric curtains which look left over from some sort of hellish circus, Mad-Maxish metal sconces, various chairs, from plastic Mid-C. Modern to wicker, etc. But when the windows are open to the street and the place is buzzing with Mac and Spec people, its a good place to be. Not sure why it's called The Bean Bar: coffee always seems stale and lukewarm, ditto all the drinks (tea, chai, etc.). Food portions are big, contents sometimes strange. Prices OK if you like big strange meals. Sweet potato fries with chipotle mayo are a good starchy fix. Desserts overpriced. Recommended if you're looking for that neighbourhood hangout vibe.

I was really looking forward to trying out this restaurant! The menu looked really good and it had good reviews. Unfortunately it didn't quite live up to my expectations. First, it wasn't quite the dining experience I was expecting - uncomfortable chairs, paper napkins and loud. Second, the food was just ok. We ordered the baked feta and salads (bean bar and caesar). Not a bad start but mains came out before we were done. I had the pan fried pickeral - disappointing - full of bones. The spaghetti with veal meatballs was so-so. After we were done our mains we waited a LONG time to be cleared and no one came to refill our waters. FINALLY, we were able to order desert and coffee. We got the coffee but we didn't get our cake until the waitress came back to refill our coffee and we reminded her!!!! The worst was that she didn't even apologize! Anyways, it was probably the worst service we've had in a long time. To be fair, it did seem like the other sections were having ok service. We might be back but we'll probably check out the bistro beside it instead...

Although the atmosphere of this restaurant in Westdale Village is great, the service and attention to detail is sub-par. My sideplate and cutlery was obviously dirty, and it took a lot of effort to get them replaced. My husband's pasta included garlic bread on the same plate. There was a long hair on the bread. When this was mentioned to the waiter, rather than taking the whole plate and replacing the whole meal, he just picked up the bread (with his hand and brought a new one from the kitchen. Who knows if the hair touched the pasta since it was dangling on the bread. No apologies or discounts on the bill.

What a disappointment! We went for coffee and dessert. Waitress messed up the drink order and wouldn't take our dessert orders at the same time as our drink orders. After waiting for 10 minutes or so, we finally asked another server to tell us about the desserts. After waiting another 5-10 minutes, our server took our dessert order and then never came back or looked our way again. We thought we might be invisible as there was only 1 other person in the restaurant. Probably the WORST SERVICE I've ever had. Will not go back. Jennifer, you need some customer service training.