I was once a big fan of Little Fin but now if I could give it a negative rating I would.
If you decide to eat at any establishment owned by the http://chasehg.com/ #chasehg which includes the http://littlefin.ca/ #littlefin then you may want to consider the following. My wife and I had a nice evening planned to have a quick meal then catch Wynton Marsalis at Massey Hall. We decided to eat at Little Fin ordering the lobster poutine and double burger. After initial discomfort, a few hours after the meal we both became ill and missed most of the concert because of food poisoning. For people who know me, I am very specific about what I eat so the only thing out of the ordinary that day was my meal at Little Fin.
I sent an email to Nigel Wright, the Little Fin executive chef about the incident and initially he was responsive only to stop all communications. He advised that he self-reports Little Fin to Toronto Health but to my surprise Toronto Health came more than a week later. The Toronto Health advisors told me to never allow restaurants to self-report as it will never happen or will drag out the inspection. A week would allow anyone to clean up any mess so not surprisingly here is the final communication from Alexis Davis who took over communication for Chasehg. This email was in response to a list of expenses I incurred due to the food poisoning. Strange that the #ChaseHospitalityGroup takes no responsibility over the food poisoning and then offers compensation.
Thank you so much for your understanding. I spoke to the food inspector and they told me that they do not have any reason to believe that the illness that you and your wife experienced was due to food eaten at Little Fin as they found no evidence of any mishandling of food or contaminated product. As a result, while we will of course compensate you for the cost of your meals that day, I am not able to authorize payment for the other items on your list. That being said, I very much hope that you will accept a gift card from us so that we can host you and your wife to dinner in one of our other restaurants. I promise that at this time we will do everything possible to show how much we appreciate the fact that you chose to give us a second chance.
Please let me know when we can speak next to arrange the above.
All the best,
ALEXIS DAVIS | DIRECTOR OF TALENT AND CULTURE
Chase Hospitality Group
www.chasehg.com
Since I don't remember having food poisoning since maybe my childhood, here are my lessons learned:
1. If you eat at this establishment they will take their time with due diligence and take no accountability.
2. NEVER allow restaurants to self-report and don't email the restaurant.
3. Immediately call Toronto Public Health and they will act on the issue and also get other departments involved to get samples and hold restaurants to account.
4. Maybe I should just brown bag it =)