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| - I am giving them the benefit of the doubt because I've been to this location before and because I like the food, but overall, in the times I've been, I haven't been especially impressed with the service, and today was especially problematic.
BlogTO recently included Starving Artist on its list of most kid-friendly brunch places, with a special mention of the St Clair location. On the surface, I'd agree -- what kid doesn't like waffles? But if you have to wait 45m for your order, your kids are going to be very unhappy campers.
Now, to be fair, it was Monday morning, and they were both understaffed and training what staff were actually there. But only one experienced server was on hand, which, even on a slow day, makes life difficult for everyone. You can't leave a single trainee chef in the kitchen without backup. All the staff were stressed, which impaired the service noticeably: we were barely acknowledged when we arrived; there was a considerable wait to be seated; the orders were mixed up; one of the kids was served last despite her order being the simplest... and we got very few updates to reassure us.
Despite all this, we all enjoyed our food. To compensate us for our less than ideal experience, the manager (?) on duty reduced our bill. I still think, from what I've seen in the past, that they have a ways to go smoothing out some service issues, and they are chronically understaffed. It'd be nice to see this place thrive in this neighbourhood, but it will be a while before we go back.
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