I came here for weekend brunch recently and had terrible service. This is probably the reason why it was a much slower Saturday morning for them than my last experience here.
First of all, let me say that this is not the first time I've come to Origin for lunch. The portions are small for brunch and quite pricey compared to many other brunch places in downtown Toronto. Despite this I've enjoyed the food in the past and even recommended it to my friends this weekend which I deeply regretted.
Upon finishing our meal, the restaurant was not full and nobody was waiting, we did not ask for the bill and the bill was brought to us with the intent to kick us out. We continued to chat as no one was waiting for the table and the waiter subsequently returned and made a point to ask us if we needed the check holders that he had left at our table to make it clear that they wanted us to leave. Normally the waiter collect the check holders after patrons finish paying or he could've just collected them from us quietly and said that he needed it and left us our receipts. Clearly this was a tactic to kick us out. Usually, if I see a restaurant is busy and there is wait, I know to settle my bill quickly and leave, as this was not the case I was very disappointed ESPECIALLY given the preset tip of 20% on the machine that they expect. Had I known he was subsequently going to come back and ask collect our check holders in such a rude fashion, I would not have tipped at all. It's not like we got much service throughout. After the waiter had asked us what we wanted to order in the beginning, he never came back and we had to flag him down after to take our order.
I always get the French toast + duck confit, it was good usual but unfortunately not good enough for me to come here ever again.