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| - What could have been an unmitigated disaster of an evening was adequately fixed by their Supervisor, Alvin.
Couple weeks ago, we visited this place with a party of 10. We had made reservations a few days earlier which was a good thing as when we arrived, a long list of people were waiting in the tiny waiting area that they have.
They should really revise the policy of expecting 80% of the party to get there before seating you - as only 8 of us made it on time while the last 2 were looking for parking nearby. Most other restaurants expects only 50% of your party to be present before being seated. Anyway, small annoyance.
Once we all checked in, we asked to be seated upstairs and proceeded to order our food and drinks.
Beers and pop arrived fairly quickly, and so did the first round of seafood boils. We loaded up on mussels, clams, shrimps, chicken wings and cajun fries. Notably missing were the fries, but our server assured us it would be forthcoming in the next few minutes.
Eating seafood without utensils was not a foreign concept to us as Asian cuisine sometimes calls for us to eat with our hands. The thin, clear plastic gloves provided are a nice touch. For the sauces we had settled on garlic, cajun and the in-house sauce called Captain's boil. It was hot to taste and hearty, definitely a highlight over the other sauces. It tasted similar to the cajun albeit with a sweeter aftertaste. Shrimps were juicy and fresh, definitely not frozen. Clams size wise, was just right. These were my favourite. Mussels were large, and cooked to perfection. Quantity wise, since the mussels were so big, you don't get as many as you would say with shrimps and clams. They were all delicious! Chicken wings were really good as well. Be careful you don't burn yourself as everything does come piping hot!
Within less than 5 minutes, we had finished the first round of seafoods. Still no fries. We ordered round 2 of more or less the same, more chicken wings and regular fries. And waited.
And waited. A bag of clams and mussels came. Still missing were more mussels, shrimps, wings and the fries.
We waited once more. We ordered another round of beers. Beers came quick within 5 minutes. And waited for the rest of our 2nd round.
Finally, at the 35 minutes mark, I was getting restless and concerned and spoke to Alvin the aforementioned supervisor. He tracked it down and came back within minutes that our 2nd round of orders were lost by the kitchen. How do you lose your customers' orders? Much less a big party where by your own policy, a 18% gratuity would be tacked on for parties of 6 or larger.
Alvin apologized profusely and assured us our missing orders that was retaken would be expedited ahead of everyone else's in the restaurant.
True to his word, all of our orders were rushed out and came within the next 10 minutes. The fries were big, crispy and fresh, the cajun season provided a nice salty and spicy flavor to it. Reminds me of the NYF cajun seasoning actually.
By this time though, even though we wanted to order a 3rd round, we were not confident in the service as it was getting to be late in the evening. Alvin would also comp us all of our fries orders, all 6 of them. A gracious gesture.
When our bill came, we noted that the 18% gratuity had been waived. Still, for their gesture of saving the night, we still tipped the 18%.
Overall, an experience worth trying at least once, Captain's Boil is the first of its kind in Toronto. We finally have a seafood boil much like the popular California Boiling Crab chain. Only time will tell if this place will improve on its service and offerings in the future.
My gf and I do plan on returning sometime in the future to try the crab and lobster, and hopefully, our orders won't go missing...again.
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