I went to Allen's for the first time last night after hearing some good reviews over the years. We arrived at 4pm for a glass of wine/beer. The white-haired waiter told me that the Reisling I ordered was a "4 or a 5... too sweet", in spite of the the LCBO giving it a "0" rating. Within the next half an hour he came by twice to see whether we were ready to order dinner. No, not at 4:30 in the afternoon. Finally, he told us that our table was reserved for 6:30 and that we would have to leave by then. When my companion asked another person who worked there whether we could reserve a table, he was told they don't reserve tables on St. Patrick's Day.
My companion ordered a second beer and asked the waiter to recommend something. He did. I don't drink beer and I don't recall what it was but my companion tasted and said it was awful. I had a sip and if the perfumey scent wasn't enough to turn us off, the taste certainly was. He asked the waiter to please bring something else and I said, "That is really weird tasting". He walked off in a huff, saying, "Thanks for saying I have weird taste!" Pretty juvenile and very unprofessional.
I wanted to order the mussels but I asked first if they were a good size because of the time of year. His reply was, "There's only one way to find out". I took the chance and shouldn't have. They were fairly numerous but really puny.
My friend's meal was an Irish Wood Smoked Salmon with potato cakes, an expensive and very small serving.
The service was appalling.