I don't like to write bad reviews. Maybe it's bad karma or maybe I would just rather focus on the better establishments in Toronto--and there are plenty. In fact, I haven't bothered to write a review about any restaurant in awhile. My experience at Cafe Belong last Saturday evening was so completely incompetent that I need to share my experience with others.
Let's begin with the brusque greeting by a host who would rather not like to be in the hospitality sector. Aggressive in tone, he asked if we had a reservation (yes we did). He then put us through a needlessly tiresome and aggravating process of seating us at one of the many appropriate tables that we wanted.
Service was slow. It took 30 minutes to get a cocktail and there weren't that many diners present. Ingredients were missing with no effort in making some kind of substitution. Wine was off--"It must be because the bottle was in the sun all afternoon," was the reply. Food was mediocre, cold, or both: the miserly pieces of duck in the duck salad were dry; the 12-ounce steak contained 5 ounces of fat and grizzle. I had to get up to find steak knives, only to remind the server that we needed two of them. Nobody asked about coffee or dessert or whether or not we were able to digest the massive chunks of grizzle on an underwhelming piece of meat.
There was no manager on the duty--I asked to see one. Nobody responded. This is clearly a tourist trap par excellence, or simply a restaurant so blessed in its location they barely have to lift a finger to satisfy their clientele. And they don't!