The Abbey Pub & Steak House

this was absolutely the worst bar experience i have ever had in my life. my friend and i joined a group of about 30 people having drinks to celebrate a friend's birthday at the abbey. despite living in the neighbourhood, i had never been to this place before. i was coming from work so we only arrived at 1 am, enough time for a beer or two before last call. there was one bartender who seemed to have not even the slightest idea about how to effectively tend the bar. i later found out that he is either the owner or one of the owners of the place. ok, so- i understand that the pub was empty before the group showed up (even though it was a saturday night) but anyone who has ever worked in the service industry knows that sometimes you have to hustle... we ordered two pints, and proceeded to wait for about 10 minutes while the bartender flirted with girls across the bar and took a couple of shots with other patrons. i understood that maybe he forgot about our drinks- it happens- so i politely reminded him... he acknowledged that he heard me, but immediately proceeded to take orders from other customers. after more than 20 minutes of standing right in front of the bar trying to get a drink, i was baffled and starting to get frustrated... the next time i got his attention, i began to assert myself more, and by that i mean, instead of saying "can we please get our beers?" i said "hey we've been waiting for a really long time, do you think you could pour those beers now?" honestly, this is what the guy does--- he looks me straight in the eye for a few lingering seconds, and then just turns around and walks the other way! what???? so after about 45 minutes, just before last call, our last attempt involved asking someone else to try to get our beers... didn't work either. i honestly don't know what was up with this guy and why he was treating us like that. at one point i saw him get into a small argument with someone else at the bar, but i'm not sure what it was about. so finally i remembered that i had about half a bottle of wine in my backpack. i was pretty peeved at this point and perhaps it wasn't the best judgment on my part but i decided that if he wasn't going to pour me a drink then i would just do it myself. but, as soon as he realized what i had done, he picked up the bottle and very angrily smashed it into pieces all over the floor behind the bar. then he came running around the bar screaming at me. i had a brief moment of panic during which i thought he was going to hit me, and i think he probably would've if i wasn't a girl. nobody has ever been that angry at me before; he was absolutely livid. he continued to scream at me, saying that he was going to call the cops. i told him to calm down and get over himself and left. i will never step foot in this establishment again and highly discourage others from doing so. there are many wonderful places to hang out in this community, and behaviour like that is simply unacceptable here, or anywhere for that matter.

Come here for beers.

Come here to chill out on a patio. Decent beer selection.

Sweet mother of god!

It was a nice evening when we strolled by the Abbey.. it has a nice Patio so why not grab a bite. Waitress took a while to get to us - and it wasn't that busy. Here's the kicker - I go to order a Pasta dish and she says "Umm.. Yeah, that's probably not a good idea. Our regular chef is off and the chef back there isn't that good. He only knows how to cook 3 things." !! I chanced the Chicken Terriaki Sandwich... and I have to say, it was the most disgusting thing I've ever attempted to eat (and no, I could not finish it). This is worthy of prison food.. The chicken was rubber, the sauce was something of the dollar store variety (and mucky). The only salvation was in the lettuce, fries and possibly the salt/pepper. GROSS! I then paid a surcharge from the cash machine assuming they didn't accept debit only to see a debit machine at the bar. The worst. Never again. The place has so much potential to be amazing.. but it fails.

Worst Dining Experience Ever

It was a hot summer day and we were walking towards Little Italy when we spotted The Abbey and were enticed by the large outdoor patio: first mistake. As we sat down we noticed a dilapitated barbecue sitting out front for no apparent reason. Do they use it to cook certain foods? Unclear, but unlikely since it was rusty and had no propane tank. Upon taking our seats, a waitress came over and asked what we would like to drink. Suffering from a mild hangover, I asked her what non-alcoholic drinks were available. She stared at me blankly as if such a request had never been heard there before replying, "You know, juice and pop." I asked what kind of pop and she seemed even more puzzled before starting to list a couple generic brands slowly. I asked for iced tea, as did my dining partner. We perused the menu and overlooked the numerous spelling and syntax errors. About fifteen minutes later our drinks arrived and to my dismay the iced tea was obviously derived from powder. As I mentioned though, it was hot, so i accepted it and ordered our food. At about this point someone inside decided it would be brilliant to turn on speakers located directly above us, on full blast, with news and sports highlighs. We changed tables which offered some relief. About twenty five minutes later our appetizers arrrived. The French onion soup was obviously frozen prior to preparation and was topped with what seemed to be a slice of Wonderbread and grated marble cheese. Worst French onion soup I have ever tried, hands down. The calamari was overcooked and over salted and was served with lukewarm mayonnaise on the side. It took another half hour before we got our entrees, at least in part because our server sat down at a table in front of us with what must have been a couple of regulars and had a coffee and cigarette. Shortly after she finished those she went inside to retreive the food. The sauce was overly watery and the chicken was clearly originally canned and had a consistency comparable to a sturdy sponge. At this point my friend and I decided that we had had enough. We went inside and asked to speak with a manager about the poor service and food. Our waitress came bounding in and claimed to be the manager. I didn't have the energy to argue with her as she clearly was having enough difficulty being a waitress; managing anything would simply be beyond the realm of possibility for her. I advised her of the poor service and the poor quality food. She informed me, in her own words, "Just so you know, there is nothing wrong with our customer service." I found the comment less than comforting, and advised her again that there was indeed a serious problem with the service. We were told to "feel welcome not to come back." Somehow that doesn't much bother me.