There are restaurants that earn their success through great food, relentless hospitality, and years…read moreof hard work.
And then there are restaurants that win the geographic lottery.
La Fonte sits on one of the most enviable pieces of restaurant real estate in Unionville. Perched beside Toogood Pond, with a patio facing west, it offers the kind of sunset view that would make a mediocre sandwich taste profound. If you're taking an evening stroll around the pond, there is essentially one place to stop, sit, sip a cappuccino, and watch the day disappear.
La Fonte knows this. And perhaps that's the problem.
On a cool evening, we approached the mostly empty patio with modest ambitions. No elaborate dinner. No special requests. Just coffee, a couple of treats, and a front-row seat to one of the best sunsets in Markham.
The greeting? "Do you have a reservation?" No. Reasonable question.
What followed was less reasonable.
Instead of the traditional hospitality playbook--"Welcome, let me see what I can do"--we were informed they were busy - did I mention the empty patio? And immediately questioned about whether we intended to order food - what does what we intend to order matter if a seat can be made available? We did say we would like a seat on the deck/patio.
We explained that it was our first visit and, not being blessed with psychic powers, we had no idea what they served. Snarky attitude in check - with pleasantries exiting the oral interface.
A menu was handed to us and we were instructed to step aside and review it.
Step aside....???!!!???
As if there were crowds of eager diners stacked ten deep behind us... There was nobody.
Not a single soul waiting for a table. No line. No rush. No visible crisis requiring crowd-control measures. Just an oddly defensive interaction taking place on a mostly empty patio overlooking a beautiful pond.
The conversation somehow became more absurd from there. Every answer seemed to generate another hurdle, another question, another subtle suggestion that perhaps our presence was creating administrative difficulties.
Eventually, we did what any rational person does when hospitality turns into a bureaucratic exercise: we left.
The funny part came later.
Walking around to the opposite side of Toogood Pond, we could clearly see people casually strolling onto the patio and taking seats.
No interrogation. No menu review committee. No apparent examination of intent. Just people walking on past the gatekeeper and sitting down.
Which naturally raises the question: Is the secret to dining at La Fonte simply to ignore the front-of-house operation altogether?
Not that we'd ever do that. Most of us were raised to believe civility matters. You wait to be seated. You speak politely. You respect the establishment's process.
But La Fonte provided a fascinating case study in how that social contract can break down.
Because when courtesy is met with indifference, and curiosity is met with suspicion, one begins to wonder whether good manners are simply putting oneself at a competitive disadvantage.
The tragedy is that none of this has anything to do with the food. The kitchen may be wonderful. The coffee may be excellent. The patio is unquestionably spectacular.
The problem is that the first course served at any restaurant isn't food. It's hospitality.
Perhaps what seems to be nepotism at the gates is not the best hiring practice.
And on this evening, La Fonte managed to take one of the most beautiful dining locations in Unionville and make it feel strangely unwelcome. That's a remarkable achievement, though probably not the one they were aiming for.
Carpe diem, indeed. Just don't expect anyone at the front door to help you seize it.
JEERS!!!
