We went with a few friends. The food was pretty mid -- nothing terrible, but nothing that really stood out either. The place was empty when we went, so we were the only table there. Service was okay, our waiter was nice and friendly and attentive, but they were a bit on the nose about asking for a good review. Bar and kitchen included. The kitchen staff didn't seem particularly friendly, which kind of took away from the vibe. Overall, it was an average experience. Not bad, but probably wouldn't rush back. read more

It was very yammy! I like this restaurant! Cool atmosphere and staff, especially Sofia read more

Symposium Cafe Restaurant Barrie - Desserts Near Me - Barrie, Ontario

Went there today for breakfast. Excellent service provided by Stephanie. Eggs Benedict was wonderful. My husband ordered the three egg breakfast and was very pleased. I highly recommend this place for a laid back yet upscale breakfast destination. read more

Food was okay, not great. Service was fine. The decor was nice. Oddly, did not have one light beer. We were underwhelmed for the price.

What an incredible experience. I went with a girlfriend for breakfast on a snowy weekday morning. She found a hair in her bacon and the server (without the Manager's consent) was reluctant to give us a certain percentage off. She eventually did - grudgingly. I had the Eggs Benedict (with spinach) and asked for red onions on top which was amazing as always. They offer you freshly squeezed orange juice which is quite pricey. This place never fails with its side order of potatoes. Some places serve their side of potatoes pretty dry. Any time I've been to a Symposium, I've never had this issue. The same evening we had an incredibly bad experience at a nearby restaurant for dinner and resorted to Symposium for dinner. We had Hilary as our server this time. She was personable, friendly and so accommodating. I ordered the vegetable flatbread. I asked for them to put the thai spicy sauce on it and Hilary told us that the kitchen staff were (majority) from India; they would know how to make it spicy. My flatbread turned out AMAZING!! It was spicy, vegetarian and so flavorful. After our experience at the restaurant previous to this (for dinner), this made up for our time. The next morning we again came to Symposium for breakfast and the manager or Acting Manager served us. Again so friendly and personable. She asked if we were the same girls that came the morning before and found a hair in our food. Regardless, she was conversational (like Hilary from the night before). This time, I had the French Toast with a side of fruit. This wasn't bad for the price of about $7. I had some tea afterwards and the bill was about $9. This would be an ideal choice for someone that isn't too hungry. read more

Symposium Cafe Restaurant Barrie - Desserts Near Me - Barrie, Ontario

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First thing's first: this is not a café. This is almost a fine dining restaurant. Let's get that clear. My sister and mom raved about this place so i was excited to eat here for lunch one day - neither my mom or I were very impressed. The service was excellent - i believe our server was named Roxanne - she was very patient and helpful and offered to put a discount on our meal since we weren't very pleased; we got our food remarkably fast and it looked delicious - and that's where the praise ends. The food was okay. Just okay, and for around 8 eighty dollars you don't really want 'just okay' food. It was certainly pretty but didn't live up to the visuals. My mom noted that the flatbread looked and tasted burned yet was barely warm when it was served to us, as well as that it was oily. The calamari tasted almost like imitation crab but at the very least it wasn't soggy. It was served on a piece of lettuce that was obviously just there for decoration. My eggs in my Eggs Benedict were overcooked, the hollandaise sauce began to stick to itself like glue minutes after it being brought out, the bacon felt and tasted exactly like the "crispy bacon" you buy in boxes to microwave and was extremely greasy. My side of bacon was also served on a piece of (wilted) lettuce and once we had removed the bacon there was a pool of oil on the bottom. Out of all of my food the fries were by far the best thing we had been served. I forgot to request ketchup for them though but that's on me. My mom stated that even her burger was just "okay" and her cream of broccoli soup was honestly more water than cream. I don't mean to write such a strong review but if not for my mom having had good experiences twice before at dinner than i wouldn't consider going back. My mom and i were both looking forward to it and it let us down. It seemed to me that when it comes to lunch they focus more on presentation over any kind of flavor. I hope if i go there again my experience is better next time. I appreciate our waitress being so understanding and doing her best to make it even a little better. Better luck next time, Symposium. read more

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Food quality has slipped over the last year. A sauce served with the meal was off. The Calamari and Steak tasted "freezer burned" read more

The overall experience here was nice. Beautiful restaurant and atmosphere. They have outside dining which is nice. Servers were helpful and tentative. Mixed reviews on the food. We ordered some Mussels marinara and they were outstanding! Loved them. We also ordered some stir fried brussel sprouts. I'm not a huge fan of brussel sprouts but my wife is and she said she wasn't impressed with them. I ordered a steak and it was done quite nicely. Overall, I would come here again. read more

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Food is normal nothing too special, just your typical franchise restaurant. However I'm giving it a 2 out 5 for the poor customer service and attitude from management. I was a regular customer there for a while until I started getting treated like shit by the owner/head manager. I'd only recommend this place if you're not too hungry when you're walking in because the food takes forever... P.S the beer is flat read more

Tried Symposium for the first time tonight with a group of 12. I ordered the Mediterranean salad with salmon. My salmon was raw and the dressing on the salad tasted like pure vinegar. Sent it back and it took so long that everyone else at the table was done when I got it and the salmon was way overcooked. I couldn't send it back again because we had a concert to get to. I got potentially dangerous raw food, then overcooked, watched everyone else eat with no food in front of me, then ate alone when everyone else was done and never even got so much as a drink taken off my bill. I won't be back and I strongly recommend against going here. Also at our table was cold coffee, cold "hot" chocolate and "fish" with breading and no fish inside. Some never got the refills they ordered for their drinks. read more

The worst restaurant, the worst service and the worst food in the world, I never had a bad experience like this. DONT COME HERE!!!

I enjoy going to Symposium, I have been to the Aurora location many times but never the Barrie location. I went yesterday and I ordered a Mediterranean Salad and there was barely any tomatoes, cucumber, cheese. There was lots of lettuce and that is it. Additionally, the salad was super sour, maybe because there was too much lemon juice? It was disappointing considering the Aurora Symposium does an amazing job at portioning everything. I will not return to Barrie for Symposium. read more

These guys have amazing desserts and hot drinks however I have not been pleased with most of the food ordered. Their mussels and bruschetta and wings are especially bad. Their fish dishes are decent, but honestly this place I view as a go to for desserts and coffee at this point. They really need to improve the quality of their food if they are going to charge as much as they do. read more

Garbage service , super slow , cold food. It's a newly opened restaurant so I understand the shortfall , however 4 meals , two wrong and one cold :( I don't usually write reviews but the food was gross! Manager comp' the meal I hope they get better love this chain ! :( read more

Symposium Cafe Restaurant Barrie - Cold - Desserts Near Me - Barrie, Ontario

Amazing cakes and other desserts! Makes for a great date location. Sunday's are 2 slices of cake for the price of 1.

I've been here before with some drinks with friends, which were good. This time we came it was for breakfast ! Breakfast is served 8am-4pm which is a tad odd but hey all day breakfast basically, who am I too complain! The service is quick , the one lady was a tad weird as after we said for 4 she gave me a death glare...‍. The restaurant also has a very modern vibe and looks clean. They didn't offer us the breakfast menu right off the bat I had to ask, however it was 12pm so I understand. Mine and my boyfriends meal had no complaints, both very good! My friend got waffles which he said were very dry. And my boyfriends sister got Eggs Benedict, which advertises a toasted English muffin, it however was not. She also got hollandaise sauce on top which said she didn't overly enjoy and there was way too much of it ! They however both said they loved their home style fries. They have very good prices and different deals for different days, totally will come back ! read more

Symposium Cafe Restaurant Barrie - French Toast & Fruit Cup , Cuban Breakfast Sandwich - Desserts Near Me - Barrie, Ontario

Had a great time at this cafe met this really nice hostess named Tiana on Monday, August 16th a really sweet girl, gave me my menu as soon as she could and had a great attitude me and her had a great conversation i loved my time there but the food was medicore. read more

My friend and I went to the Symposium in Barrie on Cundles. The first we went was for lunch and it was the best service we had. We then went on January 21 and had a server name Troy. We waited a long time for someone to come get our drink and waited almost the exact same time to get our drinks delivered. Once he did Troy asked if we were ready to order and I said yes then he walked away from us. My friend has a glass that had a big crack in it so we asked a different server for a different cup because it is a physical contamination issue. Troy was standing and talking instead of bringing my friend back a drink .and when he did he brought no napkins or straw for her and the you could see lip marks on the cup which is another contamination. She didn't want to complain again about the cup because she was going to use a straw so we waited for the appetizer and asked for napkins and a straw. Troy only brought a napkins and we had to ask again when he came back. He continued to talk with other servers before bringing us the straw. Once he brought us our food he walked away quickly so I was unable to ask for another drink. He then went to the table beside us and I watched as he took off his shoe and pulled up his sock and continued to watch him to see if he would wash his hands. He visited other tables, touched counters, touched screen, and delivered drinks and not once did he wash his hands. My friend and I got the butter chicken and my friend can not have too much spice for medical reasons so we asked for another drink when he came back to ask how everything was. I watched him visit other tables after us and deliver them their drinks and we waited for over 20 minutes before he came back to ask how it was without drinks. He talked more with servers before finally bringing us our drinks. Troy then again took off his shoe in front of my friend and I and at this point I wanted to leave and felt sick to think that I ate at a place where a server will touch his feet and not wash his hands. My friend felt sick to her stomach due to the spiciness of the food without a drink that we asked for and I could not finish my meal after watching him touch his feet and wash his hands. I then asked another server to speak to the manager that night. When the manager came we explained everything and gave him compliments because we knew he was new and the manager was very respectful and apologetic. But once he came back to ask us if we wanted anything else he was rude and told us that he gave us a discount and explained how he did not realize that he was doing it and told us he washes his hands all the time in the back and we just did not see it. I watched him each time and he never went to the back and instead delivered other foods. We also got dessert because the meal was too spicy for my friend and we waited over 20 minutes for the dessert. Once again Troy was starring at us and talking instead of bringing us dessert. My friend went up to cancel and Troy stopped talking and quickly grabbed the desserts and brought it us. He brought the bill and took almost 8 minutes to bring back the machine. We were at that restaurant for almost an hour and 30 minutes and most of it was waiting for the server to pay us attention. My friend and I have never been treated like this before and she goes there all the time and she was very angry about the service there. I hope you enforce Troy to retake the food safety training that you need to serve because if he continues this way many people will become sick which can lead to lawsuits. We got $5 off of our $86 bill to watch a server with no regard to safety and no respect when we complained about him contaminating food and other surfaces. Cross-contamination will occur if he continues to do so. He forgot almost everything, ignored us, was contaminating things. This is unacceptable and I personal will not go back but if I do and Troy touches anything on my table I will walk out. read more

Food: bacon was cold and over cooked to the point of shattering when touched. Service: both the server and owner were too needy. They came to check on us or offer items far too often. I ordered pemeal bacon but got over cooked, cold strip bacon. I think it was cooked long before I ordered. I ordered coffee but had to ask for it twice. I won't be back. read more

I just had to say something because it was just so bad. 1st of all the service was fine, our server was great, nice girl. We went on a Monday night they had a special on, advertised $4 beers on tap & $ 5 burgers / grilled chicken burgers etc... Thought we'd give it a go. The menu was extremely clear with no subtext or fineprint. (budweiser, coors light, sleeman original, sleeman light & pabst blue ribbon. Cool, so we ordered 4 beers in all 2 Bud & 2 sleeman. When the bill came they charged us $ 5 a beer. lol. They said Pabst was the only beer that was $4. lol. What a con!. Not gonna make a stink about a $4 loss so whatever... but it was clearly bait & switch. Never seen a restaurant say one thing & do another, pretty sketchy. We both ordered the grilled chicken & fries on the side, it wasn't great, it tasted like it came from a box, nothing special, nothing memorable, I think this place believes their patrons are pretty dumb & won't tell the difference. lol. Glad I didn't pay full price of $14 each. And the fries were boring & just greasy spoon fries for $ 6 extra. They had a small pesto dip with it that was actually good. The regular menu is quite expensive $16 appetizers, entrees $16-23+, I didn't spot much for under $16 on the menu, so you know on a regular visit the bill for 2 people would be about $100 ouch!. overpriced! and you'll wonder what the hell you actually paid for. lol. Go anywhere else & get A LOT more bang for your buck. Our bill was only $44 with tip so no real big loss for me, I just paid the bill & left. Definitely won't eat or drink here again. Just too many choices in Barrie with much more to offer. The restaurant is unfortunately nothing special, very boring, just a square industrial unit with a hole in the side for a door, Looks like they tried but didn't quite figure out what they wanted to do with the space, the decor is confusing & uninspiring, sadly. read more

We were at dinner on Monday night at 5:30 pm. There were three of us & my friend ordered the fish dinner, the dinner came luke warm, my other friend's Caesar Salad had barely any dressing on it, she had to ask for more. Plus the lettuce was soggy. My flat iron steak looked good, but it was so grizzly that my steak knife wouldn't cut most of it. My mashed potatoes were cold and dry. Over all our three meals were awful. The service wasn't much better, it wasn't that busy. We waited so long for the server to come to check on us & to deal with our issues, we are a pretty easy going group. Finally the waitress told us that the manager offered to reduce our bill & give two of us a free dessert. Since I only had 1/4 of my steak I would expect it to be free. We will not be back! Don't waste your time & money. read more

Have been many times and always enjoyed the food and service until I urged two friends to come with me for the first time and we still didn't have our food after 40 minutes of waiting. We left. No apologies from staff and manager did not return my call after promising to when I called and explained the situation to him. Will not go back as there are many other restaurants to go to in the area. read more

Awesome location in Ajax! Flowers drink specials and great service. Inside is just as nice as the patio.

Went there for lunch today with family. It's my third time there. Each meal has been good. Wide variety on the menu. Desserts look amazing, and I heard Sundays it's two for one. Only issue today was slow service, but I will chalk it up to just opening. read more

I went for weekend brunch and it was underwhelming. The food was bland and overpriced. It's a beautiful location and we had very friendly service but the food was lacking. read more

We are two senior women who like to go out for a nice meal. Granted, we are not in a hurry as we like our drinks and maybe appetizer or salad before eating dinner. We have been to Symposium several times and have enjoyed our meals. Have always had something different. The chef, Abdul actually was able to supplement an additional item on one of the dinners, the service from Katelyn and Brittany was above many other places visited. We have had Katelyn more than once and she is great. I will say that although we can't eat the beautiful desert there, we do take it home- yummy. read more

I can't believe this place has a 4 star rating. Went today for our first time and we were excited to try it as it is close to our house. We found it disgusting. Ordered the Breakfast of champions and the Pad Thai. First off, there are zero gluten free or friendly options listed. I have a gluten intolerance and it's sad that they can't even list whether it's gluten friendly considering SO many people these days get sick from it. Especially disappointing since this is a chain of restaurants. After ordering two separate things and being told nope--gluten in everything I settled for Pad Thai which is usually okay. They say everything is made in house but I'm almost positive the sauce just comes from a jar. It was swimming in the stuff and it was horrible. I had 3 bites and felt disgusting--so clearly had gluten in it somewhere and the server didn't tell us that. Did not taste remotely like Pad Thai, so they should probably change the name to something else. The breakfast we ordered was equally disturbing. Ordered the eggs over medium and they came completely raw, oozing raw whites all over. EGG WHITES, not the yolks, the whites. That's just gross. My husband couldn't even stomach eating half of one. Not sure if it was the fault of the kitchen or our server? Service was less than sub par. Our server wasn't helpful with my allergy and kept forgetting us. She told us twice she would be over with more coffee and nothing. We will not be going back to this establishment and suggest you don't even try it. If I could give it a 0 rating I would. read more

Meh. Went for breakfast. Good menu, had steak and eggs. Steak was raw. They only charged me half price for my meal. Considering how long it took to get the food i expected it to be cooked correctly. Ample portions, pretty decent service. Overall, meh. Your money is better spent elsewhere. Also, the decor....who designed this place?! read more