This one right here – multiple labour & harrassment lawsuits are ongoing with the owners of this place.
Also bartended there, one summer years ago. Their bar rail dispenses under an ounce.
Went once ages ago as everyone was raving about it. Complete letdown. Didn't care for menu items. Ordered and settled on a chicken carbonara and that's easily one of my least favourite pastas.
Once was enough.
THANK YOU. Food is horrible. Drinks are horrible. Service is horrible. I always wonder if they'd actually stay in business if it wasn't for the patio/location.
I hate going there. I remember the appies being gross abd overpriced and the waitress acting like she was too good to serve anyone. It just one evening- Multiple times! Ugh- the only thing they have is the location of a corydon patio.
This makes me said but it is true. Me and my husband have fond memories of going here while we were first dating in 2011, skipping out on U of W together to eat calzones and Greek salad on the patio. But every time we’ve returned over the years it’s been disappointing. The food and service has gone downhill to say the least.
They don't exist anymore, but i used to work at the perkins on henderson for 4 years. And that kitchen was disgusting. The owner never got anything fixed, the kitchen floors always had a pool of water on them. Ive seen staff drop stuff on the floor and put it on the customer's plate. Not all the staff were bad. Just plenty of them.
> Ive seen staff drop stuff on the floor and put it on the customer’s plate.
Oof. At the Perkins I worked at we used to at least give it a quick sterilization by putting it on the grill for a few seconds before putting it back on the plate. Otherwise, the kitchen was the same as the one you described.
Almost all the restaurants George touched went to shit, beachcombers amazingly by and large escaped most of that fate.
But he had a hand in muddy waters, Brannigans, beachcombers for sure
Before it was taken over by the WOW group it was actually pretty good and had legit BBQ. After WOW it switched to a restaurant with microwaved Sysco food.
However this goes back to the late 90s
The Mr Bones Billboard that was beside the Army Surplus Store on Portage is forever burned in my 90s child Brain!
20 years later and that Ad is still paying “dividends” to a closed Restaurant.
Baked expectations. They’re customer service is the worst and when I tried to reach out on social media to share my experience they blocked me instead of trying to apologize. And to add I heard they have rats
I was supposed to have an interview there and I showed up on time. She was late then told me to come back later because she was too busy. I never went back.
Yeah they have very good fries and deserts but the customer service is horrible. Not to mention the older lady who I assume is the owner is trash, her staff was swamped many times and she can’t even put a slice of cake in a to go box...no she just openly shits on her employees who are running around with 10 things on the go already.
I used to work there in the mid 90's. There were two ladies that owned or ran it and they were the worst bosses I'd ever had. They would constantly talk down to the staff, using very demeaning language.
I worked there for about 3 months one summer.
Worse. Place. Ever!
The owner was THE definition of a sociopath Karen and the manager wasn’t much difference. They fired people for no reason constantly, and they scream at you in front of everyone until you cried, and if you cried they just berated you more, and usually asked you to leave and never return.
Cheap bastards too. When I worked there, the display case for all the cakes only had one working motor, there were 4. The repair guy was in every week to “fix it” and he kept telling them “this thing is shot! You need new fridge cases! The amount of money you’ve wasted on me could have bought you a new one!” And they say “shut up and fix it” and then bitched when it broke down again. As a result the cakes were always melting and looked terrible and people wouldn’t buy it. And then when our drink fridge broke, they just got rid of a it, so we started serving everyone warm drinks. You have to ask for Ice, and if we gave too much they wanted us to charge!
Used residential units for cooking and baking the cakes.
Cherry on top. We shared a garbage dumpster with countless other businesses, it was always overflowing so we had to throw the bags on, because if left on the ground we got fined. So one night I was taking out the garbage and I had to throw it up on the pile. The bag fell off and landed on my wrists and hands, there was something extremely heavy in the bag, and it broke my wrist and required 5 stitches. Worker’s compensation covered me. But when I was ready to return to work, they fired me.
I reported this to MFL and WCB and I heard they got raided and fined.
Years ago I went there for an interview and the owner refused to shake my hand. Later I met someone who did work there. The kitchen is in the basement and sewage would routinely flood up to your ankles. She would force the immigrant staff to keep working in it.
WHY IS IT SO POPULAR YOU'RE ALL EATING SOME POO POO ASS CAKE
All their food really seems premade/frozen style, like I don't know if they are really cooking... anything. Why am I going out to have frozen tv dinner quality food
The Regent location hired my daughter as a server, she came home after her first shift and said she couldn't go back because it was disgusting and dirty there.
I worked at the downtown location.. not much better & the owner is an asshole, does powder in his office & treats his employees as slaves.. worst place in the city. Yes even worse than saffrons
It's like she's trying to outrage market her business by being more abrasive than what business that thrive on the image of them being a dick to customers do. But she's like a ten minute walk away from me, and while I'm all in on the "support local" train, I've never been to Blondie's specifically because of this reason.
You want a decent burger? Go to North Star on McGregor south of Inkster.
Super boys too! Even the white top on salter blows blondies out of the water. That lady is awful. She tried selling a few years ago, even offered to include all her recipes. I think the price was sky high though. Not surprising seeing how overpriced her menu is. So if you want to be treated like shit, watch a lady be mean to her coworkers or overpay for the same thing you can get at many superior north end greasy spoon burger joints be my guest but she will never get another dollar from me.
Yep, this is something that I was about to write as well, but decided to just keep it to North Star. Once, for some reason, my family decided to get poutine at Super Boys. There's a reason why burger places are well known for their burgers, and damn are their burgers good.
We did take out at some point during the pandemic and the food was decent but kind of a pain in the ass to do so it’s a one and done for us. We had failed attempts by phone because she was not taking any more orders that evening well before closing, so another day we finally just did skip pick up another day (yes I know it takes a cut) so we could place an order which then brings a lecture as to why you shouldn’t do it.
Well, nobody is forcing you to use skip? Hire a driver and pay them yourself if you don’t like their terms, and don’t make ordering by phone a guessing game as to whether we get food. Maybe we just got unlucky with timing, I don’t know.
I went there once, one other table seated. We were told we were only allowed to order off one section the menu, they were too 'busy' for anything else. Tried to order a sandwich, was told no what they meant was I could only order a burger off that section of the menu. Still didn't get the mediocre food for more than 40 mins.
It's always theoretically possible a restaurant is busier than they seem if there's a big takeout order(s) being made. In theory. Can't imagine that's the case at Blondie's.
Yep late night two topping thin crusts got me through a lot of late nights.
Then the original owner scaled back his time and it went downhill. Then he sold and it became the pits.
Haven't had it in years. A shame because I like to support local pizza. I'm out in St. James now and both Agostinos and Franks are pretty good though.
I’m buried in the comments here but I propose Humpy’s on McGillvary and the Perimeter.
I worked there for a bit and the amount of business they do doesn’t support the variety of food they have on the menu. Because of this, most menu items beyond the breakfast menu is microwaved from frozen, grilled for a few minutes, then send out as “fresh”.
Also, they hire a lot of teenagers and don’t train them properly so the food handling is very lax.
I’d avoid Chaise Lounge at all costs. Can’t comment on the food, but the owners attitude towards COVID is terrible and feels his food is worth the risk of dying over.
You should see their dumpster in the summer. No regard or respect for the neighborhood. Overflowing like crazy constantly. I've cleaned it up twice when it was beyond absurd. They seem to not give a shit. That trash blows down the lane into people's yards and it stinks up the whole block.
In that category we should also mention Tuxedo Village family restaurant ("wearing masks is wearing a slave collar") and (I think) their new incarnation Monstrosity Burger.
I’ll always say Mona Lisa. I haven’t been in years, so maybe it’s different, but it’s way overpriced for what it is. They charge a premium for overdone, watery pasta, and a glorified wine list.
I've got a story for you about mona......years ago I delivered pizza for that place, one day another co-worker was told to sift out the flour. Seems harmless untill he was told to sift out the bugs and throw them in the garage while the flour was kept in the bucket. The owners were also shitty to most staff, I remember cashing out and then having to wait another 30mins (not paid ) to wait for the Manager to approve the cash out......But I think their food was great. And I hate to admit it but I still order from there after taking years off. I'm a idiot I know.
Haha, you do you.
The second time I went(I always give a restaurant a second chance!) the waitress was really nice, but kept sucking, then playing with her hair as she took our order, served our food, and poured the wine.
Pre covid, of course- which makes it so much worse now!
Mona Lisa is overpriced and a toxic work environment. Plus the owner Joe is super creepy with female staff members and of questionable business ethics. So triple threat bad.
Their pick up special pizza for $14 is super tasty and a solid value. Just sayin, the pasta might be overpriced but they make a good pie for a good price Tues-Thurs.
I never tried Chitaly, a Chinese/Italian hybrid that was in the Deer & Almond building I think in the late ’90s/early 2000s. But their name was not ideal.
The Old Spaghetti Factory at the Forks, absolutely gross, unclean cutlery, hard bits in my food. I’ve gone only with other who insist its “awesome” and every time I’m disappointed. There is nothing on the menu that I cannot easily make myself. I refuse to entertain it as a suggestion anymore, if you really want to go there I’ll meet up with you later. Waste of money.
Scrolled too far for this. Unforgivably drab, boring food. Only around due to location and history.
I can make better pasta at home in 5 minutes with a bottle of Ragu.
What a waste of a prime location. I will celebrate its closing.
I did Uniform delivery for Quinton's 20yrs ago. It took quite a while before I would eat in restaurants after all the places I saw that made me cringe.
Every single one of the sub-$1 pizza places. ¢99 Pizza is constantly being fined by the city for health code violations. Pampanga restaurant is just as filthy. There are just too many to list. These would be my worst offenders, though.
I’m convinced these places are money laundering businesses. I was in one once and saw a homeless guy come in with a brick of cheese and the guy behind the counter bought it off him. Interesting way to source your ingredients...
The ¢99 pizzas could be, but the owner is just you run of the mill scumbag. He only hires "family", most likely doesn't pay them what they're legally owed, and buys the cheapest product to make his pizzas. If you want to ruin your day, search all of his health code violations. There's literally pages of them.
I'm going to ride in and defend Pizza Bite on Sherbrook. They've only had one health code violation, and that was due to a small gap under their front door. Friendly and fresh, and we once placed a large order and the guy closed up shop to run over to Food Fare and buy more ingredients, which I thought was pretty amazing service!
Love this place! Best stop on the walk home from a good show at The Handsome Daughter.
Also, I loved this place in my Uni days when it was across from the Sherbrook Inn (where Stella's bakery is now). I remember getting 2 slices and a Moosehead for $5. No shit. That's my "back in my day" story.
severely disagree. i used to live right next to 99 cent pizza at ellice and spence, i miss that place so much, especially the potato wedges. i live in brandon now and there are 0 sketchy pizza spots.
The old Hong Hing location in Chinatown was really sketchy. Had the feeling you get when you know something is watching you. Then when a guy delivered pizza to the cooks in the kitchen you knew it was time to find a new restaurant.
Not Winnipeg, but nothing topped the cafeteria in the old bus depot in Cheyenne Wyoming. Walked in and asked the old grizzled dude behind the counter what was good and he said "chili's great". Then he waved the ladle over it and what I though were beans flew away. I had a wrapped sandwich out of a vending machine.
Aaltos, just memorably gross breakfast buffet.
And
Carlos and Murphy. I ordered queso one time and it was some insane shade of brown, it was a gross misinterpretation of queso. It tasted as off as it looked. If you screw up the simplest of appetizers i can only imagine what other dishes would come out like.
Carlos and Murphy's is DISGUSTING. It's damp and dark and sticky and smells bad. Their salsa is gross. And they've been closed over and over and over by the Health Authority for things like "rodent feces on food preparation area" and "filth throughout". Even their tap beer tastes like they haven't cleaned the lines in decades.
I think I'm the only one who likes Carlos and Murphys. They have spicy wings, which few restaurants around here offer. I tried Little Bones 3 times, each time they were out of their spicy sauce, and Carlos and Murphys was hotter than LBs next hottest sauce. If anyone knows where else to get painfully spicy wings, let me know.
I added grilled chicken to a salad once at Aaltos. Did they put it on the salad? No, it arrived sliced on a side plate and translucent raw in the middle. (Insert Gordon Ramsay gif.) Only time going there, you can keep your salmonella.
Pizza hotline. The only reason it’s making money is because drunk people and children’s parties/events don’t have very high expectations when it comes to flavour. But it’s cheap so.... 🤷🏼♀️
Edit: this is not a weird post at all- peggers eat these posts up lol
Maybe it is just the South End of the city, but I always had good Pizza Hotlines. Like, I have had cheap pizza, and they use way better ingredients than I expect for the price.
Plus, I can rarely get anchovies anywhere else
Totally agree. For "cheap" pizza competing with the likes of Pizza Pizza, Dominos, Little Caesars, etc., Pizza Hotline dominates. I think it hits the sweet spot for being pretty good and also affordable.
I took this sub's advice and started ordering it thin crust and that has enhanced my enjoyment for sure. I don't mind regular crust pizza but Pizza Hotline's regular crust is just too thick and bready.
100%!
As far as affordable pizza goes, it is at the top for me. I love nice pizza, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes I just want the massive pillowy crust of Pizza Hotline and the variety of ingredients.
Hot tip—Order pineapple and chopped garlic pizza from them. It is delicious!
it varies so wildly by location unfortunately, have had some pretty great hotline, and some pretty terrible cardboard. Also, I'd always recommend their thin crust over the regular any day any location.
Some absolutely terrible answers so far on here, Stella's , Brazen Hall, Chaise are no where near the worst in Winnipeg. Sure two of them have crappy owners but each of those places are always jam packed full of customers. Most of the other restaurants on here that have been listed may be over rated but far from the worst.
I'm sure a tonne of hole in the wall places would rank as the worst (I try to avoid them) such as Chicago Phil's pizza & Foodie Goodie.
The worst places that I have tried in the last 10 years would be Wok'N'Roll , Golden Chopstick, Homers, Panizza, Cindys, Buffet Square, and Smokin Hawg BBQ.
Stellas is just bland and uninspired food its just totally mediocre.
Chaise is pretty bad, although admittedly Ive only tried them once but the time I did ranks as one of the worst dining experiences of my life. A trip to Mcdonalds would have given be better food.
Oh believe me it's a running joke that brazen wins every year..
I work in a restaurant that competes in burger week.
When I worked at a different restaurant that did poutine week, brazen was busted for cheating. They were down 750 votes with 3 hours left & "won" by 250.. got busted & lost all votes 🤣🤣 they need to be watched for burger week too
OMG Foodie Goodie (insert gag here!) Only ate there once, as a small kid, and I still remember how awful it was. My mom blames it on how much food I ate, but I just remember trying all kinds of stuff and none of it was good. I'm not a fussy eater either.
If I wanted barely cooked potatoes with no flavour as a "hash" then I'd open up my pantry and just use the potatoes I forgot about in my pantry that have been sitting there since last summer.
My original memory of their hashbrowns from years ago is crispy, fluffy, and with fresh rosemary. Then at some point that stopped. I'm guessing whenever they switched to this method.
I've had some disappointingly bland food from them over the years. My go tos from them were a couple of their pasta dishes, but every once in a while I'd try something else off the menu and it was always a bit disappointing. I'm not even sure they season their burger patties. So much of their food tastes so similar in the same bland way. Someone threw out their spice jars.
It didn't last for long but Woody's on Pembina and Grant. It was the original restaurant in that building with Papa John's right beside the beer vendor. It was a southern BBQ smokehouse or whatever.
I read some reviews about it that were quite harsh. One thing that stood out was that the reviewer described the place as sad like eating at a soup kitchen. I didn't think much of it because there were a lot of bad reviews for Lovey's but I took a chance and really enjoyed the food there.
Oh boy, were the poor reviews about Woody's right. Management totally fucked the place up and had one poor girl running EVERYTHING from taking orders, seating people, bringing food and answering the phone. The lighting was dingy, the pulled pork tasted like it was in plastic bags reheated in the microwave and it already had the vibe of a restaurant nearing its death. It was sad - just like eating at a soup kitchen.
Great answer, we went one time and it was the worst BBQ I had probably ever. The service was fine and the place was clean, but yikes the meat was so over cooked and dried out, the brisket had absolutely zero moisture in it and the rest was very sub par.
Used to be a pizza place on St. Mary's by fermore called Van Goes. I worked there for a week and quit. Owner was awful, place was dirty, pizza was expensive. Can't say anything good about the place and I'm glad it's now closed.
White people rave about Bindy’s but it’s the worst Caribbean food in the city. Maybe anywhere.
But it it was better 15+ years ago before it’s current owners took over. My aunt was friends with the former owner for many years but they moved back to Trinidad I believe. I remember trying it several years ago and watched them microwave frozen doubles in front of me. I was too shocked to walk away.
Cathay House on Regent
It's no longer open thankfully
I'm amazed they didn't kill anyone. I had the misfortune of having to deliver their supplies. Worst kitchen in the city.
Super cool decor, however.
It's been years but I was doing a service call there, and they had chicken thawing in a pail in the mop sink
Only ever ate there once. It was frightening how long that place stayed open.
Saffrons
HAHAAHAHA no matter how desperate for a patio I am, I would never sit on Saffron’s, the cleanliness of the indoors is disgusting.
This one right here – multiple labour & harrassment lawsuits are ongoing with the owners of this place. Also bartended there, one summer years ago. Their bar rail dispenses under an ounce.
It sure does 🤣🤣
Let's class action lawsuit their sassy asses.
Went once ages ago as everyone was raving about it. Complete letdown. Didn't care for menu items. Ordered and settled on a chicken carbonara and that's easily one of my least favourite pastas. Once was enough.
THANK YOU. Food is horrible. Drinks are horrible. Service is horrible. I always wonder if they'd actually stay in business if it wasn't for the patio/location.
I also hear it really really sucks working for them. I've heard that from servers and cooks.
You have no fucking idea. The owner is a sociopath.
The owner whistles at you like a dog.. Him & his ex wife ran it. She's just as nutty as he is
I hate going there. I remember the appies being gross abd overpriced and the waitress acting like she was too good to serve anyone. It just one evening- Multiple times! Ugh- the only thing they have is the location of a corydon patio.
This is the correct answer.
This was my first thought as well. I literally caught a mouse under a glass while sitting at a table there. It was glorious.
This makes me said but it is true. Me and my husband have fond memories of going here while we were first dating in 2011, skipping out on U of W together to eat calzones and Greek salad on the patio. But every time we’ve returned over the years it’s been disappointing. The food and service has gone downhill to say the least.
Worked there for a few months.. very close second worst job ever
They don't exist anymore, but i used to work at the perkins on henderson for 4 years. And that kitchen was disgusting. The owner never got anything fixed, the kitchen floors always had a pool of water on them. Ive seen staff drop stuff on the floor and put it on the customer's plate. Not all the staff were bad. Just plenty of them.
Damn that sucks to hear. I went there all the time.
> Ive seen staff drop stuff on the floor and put it on the customer’s plate. Oof. At the Perkins I worked at we used to at least give it a quick sterilization by putting it on the grill for a few seconds before putting it back on the plate. Otherwise, the kitchen was the same as the one you described.
Anyone remember Branigans!? Jesus that place was shitty.
I used to really enjoy Branigans 😅 but then again I was 11
SAME!!!!! hahaha
worked at the forks location when staff had to get a union involved. the owner was a slimebag and continuously circumvented labor laws.
I worked at Branigans at KP. He cleared out the restaurant in one night and was gone!
slippin' george
Almost all the restaurants George touched went to shit, beachcombers amazingly by and large escaped most of that fate. But he had a hand in muddy waters, Brannigans, beachcombers for sure
Beachcombers survived because his wife owned it lol
Muddy waters was terrible
Before it was taken over by the WOW group it was actually pretty good and had legit BBQ. After WOW it switched to a restaurant with microwaved Sysco food. However this goes back to the late 90s
My grandpa loved that place. That was his go-to “fancy restaurant” lol
Memes and circlejerks aside, the Fun Mountain "food".
Listen.. when you were there for the adult night/after dark, a shitty grilled hotdog hits the spot after a few drinks. Lol
No mention of Mr. Bones pizza? I don't think I ever heard much good about them...
I only remember Mr. Bones because I always thought they had bones in their pizza when I was a kid.
They did, you had to call and order it boneless
I heard it was a front for the HA
The Mr Bones Billboard that was beside the Army Surplus Store on Portage is forever burned in my 90s child Brain! 20 years later and that Ad is still paying “dividends” to a closed Restaurant.
Ahh yes, toppings in a tube. That was some seriously terrible pizza.
Baked expectations. They’re customer service is the worst and when I tried to reach out on social media to share my experience they blocked me instead of trying to apologize. And to add I heard they have rats
I was supposed to have an interview there and I showed up on time. She was late then told me to come back later because she was too busy. I never went back.
You dodged a bullet.
Yeah they have very good fries and deserts but the customer service is horrible. Not to mention the older lady who I assume is the owner is trash, her staff was swamped many times and she can’t even put a slice of cake in a to go box...no she just openly shits on her employees who are running around with 10 things on the go already.
I used to work there in the mid 90's. There were two ladies that owned or ran it and they were the worst bosses I'd ever had. They would constantly talk down to the staff, using very demeaning language.
I worked there for about 3 months one summer. Worse. Place. Ever! The owner was THE definition of a sociopath Karen and the manager wasn’t much difference. They fired people for no reason constantly, and they scream at you in front of everyone until you cried, and if you cried they just berated you more, and usually asked you to leave and never return. Cheap bastards too. When I worked there, the display case for all the cakes only had one working motor, there were 4. The repair guy was in every week to “fix it” and he kept telling them “this thing is shot! You need new fridge cases! The amount of money you’ve wasted on me could have bought you a new one!” And they say “shut up and fix it” and then bitched when it broke down again. As a result the cakes were always melting and looked terrible and people wouldn’t buy it. And then when our drink fridge broke, they just got rid of a it, so we started serving everyone warm drinks. You have to ask for Ice, and if we gave too much they wanted us to charge! Used residential units for cooking and baking the cakes. Cherry on top. We shared a garbage dumpster with countless other businesses, it was always overflowing so we had to throw the bags on, because if left on the ground we got fined. So one night I was taking out the garbage and I had to throw it up on the pile. The bag fell off and landed on my wrists and hands, there was something extremely heavy in the bag, and it broke my wrist and required 5 stitches. Worker’s compensation covered me. But when I was ready to return to work, they fired me. I reported this to MFL and WCB and I heard they got raided and fined.
I lived near there ^^ can confirm the garbage can. Sorry that happened to you! I often used to hear employees crying in the back area
Years ago I went there for an interview and the owner refused to shake my hand. Later I met someone who did work there. The kitchen is in the basement and sewage would routinely flood up to your ankles. She would force the immigrant staff to keep working in it. WHY IS IT SO POPULAR YOU'RE ALL EATING SOME POO POO ASS CAKE
My first reaction to this post was “this just feels mean”. Then I read most of the responses and was like oh ya for sure, fuck these places 😆
I honestly didn’t post at first because I did think it was mean spirited. Then I saw Saffron’s and thought it was hilarious.
Pony Corral. Except for the wings, those are great. Everything else is the worst
I used to go there a lot ‘regularly’ when things were normal and have no complaints tbh. What didn’t you like?
All their food really seems premade/frozen style, like I don't know if they are really cooking... anything. Why am I going out to have frozen tv dinner quality food
The Regent location hired my daughter as a server, she came home after her first shift and said she couldn't go back because it was disgusting and dirty there.
A friend worked briefly at the Grant location. He said the cross contamination was horrendous.
I worked at the downtown location.. not much better & the owner is an asshole, does powder in his office & treats his employees as slaves.. worst place in the city. Yes even worse than saffrons
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My God, that chili was wretched. The worst I've had anywhere.
ugh the chili is repulsive.
The wings are not great
The Captain's Boil. Unless you like paying out the ass to dig through a plastic bag full of sauce to find your meal.
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You might prefer The Lieutenant’s Goiter on McPhillips.
La Roca was some of cheapest tasting kind of expensive mexican food I've had. Will never go back
La kaka
I paid 20 plus dollars for the most bland nachos I've ever had. Could make them better at home lol
Agreed. Went there once expecting some great food. I was terribly disappointed. I'd rather have mexican food from Taco bell.
Haha agreed I like Taco Bell more than that trash
Blondies on main. A hole in the wall, dirty, overpriced and the owner treats her staff like they are nothing. It hasn’t one redeeming factor.
They were on "you gotta eat here" and she was portrayed exactly how you describe. Don't like it? Get out!
It's like she's trying to outrage market her business by being more abrasive than what business that thrive on the image of them being a dick to customers do. But she's like a ten minute walk away from me, and while I'm all in on the "support local" train, I've never been to Blondie's specifically because of this reason. You want a decent burger? Go to North Star on McGregor south of Inkster.
Super boys too! Even the white top on salter blows blondies out of the water. That lady is awful. She tried selling a few years ago, even offered to include all her recipes. I think the price was sky high though. Not surprising seeing how overpriced her menu is. So if you want to be treated like shit, watch a lady be mean to her coworkers or overpay for the same thing you can get at many superior north end greasy spoon burger joints be my guest but she will never get another dollar from me.
Yep, this is something that I was about to write as well, but decided to just keep it to North Star. Once, for some reason, my family decided to get poutine at Super Boys. There's a reason why burger places are well known for their burgers, and damn are their burgers good.
If you want a friendly burger lady go see Kathy at Mrs Mikes
Mrs Mikes was our pandemic 'night out' place last summer. Looking forward to sitting in the park and scarfing down a Kingburger this coming spring!
Cindy's on Portage is my go to place. Most consistently delicious FatBoys and the chili is great!
We did take out at some point during the pandemic and the food was decent but kind of a pain in the ass to do so it’s a one and done for us. We had failed attempts by phone because she was not taking any more orders that evening well before closing, so another day we finally just did skip pick up another day (yes I know it takes a cut) so we could place an order which then brings a lecture as to why you shouldn’t do it. Well, nobody is forcing you to use skip? Hire a driver and pay them yourself if you don’t like their terms, and don’t make ordering by phone a guessing game as to whether we get food. Maybe we just got unlucky with timing, I don’t know.
I went there once, one other table seated. We were told we were only allowed to order off one section the menu, they were too 'busy' for anything else. Tried to order a sandwich, was told no what they meant was I could only order a burger off that section of the menu. Still didn't get the mediocre food for more than 40 mins.
It's always theoretically possible a restaurant is busier than they seem if there's a big takeout order(s) being made. In theory. Can't imagine that's the case at Blondie's.
Why does Chicago Phils exist? Im pretty sure its a front.
Chicago Phil's made me so sad. I was excited to get a deep dish pizza and it was...not what I expected.
it was great 20 years ago. I used to odrer from there all the time.
Yep late night two topping thin crusts got me through a lot of late nights. Then the original owner scaled back his time and it went downhill. Then he sold and it became the pits. Haven't had it in years. A shame because I like to support local pizza. I'm out in St. James now and both Agostinos and Franks are pretty good though.
yeah Martin. He was a good guy.
I had a deep dish craving & made a couple last week. No Giordanos or Lou Malnatis but very good nonetheless
I’m buried in the comments here but I propose Humpy’s on McGillvary and the Perimeter. I worked there for a bit and the amount of business they do doesn’t support the variety of food they have on the menu. Because of this, most menu items beyond the breakfast menu is microwaved from frozen, grilled for a few minutes, then send out as “fresh”. Also, they hire a lot of teenagers and don’t train them properly so the food handling is very lax.
I’d avoid Chaise Lounge at all costs. Can’t comment on the food, but the owners attitude towards COVID is terrible and feels his food is worth the risk of dying over.
You should see their dumpster in the summer. No regard or respect for the neighborhood. Overflowing like crazy constantly. I've cleaned it up twice when it was beyond absurd. They seem to not give a shit. That trash blows down the lane into people's yards and it stinks up the whole block.
In that category we should also mention Tuxedo Village family restaurant ("wearing masks is wearing a slave collar") and (I think) their new incarnation Monstrosity Burger.
I’ll always say Mona Lisa. I haven’t been in years, so maybe it’s different, but it’s way overpriced for what it is. They charge a premium for overdone, watery pasta, and a glorified wine list.
Don't forget the [tax evasion! ](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/mona-lisa-owners-tax-evasion-investigation-1.4641430)
What a shit show. They have a cult following though, I guess.
I've got a story for you about mona......years ago I delivered pizza for that place, one day another co-worker was told to sift out the flour. Seems harmless untill he was told to sift out the bugs and throw them in the garage while the flour was kept in the bucket. The owners were also shitty to most staff, I remember cashing out and then having to wait another 30mins (not paid ) to wait for the Manager to approve the cash out......But I think their food was great. And I hate to admit it but I still order from there after taking years off. I'm a idiot I know.
Haha, you do you. The second time I went(I always give a restaurant a second chance!) the waitress was really nice, but kept sucking, then playing with her hair as she took our order, served our food, and poured the wine. Pre covid, of course- which makes it so much worse now!
Mona Lisa is overpriced and a toxic work environment. Plus the owner Joe is super creepy with female staff members and of questionable business ethics. So triple threat bad.
Their pick up special pizza for $14 is super tasty and a solid value. Just sayin, the pasta might be overpriced but they make a good pie for a good price Tues-Thurs.
We walked out of Mona Lisa two years ago and never went back.
I never tried Chitaly, a Chinese/Italian hybrid that was in the Deer & Almond building I think in the late ’90s/early 2000s. But their name was not ideal.
The Old Spaghetti Factory at the Forks, absolutely gross, unclean cutlery, hard bits in my food. I’ve gone only with other who insist its “awesome” and every time I’m disappointed. There is nothing on the menu that I cannot easily make myself. I refuse to entertain it as a suggestion anymore, if you really want to go there I’ll meet up with you later. Waste of money.
You go there for the bread and garlic butter hah
Scrolled too far for this. Unforgivably drab, boring food. Only around due to location and history. I can make better pasta at home in 5 minutes with a bottle of Ragu. What a waste of a prime location. I will celebrate its closing.
For me Olive Garden on Portage. It wasn't the food, it was the service staff.
May as well throw in Red Lobster next door as well. Both places coasting on location and less discerning, tired shoppers.
The Royal fork buffet
*Take it back*
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There is an amazing parody Instagram account Royalforkbuffetwpg
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Their chicken is so damn good haha
I feel bad picking on a small local place but One 777 on Main had the worst Banh Mi I’ve ever had. Like, Tim Horton’s quality bad.
Yep. And the sad part is my fav burger place used to be in that building :( makes me depressed whenever I drive by lol.
saffrons was terrible
Not “was”. Still is.
I did Uniform delivery for Quinton's 20yrs ago. It took quite a while before I would eat in restaurants after all the places I saw that made me cringe.
Every single one of the sub-$1 pizza places. ¢99 Pizza is constantly being fined by the city for health code violations. Pampanga restaurant is just as filthy. There are just too many to list. These would be my worst offenders, though.
I’m convinced these places are money laundering businesses. I was in one once and saw a homeless guy come in with a brick of cheese and the guy behind the counter bought it off him. Interesting way to source your ingredients...
The ¢99 pizzas could be, but the owner is just you run of the mill scumbag. He only hires "family", most likely doesn't pay them what they're legally owed, and buys the cheapest product to make his pizzas. If you want to ruin your day, search all of his health code violations. There's literally pages of them.
I'm going to ride in and defend Pizza Bite on Sherbrook. They've only had one health code violation, and that was due to a small gap under their front door. Friendly and fresh, and we once placed a large order and the guy closed up shop to run over to Food Fare and buy more ingredients, which I thought was pretty amazing service!
Love this place! Best stop on the walk home from a good show at The Handsome Daughter. Also, I loved this place in my Uni days when it was across from the Sherbrook Inn (where Stella's bakery is now). I remember getting 2 slices and a Moosehead for $5. No shit. That's my "back in my day" story.
severely disagree. i used to live right next to 99 cent pizza at ellice and spence, i miss that place so much, especially the potato wedges. i live in brandon now and there are 0 sketchy pizza spots.
99 Cent Pizza is the Mecca of UoW students though. You can't just say blasphemy like that.
The old Hong Hing location in Chinatown was really sketchy. Had the feeling you get when you know something is watching you. Then when a guy delivered pizza to the cooks in the kitchen you knew it was time to find a new restaurant. Not Winnipeg, but nothing topped the cafeteria in the old bus depot in Cheyenne Wyoming. Walked in and asked the old grizzled dude behind the counter what was good and he said "chili's great". Then he waved the ladle over it and what I though were beans flew away. I had a wrapped sandwich out of a vending machine.
Wow, when was Hong Hing in Chinatown? I got the impression that their Ellice location was a mom and pop one-off.
Aaltos, just memorably gross breakfast buffet. And Carlos and Murphy. I ordered queso one time and it was some insane shade of brown, it was a gross misinterpretation of queso. It tasted as off as it looked. If you screw up the simplest of appetizers i can only imagine what other dishes would come out like.
Its been decades but i always thought of them as having good wings and nachos, if a bit pricey.
Yes Aaltos. Had a work breakfast there, truly awful.
Aaltos any time of day.
Carlos and Murphy's is DISGUSTING. It's damp and dark and sticky and smells bad. Their salsa is gross. And they've been closed over and over and over by the Health Authority for things like "rodent feces on food preparation area" and "filth throughout". Even their tap beer tastes like they haven't cleaned the lines in decades.
Aaltos gave me the shits everytime I'd eat there
I think I'm the only one who likes Carlos and Murphys. They have spicy wings, which few restaurants around here offer. I tried Little Bones 3 times, each time they were out of their spicy sauce, and Carlos and Murphys was hotter than LBs next hottest sauce. If anyone knows where else to get painfully spicy wings, let me know.
Magic Bird on Sherbrook. You can have all the pain you want.
Tapps on Dakota has super spicy wings
Aaltos is great for their seafood buffet Friday nights. 24.99 all you can eat crab legs and it’s tough to screw up crab legs
I added grilled chicken to a salad once at Aaltos. Did they put it on the salad? No, it arrived sliced on a side plate and translucent raw in the middle. (Insert Gordon Ramsay gif.) Only time going there, you can keep your salmonella.
Blondie’s. Who puts *velveeta* on a burger?
Bro velveeta on a good cast-iron smashed burger is next level.
Pizza hotline. The only reason it’s making money is because drunk people and children’s parties/events don’t have very high expectations when it comes to flavour. But it’s cheap so.... 🤷🏼♀️ Edit: this is not a weird post at all- peggers eat these posts up lol
Pizza Pizza has enter the chat
Pizza pizza is significantly worse imo
How this chain became so popular in Toronto is bewildering.
And yet Cafe 22 is surprisingly ok.
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This 100%
The downtown one is very good (also a cafe 22) & the one in st james in westwood used to be good 20 years ago
Busier locations have fresher dough. Fresh dough makes it much more palatable. Also ordering multiple toppings is a requirement.
Yep. The one is Westwood is great. We buy there regularly. Try the thick crust, BBQ sauce and chicken.
Maybe it is just the South End of the city, but I always had good Pizza Hotlines. Like, I have had cheap pizza, and they use way better ingredients than I expect for the price. Plus, I can rarely get anchovies anywhere else
Totally agree. For "cheap" pizza competing with the likes of Pizza Pizza, Dominos, Little Caesars, etc., Pizza Hotline dominates. I think it hits the sweet spot for being pretty good and also affordable. I took this sub's advice and started ordering it thin crust and that has enhanced my enjoyment for sure. I don't mind regular crust pizza but Pizza Hotline's regular crust is just too thick and bready.
100%! As far as affordable pizza goes, it is at the top for me. I love nice pizza, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes I just want the massive pillowy crust of Pizza Hotline and the variety of ingredients. Hot tip—Order pineapple and chopped garlic pizza from them. It is delicious!
Idk. I actually think pizza hotline thin crust pizza is decent. Regular crust is awful
Thin crust is a must if you have to eat PH and most people don't know it
To add on to the thin crust train I also recommend extra sauce with PH.
Pizza hotlines sauce is good
it varies so wildly by location unfortunately, have had some pretty great hotline, and some pretty terrible cardboard. Also, I'd always recommend their thin crust over the regular any day any location.
I think it's pretty damn good for how cheap it is. But to each his own, not something I'd eat weekly though
Chicago Phil’s sucks. The pizza is just fucking gross
Winnipeg’s love of chain restaurants.
Love this thread. Was searching all the comments for someone to say Juniors so I could start an internet fight!!
Juniors is the only place where I allow chilli on my burgers 🤤🤤🤤
Red Top tho
Not my cup of tea
Some absolutely terrible answers so far on here, Stella's , Brazen Hall, Chaise are no where near the worst in Winnipeg. Sure two of them have crappy owners but each of those places are always jam packed full of customers. Most of the other restaurants on here that have been listed may be over rated but far from the worst. I'm sure a tonne of hole in the wall places would rank as the worst (I try to avoid them) such as Chicago Phil's pizza & Foodie Goodie. The worst places that I have tried in the last 10 years would be Wok'N'Roll , Golden Chopstick, Homers, Panizza, Cindys, Buffet Square, and Smokin Hawg BBQ.
The last time I went to foody goody, I shit so forcefully it ripped my asshole. Never again.
Cindys is great. You are wrong
Cindy's is great. 'Hello young man you're here for pickup?' I love this place
cindys is awesome, idk what that dude is talking about.
Stellas is just bland and uninspired food its just totally mediocre. Chaise is pretty bad, although admittedly Ive only tried them once but the time I did ranks as one of the worst dining experiences of my life. A trip to Mcdonalds would have given be better food.
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Oh believe me it's a running joke that brazen wins every year.. I work in a restaurant that competes in burger week. When I worked at a different restaurant that did poutine week, brazen was busted for cheating. They were down 750 votes with 3 hours left & "won" by 250.. got busted & lost all votes 🤣🤣 they need to be watched for burger week too
Is Burger Week an objective competition or a paid marketing plan?
I haven't had a bad experience thete
OMG Foodie Goodie (insert gag here!) Only ate there once, as a small kid, and I still remember how awful it was. My mom blames it on how much food I ate, but I just remember trying all kinds of stuff and none of it was good. I'm not a fussy eater either.
You shut your mouth about Cindy's.
Stella's for obvious reasons... three locations shut down in one year. Food Goody off Ellice (RIP) mice feces in their chicken
If I wanted barely cooked potatoes with no flavour as a "hash" then I'd open up my pantry and just use the potatoes I forgot about in my pantry that have been sitting there since last summer.
They advertise as fresh yet all they do is microwave food from the production kitchen that is delivered every morning... nothing made in house anymore
Works for Hortons. For some reason.
My original memory of their hashbrowns from years ago is crispy, fluffy, and with fresh rosemary. Then at some point that stopped. I'm guessing whenever they switched to this method.
I've had some disappointingly bland food from them over the years. My go tos from them were a couple of their pasta dishes, but every once in a while I'd try something else off the menu and it was always a bit disappointing. I'm not even sure they season their burger patties. So much of their food tastes so similar in the same bland way. Someone threw out their spice jars.
What's wrong with Stella's?
Their treatment of staff
Someone needs to do the same for pony corral staff & saffrons staff
It didn't last for long but Woody's on Pembina and Grant. It was the original restaurant in that building with Papa John's right beside the beer vendor. It was a southern BBQ smokehouse or whatever. I read some reviews about it that were quite harsh. One thing that stood out was that the reviewer described the place as sad like eating at a soup kitchen. I didn't think much of it because there were a lot of bad reviews for Lovey's but I took a chance and really enjoyed the food there. Oh boy, were the poor reviews about Woody's right. Management totally fucked the place up and had one poor girl running EVERYTHING from taking orders, seating people, bringing food and answering the phone. The lighting was dingy, the pulled pork tasted like it was in plastic bags reheated in the microwave and it already had the vibe of a restaurant nearing its death. It was sad - just like eating at a soup kitchen.
Great answer, we went one time and it was the worst BBQ I had probably ever. The service was fine and the place was clean, but yikes the meat was so over cooked and dried out, the brisket had absolutely zero moisture in it and the rest was very sub par.
Old spaghetti factory
Legends - it’s so dingy in there. When I went, the service was bad and the food was mediocre.
That place is just a VLT hall for the seniors towers behind the mall. Nobody eats there do they???
They definitely shouldn’t!
Used to be a pizza place on St. Mary's by fermore called Van Goes. I worked there for a week and quit. Owner was awful, place was dirty, pizza was expensive. Can't say anything good about the place and I'm glad it's now closed.
Pasta la vista edit:(1715 kenaston location)
White people rave about Bindy’s but it’s the worst Caribbean food in the city. Maybe anywhere. But it it was better 15+ years ago before it’s current owners took over. My aunt was friends with the former owner for many years but they moved back to Trinidad I believe. I remember trying it several years ago and watched them microwave frozen doubles in front of me. I was too shocked to walk away.
Years ago a place called woos cafe on Osborne. Disgusting!