It is against my nature to write a scathing review. I believe that everyone makes mistakes and deserves second chances and the opportunity to redeem themselves. In the case of the Bellaggio Cafe, however, I feel justified to speak out.
I worked there for about two weeks almost two years ago. It is run by a husband a wife (we’ll call them Mr. & Mrs. B). I was hired by Mr. B with the understanding that I was to be made a server. After making me be a host for two weeks, Mrs. B decided that they didn’t really need anyone new. She told me she didn’t know why her husband had hired a new person, handed me a cheque and bid me leave.
I was there as a guest with some friends around christmas, and our experience was very similar to the account that follows:
On Sunday, I went there for brunch with a girlfriend. At first, it was reasonably impressive. It was after the Vancouver Sun Run (blog post on that here) and so it was rather busy, but we were greeted with a smile and seated promptly. It was at that point that things began to slide.
No one came to greet us or take our drink order upon being seated. We waited about 15 minutes for our server to come up to us. We both ordered versions of eggs benedict and a freckled lemonade. It took about 8 minutes more for our drinks to finally be delivered plus another 5 minutes for our food.
Our server, I am sad to say did a “Drop & Dash”. Our food was dumped on the table, and without bothering to make sure that we had everything we needed, the server abandoned us. We were left staring at our plates in disappointment due to the sparing amount of hollandaise sauce. Fortunately a girl appeared with ketchup for our hash-browns and we both asked for some more sauce. What arrived at our table was a half-filled two ounce cup – barely enough for one order, let alone the two of us. We spent the following 10 minutes attempting to get someone to look at us, but every one of the staff was rushing about with their heads down. We had been in the restaurant for about 50 minutes before we had everything we needed to enjoy our meal.
I wish I could say the pathetic service ended there, but it didn’t. Upon finishing our (now cold) brunch, we placed our knives and forks together and pushed our dishes aside to signal we were done. Another full 10 minutes went by before anyone noticed. The most astonishing part to me was that when the server gathered up our dishes, we weren’t asked if we wanted coffee, or tea, or anything else, he just took off again. we waited and waited and waited for the bill but it never arrived. Finally we placed our wallets and cards on the table in the universal call for the bill. Time ticked by…
In total, we were in there for almost an hour and a half. Now, we were out for a relaxed, “girl-time” meal, but instead of it being just that, we left feeling frustrated and ignored.
Having been treated badly as an employee and multiple times as a guest, the Bellaggio Cafe will never receive my business again.
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This morning, at 08:20hrs, I was rudely awakened by loud music, an even louder announcer, tens of thousands of people, and countdown after countdown after countdown…
The ducks were also in their glory (if ducks can be said to be glorious!). It was quite sweet, actually. I noticed right away that they had paired off and would wander around two by two. Mike didn’t believe me until this pair – clearly protective of each other – had followed us around for a while. 
