Symposium Café Restaurant & Lounge – North York

Had a late lunch here with hubby on Saturday. I ordered the Fish Sandwich & hubby had the chicken tenders to start & then the thai wrap with greek salad as a main. My sandwich was delicious & I tasted the chicken tenders which were good too. Our server was a guy (can’t remember his name) & he was great. He brought my sandwich with pickles on the side like I asked. I actually hate pickles but hubby loves them so he gets to eat them.
We should have stopped there. Our server went on break & another server a lady took over for him. We ordered the caramel brownie & it was horrible. Dry, and tasted old. I took a couple bites & left it. Hubby didn’t want it to go to waste so he ate it all even though he agreed it wasn’t good. We complained afterwards to our server (the lady) & she thought we were being sarcastic. I don’t blame her, since the plate was empty. I should’ve stopped hubby from finishing it. Anyway she made a really weird remark & hubby & I looked at each other like: wtf? The server gave us a discount on the dessert & we left bewildered. Later hubby called & talked to the manager to complain. We ended up getting offered a free dessert but I don’t think we’ll bother next time!
Our first server was great. The second server kinda strange. Despite that we would probably come back for the food. But not the dessert.

I’ve only been there for breakfasts, and there is always excellent service in the mornings and great food! I am usually greeted by an older gentleman who is very friendly. The price is cheap considering it’s on Yonge Street. great food and big portions. Would definitely recommend!

I had an alright experience here. The décor and atmosphere was fantastic. The food was also fairly decent (though nothing spectacular). I did order a cocktail that, quite frankly, tasted like dishwater and had no hint of half the ingredients listed on the menu. The staff, however, happily replaced my cocktail for a different one (which, while much better, was still subpar. Ice chunks in the martini, imbalanced ingredient ratios and the glass smelled a little gross).
The staff were very friendly… perhaps too much so. What was obviously a deep conversation was interrupted every 2 – 5 minutes by one of the staff asking how our food/​drinks/​etc were. It almost felt like we had 3 or 4 servers for our table or something…
Aside from those things, the overall experience was decent and since it is nearby, I will probably go back again.

If you’re looking to go to Symposium, go to the North York location! I’ve eaten at the Richmond Hill location, and it’s just not the same.
This location has good service, good food, and an awesome patio.
I had a souvlaki wrap, and though it tasted more like a chicken caesar wrap, it was very delicious. The chicken was very tender, and it was filling. The fries were a little mushy on the inside for my taste– but still not bad. My friend also enjoyed his mushroom swiss burger.
I wouldn’t mind coming back to this location to try their drinks and dessert next time.

stopped in this place for some apps and cake and we ended up with stomach aches. the whole experience was a dissapointment.
we had clamari which was rubbery and a small portion. i am a huge calamari fan and this dish was a huge dissapointment. i have had calamari at the brampton symposium many times and loved it everytime.
we also had a pita bread pizza type bread with gouda and chicken. the gouda was shredded and sparring. the chicken lacked flavour and fell off the pita with each bite due to lack of cheese to meld it all together.
the cheescake was ok. it was extremely soft, nearly a mouse texture and it lacked the delicious graham cracker bottom which is my fav part of cheesecake.
the chocolate caramel cake was also a mousse like texture. the caramel was drizzled on top and was eaten in two bites by my 4 year old. the cake lacked any other caramel flavour. it was a large piece and most of it was left behind.
i ordered a steamed milk to go with the cake and they forgot to serve it.
one star is generous for this place. i would give it a zero if i could.

Great restaurant, friendly staff and amazing food! What else can you ask for. Totally recommended! Everything we order was delicious.

This place needs some serious improvements. When we dropped by here for lunch on a Sunday, there were probably 6 waiters working along with around 12 – 15 customers. The place was more than sufficiently staffed, however the service was horrendously terrible. They forgot our food and one was delivered first before the second one arrived. The quality of food was as bad as the service. I got the mushroom swiss burger and it was no different than the quality of a burger served at a fast food restaurant. Processed frozen meet patty which tasted like cardboard while eating it.

Fantastic food at fantastic prices.
Amazing Service and Amazing staff
Great setting, great everything,
I’ve only been once, but I can already say that we will be frequenting this spot as often as we can!

My previous review wasn’t supposed to be for this restaurant and unintentionally posted by my mistake.
Deep apologies for the restaurant and users who may read this review by any chance.

Came here with 2 girlfriends to have brunch on a Sunday. When I came in to get us seats, the restaurant seemed pretty full with young families. Service was friendly and relatively quick AT THE START.
FOOD: We all ended up gets the eggs Benedict which was pretty standard, poached soft eggs were done right. The waitress that was serving us advised us that coffee was included with our meals (we find out later that it is not). Shortly after finishing our meals, one of the staff members (not our original server?) lets us know that they were having a promo: cake was 2 slices for the price of 1. This seemed like a great idea as there were 2 of us that recognized symposium as an awesome dessert place (Waterloo location). We were sorely disappointed as the red velvet and brownie cake we had ordered turned out to be STALE.
At this point we were ready to pay and leave, but it took another 30 – 40 minutes and my girlfriend walking to the register to get their attention. This is the same time we find out that they charged us for the coffee. Not looking to return to this place anytime soon and definitely not for their cake.

I came here for brunch on the weekend as part of my exploration of the neighborhood I live in. While a part of me found it tacky, another part of me (and my husband) kind of enjoyed the décor on the walls (old looking Italian mural paintings — think Venus in a clamshell). I think the big open windows made it look more inviting as well.
The place didn’t look too crowded at the time we arrived however I found it took a little while for the staff to notice us and seat us. It then took a bit longer for our server to finally attend to us. I’m going to give the place the benefit of the doubt and say she was kind of new or having an off day…
Brunch was typical but trustworthy. I got the Eggs Benedict and wasn’t disappointed. I got exactly what I ordered. Only downside is that the whole place is probably more expensive than the Eggsmart that is much closer to where I live. I am interested in trying their dinner menu and while I couldn’t do it at the time, because I was already full from brunch, their daily deals seemed promising — Sundays offering 2 for 1 cake slices and the cakes looked delicious. I would love to come back and try them.

I used to go to the Symposium in Waterloo all the time when I was still in University. So I was pretty pumped when work suggested going to Symposium for a team breakfast! We went on a Friday morning at 830. The restaurant was around 70% full, there were two other big groups, and a few smaller groups. The first thing I noticed was that there seemed to be only one waiter serving the entire restaurant. He was the only one running around bringing out people’s order, and we had to wait a while before getting seated. Once my entire group arrived, that waiter came by our table to apologize for the slow service. He was actually the manager, and one of his staff apparently didn’t show up for work that morning. I thought it was a very nice gesture of him to come apologize and explain the situation. However, the slow service was a bit annoying, as a few of us had meetings in the morning we had to get back to work for. Once we placed our orders, the food took around 20 minutes to come out. We were a group of 10, and the food all came out at the same time, which was good.
I ordered a hot chocolate and French toast with Chantilly cream and crushed Oreos. Both items were presented very nicely. The French toast portion was huge; it came with 3 slices of toast (all cut in half), with a very generous amount of Oreo toppings, and Chantilly cream (on the side), two slices of bacon (or you can choose ham instead), and a nice bowl of fruits. The taste however was very average. I mean you can’t really go wrong with French toast slathered in syrup and cream! Unfortunately, my breakfast this time wasn’t as good as what I remembered from my university days.

So far so good!
Yesterday a friend wanted to meet for coffee after 9pm so I looked up some cafes around North York Centre that opened until 12am. The only one that seemed promising was the Symposium and the list of dessert and coffee sounded good. So we came to check it out.
I was not disappointed with my pick. So far, one reviewer has used a word that I also mentioned to describe the interior of this restaurant ‘rustic’. The look and ambiance inside feels very much like Greek or Italian villa. The décor such as the murals and different floral items arranged on the walls strongly added to the feeling of being a villa-​like setting. And almost everywhere that I looked there was something that caught my eye.
My friend just had a tea. I was in the mood for a sweet treat with my coffee so I ordered the East Meets West ice-​cream and sliced fruit combination on a waffle. I was thrilled by what was brought to the table. That taste of the dessert ensemble was satisfying.
Our server was friendly and attentive and kept himself busy around the restaurant. There was nothing disappointing about being here for the first time.
I hope to return here and try out their savory dishes.

I liked their Green Tea Smoothie.
Only been to the Thornhill Location
Not a bad place to relax during summer on the patio.

Went here one night for some dinner with two others. We waited about 10 minutes to be seated on the patio while three staff members stood in front of us talking. We were waiting for a table to be cleaned. After being sat our server came by 5 mins later and offered us drinks. We ordered appetizers to share and a burger as well. The portions were very small, and the food took so long to come out. Overall, my first experience was not great. I don’t know if I will be returning.

Hands down worst breakfast I’ve ever had.
— Dirty restaurant: none of the tables were clean when we came in. They wiped our table off with a dirty cloth, leaving chunks of someone else’s cake behind.
— Waited 5+ mins to order drinks. Water came with mysterious things floating in it. Sent it back. Waited 5+ more minutes to order food.
— Strawberry/​banana/​orange smoothie was pretty much served in a shot glass.
— Ordered Eggs Provençal: over-​poached eggs, cold hollandaise and home fries. Absolutely bland.
— Companion had breakfast of champions: Sunny-​side up eggs were half-​cooked; waffle may as well have come straight out of the fridge. Bacon was the only saving grace.
— Biggest pet peeve: waited 10 minutes to get the bill, then even longer to pay. Thinking at this point, «Get me out of here!!!»
One star for okay service.

Three of us tried to have breakfast there this past Sunday morning. Sat down at any empty (dirty) table on the front patio. Menus arrived immediately, but no one came back to clean the table, to bring water, to offer coffee, or to take orders for over a half hour (no exaggeration).
As we sat and waited, waited, waited, we couldn’t help noticing how noisy the patio is, what with the subway grate in the floor, Yonge Street traffic, etc.
We eventually got up and walked out (unnoticed) and went to the Aroma Café across the street. There we had a great breakfast and got home before dark.

The staff here are super nice. & the food is pretty affordable. Their patio is pretty awesome.

The atmosphere and décor are great here along with the service. The price is a bit on the high side for lunch. The bad part about this place isn’t necessarily with the chef, but with the ingredients they have.
I’m not going to go on much on my first experience here, because they compensated for it by giving me a discount. Just because of that I had decided to give them a second chance.
Second chance has come and gone with their Mussels special for lunch. Though the food and preparation itself was good, the quality of the mussels themselves are not too good. They were small and were not too flavorful.
It is kind of sad in that the chef prepared the dish very well already, they were just stuck with bad supplies.
I am giving this a 4-​star just because they were accommodating with my diet and allowed me to change the bread with some greens. Though I am tempted to give this a 3 as well because the food wasn’t up to snuff. If they had a better ingredient supplier this place would’ve been awesome.

First time here. I ordered the Salad with Salmon and it tasted great. Salmon was juicy and salad was fresh and crispy.
Place is clean and fancy yet not very pricy. Spacey comfy booths. There is a patio if you prefer outdoor seating. Great service. Free WiFi.
Overall I recommend that you try this place out. Great food and great service.

Great atmosphere for afternoon drinks, espcially the patio. Food quality is 3.5 and service is 4. I’d love to come and try their brunch.

Stopped in here for a quick bite and found it absolutely charming. Dean Martin playing on the speakers, lovely décor, spacious and clean. Servers are all very nice, happy to be there, (and easy on the eyes I must admit)
I had the burger and beer special. It’s 5 bucks s burger and 5 bucks a beer on Mondays only. The food came out really fast! The 8 oz. burger was grilled to perfection, served hot off the grill with all the fixings. You can order a veggie patty instead of meat too, or get an assortment of cheeses, veggies and sauces on top. I had sautéed mushrooms and roasted red peppers to top it off. Happily ate every last bite. I will definitely be back to try a martini next time.

Came here for breakfast on the weekend. Place reminds me of a nice coffee joint. Nice intimate place. Large floor to ceiling windows around to let the light in, really bright with the sunlight. The floors were a bit dirty, didn’t know if it was just a bad time.
Ordered the 3 eggs with farmers sausage. Comes with little fried potato bits, mini fries or «hashbrown». They were okay, I didn’t really want fried potatoes though. Also come with your choice of white, whole wheat or rye bread. I had the rye bread, it was pretty good and fresh. I ordered scrambled eggs it was average, decent, edible. Was quite disappointed with the farmers sausage, it looked good, it was quite big. However, when I bit into it, it was basically full of fat bits and lacked flavour, basically tasted like fried long tube of fat.
Overall, I thought the service was pretty good. The servers were attentive and courteous. However the place needed a bit of cleaning, even in the washrooms.

Have heard mixed reviews about Symposium from friends, so didn’t know what to expect.
Ended up going on a pasta night, so we had a pasta bowl for $ 12.99. Wasn’t the best pasta I’ve had, but wasn’t bad either. I had the Fusilli with Chicken and Artichoke, and my brother had Penne with Bacon and Asparagus.
Service wasn’t all that great, as our server didn’t seem to want to be there. Took a while to just get water, he seemed apathetic, and couldn’t even wave him down to get the bill… Kinda ruined the overall experience, but the food made up for it.

Two stars tops based on my dish — Stuffed eggplant. It looked very appetizing in the menu, with all the good ingredients. I thought you can’t go wrong with eggplants stuffed with mushrooms and cheese. Well, turned out you can!
It was disgustingly mushy with tons of tomato sauce on top. I couldn’t tell if there was any of the listed ingredients, but there was something resembling eggplant (overlooked).
The best part of the plate was a garden salad on the side, which was okay.
My friend made a better choice, the salad with salmon.

Symposium is a new store that recently opened up in the Yonge and Finch area. It is decorated nicely with plenty of options on their food and drink menu. The service was great because we were the only table there which is the case most of the time…
Symposium is what I call a «confused» restaurant. I really do not know if it is trying to be a bar, breakfast joint, evening supper place, or something in between. They serve breakfast until 4pm and have some fine wines along with your typical beer selections and hard liqour. Their menu has a Plethora of items… everything from Pasta, Steak, Burgers, Desserts, Salads, Chicken Fingers… basically they have everything on their menu. In my humble opinion, this restaurant needs a Menu makeover and stick to one or two things and do them very very well.
I usually always order their burgers because they are really delicious and you get a lot of meat with the Burger. For $ 14.95…it better be good. My friends order salmon, steak, and dessert. All of the food is delicious… however… the vibe and atmosphere of this place is oddly confusing.
Regardless, come here in your dress clothes, sweats, or jeans and I am sure you will enjoy the food and drinks!

tldr; A bountiful breakfast menu with large portions and reasonable prices. Definitely worth it to check out if you’re nearby and have a not-​so-​quiet party in tow.
It’s all about expectations and I didn’t really have very high ones going in. They serve classic American breakfasts and that’s exactly what you get. The food isn’t funky or fun in anyway but it’s filling and the restaurant environment is very casual. I went with a group of friends and we definitely overstayed our welcome by sitting and drinking water for an hour after we finished eating but the staff was sweet enough and only gave us the nudge when there was a line forming for seats.
What I got:
French toast with chocolate chips (³⁄₅): A decent dish of egg soaked bread with melted chocolate chips on top, a side of ham and a side of fruit. One of the gripes I had with this was that they didn’t serve it with maple syrup, instead they had table syrup. Maybe I’m a bit of a spoiled french toast brat but come on the real stuff tastes eons better. I also tasted too much egg in the toast; it just didn’t blend well together and the chocolate was only helping to cover it up. Overall it wasn’t bad, but nothing exceptional.
I would probably give the food a higher rating if I had had one of their cakes which I’ve hear is amazing. I do recommend it for it’s excellent hours and solid staff but if you’re looking for mind blowing food then head elsewhere. All that’s here is generic.

Great new spot in my hood with such warm ambiance great for families or friends for dinner, coffee, dessert or all of the above. This location replaced Max Convenience Store and rightfully gained the status of landmark-​ing this corner like a BOSS!
At first, Symposium Café gave off the ”coffee and tea” vibe and then you dine in and their menu is like 50 lbs heavy. Decisions, decisions, you say? I wanted to eat backwards and start my meal with a huge slice of cake and waffles and then finish off with a steak salad.
They’ve got specials every day which makes Monday burger night, however they remain a ”dine-​in special” ONLY so don’t think for once ordering 5 burgers for $ 20 will earn you bragging rights at the dinner table without breaking a sweat in the kitchen. Bring ‘em all in and have a drink instead. Would’ve been better if it came with a small side of fries though, even like 10 pcs.(minus 1 star) but then again, HELLO YONGE ST. property value!
Our server was very attentive and super sweet, considering the many requests our group had with a party of 4 children in tow. I mean, Monday is tough already and dealing with ‘more mayo and more ketchup’ and potentially mixing up beer and milk requires a high level of pretending you give a hoot and playing nice nice all at once.
This location, seems to me operates like it’s franchise owned which is great. Management seems more involved with the customers. The Manager came out on many occasions dealing with customers himself. He even agreed to serving a free burger for my cousin as his cow mooed a bit too late while everybody else was already indulging and belching. The fact that they owned up to FORGETTING the order AND RECOVERING quickly without wasting anytime on pointing fingers to who had mild amnesia proved this ship is run properly.