Captain John’s

First the postive. The concept of dining on a boat is kind of cool. But once you’ve gotten past the novelty of dining on a boat you are left with bad service and bland, boring food. And it is way overpriced for the dismal quality that you get.

I don’t understand all the comments regarding how pricey this restaurant was. They threw in food poisoning for free! One of my worst Toronto dining experiences of my 37 year old life. Is John delusional? Wonders why he was forced to shut down after owing half a million in taxes and rent? He couldn’t have had any profits for 20+ years… wake up!

A nautical nightmare straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean. The dining lounge looks like it hasn’t been cleaned since the 70’s, and that includes the carpeted (?!) bathrooms. The waitstaff look like a crew of zombie pirates destined to serve the seven seas til the end of time. The food is INSANELY overpriced and tastes like it’s been in the ship’s freezer since Trudeau was Prime Minister. The fish floating in Lake Ontario are more appetizing. To top it off, the drinks are horribly made and crazy expensive, so you can’t even get drunk enough to enjoy the meal. They should have turned this place into a nautical museum or torpedoed it long ago. The glory days are long gone, I’m afraid.
And add insult to injury, there’s a sign outside claiming they sell ‘The Best Seafood in Toronto’. What a sick joke.

I knew this place was pretty bad before going there, but it’s still shocking to find out how horrific the food is, especially at the prices they charge.
«Sunday Brunch» consists of oily and dehydrated bacon and sausages that could have been sitting there for a decade; veggie and dip tray (you’d enjoy if you like Kraft bottles); sad-​looking tiny cocktail shrimps and mussels and a calamari antipasto salad that is straight out of a neighbourhood grocery store counter. Truly sad and atrocious food!
Our host also ordered a Captain John’s Seafood platter (was told this is the best dish in house!). At the price of $ 55 per person (in addition to Sunday Brunch price), you can «indulge» on broiled fish fillets smothered in old bay spice, so-​overcooked-​mussels you’d have a hard time fishing out the protein from the sauce it’s drowned in, a baked oyster dish that I couldn’t find the oyster under a thick oozing layer of greasy bread crumbs; small lobsters and a few crab legs. I felt so bad for our hosts who’d gone out of their way to compensate for the nonexistent Sunday Brunch by ordering and paying for more expensive and equally sad food.
Next time if I hear a friend or someone wanting to go to this place, I won’t be as politely obliging; a STOP and DETOUR warning will be issued.

Myself and three friends were wandering along Queens Quay and saw this absolute gem! A restaurant on a ship — how could this possibly go wrong? Our excitement was further spurred as we stepped into a wood finished dining room — it was like we had just stepped onto the Titanic.
This is where the good times ended. Our waiter, Lewis:
— didn’t provide us with menus for ten minutes
— neglected to mention that they were only serving from the dinner menu (it was 3pm)
— didn’t ask how many bills we wanted then presented us with one (even though it was fairly obvious that we were all friends and students)
— blatantly ignored me when I asked for separate bills
— yelled at me as I left the restaurant (DO YOU WANT YOUR RECEIPT) even though I had already explained that I didn’t. Twice.
The food:
— the complimentary bread was burnt and stale. Not a little stale. Like, has-​this-​been-​hanging-​around-​since1892 stale.
— my friends fries were deep fried to the sea’s depths and back
— my other friends tortellini was drowning in sauce
— and the coup de gras: my stroganoff. Which I remain convinced was cat sick.
–don’t be fooled by how delicious the desserts look. None of them are made in house. I think I smelled Sobeys on my strawberry cheesecake.
While we were there, three families walked out. We thought this was very rude of them. In retrospect, we were just jealous we didn’t think of it first.

I had eaten at captain John’s restaurant in the summer of 2010… As I saw a coupon in the Entertainment booklet for a «buy one get one free» entrée, I figured I’d put it to good use.
Upon Arrival at Captain John’s I was standing outside w/​my gf and there was an elderly woman standing in front of us. We were waiting to be seated like any other normal restaurant, however, little to my knowledge did i expect things to be FAR from normal. FIRST OFF, we began by waiting at least 10 minutes to be seated. Now you’re thinking «oh man. they must’ve be really busy, its understandable…» Let me tell you there was TWO FAMILIES in the entire ship!!! both of which were seemingly waited by an elderly gentleman who did nothing more than remind me of Mr. Magoo. Finally, after an eternity in wait, my gf and I were seated. Upon being presented with the menu, we have decided on what we would like to order… she ordered the fish of the day and i ordered the surf and turf. I figured it was the best way to take advantage of a buy one get one offer from the coupon. Upon waiting to order, our waiter was nowhere in plain sight and a few minutes later, finally emerging from the kitchen with nothing in hand. Upon my amazement, he had walked by my table to answer a question from the table behind mine, as I waited patiently to place our order. Upon return he had completely walked passed us and ignored us. Then the waiting game began, 10 minutes later we were finally served, thought shortly before, I had used my iphone smartphone to search reviews on this fine dining establishment and I use the word fine ever so loosely.
After placing our order and 15 minutes of nervous anxiety based on recently discovered horror reviews, the entrée’s came and to no amazement, my surf and turf was literally three pieces of frozen shrimp deep fried and butterfly’d into two about the size of anyone’s pinky finger. The steak was far beyond edible, as it was severely over-​cooked and under-​appreciated by both myself and my gf. Her fish was no better, as it was tasteless and bare with barely any meat on it whatsoever. The food was bland, disappointing, and heartbreaking. The service was equally horrible, mismanaged, and unorganized. In saying so, the forgettable food and service is a TRUE recipe for disaster.

I have very few restaurants on my «banned» list. Captain John’s is one of them. I used to work across the street, and would have paid an arm and a leg for a quality restaurant steps away. One can only go to Harbour Grill so often.
Anyways. the final breaking point was we went to lunch here once, and with absolutely NO ONE else in for lunch service, it took 55 minutes to get out food from when we ordered. The service was awful. We had this should be retiree keep messing up our order (even though there was only 4 of us, and did I mention there was NO ONE else there?). I had never been so frustrated in my entire life.
The food was just awful.
So. CJs = BANNED!

I walked in and nobody was talking. There was only a couple there, and some eastern European waiter that sounded a bit like a vampire with his dark, raspy and lonely voice. They brought us the water, and it tasted bleach-​y. The carpet wsa filthy. We left before he could even bring us the bread.

Notwithstanding the negative reviews thusfar for Captain John’s, I had a positive experience at his Harbour Boat Restaurant.
It is important to note, however, that I did not eat in the main dining room. But rather, my friends and I attended a production in the Dubrovnik room. The performance included food, though, which I believe to be from the main dining room. So my review should still be relevant
Captain John’s is an entire experience and an iconic part of Toronto’s waterfront. Because of it’s iconage, it’s possible to perceive it as a empty tourist destination. I felt that it was a more genuine and enjoyable experience, however.
As soon as you enter the ship, you realize that there’s lots of history in it. It feels like a museum, albeit not necessary a clean or well maintained one. If you take time to look around, though, you realize that there is heritage here.
Captain John’s has a very personal feel. This is probably because you can often see John Letnik seating tables or preparing drinks. Furthermore, letters of praise for him and his charitable work are sprinkled all over the walls – in addition to photos of him with celebrities.
You quickly realize that John is an amazing person. His story is written on the walls. He escaped from Yugoslavia to Austria, before immigrating to Canada. His first floating ship restaurant sunk – which was subsequently raised and moved to the U. S – and the one now at 1 Queens Quay is the Jadran. This ship, interestingly, John bought from Yugoslavia for one million dollars. I don’t mean to buy into the rhetoric, but John is living his dream and you’re part of it.
It is true that the food may leave a little left to be desired. I enjoyed my dish, however. I had white cod with some tangy sauce on it. It was satisfying and a fairly large portion. My friends all ordered chicken, which they said was adequate (this IS a seafood restaurant). I never tried the battered fish, so I can’t speak to whether it’s overcooked as other reviewers have suggested.
The staff all appear to be older, but they were certainly warm and friendly. At the end of the evening, I spotted John cleaning glasses. His distinguished face is impossible to miss, even if he has aged
since the pictures in the ship were taken. I said hi and he was extremely welcoming. I also had to shamlessly get a picture with him.
In closing, I can see where the other reviewers are coming from. The food is merely adequate and extremely pricey. But Captain John’s, because of its iconic place in Toronto’s history, is an experience that ought to be, well experienced; even if you only go once.

Don’t go to this very bad restaurant. Old every think, even food was prepaired in 70^th :), ugly, yakiiii

I can’t really explain my (former) fascination with Captian John’s, or how I convinced two friends to have dinner there with me a few weeks ago.
This place is absolutely terrible and should be avoided at all costs. I knew before eating there that it was a bit of a tourist trap, but I had no idea just how awful it would be.
First, the place looks as if it were decorated in the 70’s. And this isn’t the fun type of ‘retro’ decorating, I’m talking like actual 1970’s down to the little details. The first waiter we had was probably 80. Now, I have nothing against the elderly, and to be fair he was a nice guy. However, we saw an online special and wanted to order it, but he refused to give it to us initially… My friend actually had to bring up the special on her blackberry to convince the guy to give us the special.
The drinks were also terrible. I ordered a gin martini and the drink was served in a regular drinking glass (with a tonne of ice) and it was literally all vermouth (unfortunately, I know what straight vermouth tastes like).
The food was even worse. The lobster was way overcooked and served with a weird rice/​vegetable medley which was very similar to the type that was served when I lived in residence (at university).
To top things off, this place is shockingly expensive, even with the special. It cost me even more since I had to buy a few rounds of drinks at another bar as an apology for bringing people to such a terrible place.
All in all, avoid this place.

The food leaves a lot to be desired. Very deep fried and bland, and the restaurant is inside, without a patio. BUT, the real reason you come to Captain John’s is for the kitsch of eating on a giant ship on lake Ontario, let’s be honest. So if you just want the novelty, go in the afternoon and have a beer on the back deck outside. And make sure you meet captain John himself, he’s a fantastic character in Toronto.