El Furny, you glorious person.
How this place is only rated 3.4/5 is beyond me. When I read the reviews on here I lose my faith in humanity, just ever so slightly. Let's cover a few things.
1. Food quality / price:
If you're choosing Furniture Warehouse to eat, your comparative restaurants should be McDonald's, Wendy's, Harveys, Popeyes, Taco Bell, Subway, Burger King, Tim Hortons, etc... You see, those are the ONLY places you can get similar items for the same price (notice I said similar 'items', not similar quality). This isn't Joanne Kate's Top 100 we're talking about. Bar Buca, 416 Snack Bar and the hundred other casual bars that serve up great fare are right around the corner. Oh wait, but you just want to spend $5. Try to remember, this is far better than you'll get anywhere else nearby given the price point. If you disagree, please, pretty please I'd love to know where such a heavenly place exists.
This place blows every fast food restaurant out of the water. You can't even get a burrito from down the street as inexpensively as a burger here. Any restaurant that actually employs a BOH to prep, cook and serve good, fresh food and be able to do so under $5 should be commended, not criticized because some self-entitled patron felt it was appropriate.
2. Service
Your server was busy? What? They took a whole 10 min to come and greet you? You go into a busy restaurant, filled with dozens of other people and all of a sudden YOU become the top priority? Consider the entire restaurant and everyone in it as a line. You are at the back of the line. That's the cost of going to an awesome place, with great cheap food in the middle of Toronto.
My experience with the service can be summed up in a few short words. Courteous. Succinct. Timely. Polite.
What more can you ask for? No, seriously, I don't see any reviews for bank tellers, postal workers, cashiers, retail associates, etc. So why are only serving staff subject to our criticism?
*Side note to the manager who cheerfully brought shots of Jack: Thank you. We really shouldn't have, but thanks.
3. Atmosphere
If you want to go catch up with a childhood friend, do some homework or chit chat about the daily weather and prefer to do these things in a quiet environment, why would you walk into a busy bar playing loud music to do that? The crowd here is young, full of students, working professionals, sports fans, you name it. This is a place anyone could appreciate and easily fit right in. Sure, I had to talk a little loud. Sure, the music was turned up high. But seriously, it's not like they've got a sign outside saying "Quiet, intimate restaurant setting for extensive conversation. come on in"! No, you can hear the music from the damn street! No, they won't turn down the music for you.
You felt rushed out? So you've finished eating, stopped drinking and didn't plan on ordering anything else? Do you mean to tell me you think it's rude that they wanted you to leave to make room for the lineup of people waiting to come in, buy food and spend more money? C'mon people, you can't have it both ways! How do you think they keep their prices so low?! High turnover! And in order for them to continue to offer such low prices, they have to make sure that they sell as much as they can.
4. Summary
This place is awesome. Any negative review on here should be taken with a massive grain of salt. I do not work for, have not worked for and don't plan on working for El Furniture Warehouse. I just think that we live in a time when people have the same expectations for $5 item as they do for a $500 item. And when it comes to food, there is a major difference.
If you want a cheerful place to grab a (very reasonably priced) drink and some cheap eats, look no further. It may not be as fast as McDonalds, it may not be as quiet as Tim Horton's... but what you lose in cheap, corporate fast food charm, you get back in hip, thriving downtown character.
Seriously. Check it out.
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