We were strolling down Graffiti Alley when we saw that this place’s patio looked animated, with lots of people, we decided to stop by to have a couple of drinks.
We were seated immediately, the waitress was very nice and friendly and the poor girl was alone for 15-20 tables, she was running everywhere!
The restaurant itself on the inside and the outside is not the cleanest and quite frankly, going to the restrooms was a little bit of a scary experience.
However, the drinks we had were very good and more than affordable!! We ordered a white sangria pitcher (17$) and 2 gin tonics (4$ each) and everything was great!
Little Surpised. Stumbled upon this place and must say I am pleasantly surprised. What looks like a graffiti ridden little hole in the wall actually put out some decent food and a very low cost. Granted the thai inspired dishes are not high quality nor absolutely authentic...they are however a rather tasty take on them. Thai pub food?
The prices are low which seems to bring in a lot of student life. The decor is rather eccentric and somewhat ghetto (graffiti on all walls....worn out furniture etc). You need to walk through the actual kitchen to use the washroom...so their cleanliness is on spotlight.
If you want cheap pub food with some asian flare...recommend this place.
![Zomato]( "Recensione")
Good... As long as you don't bring up any issues with staff.. We go to Java House quite a bit - why? Well, I'm gonna start with the Con's first...
Con's: The Italian dishes - meh. The Singapore Noodles are not good at all. And if you don't like eclectic dives - this is not for you. The real face slap at Java House is service... Servers overall are usually pretty nice - as long as nothing takes them out of their comfort zone. No one at Java House can deal with something going wrong, even minor easy to fix issues. They just go into panic mode or get defensive or start telling you stupid policies or plain aren't polite about mistakes. And they all seem like they've become that way because they're scared of management.
On one occasion, (my very first dish I had ever felt compelled enough to complain about - the Singapore Noodle's) no one tried to make it better. By all means - we were overly polite about the situation and the staff/manager were overly rude. I worked in Hospo for 6 years from schwanky restaurants to dive/student bars and know how respectful/polite/professional you should be in a situation like that, both as a patron and a server. The first waitress, half way through me saying "Excuse me, I'm really sorry, but my food is... " cut me off with "You'll have to talk to the manager." and sped off. We spoke to two staff members who nether apologized or offered a solution to the situation until finally the manager came over. Manager there needs to change his occupation/bad attitude. He's never a happy man and has a permanent expression mixed between "I don't like my life" and "Really... Effort? For you?". He looked outraged at me when I explained that my meal was overcooked and threw the full plate into the clean up container a few meters away from us. It crashed so loudly it made everyone at my table jump.
Pro's: Crazy cheap food/drinks and the space is a reasonable size so it's suitable for groups. Huge street level patio in summer - super points there. The place is definitely divey but the atmosphere overall is laid back. Again, we return here for the price point. The daily specials are usually really good value. The food is also for the most part pretty decent, with some dishes being far superior to others. The Chicken chow mein, sandwiches and curries are very good. Perogie's, soups and salads are nice/decent too. I also enjoy that you receive a simple salad before an entree.
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Overall: A low price point doesn't mean 'You can't complain when we screw up'. You're still paying for a product/service... *Sigh*... Possibly, I'm a masochist's for cheap food 'n' booze.
Being aware of the pro's and con's - every time we go in, we go armed with expectations/mind set = know what to order and what not to order. And knowing how the staff can be like. Positive 70% of the time this place is good. The other Negative 30% of the time goes purely to poor/disgruntled/lacking service.
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