Harold’s Bistro & Bar

Surprisingly decent. I always drove by this place and instantly recognized the restaurant logo. However I had never even been inside. Upon a friend’s recommendation and choice for a friend’s birthday dinner, I finally got to try this place. They have OpenTable reservations.
The restaurant is quite spacious inside. There is also a large bar and lounge area. After a couple minutes, the hostess saw us and came to seat us. We registered our cars with her so that we wouldn’t need to pay for parking. Then we got seated in a bench and chair type table. It was comfortable and private, as the restaurant area is pretty big.
When I quickly read some reviews on the place before deciding what to order, I saw that someone mentioned they had an Entertainment book Coupon. I was excited to use that — but it required a purchase of 2 drinks. So my friend and I each got a tea ($ 4!!). I guess it’s still worth it. The entrée was buy one get one.
I got the seafood linguine. It came with a generous amount of seafood — at least 6 mussels, 2 medium sized scallops, and 2 large shrimp. It also had a lot of shaved parmesan and 2 garlic bread on top. The sauce was a tomato sauce and it tasted pretty good.
My friends got the Vietnamese burger, veggie burger, chicken alfredo, and liver and onions. They were all happy with what they ordered. I thought the presentation for the liver and onions was very nice.
Service was good, and it’s a great place to sit around and talk since it’s not loud at all. We didn’t get charged a cake fee for my friend’s birthday. The tea was a little expensive for $ 4. Food is decent, in value and in taste. I may come back, I haven’t decided yet.

What happened, Harolds?
I gave you guys a last shot and even brought my family, but everyone was unimpressed (to say the least). What happened to the lovely, attentive waitress I used to see all the time?
16 minutes we sat before we saw our waitress, who did apologize for the wait, but in doing so, blamed another customer
No water refills throughout dinner until I had to ask for the bill and water please
You asked how our dinner was when we were nearly done
I asked for plates so we can share our dishes family style, but only received 2 and we couldn’t find you when we wanted to ask for more. Why do I have to eat off a teeny saucer plate?
Your Reubens have shrunk or have wilted under the heat lamp! what happened to the lovely meat waves — instead, it’s a meat clump :(
Lastly, you could not have dropped the bill off fast enough lol
Very disappointed in you!
The hostess was extremely friendly and prompt however, you’re very lucky to have her.

A nice surprise! I am staying the night and catching a flight out tomorrow morning. I ordered the Filet Mignon with mashed potatoes and veggies. My server, Priscilla, ensured that the service was perfect. Oh they have drink specials and the steak cooked to my request. I was worried about this place as the reviews were pretty bad but I totally recommend it!

First time here we had the prime rib dinner and mom had the chicken pot pie. Decent solid food but a bit pricey based on what’s around the area. The place has a great history and if you’re here at the right time you’ll know why it’s called Harold’s.
My grandmother who’s 94 would give it five thumbs up if it was brighter inside.
This is food my mother enjoys. It’s good she’s familiar with. Comfort food, salads, roast beef type food. But it’s also food that’s daring to be a bit different within the confines of what is acceptable in a hotel environment. Conservative with a splash of … Harold.
Note to self. The last few times I’ve had good salads. I have to keep remembering to order more salads.
If the prices were just a few dollars less, I’d be coming here more often instead of only once in a while.

Hello, I am a tourist from California USA. This place, Harold’s, came very highly recommended from the front desk ladies at the hotel I am staying at. When my party arrived to the please wait to be seated sign… that’s what we did wait. And wait and wait and wait. The person behind the bar made eye contact with me and so did a server type person. It was not any type of busy at all! Yet they chose to ignore us. Maybe it’s because we are Americans? Who knows. If I could give them zero stars I would. Maybe they will get their act together tomorrow for lunch.

We got a chance to try this restaurant when we stayed at the hotel. The Sheraton lounge was closed for the holidays so we got vouchers for appetizers and breakfast buffet at Harold’s. The appetizers (mussels and shrimp/​lobster spring rolls) were surprisingly good. The service was even better. Our server was very nice even though we just used the vouchers and did not order drinks. The spread of the breakfast buffet next morning was average with only the usual breakfast items.

There’s a lot of seating at this restaurant in the hotel. I ordered the seafood linguine. There were mussels, two scallops and a few big shrimp topped with garlic bread.
I was so full at lunch I couldn’t eat any dessert. The only negative was that I found the pasta a bit salty.

Rarely go for lunch in western food at Richmond. Harold’s Bristo is causal place with nice lounge for lunch or happy hour and enjoy the huge patio outside.
I hadn’t been there before and wasn’t sure what it would be like since it was part of a hotel, but the restaurant had a great menu, lots of nice variety.
Comp bread was nice and fresh. My burger was great. Overall, the service was good.

This bar is something of a curate’s egg– good in parts.
Firstly the service. The hotel was rather busy at the time of our visit, so it’s understandable that the service was a little slow, but all the servers were very friendly and helpful– no complaints on that front.
The bartender could do with some cocktail training. I ordered a drink containing a carbonated ingredient– which promptly went into the shaker– defeating the purpose of carbonating it in the first place. I also noticed that the shaker leaked and that the glass used wasn’t large enough to hold the full contents. In fact I saw the bartender pour herself the rest of my drink after serving me and drink it– which I really don’t appreciate given the price of drinks here and the amount of tax paid on them.
Now for the food. On the whole it was generally bland and uninspiring. Our first night we had a selection of starters, which were quite tasty and inspired us to visit the restaurant the following night. On that occasion we ordered a portion of seafood linguine which was supposed to be seafood in a rose sauce served with linguine. It turned out to be a minimal amount of seafood in a marinara sauce– that tasted like it had come out of a yellow Superstore can– served with spaghetti! My Hungarian goulash was no better. The meat was full of fat and gristle and there was little evidence on the palate of either the paprika or caraway that it was allegedly spiced with– or anything else much for that matter. The noodles were good, but it’s quite difficult to mess that up.
Next day I ordered a flatbread. Again the tomato sauce tasted like it had come straight from the can. There was no basil or garlic or anything else that might have made it interesting. I may as well have had something from Little Caesars.
This might be acceptable behaviour for a discount diner, but not for a chain like the Sheraton. If Harold Cross really has been coming here every day for the past 35 years, I’d suggest that for a change he try one of the excellent Chinese restaurants that have sprung up in the area over that time. Chances are he’d never return to this bistro.

Have always enjoyed Harold’s. the Food is very good, and the drinks are good, too.
it’s a large venue but the different areas and different seating make it appear smaller than it really is. Good snack menu, and Lunch and Dinner service.

Had their Caesar cocktail ($ 7). It comes with a celery stick, pepperoni stick and pickled asparagus. Yay!
The waitress told me doubles can be had for $ 10 on Saturdays as well. Not a bad deal, as they use one of the larger glasses as well.

Ate here twice while staying at the Sheraton. First time when we were tired and wanted a late dinner, second for breakfast. While the dinner wasn’t bad, it was pretty greasy, like a lot of American/​Canadian style food. Would recommend going a few doors down to Shanghai River, we went there a couple of times after our first night experience.
The breakfast buffet on the other hand was quite nice. They had a nice selection and the food seemed relatively fresh. Would recommend having the breakfast.

Great food and friendly service. I’ve enjoyed every meal at Harold’s. The dining room has a nice atmosphere for dinner and there is a lot of choice on the menu. I have never been disappointed by a meal.

Terrible. I took my family here expecting to have a good meal, when it turns out everything was just horrible. I ordered the halibut burger and the waitress assured me it was delicious. The fish was more dry than sand and the fries were awful, it has the after taste of plastic. As for my husband, he ordered the nyc steak and spaghetti, he had two bites and sent it back to the kitchen telling them that the spaghetti was dry and that the steak was like rubber. Overall my experience at Harold was simply terrible and I would never come back here again.

Great place to come and have drinks/​dessert, but that’s all I would have. The restaurant is unclean/​servers aren’t washing their hands.
I’ve eaten here 3x and had 3 different meals, and I have gotten violently ill 3x.

I had dinner here last night… Overall, it’s a comfortable place to hang out. Lots of room between tables and comfy chairs to veg out on.
I had the prime rib… It was pretty disappointing to tell the truth… Service was slow and lethargic… Getting a refill for my drink was like pulling teeth! When we finally did get our order my prime rib was lukewarm…
Oh well my friend works here so I’ll probably come back, but I hope I can give a better review next time!

A typical hotel restaurant. The food was lousy. The service was lousy. But you can hang out here as long as you want.
The only cool thing about this place, is Harold. His face is in all of the artwork and he has his own parking spot. If you are in there around lunch time, you might see him.

Rarely have I ordered a burger and the response from the waitress was ‘yeah ok”. I mean– when you’re at McDonald’s, you expect your burger to be cooked to an unspecified amount, and that’s fine– but at a «bistro», you’d expect a little distinction. Hell– even Applebee’s asks «some pink or no pink».
Overall– waitress was unfriendly, unobservant, and overall distant. The hostess actually gave us our bill… and food. Sorry Harold, maybe when you were alive? this place was better. Hope you’re not rolling in your grave.

Really like the openness of this bar, it’s happening on the weekends, another great place to catch a hockey game. It’s right in the middle, with lounge seating around it, kinda hard to eat as you’re leaning forward munching while sitting in these TD-​like ar chairs. Restaurant seating in the back.
Can’t say for the food, though i’ve been tempted w/​the Entertainment Book’s 2 for 1 coupon, which they seem to amazingly do year after year, seems like it’s been since high school i’ve seen that annoying coupon lol.
We’re just here for drinks most of the time.
Open til midnite, so that’s a good thing for the hotel guests up at the Sheraton, or even if you have to walk a minute from Marriott.
Free 2 parking as long as you show them the stub ;)

Me likey! Lunch was a basic tuna and split pea but tasty, cheap, and served lightning fast. I swear they had it there in under 2 minutes. The place is big, lots of comfy booth seating, mellow décor. Next time we’ll sit outside by the pool. I could see this being a great spot for summer lunch. parking isn’t cheap in the lot but they validate. A must try for a decent lunch if you work in the area.