Butler’s Pantry

Very good food. Service is a little slow but has a nice cozy atmosphere while you wait. Staff are friendly.

This location is great for a group brunch on Roncesvalles. I called a few days in advance and they were generous enough to offer our group of 20 the entire back room for Sunday brunch. Booking the back room worked really well for a group of that size. The staff were on their game, especially in dealing with so many orders coming in at once. Naturally, we had some figuring out to do with the bills, but they were good enough to at least split up the orders by table. I’m looking forward to future visits!

Went in for a quick bite at lunch. The BLT was a disaster. The rye bread was thick and had hardened as it had been toasted and left to cool before being assembled. I dislike rye and was not asked if I wanted this type of bread. I’d to half it and eat it open faced it was so hard. The bacon was tasty, smoked back bacon rather than the expected and more normal side bacon but oh the fat. 25% of the bacon consisted of undercooked gobs of fat, no effort had been made to crisp it at all. I peeled it all off. The lettuce, tomato and chipotle mayo were fresh. I was told the cook had been there 30 years, perhaps she needs to move on. The serving girl was very pleasant though and apologized profusedly. I used to go here for the bilgogi and brunch after church but this restaurant as it is now should be avoided. They still charged me the full price even after I complained. It hasn’t been updated in 30 years and is showing its age. I wont be going again.

J’ai essayé la pastilla, c’est mangeable, mais c’est pas une pastilla… Je suis tombé des morceaux de poulet plus gros que mon pouce et pas vraiment tendre, en principe le poulet d’une pastilla s’effrite. Et malheureusement je n’ai pas eu de sucre avec… Sinon le service est génial !

Came here on a weekday afternoon for brunch. Yep they serve weekday brunch, which was a nice treat at 12pm.
When we arrived, although we were given a look of «I’m not sure where to put you» even though there seemed to be plenty of room. I’m not sure why.
The menu has some good options and they offer a lunch menu too. There is some Asian Fusion things like Indian Style Scrambled Eggs, curry and bulgolgi. I’d be interested in trying one day.
We opted for the French Toast and Eggs Benedict with bacon. Good prices $ 10 each. We a little disappointed that the Eggs were over cooked, but overall tasted okay. Would have been nice to add some fruit to this. Fries were crunchy. Not amazing, just standard. The French Toast was yummy, but would have been nice if the whipped cream that it was supposed to come with arrived at our table. Cheap fruits was on top like melons, as opposed to berries.
Overall it was good, but not sure I’d come back with all the other options on this wonderful street. I didn’t really feel welcome by the server that was working there today.

Had brunch menu and some main menus with friends. Well… Staffs are very very friendly and nice and atmosphere of the store is good. For the brunch menu, it was just normal not bad but not so good. But the house made scorn was sooo delicious!
I will go again just for scorn. Not for brunch.

Brunch is bad. Had the eggs benedict. Bland thick hollandaise, practically solid, eggs were poached too long. Came with cheap homefries. No fruit. 2 stars because my friend enjoyed her french toast somewhat. But seriously, why offer brunch at all? Or find a new cook.

Came here last year but I think it has changed hands since. Its not as cosy as it was but the food was actually great. I had the Jambalaya (PIC attached) which had some nice heat and great flavour. Food arrived promptly and service was friendly and helpful. Shame its lost its old cosy feel but recommended in the food at least.

As an update: I received an apology and explanation for the quality of my meal from someone at the Butler’s Pantry. Truth be told, the menu clearly states that hash browns are served with their eggs benedict as opposed to home fries, as I mistakenly stated.
Though I certainly appreciate what I believe is honest concern about my experience as a customer from the management, the fact remains that NO cook worth their salt could possibly have been proud of serving frozen hash brown patties and bland eggs benedict. An A for service; an F for food.

This place is terrible. Just terrible. Wandered in with my brother for dinner. First thing we noticed was that the restaurant was empty, which is never a good sign. We sat down and ordered a pitcher and quickly noticed it would have been cheaper to simply drink by the pint. In any event…
We ordered the baba ganouche to start — bland bland bland. The cucumber was good at least.
I had the bulgogi and my bro had the curry. The bulgogi must have been pressed salt formed to look like real food. It was almost unbearable. The curry was bland and we were only able to find three pieces of meat in it. It was really quite terrible.
We complained and the server told us that the quality was not great. I told her they better get their act in gear. We left and grabbed some fast food on the way home.
If I could give a 0 I would. Do not eat here!

This place will be my new brunch spot! Great menu that infuses different cuisines into your breakfast and lunch favourites. Grab a seat near the window, enjoy your coffee of choice and get hungry. My choice the governor sandwich (back bacon, melted Cheese, artisan bread smeared with hot mustard paired with a creamy split lentil soup) can’t wait to come back and try something else.

Hubby and I stopped in for a lunch yesterday. The food was ok but bland bland bland… his eggs benedict –nothing to it. Just ok, very bland hollandaise.
I tried the Egyptian style lential/​rice/​tomato sauce dish. I would expect some flavour to pop if the food is middle eastern style, instead the tomato sauce was like the tomato sauce found on Cabbage rolls (and to boot, there was cabbage in it… don’t recall cabbage being an ingredient in many Middle Eastern Dishes but anyway…), and it too, was bland. Season your food, people.
Bonus points for the fresh, crisp salads and house made dressings, we enjoyed those. If the food was as seasoned as your salad dressings that would help.

Cozy restaurant in a great location. The food fusions are «interesting», and offer a mishmash of ethnic cuisine. My sultan sandwich was a paratha stuffed with seasoned beef, red onions, and a tamarind dressing. Light in flavour, nice presentation. My friend had the lamb moussaka and it was like one she’d never had — I don’t mean that in a good way. The texture of the lamb was tough and the seasoning on the dish was not kind on the tastebuds. Service was attentive and friendly. If we go back, we will definitely not be ordering the moussaka.

whilst strolling/​shopping along Roncesvalles one sunday afternoon (discovering half the stores in Roncy are closed sundays :() and getting a bit peckish, my friend and i initially brushed off this place upon seeing the menu. it flashed ASIAN FUSION and marked the restaurant as CONFUSED: in an instant glance there was Indian, Korean, Morrocan, Greek, Cajun… the list goes on.
in any case, we saw there was still a few customers inside and figured we’d give it a shot (+points for lots of veggie options).
sandwich costs are comparable to that of a café’s, but I was not impressed with my crab sandwich. THE DUCHESS is described as «Shredded crab salad with old white cheddar served on toasted rye bread». it fails to mention that it was imitation crab — which I would eat normally anyways, but I ordered with the craving for real crab meat. no wonder the sandwich was so cheap ($ 5.25). come to think of it, I don’t recall tasting cheese either.
it comes with a slice of pickle and measly slice of raw carrot.
.at least the bread was well toasted.
a lady at the next table ordered a slice of chocolate cake and the serving was massive. perhaps there’s hope for this joint but, with the variety of other options in this area, it’s unlikely i’ll be back.

This is a no-​frills casual spot that offers many interesting entrees (most are $ 10 or less) — most come with a hearty salad with amazing homemade dressing which is like a sweet/​spicy french dressing. The jambalaya is my fav and have been ordering it for over 20 years — highly recommend!
They always have a great selection of cakes –I think Dufflet and some local bakers — never been disappointed with the quality of their cakes/​pies (always fresh).
Good brunch spot on weekends — excellent french toast (baked, so very light), real maple syrup, topped with real whipped cream and fresh fruit. Coffee is decent but won’t over impress — but always fresh.
Service can be slow at times as there is only ever one server but I think it’s worth it (hence the 4 stars).

The casual, cozy atmosphere and the longevity of this place in the neighbourhood drew us in but the food was unimpressive. A worse discovery perhaps was that they microwave the food.
We sat in the back section and while we waited for our wine to be served I observed the cook in the kitchen. As she plated food I noticed her taking the dishes out of the microwave.
I mentioned to the waitress what I’d seen and asked if our food would be microwaved. She explained it’s how the kitchen staff reheats the food and that yes, our soup and our main would be reheated by microwave. Since I’m a firm believer that microwaves don’t belong in food and vice versa, I asked if the kitchen would heat our food by stove-​top or oven and after checking in with the cooks she said they would but that it would slow down our service. We were ok with the compromise and we waited.
The food wasn’t good — the soup tasted of salty, powdered soup base, the fishcakes were plainly fishy, and our main, the Kosharee, tasted like bland lentils and rice dowsed in tomato paste.
Needless to say this meal was disappointing and I won’t frequent the Butler’s Pantry again.

We walked by there today and gave it a try.
it was really awesome from beginning to end.
especially the homemade scone… mmm. the salmon benedict… perfect. si was the club sandwich.
service was incredibly friendly… we will be back there for sure

Had brunch here with my mom this morning and was quite disappointed. They had only a handful of brunch options, which was a good indicator that this is not a place that focuses on brunch. I ordered the eggs benedict (no bacon) and a cappuccino. The eggs benedict wasn’t that good, the eggs themselves were cooked okay but the hollandaise was subpar and whatever combination of spices they sprinkled on the top was not pleasant as well the english muffin was very soggy and unappetizing. The hashbrowns served with it were decent but seemed like they might have been the frozen from a box kind. My cappuccino wasn’t bad, it was a bit too weak though, the taste of milk was very apparent, which isn’t something I like so it definitely needed to be stronger. Service was standard. Atmosphere was good. Overall it wasn’t horrid, but I wouldn’t go back.

Sat in a group of 6 and the food took 55 minutes to start arriving. Also, one of us got told her dish was not available 45 minutes after we ordered. Luckily she ordered a starter so she did not go hungry.
For some reason they only had 1 waitress running around the whole time. She barely stopped by our table and thus did not see our need for more water.
Variety of food on the menu and good portion sizes. I like their salad dressing. Had the jambalaya — wasn’t bad.
It’s too bad the wait was so long.

Personally, The Butler’s Pantry (chain) used to be one of my favourite places to pass by on a lazy Saturday/​Sunday Brunch or Lunch. In fact, one of my favourite dishes use to be the Tandoori Chicken Penne.
However the food for the most part has fallen in quality over the last 5 years or so and it is no longer the delight that it once was.
Now this location, unlike the one in the Annex has a bit more charm in the interior decour, although this really only extends to the first section when you come in as the back look a bit like the back of a Coffee shop. So in other words, an after thought, mostly meant to squeeze in more customers.
Now as far as the drinks, they are reasonably priced, specially the cheapish wine so on paper this is a great little place to squander a few hours. In practice however, I used to live in the area many years ago and I only bothered to visit this place twice, and just for limited drinks. Since if you are looking for a better overall dinner experience, or a fun night out, Butler’s here is outmatched by places like Gate 403, or The Local and even All That Jazz Café, all just a few doors away.
Unfortunately, this location, thanks to its lack of a patio, feels more like a glorified café than an eatery. Only go there when you are dressed in your pijamas and are not too picky about having pre-​heated food.
It only gets an extra star above two due to the nice, friendly waitress and my subjectively fond memories.

Inside I sat myself of course next to the Cake Fridge as I notice the single server working away. A Daughter/​Mother team did the same while the waitress walked to the back. Another group walked in and went to the back, that’s how I figured out the back has seating too. When the waitress got back, we got Menus and took our order/​drink. She was very Friendly I found, but she had her hands full even at 50% resto capacity on this Weeknight.
Chicken Bastilla Pie ($ 11.95) served simply, no razzle dazzle. As the person next time me noted, «Family Style» meal. It was Comfort Food with a TWIST because this dish in particular brings Moroccan flavours noticed within the Spices used. You can see the Pie as if you’re at home passing it around and each taking a slice.
Cinnamon/​Almond/​Egg mixture was in an obvious layer that brings a sweetness/​crunchiness which tops the Chicken/​Mushroom provides the COMFORT side much like a Chicken Pot Pie however it wasn’t with Gravy but a Sauce that I couldn’t distinguish however noticed a bit of Yellow (Turmeric?). The Phyllo was done up well like how most Greek Phyllo Pastries are but this one was definitely Buttery Crust.
I’m not wow’d but at the same time it did serve it’s purpose of a good nutritional meal if you don’t over-​analyze it. It’s not a Dinner Date you plan in advance, it’s more like last-​second decision you walk inside with your Pajamas and eat your home cooked meal (cooked by others) that gives a bit of difference than your Campbell’s Chunky.
BP shows me Moroccan dishes aren’t just Tagines and Cous Cous. Thank you.