How Axia in Mississauga has progressed over the past couple of months

Axia Restaurant in Mississauga opened fall last year. If you look at ResToronto Reviews, you can see that in the beginning days there have been some service problems. Also, if you look at my previous post you can also see some of the service problems I've personally experienced.

I visited Axia again a weekend ago. So the question is, has the service changed?

My friend and I made reservations for a Saturday night. A couple weeks before that I had tried to get in there on a Saturday and the wait was an hour. I decided better be safe and made the reservation. When we got there there were plenty of seats so reservations weren't necessary.
The most important change is that service has improved. They are more attentive and quicker than they were when I first visited. The waitress was continuously checking up on us to make sure we had everything we needed.
I did have a couple of problems with my drinks however. Other tables were getting ice water to drink but my water was always room temperature. Additionally, the lemon ice tea they advertise is from a can - I don't suggest it!
I had the galbi bbq which was (as always) delicious. The cheques were given quickly, and we were personaly given a mint as we walked out the door!

So I'm happy to report that service has improved immensely.

Miga Korean & Japanese BBQ in Mississauga

I went out for lunch with my boyfriend on Saturday. Miga used to be St. Huberts about 2 or 3 years ago and is right beside Happy Court. We got there around 1pm and there was about 5 people in line ahead of us. There was no one at the counter to seat anyone and we had to wait for about 5 minutes for there to even be someone to come up to the front to acknowledge that there were people waiting at the door. We were seated within 10-15 minutes of walking into the restaurant. It's one thing not to be seated when the restaurant is busy, but it is something completely different to not be seated because there is no one to seat you.
Once we were seated, we browsed the fairly extensive menu. There's a good selection of Korean and Japanese food. We settled on 2 lunch specials and some beef dumplings. The dumplings were pretty good, and they didn't take long to arrive. We had the LA style beef and some pork. Both were tastey. Although I admit that I thought we were going to get to barbeque on the grill. I guess the lunch specials are pre-cooked.
Once we finished our lunch, we had to wait about 10-15 minutes to get the attention of someone in the restaurant to come give us our bill (forget about trying to get your plates cleared away). The bill was brought back to us, and the price was ok. About $20 per person for a fair amount of food (you get salad, soup, sides, and an orange with your meal). But once we had left our credit card there, it took another 10 or so minutes to get them to come pick it up!!! The service was just appaling in terms of waiting for someone to come serve you.
Good food, not great service.

For more reviews on Miga, see ResToronto Reviews.

Axia in Mississauga, Take 2

Unless I've had a really bad experience, I'm usually willing to get restaurants a second chance. It's not really like this one NEEDED it, as I probably would have gone back anyways. It's just that in the previous visit, the restaurant was a bit... raw I guess is the best way to describe it. Axia had just opened and it was obvious a few kinks needed to be worked out. This time round? Much better!
I brough my boyfriend this time, who is part Korean, and told him to decide what to order for us off the Korean section of the menu. I had some Green Tea, and he had a soda. Delicious tea, but lots of leftover leaves in the bottom (that's been happening to me a lot at home these days too and it drives me nuts!). However, major improvement #1 because last time we went, the tea came after the meal! Since the menu is so large, it took us about 5-10 minutes to figure out what we wanted. Our waiter came back 3 times to ask if we were ready. It didn't bother me, but I think it bothered my boyfriend. Once we had finally decided, we ordered, and our waiter actually asked if we wanted our appetizer with the meal or before hand! Major improvement #2! The mandu dumplings were delicious!! Yum Yum, I'm drooling just thinking about them. Our meals were also brought together - major improvement #3! My boyfriend ordered Bulgogi and I ordered Galbi. They were all brought at the same time, with the sides and the rice! My Galbi was delicious! I tried my boyfriend's Bulgogi, which was good, but no where near as good as my Galbi! Yummy again!
Still, this is an expensive place to eat. Lunch cost us (including tip) $45. Steep price! I think they should lower the price of the appetizers, because they're just as pricey as the main courses, so it's like eating for 3 if 2 people share an appetizer. They've done well in the month or two they've been open!

For more reviews on Axia, see ResToronto Reviews of Axia.

Final lunch @ Korean Grill House (Korean BBQ) in Toronto

My final day at work today saw a group of us at the Korean Grill House on Queen Street West in Toronto. I've been to Korean BBQ before and quite enjoyed it so I was looking forward to this restaurant. We had made reservations so once we got there we were seated immediately. Unfortunately, since each table has a grill in it (or more than one grill), you can't move tables around to sit with a large group. Our group ended up taking up 3 tables. We ordered the all you can eat meat, with extra short ribs. You're given quite a selection of food! There are all the regular Korean/Asian foods, like kimchi, sprouts, tofu and sticky rice. Then there was chicken, beef, and pork (as well as the short ribs) to cook on the grill.

That is the main reason for coming to this place. It is a lot of fun to cook your food, even though you may think that you could do that at home, so why bother coming to a restaurant. But the service here is excellent. They are very quick with bringing more meat, more rice, more drinks, more napkins, anything you need really.

The atmosphere is somewhat less appealing. I found it kind of dark and dingy looking, and the chairs aren't that comfortable.

The cost of the food is a little pricey, but you leave with a full stomach (and then some!!!).

For more reviews on Korean Grill House, see ResToronto Reviews for Korean Grill House.