Symposium Cafe Restaurant & Lounge - Guelph, Ontario

We have been loyal customers to Symposium for a long time. Today was our first visit since the menu change and it was extremely disappointing. Shrink-flation at its finest. The prices are higher, the portions are smaller and some of the food quality has changed. Do not order the braised ribs- ... they are not worth it. For 35 dollars you get two small pieces of ribs with a sprinkle of potatoes and veg. You are better off going to the Keg or Montana's. The calamari portion has shrunk and the price is more and the children's chicken fingers have changed. My girls loved them but wouldn't touch them today. Our server was lovely and apologetic (not her fault obviously) She made the evening out worth while. Thanks Abby. We don't know about returning now which is a shame because this was one of our favourite dinner spots Read more

Loved the place, specially the patio, food was great and service was excellent.

Came by for dinner with family for spouses birthday. The atmosphere was very calming, and the service was good. The manager was very kind, and had a good attitude. The food was to my surprise delicious! Finding more and more restaurants not tasting as good, so when I tasted my ... food I was pleasantly surprised with how good it was! Even the desserts were good and very filling! I would come again, and I would recommend! Read more

My husband and I came in for lunch today having never tried Symposium before. Our waiter was super friendly and did a great job through our time at the cafe. The problem is the food. We had the warm spinach dip to start, my husband had the Symposium burger and I ... had the vegetarian wrap with Caesar salad. Now, the Caesar salad was great, and the flavors of the other things were good, but good God they use so much oil that I had to hold my wrap with a napkin. And my husband's hamburger bun had disintegrated before he could even get a proper bite in. The dip even was solid oil. All we could taste, even after eating the dessert (which was great btw and I can see why Symposium is famous for dessert), was oil. There was no flavor left behind because of how oily everything was. I didn't expect that coming here and especially didn't think that it would be the case with a vegetarian wrap. You can literally see in the one picture how bad the oil was for even one part of my wrap; the other side was so wet the wrap had disintegrated basically. So while the service was great, and the dessert was really nice, I don't think we will be coming back here due to the food and the fact that it was almost $100 for our food when it didn't feel worth it. Read more

Came in for dinner today, was our first time here and Francesco was an amazing server! He made some awesome recommendations for food, and everything was delicious! Drinks were also so good! I definitely recommend and will definitely be coming back soon!