Lapointe's: Not the Catch of the Day

For someone who calls himself a foodie, I don't go out to restaurants as much as you would think. When I do, it would be to celebrate an event of some kind, or as part of a date night. On one of those date nights a few years ago, my wife and I, after wandering around the Market for a while, decided to try Lapointe's Fish Market Restaurant. We enjoyed the food there that day and we both added Lapointe's to our list of favorite restaurants. Unfortunately, this is not now the case for either of us.

The first time we were there, I ordered the halibut fish and chips, and Dawn had the calamari. I’m not a big fish eater, but I enjoyed my order, the batter was crispy, the fish was nicely cooked, and the tartar sauce was so good, I only used the ketchup for my fries. Dawn liked her plate of calamari, saying it was the best she had ever eaten, neither rubbery, or over-fried, served with a spicy dipping sauce. Even though it was a busy Friday night, we received our orders in a reasonable amount of time. We both looked forward to our next outing at what we thought was our new go-to restaurant for seafood.  When that Friday night come around sometime later, we again went with the fish and chips with some calamari as an appetizer. Our meal was good, but it didn’t blow us away as it did the first time. We both chalked it up to an off night in the kitchen, and we still considered Lapointe's a good place to go for a meal. That all come to an end during our next outing there.

Unlike the previous times, we went on a weekday as we were celebrating my birthday. Even though there were few people in the restaurant, we still had to wait five minutes to be seated. Once we were seated, there was another long wait to get our drink orders placed, and another long wait to get our water glasses filled. Then for whatever reason, despite there being plenty of empty tables throughout the place they seated another patron so close to us you would have thought it was a table for three. The final straw came when a group of people came in, and were seated and got their orders placed before us. We got up and left. Someone who I assumed was the manager asked us in passing if everything was alright, and I told him “No, it isn’t!” as we made our way up to street level. The evening was salvaged when we decided to go across the street to Coasters Seafood Grill. The difference was like night and day. Even though it was busy and we had to wait for a table, we were served drinks from the bar in an area off to the side of the entrance. When we got our table, the wait staff didn’t think it was beneath them to actually do their jobs, and took our order. The experience at Lapointe's turned Dawn off seafood for the evening and she ordered the cheeseburger platter. As I was still in the mood for something from the sea, I went with the all-you-can-eat mussels served in a garlic and white wine sauce. We were both satisfied with our choices, and have gone back to Coasters since then. Fortunately neither the food nor the service declined in our subsequent visits.

I have never had as bad an experience at a restaurant as I did at Lapointe’s before or since that evening. When Dawn called the restaurant to complain the next day, the manager apologized profusely, and mailed us a gift certificate for a complimentary meal. That free meal voucher was included with the gift we gave to a couple we knew who were getting married. Despite learning the restaurant is under new management since our last visit, we have not been back to the York St. location, nor have we gone to any of Lapointe’s other locations. As far as I’m concerned, when a restaurant allows its standards to fall off the charts this badly, they should never be given a second chance. I’m not expecting a perfect time every time I go out to eat at a restaurant, but I shouldn’t leave a place with that bad a taste in my mouth without even getting served one forkful of food. This restaurant is definitely the one that got away.