Mel's Tea Room - Sackville

A classic! One of the best REAL milkshakes I've had in a LONG LONG time. Burgers were great. However not a fan of the dark style fries. Hand-cut does not have to result in darkened and soggy fries. The oil is either too old or the wrong temperature. Better to have crisp and light fries, especially with the poutine!

We've been to Mel's a few times before and had no plans to return due to the terrible service we recently experienced. However, we knew that in order to finally share a review, we had to return and try our luck again. My partner ordered the hot turkey sandwich with fries. I had the club sandwich with fries. Both were very good. Their fries and doughnuts are home-made and excellent. We have no complaints about the food. The real story here is the appalling service, a repeat of our previous experience. A new server, in training, took our order. She was lovely and efficient. The irony is that the woman training her was the very person who provided terrible service during our last visit and the very last person who should train anyone. Sadly, a shift change seemed to take place during our meal, as our lovely trainee server disappeared. After our food was served, not once did anyone check on our table or offer refills on my partner's coffee. I walked over to the counter to ask for a refill of coffee for my partner, more hot water for my tea, and a doughnut. The server who I approached explained that there was no coffee left in the pot and asked if I would mind waiting. I said that was fine. Why did it take my request for a single refill for the server to realize that there was no coffee available? If someone had bothered to offer refills to customers, the availability of coffee would have become quickly apparent. The were only three tables occupied, including ours, so the restaurant was not busy by any means. There was no walk-in take out traffic that might have explained the non-existent service. The staff chose to congregate in the kitchen chatting and ignore the few customers they had. After some time had passed, I had to approach the same server to ask for my doughnut and hot water for my tea. Several minutes later, the doughnut and hot water arrived, but no refill of coffee. My partner gave up on a refill of his coffee and we approached the counter to pay our bill. We make it a habit of keeping our receipt wherever we eat. Asking to keep our receipt created quite a production. The server who still seemed totally unaware that she forgot about the coffee refill, said that she couldn't let us keep our receipt and would have to write a new one. Interestingly, the hand-written receipt didn't even say the name of the restaurant. That seemed fishy and was first for us. Is a hand written receipt really the only way this restaurant keeps track of customer orders? Keeping the kitchen stocked and the accounts in order must be a joy. Bottom line, this restaurant desperately needs new management and new servers. We will not return. If this Sackville icon does not address its lousy service, I'm afraid that its days are numbered. Especially given the number of new spots that continue to open nearby. The washrooms are miniscule, in need of a thorough cleaning, and there was no toilet paper in the women's washroom.

Excellent milkshakes I had the butterscotch which was the perfect combo of sweet and salty. Great selection of loose tea. Service was fantastic as well. Highly recommended.

I don't recommend eating here. Food quality is low, service isn't great either. Staff treat the place like their own living room. We had cheap processed cheese on cheap white bread, overcooked onion rings, smoked meat sandwich (more like corned beef, unashamedly piled in the middle of the sandwich to make it look bigger). Coffee was good. Wasn't offered a refill. Kid liked the milk shake but for the price it should have been made with hard ice cream.

Fucking experience like 12 dollars for a poutine an milk shack I could of got other stuff but good asf would recommend I rich and famous tho