Christopher's

I would like to congratulate Bruce Barnes on his successful takeover of Christophers Casual Dining. He is revitalizing the menu and bringing in many new exciting specials that are sure to please all. All the best to Bruce and the rest of the Christophers staff!

Christophers, a restaurant that was recently in a downward slide after losing Chef Melissa Yarascavitch and mismanagement is finally seeming to rebound back!
New owner Bruce Barnes has kept the same menu thus far but has started adding a lot of creativity to his daily specials. Before, the specials were getting stale, you'd only see 3 or 4 items rotated constantly, not much of a special.

Talking to staff I find out that he is in the stages of revamping the rest of the menu, keeping the old favourites that have been the reason Christopher's has been relatively popular and adding some new and exciting dishes to the mix. Hurray for the long time visitors to Christophers!

I also add that the staff seems to be much more relaxed and happy now. There used to be a lot of tension in the kitchen and it spilled over into the dining room. After hearing owner Ross yell at our waitress one night, she came to our table in tears. Certainly, it didn't seem like a pleasant working environment and it never made our dinners very relaxing either. You can now see waitstaff and owner Barnes conversing frequently and laughing together. He's found the secret to making his staff happy and it will pay off with a lower employee turnover.

I encourage Barnes to upgrade his desserts (as mentioned below) in his menu upheaval. There are always favourites, but after coming to the restaurant for 5 years, we are ready for a couple of changes.

I also applaud Barnes for supporting former employees and displaying the business cards of Chef Melissa. We were very pleased to find out that we could once again talk to her and when the need arises, hire her for catering and desserts. Perhaps Barnes and her could team up on the dessert issue.

5 months ago, I would have given Christophers a rating of about 5 overall. It had just gone downhill so much. I am very pleased with the new changes and hope to continue visiting Christophers for a long time.

Frequent visitors to Christopher's we have always enjoyed decent food for decent prices but are finding lately that it's all getting a little boring. I understand that there is a new owner now but nothing has changed. The desserts are ALWAYS the same, the menu is ALWAYS the same, there seems to be no variety.

I love cheesecake and buttertarts but how about having weekly specials, changing things up a bit? I would love to see some new desserts (rice pudding is just getting old), a different kind of roll at the beginning of our meal (they're always rock hard and usually cold) and just overall a little bit of creativity from the kitchen staff.

Over the last few months in general we have found Christopher's to be in a downhill decline. There were some very quick staffing changes and the old owner was running another business and I think this has affected the business. We used to always get a warm "hello" from the girl in the kitchen, now there's a cook who just glares at us like we are disturbing him.

Overall, a pleasant experience, EXACTLY THE SAME AS EVERY OTHER VISIT.

We get Christophers a few times a month for take-out. It's fast, fresh and very tasty. Always a great treat, and change from the everyday bagged lunch.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!

Dinner was mediocre..again.

I heard that chef mellissa is at verses, that's where i'm going next time.`

The food at christopher's is usually pretty good but this week we were rather disappointed. The fish used to be exceptionally fresh and my favourite part was watching the girl in the kitchen hand-dip each piece. Now with a new cooks in the kitchen we noticed that the fish was already pre-fried and stored on top of the oven (isn't that a health hazard?) and they threw it back in the fryer to heat it up. Not at all what we were expecting.

considering the place wasn't very busy there were dirty tables and service was a little slow. the breakfast special was okay although my poached soft eggs were definitely more medium. the french toast was undercooked and still soggy in the middle, not pleasant. all in all, okay but not great

first timer, quiche was slightly cold but great flavour

cook in kitchen has temper, could hear swearing from back, ruined the experience

Introduced to Christopher's back in the fall, I have been visiting on a regular basis since then.

I am always pleased with the service, our waiter tonight was very helpful, suggesting dishes for us and giving us his opinions.

I have been finding on my last few visits that the owner? is very short and rude with staff and this definitely affects our dining experience. There was a female chef in the kitchen for the majority of our visits until recently and always very accomodating and friendly. One time she even helped with a recipe for a dish I wanted to create! She no longer seems to be there and am a little disappointed. Does anyone know where she went?

The food tonight was good, not as great as usual but staffing changes will do that. I'm sure that in a few months Christopher's will be back to "normal".

All in all, a pleasant evening.

We were disappointed to see that chef mellissa is no longer working evenings... she was always very accomodating to making the dishes to our specific needs without issue... christophers has lost a piece of it's charm

the pennes were good, a little more tomato and a little less cream would have been welcome, though the rest of the pasta made up for it.

as always, service was great, never any complaints about allison

still a favourite in our book!