Windsor Arms Hotel Reviews

I love the feel of this hotel. It is meticulously maintained, the lobby is beautiful. Our junior suite was very comfortable. The room was clean and well appointed. I would definitely return for another stay. Great location.

Unfortunately, I would agree with a previous reviewer that service here is not what you would expect (ie. not up to par) for this kind of establishment. The Sunday brunch managerial staff particularly, Nick and Ben, did not put customer satisfaction as their main priority. Kindness and a smile would have won the day. Instead, due to their obstinate adherence for a suggestion which I view as trivial and inconsequential, they have injured this establishment s reputation, replacing it with one for poor service and losing a repeat valued customer. I would not recommend this hotel in the future as a result. It used to be a great place, but I can see it has lost its standards and priorities, sadly.

We were part of a wedding party over 2 days and found the facility to be very fresh and wonderfully representative of the period of old movie stars. The staff and last minute questions and requests were answered and resolved with efficiency and care both personally and for the full wedding arrangements. I would have no hesitation recommending the Windsor Arms to anyone.

Wonderful hotel. Quaint and lovely rooms. Beautiful pool. Great little getaway hotel for out of towners and toronto stay-cationers

My wife and I have been going annually to Windsor Arms for brunch for the last 4 years perusing online savings coupons. The first year, it was the priciest but offered a large variety of delicious fare in a buffet setting (same format of serving to date). My wife and I right away noticed the change in hostess' attitude when we informed her of the coupon we wished to use (requirement for redeeming). Wait staff seemed just as uninterested thereafter with little desire to check on us while we dined. I've felt service levels improved marginally over the last 3 years while food variety has gotten less. Dessert table, in my last visit, was 1/4 the size it used to be; rest of the buffet is selective but still high in quality and taste. Service levels are much improved now with an obvious desire to make patrons feel welcomed. Chef at the omelette station is always very attentive to our dietary needs. My wife and I will continue our annual tradition of visiting Windsor Arms for our anniversary brunch which in the past has been solely for the food.

we went for winterlicious lunch menu.... to say it was disappointing would be kind.... for such a beautiful setting the food was such a terrible letdown....bland, flavourless, eating was a chore instead of a pleasure..... should remove itself from winterlicious participant

Luxurious, iconic, traditional decor... great place to stay!

Guests were evacuated from hotel after a 15 minute exploratory period to determine the cause of the emergency. Hotel concierge was rude and not accommodating and did not handle the situation in a professional manner. I would advise against staying at this property not only for safety concerns but for their lack of hospitality.

Great atmosphere and food. Air ventilation was poor and could use improvement but a great venue otherwise

DO NOT plan your wedding, corporate or special event here you may lose your deposit. I lost several thousand dollars when they refused to return an event security deposit by making up fake charges and damages that never occurred. Later on I learned they are notorious for doing this on a regular basis as it appears to be part of their business plan to ruin your special day.

Be Warned

Came for high tea with my mother for mother s day. The food was great and the dining area was beautiful. Service was ok. My biggest issue was after we finished eating we decided to try on some tea hats for fun, went to the front desk to ask where to put the donation and the man there was incredibly rude. He was a short, older, bald man in a blue suit (a manager I suppose) and he was just awful. Extremely rude and didn t even look at me while speaking to me. He honestly ruined the experience for me. I was so upset when I left.

This place has history and atmosphere.and class. We went for high tea recently and felt perfectly Royal! Delicious, on site cooking and prep. Classy unhurried staff .

The Windsor Arms is truly one of the most beautiful spots in Toronto. It s regal decor is unlike anything I have ever seen and I knew I wanted to get married there within the first few minutes of our tour.

My wedding was the best day of my life. The Windsor Arm s food is delicious, our wedding suite was beautiful and the entire evening moved very smoothly. In our suite, The Windsor Arms treated us with champagne, desserts I recognized from their high tea menu and a personal note hand-written by our account rep.

However, working with the Windsor Arms was stressful in the month leading up to our wedding - there were a number of miscommunications and misunderstandings with the Windsor Arms which resulted in heated conversations and ultimately, additional fees that I wish we were informed about sooner. Additionally, I met with the venue owner in person 10 days before our wedding. He was rude, critical of the requests my wedding coordinator had made and brushed aside my concerns. I left the meeting in tears feeling disrespected and bullied.

Ultimately, everything worked. However, the short comings of the client service cannot go unmentioned.

Some friends and I came here for afternoon tea and it was lovely! There's a hat room where you can pay $5 (it goes to charity) to borrow a hat.

The scones were probably my favourite part of the tray

Overpriced and not worth it. Mediocre service and hotel. Bed sheets were not the cleanest. Room was not worth the price. Food was way overpriced and not pleasant to eat all all. The food tasted like it was microwaved from the week before. Tomatoes even had some mold on it. Do not waste your time and money!!

Stay away! Really rude management staff and toxic environment.

Had tea about 3 weeks ago and never again. I phoned even to speak with the careering manager, Kim, and she didn t have the decency to call back.
Had a allergy to fish, let them know well in advance, yet still got served fish 2 times!! When I explained it to the server twice, I was met with attitude and went on about how he is short staffed and informed me not to blame him.
He was visible annoyed and brought the tea and food to our table and walked away with no explanation. Had to eavesdrop on another table to know what anything was. Clearly we were not a priority table or even visible. Had to ask 5 times for water and recieved it with the bill. At 60.00 per person, it is outrageous how we were treated. Unprofessional and awful experience. Will not be back and have been vocal about the experience to my network.

We had a private function in the Russian room. The staff was friendly and the room was very well decorated. The scones were wonderful with my chai tea.

The overall experience of having high tea at the Windsor as hotel was fun! The tea was yummy and the scones were delightful but everything else was pretty mediocre. The petit sandwiches had stale bread and had visibly been sitting around for some time... the desserts on top did not interest us at all and were pretty disappointing. You d think at such a high end hotel they d make the food fresh to order and use fresh ingredients.

Went for afternoon tea on a weekday and it was lovely. Good prices and lovely decor. Food was alright, but overall enjoyed it.

What an incredible hotel, great location and friendly staff. Highly recommended

Dinner for 4 in the Living Room. Everyone enjoyed their dinner.. I had beef tenderloin and it was fabulous. Ambiance was comfortable and chique and service was courteous and prompt yet not overwhelming. Overall great experience!

An elegant boutique hotel with plush interiors, rich wood, spacious rooms, good spa services and fine dining. Ron Burgundy would approve. Kidding asude, the rooms are simply amazing (you get what you pay for) and the dining has twice been spectacular under two different chefs. In the 70s and 80s my dad was the pianist at "The 22", an onsite piano bar that was once very hip and upscale. It's long gone (along with the rest of the Minden legacy) and, sadly, the current lounge is a disappointing feature of the hotel. The hotel is now better known for a high tea service, not cool cocktails. I miss the old days, but The Windsor Arms is still an excellent Old Toronto fixture well worth a visit or a stay.

Horrible experience: do not book your wedding here! The venue is a beautiful setting. The management is a nightmare to deal with. Take away message: Rot in this case starts from the top.
Dealing with the Windsor Arms difficult. Here are some key issues we had:
- High turnover of catering managers (dealt with 3). Responses were often lacking unless it was related to payment. The Catering Manager we had was personable -- however, two weeks before our wedding, we found out ONLY through calling (they didn t call us), that she was no longer with the organization. We had to ask/take initiative ourselves since much of the info was not forthcoming. We asked for a meeting (2 weeks prior to our wedding) with the new co-ordinator (the sales manager) which included the owner.
- The owner was rude and unhelpful at the meeting. Most of the answers to our questions were along the lines of "we can't accommodate that". Basically, our reasonable requests (which we had already discussed in detail and agreed with the previous coordinator in writing) were all shot down by the owner.
- Furthermore, we had been told because they could not produce our "cake substitute" for a reasonable price, that our "cake substitute" (Donuts) could be purchased outside and delivered in. Not only did the owner tell us that we could NOT have outside food brought in and that they would NOT allow the baker to set up (again, this was previously discussed and agreed upon with the previous coordinator), but he also had the nerve to (two weeks before the wedding) tell us that we were being charged a 5.00/person cake cutting fee! (the previous coordinator had promised this fee would be waived, considering we had no cake, and there was no cutting involved).
I would not recommend the Windsor Arms hotel as you may have to deal with last minute changes that are not small. You will be forced to deal with prolonged non-transparent communication. The whole experience has left a sour taste.

The service for a 5 star hotel was terrible. We were celebrating a girlfriends engagement and went to the spa and booked a suit for the night. At the spa we ordered food before our nails.. it took an hour to get the food and when we asked if they could just bring us our drinks while we waited we were told no because it has to all come up together. After our nails we proceeded to go to our room, which was beautiful. Unfortunately, the front desk was frazzled and we had no butler help us with our bags. In the morning we had breakfast (that was included in our stay) they only had eggs, cereal, bananas, apples and muffins..that is not a five star breakfast. The coffee was cold and when asked for gluten free bread they charged an extra fee of 12 dollars. When I complained, the manager of the restaurant proceeded to yell at me. The GM Kim also was not apologetic and told me that it was an upcharge since they had to go to a lot of work to make it.. they had to take the bread out of the bag and toast it. Wasn t until I told them my family are regulars there did she take it off the bill. Safe to say that me and my family won t be returning ... shangri la is the place to go if you want a five star experience in Toronto!

Had afternoon tea, food was okay. The staff was very friendly.

Really nice high tea experience. Not cheap but also not too expensive (it is high tea after all). The setting was nice and the service was great. My only issue was that when they serve black tea, there is no way to remove the tea leaves so they keep steeping even though most black teas should not steep for too long (I learned that Lapsang Suchong is not very good when it s steeped for too long).

The weekend and holiday afternoon tea is pricier, but the menu is better too. Great selection of teas!

Had the High Tea. Lovely selection of savoury and sweet treats. The scones are very fresh and come with an assortment of jams and clotted cream. Nice selection of teas all in a gorgeous location.

Very cool hotel. Historical. Like stepping back into the roaring 20s

A shadow of its former glory: sunday brunch still pops but don't see the beautiful people hanging out anymore. Still a big buffet with a wide variety...come hungry and go home broke.

The kosher restaurant option here is as good as it gets in Toronto.

Awful service!! We arrived at 7 am to make our check in and they told us that our room will be available at 3pm with no manners and a very bad attitude. The place is old and in no good shape. Plenty of better options in Toronto

My mother and I had tea in the tea room and it was very nice. The food was lovely and the service was good. I would say I wish there was an option to try a few types of tea instead of only being able to pick up. Just some food for thought.

I visited the Windsor arms hotel for the high tea. I felt underdressed , but thebservice food and tea was delicious. Definitely a good venue for low key bachelorettes .

Gave wrong service and terrible staff - GO to another spa.

One of the best places to have afternoon tea in the city. The atmosphere is wonderful, there's a selection of great teas, and the price is not too bad for what you're getting.

Unfortunately, I have to include my stressful experience of booking a wedding ceremony and reception here. I now understand why the Windsor Arms is not exactly known for weddings. Kitchen messed up 2 out of 3 entrees at the reception (the fish and vegetarian dishes) by substituting cheaper ingredients. We had this in our contact and also sampled what was supposed to be served at the tasting. 2 days before the event they asked for more money for alcohol claiming they would stop serving alcohol at the event if we didn't pay. The original agreement was a consumption bar, with us paying the extra if we went over our estimate. We paid the extra $2000 up front and they were supposed refund us the extra back whatever was left over. They have not provided us an account of what was consumed and ignored emails/phone calls for the past 2 months. The staff we have dealt with have been very passive-agressive, I can't believe the business practices of a hotel held in such high regard.

We dealt with no fewer than 4 catering managers from the time we booked until the day of the wedding, with no continuity whatsoever. Many complimentary things which were agreed upon at the beginning were not honoured, such a room to get hair/makeup done in, use of the hall for a rehearsal, tasting for 4, cake cutting fee, and tealights at each table. I ended up having to book an expensive suite for the night before just to ensure I would have a hassle-free place to have getting ready photos done. We couldn't use the hall for a rehearsal as they kept putting us off and then booked a high school prom the night before. They told us the tasting was only for 2 people and any additional guests would have to pay $100 each. We also had to pay almost $1000 for a cake cutting fee, when we were told before that by getting cupcakes we could avoid this cost.

I would say the hotel is fine for dinners/hotel stays/spa, but avoid booking any type of event here unless you don't care about money or people honouring commitments.

My friends booked spa and high team at the Windsor Arms. Unfortunately my belated birthday outing was dampened by the lack of service at the hotel. The spa got my service completely wrong as well as the time! When we comfronted the management about the dissatisfaction experience -- we recieved a complacent "sorry" without any gesture to indicate that they cared! I would highly recommend AGAINST planning any future functions here. Don't risk it. Too many other great spas and high tea options in Toronto -- with better service and price points!

I went for high tea. It was very nice. The food was delicious and so was the tea. Pip pip.

High tea in the purple room was great! The food was flavorful and fresh and a nice change from some of the bland sandwiches at other high tea in Toronto!

Lovely staff. Nice rooms. The toilet paper was less then satisfactory.

Great service and excellent facilities. Beautiful patio, pool and overall charm of the place.

The history of this hotel is spectacular. Staff were very friendly and everything was kept very clean.

Stayed here for our wedding - Absolutely the best service from all their staff. Wonderful atmosphere and beautiful hotel. SPA was beautiful and their on-site restaurant and afternoon tea rooms are second to none. Our experience exceeded all of our expectations and beyond.

held a bridal shower high tea at the Windsor Arms and I have to say, it was absolutely lovely! Right from the very beginning, Gavin, Jordan and Marieka were kind, attentive. They made this experience for us! Thank you so much for all the extra things you went out of your way to do for our tea. The establishment itself is beautiful! Crystal chandelier , lux wall paper , the place settings at the table were beautiful! I loved the tea I had chosen and the tea trays had delicious and beautiful scones, sandwiches and pastries. Thank you so much for your kindness and your patience it was so appreciated. You really made the brides day special. We will definitely be back.

The setting for high tea at Windsor Arms was beautiful, service was great, the foods looks good but taste wise wasn't extraordinary. Good experience overall nonetheless

Attended a wedding event, the location was convenient and it was gorgeous. The turkey entree however was very dry, but the stuffing was good.

If you are looking for a classic Afternoon Tea this is the place. A full range of teas on offer brewed for your pleasure. The cake stand contains fancy sandwiches, scones and dainties. A nice range of cocktails if you want something stronger. Various cosy rooms and attentive and professional service. A lovely Toronto tradition in an elegant setting.

Has very British old charm. Lunch of green salad and leek with asparagus soup was tasty. Wait staff were attentive.

First time on March 9. The room was well decorated and gave it a classical feel like I was in a different era.

The teas we good, one of them seemed over steeped though. The scones, quiche and biscuits were wonderful, the sandwiches were lack lustre and a bit dry. Desserts were good as well.

Service was below par. It wasn't busy for a 12:30pm reservation for a 2 hour seating. The server wasn't charming, only refilled tea and asked us once how it was going. This would've been a 4 star review if he didn't ruin the end of it (his name is Milon, something like that by the way). I was paying cash, 60.50 (the bill was 56.25) and didn't really want to tip the 15% standard as although food was good, the service wasn't there. We couldve eaten somewhere else better for that money. Anyways, he looked and asked me if I'm going to tip. I said yes but after i get change. He proceeds to tell me they have labour, food, etc to pay for. So i felt obligated to pay 15% which was undeserved. He also mistreated my guests telling one of them to hurry up so she can pay (as shes packing food to go) and my other guests bag was on the other end and wanted to wait for guest 1. He handed the bag to her and placed it on her lap so she can pay...he ruined the end of that service. For a place that's "high end", servers shouldnt be treating guests like that period. Don't think I'll come back. People should remember that first impressions do matter.

My friends and I had afternoon tea there. The service and food was great.

Great location in Yorkville. Paid parking close by. Hotel is a little on the old side but that seems to add to the charm of it. I added their afternoon tea. The service and atmosphere were great. They have a great selection of teas which the staff is very knowledgeable of. The food was okay.

Went for High Tea with my Mum. Only mediocre service from our older male waiter. Delicious sandwiches, scones and sweets. Pricey but a fun treat.

Last year's visit Included this wonderful place. My cousins took me here for high tea and it was amazing! I love tea time, and I love all the goodies that come with it. I will definitely be taking my aunts here if we make it up! Inside still had the Victorian feel and the chandelier was fantastic!

I was there for the afternoon tea. It was a lovely experience.

Really nice and great experience. The staff was very friendly and everything was delicious. Definitely pricey but you pay for the high tea experience.

One of the worst experiences I ve ever had at any hotel. The front desk has no sense of customer service- rude, disrespectful, I could go on. Even the manager could learn a thing or 2. They will take your money and not care about compensating you when you run into issues at their hotel due to their negligence. I would not recommend this hotel to anyone. Take your money elsewhere.

Went there for their afternoon tea - the quality of Tea is excellent. The quality of food was average. The scone was too crumbly. Smoked salmon was left outside for too long. Desserts were not tasty enough. Floor was a bit dirty - found Christmas decorations on the floor in February.

Terrible Xmas dinner. 30 Minutes for our drinks. A lot of people were in the same as my Party. A lot of people walked out. Another big problem. This was a buffet. They ran out of food. A tray of 20 oysters for 120 people. So everyone one had to wait. Other main courses in the buffet were ran out. So everyone had to wait. Worst dinner ever. Totally unprepared and I do not recommend it. As well, friends of ours went to dinner at the Windsor arms and were VERY disappointed as well.

We had over 3 different servers. And notice only 1 Computer terminal for all 7 servers. They all had to line up. Don't waste your MONEY.

Terribly overpriced tea service. Definitely not worth your time or your money

Went here for lunch with a group of 8. Some of us liked the food others did not. Food was very slow to come... when we asked why they said because there were room service orders.

Went to look at the Windsor arms as a possible wedding venue. Staff there is excellent and the event room looks incredible

We went for afternoon tea on 2- Jan-2017, At the time of booking we were told that it would be regular price. When the bill came they charged us holiday price. Even their website stated that holiday price ends on 1-January. Asked for manager, this guy appeared with no badge or ID, was very rude and did not want to address the price issue. Went to get our coats and this same guy was looking after the coat rack. This is pretty awful for a coat rack person to pretend to be a manager in a so called high class hotel.

Went here for high tea for a friend's birthday. It was nice and service was friendly.

I had high tea at Windsor Arms for my bachelorette party. It was a wonderful experience! The room was gorgeous, the food was delicious, and they were very thoughtful with respect to dietary restrictions. The staff were also quite helpful and attentive. All in all, a wonderful experience.

Great rooms, nicely renovated, great bar. Need PARKING space

Lovely staff, service was excellent and the food was delicious. Loved my visit for brunch on a Sunday April 8th. We're planning to go again for certain.

Beautiful afternoon tea - food is delicious, service courteous, surroundings lovely. Perfect for a special occasion eg baby/wedding shower.

Afternoon tea is nice - atmosphere is pretty and what you expect but the food is just ok which is not great considering the price. Would be nice if they offered a kids menu/price.

Awesome place to stay. The rooms are well equipped with great amenities. Rooms are nice, spacious, clean and the atmosphere was great. The bed was super comfortable. Room service was fast. Staff was friendly and helpful.

I am giving no star to their management and service on Christmas day (today), December 2014, and suggest no one should deserve such an awful and disrespectful experience with President George (hotel, restaurants etc.).

Our relatives from Austin, Texas are visiting us during this holiday season, and we decided to revisit The Courtyard Cafe for their Christmas brunch at 1PM sitting. I personally walked into the hotel reception and paid in FULL ($866.71 including gratuity) via my MasterCard for a 10 people booking on November 19th for today's meal (mind that this is already ridiculous requesting a client to walk into the building and complete a monetary transaction before the event date, instead of doing a basic reservation via the phone). An official physical invoice was issued at the reception area that day, and our card statement just arrived a few days prior and showed that this transaction has been completed.

When we arrived, our table was reserved under my name for 10 guests, and had no problem at this point. The meal and service itself was already not as good compare to our prior experience 3 years ago (back then it offered crab legs). When we decided to leave around 2:20PM, we ordered the bill and mentioned that we have already completed our transaction back in November, and would pay the extras if there was a difference. Since we did not bring the paper invoice, we suggested the management to check their database for the transaction. I even offered my transacted credit card so that they could trace the record, and offered my driver license at the reception. George not even accused us of being a scam and fraud, and was extremely snobbish and refused to perform any checking. He even fooled my husband to pay again on the spot (over $750, but we refused to sign), and tried to make us exit the hotel. At the end I called MasterCard myself for the proof of transaction (and again George refused to have a conversation with the rep from MasterCard), and the rep suggested that this became a dispute, flagged it in the MasterCard database system and could go ahead with the police if we would like to. Obviously today is the festive day of the year and our guests were with us, as such we decided not to do so.

We are extremely upset about this sub-par and scammy treatment from this once prestigious hotel in Toronto, and the management style is execrable. FYI we were not the only party that was complaining about payments at the front lobby area when this was happening. I do not recommend anyone to visit until there is a change management in the future.