Turtle Jack's Guelph

Went to Turtle Jacks with a large group. Called ahead to have tables put together etc. Once we arrived the staff was scrambling to get the seating. When we all sat down, our waitress didn't come to our table for 15 mins. Once we gave our orders we did not see the waitress for the entire meal. Everything was cold, tasted rotten and the nachos were disgusting. Drinks were never refilled and we had to flag down another staff member to get the bill. Very disappointed, we spent over $100 and left hungry and unsatisfied.

I went here years ago and were in the area so decided to go again it was good. But now what happened looks old and let go the food is over priced and just ok.i thought is was weird it was empty at 5pm on a Saturday night but now I know why it's sad to see this place now I enjoy it years ago too bad

My experience was absolutely terrible. Our food was cold, dry, Absolutely no flavor. I would not recommend this restaurant. The bathrooms were absolutely disgusting as well as the rest of the restaurant being very dirty. Very, very disappointed.

Why are the staff here so god awful to the customers here? This is either a shining example of why you should treat your employees better and a poor reflection of this restaurant's management OR it's slim pickings for good help these days Best of luck to them whoever eats here lol. …

Only giving 1 star as I have to give something. Poor service, wait staff sat us, took our order and never came back. Seats are falling apart and looks very run down. Mango salmon as a feature on their menu was terrible, had absolutely no flavor. Would not recommend this restaurant to anyone!

Unfortunately this was a disappointment to our first Turtle Jacks experience. We went in with high hopes and it was quickly turned around. The building was very run down. Bathrooms were filthy, no toilet paper and out of order signs on half the services. The food took a very long time, almost an hour to arrive, for two meals and a kids meal. The fish and chips were pure grease and the chicken wrap was extremely dry. The kids hamburger was burnt and tasted like cardboard. I saw they turned people away at 7 even though they were open until 8. The food was extremely over priced for the quality and quantity. The server was nice but we very rarely saw her and needed to ask for things like cutlery and napkins which we thought was standard. Overall, an unfortunate experience and hoping not all Turtle Jacks give this experience.

Absolutely discussing bathroom, wallpapers falling off walls, no toilet paper in any stall, If bathroom is indicative of food quality stay way clear of this place. It was at 2pm so no excuse it was in that shape. I've been in outhouses that were in better quality. You can tell Management doesn't keep up with maintenance. Or care about this Location. Corporate needs a surprise visit. I Feel sorry for waitresses because they were really pleasant and welcoming.

Would not recommend dessert "Fire & Ice". Just a ball of vanilla ice cream rolled in cinnamon; they tell you it's fried but it's not. Nothing special.

Our appetizer and entrees however were exceptionally good; we ordered the blackened chicken and chicken parmesan. Would definitely order these menu items again. Delicious!

The manager came across as having a zero interest in customer satisfaction or creating a welcoming atmosphere. She brought us our appetizer without so much as a smile and there was no acknowledgment when we thanked her. She didn't offer any napkins or side plates and seemed to have a general disinterest in customer satisfaction.

We mentioned to the server that the Fire and Ice dessert did not look fried. Server asked the manager about this who told her it's only fried for 1-2 seconds. I could accept that rationale had manager come out from behind her bar perch to see for herself whether it looked like our desert had been prepared properly.

The server was excellent but Ive rated the service as one star because of the manager.

Turtle Jack's guelph is a great place to bring the family.that is if your in the mood for s**t food and terrible service. With a fine layer of dirt and grime on every surface that would rival a soup kitchen, and bathrooms so filthy your better off using the gas station next door. Seriously your better off going to MacDonalds.:)

Always close early. Says open until 8pm but they do last orders at 7pm? Love the food but it’s so slow and service is terrible because management won’t allow enough people on the floor.

Went here for dinner on a Friday night.waited a while to be seated, not a single staff member to be seen. Restaurant was empty except for 1 other table.the food was mediocre. The one upside to our experience was our friendly at least friendly. Wouldn’t recommend overall. 2 stars at best

Stopped for dinner. Service was good, ordered the Muskoka burger and fries. Food was warm and tasted good

They close at 8pm. I get there at 6: 55pm and both waitresses are in the kitchen talking to the cook. They come out at 7: 01pm and tell me they have already had last call. I asked what do you mean? She said “we’re closing early, look at the place we only have two tables full. ” So I leave. As I’m looking up another restaurant, two more cars pull in. Were they turned away? Just gave up money cause it’s slow? Will not be going back and it was recommended to me. Will make sure my company doesn’t go there if possible.

Hours say open until 8. We went just before 7 and waited until someone could seat us. When someone finally came to greet us, we were told no more customers after 7. We got there before 7 but they waited until after 7 to tell us that. What an absolute joke of a place.

My girlfriend and I went for drinks and appetizers before a movie. The service was horrible. It was not very busy but we waited at least 10 minutes to be seated. The group in front of us decided to leave saying they'd been waiting for 20 minutes. When we finally got seated, we waited at least 20 minutes for our order to be taken, another 30 minutes for 2 appetizers, then at least 30 minutes after we were done eating to get the bill. At one point we asked for napkins because none were brought out with the food; the waitress said sure but 15 minutes later with her walking past us at least 3 times, nothing. The drinks were very tasty and the food was solid if a bit expensive. Overall, it took about 2 hours for 2 drinks and 2 appetizers. Don't go here unless you're ready to wait a long time.

Turtle Jacks has been open in Guelph since 1992, making it 30 years old this year. Unfortunately TJ's has not aged its 30 years well. I've lived in Guelph all my life and my wife and I have frequented TJ's more often than I could count. It was our go to place for date night. Over the 30 years we've seen it go through a slow decline, which I suspect is management's plan to bleed what money they can out of it before it gets closed down - probably this year. When it originally opened in 1992 it was one of Guelph's most popular restaurants. Wait time were long to get in. Today it is a tired dirty eatery with peeling paint, filthy washrooms, limited hours and a non existent clientele. It looks generally tired and ready to lie down and die. Which brings me to today's experience. My wife and I dropped in today Sunday around 3: 30 in the afternoon. There was one waitress and one bartender, and I assume a cook somewhere in the back. We were seated on the patio, which hasn't seen a lick of paint since it's opening in 1992. Correction, the plexiglass panels have been replaced but no one had the energy to clean off the chalked on numbers sequencing them during installation. The waitress was friendly and promptly took our drink order. Given that there were only two other customers I suspect this was not a stretch. We eventually ordered the Turkey and Goat Cheese on Naan, which was very good (hence the 2 rating). Upon leaving my wife went to use the washroom. What she found was a toilet that overflowed when flushed, paper towels thrown in an out-of-order since to cover up the mess, two working sinks that hadn't been cleaned in weeks and filthy floors. She mentioned this to the staff who snickered. When walking back to the table she noticed that the floor was thick with dirt and hadn't been swept in weeks.
Give how dirty the areas are that you could see we wondered about areas you could not see - such as the kitchen. We made a pledge that this would be our last visit to TJ's. In closing, I don't blame the staff. I blame the owners. They have obviously decided to let the place die a slow death by not investing a cent in maintenance and upkeep with the hope they can continue to bleed money till it goes into cardiac arrest. Sad to see it go.

Well this was a waste of time. Saturday of a long weekend, maybe 6 tables had people at them. Server forgot cutlery, ketchup, children's drinks, gravy. My fajita wrap had less meat on it than a taco bell item. I'll never return to this brutal establishment

Second visit to this location.will NEVER be back.
Service is so slow. Food was really decent for chain style restaurant. Seats are worn out and torn, bathrooms nasty, it was so stuffy and warm in there.
Whole place should be bulldozed.

First time I’ve been here and probably won’t be coming back anytime soon. Got my wife’s order wrong. Never offered anything for the inconvenience. My wife ate it because the waitress was so slow we didn’t want to wait for the proper order. Went back on the Aug 30/22. Sat for 15 minutes before we got up and left. Walk right past the lady that sat us at the table. Didn’t even fizzle her that we where leaving.

Dine in experience was not the best. We had a great server that went on break. Her replacement was not good at all. She came to our table with air pods in her ear and was not paying attention. We all ordered 3 fajita wraps. The wraps consisted of rice with crumbs of what seemed to be chicken. The food was very bland. One of us ordered no cheese due to medical reasons. While the lady with the air pods came out she was not sure which order was which. We had 3 flies circling around landing on us while we ate. Overall, not the best experience. This was my first time trying turtle jacks and this will be my last. There were also customers standing at the door waiting to be served for so long then came in looking for some one to help to be told to “find a place wherever. What a joke.

Servers are rude specially the lady with a lot of makeup not sure with the name (hausai) her colleague told me. She literally said either wait for order or leave. Worst place in guelph to pick order.

Recommendation for the owner your business is in danger

Took one look at their menu, with it's exorbitantly inflated prices.and walked out. 6 wings for 13.25? 15 wings 36 bucks.wings and ribs? A mortgage payment.are you kidding? We decided to check out park eatery.that review is much better

Please don’t buy the fish and chips from those guy’s.they literally messed up my order. And now I’m not feeling well, My roommate and I both got food poisoning thanks to you.

We stop for for beer and food, but half of the menu items it wasn't available. We just drink a beer and left.

A once great restaurant has fallen on hard times. I've had a loyalty card since they were first given out years ago, but won't be going back. The table was sticky, the pop was flat. The fries were over done. The wings were dry. The service was slow. We asked for new fries but they never came. Our waitress finally asked if we wanted them to go, which we did not. We'd been done a long time and just wanted to get the heck out of there. Of course they still charged us for the fries. Will be taking our business to Wild Wings and Beer Town from now on.

Interesting experience here this week. We originally walked in and there were only a couple tables in the restaurant. Their patio however was 75% full.
A server approached us and a group ahead of us and said that they were not seating as the kitchen was too backed up.
We stepped out but decided to pop back in to see if it would be ok just to grab a drink at the bar and no food as we were waiting to catch a movie. When we went back in to ask 30 seconds later a different server came up to us and said the kitchen was fine and they were seating again.
As I understand a lot of places are short staffed right now I appreciate not continuing to seat when food times are high but might suggest some sort of wait-list procedure in the future.

The Ceasar was good, although more spicy than when my Indian friends cook spicy dishes lol. Be aware! However the patio has totally ripped out, and dirty table cloths. I don't understand why they don't change them. Just buy a few at Dolloramma? It looks filthy as it is. There were even dry white spots. Looked like bird poop. Can't tell. But would go back but please just change the table cloths. Reviews have been mentioning it for a year. Should learn from the comments at least

Updated 2022, food is the only reason they got one star. Super super slow service, waitress was really inattentive. Took last call for food at 7: 15pm?
Won't be back, don't recommended

The service was great. The wings and ribs were delicious.
It was nice to finally be out in a restaurant.

This place is junk! Waited forever for our server to come take our drink order then waited along time for them to arrive at table even though there was like no one in the resturant.ordered food everyones meal came except my mother inlaws quesadilla that took another 15/20 mins to come and we had to go back to the kitchen and ask where it was and our server was just back there hanging out on her phone. Ordered my 1 yr old a grilled cheese it was hard as a rock he couldnt eat it! Bathrooms are disgusting!

Went for lunch. Took over 25 minutes to be first greeted and served a drink. Ordered the hell of a burger which came out extremely pink. Server Hosay was terrible… no apologies… basically said nothing at all the entire meal. Additional drinks took over 15 minutes, restaurant was not busy. Still charged full although my burger was sent back. Would never return.

Used to visit this place a lot with friends, family and coworkers and loved going there. There was a change in management in the recent years. I’m not shocked to see that the new management/owners are the reason for all the one star reviews. Save your time and money and go somewhere else.

Horrible experience. Waited 10 mins to be seated, another 20 mins for someone to come ask for our drink orders after we were seated, then the food took another hour, no one came to refill our drinks or check on us the entire time. We could've walked out without paying and no one would've noticed. We had to literally go and find someone to pay our bill so we could leave because there was no one around and no one came back, we had been done our meal for half an hour. Will NEVER be back.

This is a great place to visit with family and friends. We loved the ambience and food was of great quality. Hospitality was great! I would recommend people to visit this place and Mahima was great.thanks

We were looked after by Georgia who, despite being very new, for an AMAZING job. They were short staffed but that didn't stop Georgia from making out experience enjoyable.
Great work Georgia.
Oh yeah, the food. Also AMAZING!

The food was fine but the restaurant was freezing cold. You could tell they were refusing to put on the heat. We could see our breath in the bathrooms. We also had to glad someone down to pay BC no one checked on us for over 40 mins. I understand it's hard to keep staff but if you're open and taking money you must provide good service.

Went in on a Tuesday for lunch. Had to wait a long time to be seated, then a very long time for them to take my order, then a very very long time for them to bring the food. Was nearly there for 2 hours. They got my one sons order wrong, didn’t even offer to refund the cost of the missed item. My other son got a premium $20 burger, it had some disgusting cheese curd sauce on it, that was flavourless with a horrible texture. After gagging, he couldn’t take another bite. Still, no offer of refund. Waitress didn’t even come around to notice this until everyone was done eating and was ready to go. This place is a disappointment. Will be going to Mandarine next time before we go to the movies. Overpriced and underperforming.

BTW, that generic email ‘response’ gets absolutely no response. Thought I would give it a try, zero response. Man this place must be burning money by the bucketloads and just doesn’t seem to care.

Staff was very kind. Service was a little slow considering it wasn't busy.
Ladies bathroom needs attention. Sign on door states it is cleaned every 30 minutes, but based on condition, this is very doubtful.

I am a big fan of the Turtle Jacks in Port Carling - always one of my favourites! Stopped at the Guelph location for a Friday lunch while travelling. We were seated quickly and our waitress was friendly but it took 1 hour to get our food and she forgot about us after the first 20 minutes. The food was good. The restaurant seems in need of some TLC. The leather seats of the booths were cracked and torn. The washroom was not very clean. This location is certainly not up to Port Carling standards.

Very disappointed as I have dined here before and am a fan of the franchise. This location is filthy with leaking refrigerators flooding the bar area floor which was rectified by erecting a “Wet Floor” placard. The washroom was absolutely disgusting and had not been cleaned in weeks. The inspection sign in the door indicated it as cleaned every 30 minutes, that needs to be changed to “days” if not “weeks”. The floor around the urinals was black from footprints that had clearly been there so long it was impossible to tell what color the tile was. I did not dare touch a fixture. The vinyl on the booths was cracked and worn and needs replacing. The food as actually passable however it took 40 minutes to get. As stated, I love Turtle Jacks having been introduced to the chain in Port Carling many years ago, however I will not step foot in this one again.

$100 for a dry turkey sandwich n wrap with fries 2 drinks what a rip off for pub food. Could’ve got a steak n lobster at the keg for that price!

I am sure not to spread bad reviews if it’s not deserved, and am understanding of a shortage in staff and lockdown measures. However, I placed a pickup order after 5 phone calls attempting to place an order, only to show up at the requested time (1.5hr in advance), and I had to wait at the door for 20 minutes before receiving my meal. Not what I expected, definitely room for improvement. Will give it another chance at some point.

Great place to eat, nice clean restaurant, wonderful staff and great service. Lots of food choices for gluten free allergies.

I purchased the veggie fajitas and they were absolutely amazing. Very fresh, and an extremely good portion. The quality and quantity of the food you get makes sense for the price. Although I do wish it was cheaper so I could go more often.

Very disappointed with our meal. French onion soup came with one slice of Swiss cheese and maybe 10 croutons. The rest of our food was over priced also and a disappointment. I am sorry for this review but get it together! Other restaurants in your league are doing a stellar job with take out.

Absolutely a place worth trying, the food is excellent and well prepared, the costs are reasonable and it is regularly clean here. Keep it up.

Was eating dinner here the other night when an employee (who was very pleasant to us) was fired right in the middle of the dining floor. Was unprofessional and seemed like an attempt to publicly embarrass the employee. Really didn’t feel good about eating here after that, don’t want to support these type of management practices

The management here is rude and discourteous with little regard for staff or customers. I witnessed some sort of administrative discipline or termination carried out on the dining room floor. This is a humiliating and traumatic experience for the staff member and for customers. I will not be returning to this store.

Service was slow. Was not busy but we were seated beside a bucket and a wet floor sign the entire time. Made one feel there was a leak right beside us. My husband had Greek salad with salmon. The piece of salmon was so small and thin. I had the goat cheese chicken which was bland except for the chicken. Won't go back.

Our server was courteous, and did a great job. However the management was awful to deal with and very unprofessional, absolutely ruining the experience. Hopefully the management changes and I can consider returning again.

Turtle Jack's provides a comfortable and inviting atmosphere, friendly and attentive staff and a diverse menu filled with high quality entrées. I recently visited this location with a group of 5 people for lunch and was extremely impressed with the speed at which we were seated, as well as how quickly our orders were taken. Our food was prepared in a timely manner and all of our food served collectively.

It is refreshing to visit an establishment that delivers both great food and great service simultaneously, creating a pleasant dining experience for all of its guests. I would strongly recommend this venue to others looking for a reasonably priced, well established restaurant for lunch of dinner.

My personal choice was the Yellow Coconut Curry Bowl with shrimp which came as a generously sized portion and exceeded my expectations in every way. This particular dish was delicious and left me wanting more.

Hubby and I stopped in, hadn't been in awhile, won't be for awhile again.
Pricey for what you get. I ordered the Chicken Quesadilla $14.99.though it WAS tasty. Very Little Chicken on it. I mean barely a tablespoon or two of diced chicken.thank goodness for the salsa and sour cream that came with it.
Drink specials are a good deal, found menu pricing a little much.

Great food options for under $25. Lots of TVs to watch whatever event you want and a friendly staff making sure everything is alright.

I have been to places where it is pricey and you dont get your money's worth. This place is not so.it is awesome. Food is great environment is great, staff great. I was blown away with the taste and presentation of the food.definitely will go back.

We arrived at 12: 05pm, ordered 2 salads and we were served at 12: 45pm. Was not busy. If you have an hour for lunch I do not recommend TJs

Giving 4 because the food was good. Waited 20mins for service, eventually went looking for a server, who said she didn't even know we were there. Long wait for food but food was v good. Good job it was good as no one came to ask if it was ok. Table beside us complained and they gave them 50% off the bill.

My hubby and I stopped by during our travels the past week and were seated quickly. It was a really busy Saturday afternoon but the service was really good. Our server Shawna was very friendly and recommended the Penne with new york butter sauce and I was very pleased with my meal. Despite the busy atmosphere we were left satisfied and would return.

Had a wonderful steak dinner. They were very busy but they told us that at the start. We were not in a hurry so the night was very relaxed and turned out perfect.

Been here a few times before, usually service is mediocre and slow but food is good. Tonight we had Monica as our server and had a much better experience.

The food is generally good and the atmosphere is comfortable.

The wings and fingers are above average

For starters they have a serious cockroach problem. I was sitting there with my daughter and a girlfriend and we noticed one crawl down the wood paneling onto our table and then across MY PLATE. Not that I was impressed with the quality of the salad anyways, it was brown, wilted and tasted of mould. The older female manager on duty did absolutely nothing about it. Our server apologized and informed us about some disgusting information about the manager on duty before we witnessed her quitting on the spot. Wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone.

Totally left out the Turkey in the California turkey sandwich. Otherwise food was good. Would go back and give it another try.

I ordered the classic burger, and like another review the edges were burned crisp. The fries were small, very hard, shouldnt even have been served. Another side was offered, which I declined as I wanted fries. Service was slow. First time there, last time there.

Very nice reception by the hostesses. Menus are clean as well as the tables. Server was very friendly and offered suggestions. Lots of food choice at a good value.

Have been a few times and the place is going downhill, latch on washroom broken, bent door, sticky floor and stained ceiling with mismatched light bulbs and garbage overflowwing. Port Carling and Burlington locations are of a much higher standard. As for the food its a bit pricey for the portion, apps definately not worth the money, My wifes veggie burger arrived blackened and the white sliced bread fried and cut in half to accompany the soup and salad was a sad attempt at crustini or garlic toast or ciabatta, server didn't seem to care or offer a manager, good thing I didn't choke on the large piece of bay leaf in the chowder but at least I knew it was made in house. Next time we'll go to Boreallis, same cost with whole lot better experience. Dissappointing how the copy cat restaurants arrive and fade so fast and that 12-14 dollar meals are now costing 20.

Poor service. Only people in the restaurant and it was incredibly slow that we were there for at least twice as long as we had planned on. Won’t be returning.

Nice clean restaurant, friendly staff. GYOZA SHRIMP DUMPLINGS and
ROASTED GARLIC CHICKEN ROLLS were delicious! 3 cheese dip was not good at all.

This place is A1. Everytime I come the staff are what makes it. A little while back, a group of us went after losing a close friend to us. Things were still pretty fresh and I guess it was pretty obvious we were hurting. We chose Turtle Jacks as a place to all meet. The staff either found out or caught on and couldn't have treated us better if they tried.

Food is central to any establishment (and it's good here). But it's the staff that really matters and this place has it.

Thank you for being kind and great!