On the Avenue - Windsor

On Saturday night, I dined at this restaurant with a group of 16 people. It took us 45 minutes to receive water. The view of Detroit from the restaurant was nice, but overall, I would not recommend this place. The food was decent, but the service was terrible. Gratuity was already included on the bill, which was frustrating. I would suggest going to The Keg instead, where you will receive better service at a lower cost.

I was not impressed with the food at this restaurant. The service was slow and not very attentive.

My first night for dinner was a bit iffy as there were not many clients but the server chose to all but ignore myself and another guest. I did complain to the manager and he was very apologetic. On my second night my server, Tanya, was great. Didn't need to keep asking for service as she was very attentive to myself and all her clients. Would still recommend this restaurant as the food is excellent and a lot of Windsorites do eat there not just the guests of the hotel. Thank you to Art the owner for the wine and interesting conversation.

That seems to be an oxymoron in itself. Yet that was our experience at On The Avenue at the Holiday Inn in Downtown Windsor. We stayed at the hotel as the floors in our home were being refinished. We found a great place to stay and now we have a terrific place to eat when we come downtown in the future. The restaurant is under new management having been taken over just over a month or two ago. New staff members are being trained, the menu will be updated, new decor is being proposed and the owners are trying to figure out new ways of attracting people to their restaurant. Being considered as an example is live music at dinner meals with jazz in particular. I expect that they will try out over the next few months many different things to find the formula that will work. We were at the restaurant long enough to work our way through a good part of their menu and my wife and I never experienced a bad meal at all in all the meals that we had. We dined outside of the restaurant a few times but we came back quite often not just because the weather outside was awful, cold and windy, but because the food was well-prepared and plentiful with prices that were quite reasonable as well. That is a combination that draws me to a restaurant time after time. Just to give you an idea of how well we were treated by the new owners, my wife and I really enjoyed the coffee that they served. I believe that it was a blend from Mother Parker’s coffee that was Rainforest Alliance Certified. As we approached the front desk one night, I was called over by one of the managers and presented with a coffee cup. I had no idea why he was giving me that until I looked inside. There, ground-up, was a coffee cup full of the beans that we liked so much to take home with us! The new owners gave that to us as a treat. During our stay, they also gave us a free dessert compliments of the house. With that kind of treatment, it made it difficult for us to dine anywhere else. Our first meal there that both of us had was sizzling chicken fajitas. The size of one meal was enough for 2 people at least given all the chicken along with tortillas, rice, lettuce, cheese and salsa. In fact, my daughter joined us one night for dinner and took home a doggie bag for the next day. My son did that as well with the ribs that he ordered even after sharing some of them with his mother and me. I love restaurants with lots of food where I don’t go away feeling hungry. We were both careful about the quantities of food that we ate and so had salads usually at lunchtime. My wife would sometimes order a grilled salmon, luncheon sized, with her salad and I would usually order one of their soups. The soups tasted homemade, especially the chicken soup that went well with the cold damp weather. I also tried a number of their other soups including different variations of tomato and a beef barley. Their French onion soup was extremely cheesy as it should be and a meal in itself. The one good thing about the soups other than their taste obviously was the fact that they were not overly salted as many restaurants do. Dinners were very good. Salmon was again a choice for my wife along with grilled chicken breasts. A huge portion of 2 chicken breasts, tasty, meaty and properly spiced with rice and a side order of vegetables was ordered on a couple of occasions. My craving for meat was suitably filled by their 8 ounce burgers. The burgers were a great choice especially when they were on special for $4.99. They were thick, juicy and beautifully prepared. I would wager that they are as good as any in the City. However, it was their 10 ounce steak which was the hit of our stay. My wife ordered it first and I was so delighted at it from the piece that she shared with me that I ordered it at another meal. With soup or salad and potato, it was priced I believe at $14.99. You just cannot get a better steak of such quality and size, prepared so well, for so low an amount that I have been able to find anywhere in town before. It is a real treat. Of course, I expect that the University and College students would fill the place on the night when they offered their $.40 chicken wings special! Oh to be young again and to be able to do that kind of stuff. Naturally, we had breakfasts there. It was the usual type of breakfast meal but without the usual high hotel prices. We would try to order the “healthy breakfast” most often or I would just order a fruit cup with cottage cheese and a bagel. The good part was that they would “custom make” the fruit cup just with the fruit that we liked. The staff was very accommodating, especially when we asked for some changes to a particular meal on the menu, and very friendly. They always tried very hard to please. I liked especially that they remembered our room number when I wanted to charge the meal. It showed to me that we were more than just another patron to them. We probably ate there more often than we expected. But then again, why not when one enjoys it. The big challenge will be whether or not the owners can attract enough Windsorites and tourists to come to the restaurant along with hotel guests to be successful. With all the negative publicity about the downtown, that will be something that they are going to have to try very hard to overcome. The owners are enthusiastic about their chances of success reminding me that they would not have put their savings into the business if they thought that it would fail. If they can maintain the food quality, keep prices reasonable, provide friendly and efficient service and offer something unique at meal times to attract people to their restaurant, then there is no reason why they cannot be a huge success.

This restaurant is situated in the same shopping plaza as Art Van. They offer a selection of clothing specifically designed for women aged 35 and older. Occasionally, they have sales events.