Shelley S.
Yelp
I have lived in Victoria a long time and have always wanted to go to The Mint. Well, we chose to go Oct 12, 2015 (yes very old review, posted somewhere else and now here). The menu said Mango drinks were on for $8/drink and all proceeds go to the Earthquake Relief from earlier in the year. My friends and I thought that's a great idea since we wanted to have probably 3-4 drinks each and some food, so may as well have proceeds go to a good cause! Well, we walk down the stairs around 9pm and it's so loud you can't hear even someone yelling next to you, and we're just standing in the doorway, not near the speakers. Sign said please wait to be seated, so we waited. A lady sat us right next to the speakers and the door, so it was chilly and loud. We asked to be moved but she said the other tables required more than 2 people (they were further back and sat 4 people). Admittedly it was pretty busy, but I saw 4 tables open near the back where it was quieter! So we were disappointed and had to end up TEXTING each other to talk for the entire time we were there. I'm sorry but it's a RESTAURANT, not a nightclub. No music should be that loud.
We asked for water when we sat down and both ordered a Mango Drink and Samosas to start. The waitress left our drinks sitting on the bar for over 15 mins, despite our best efforts to wave her down like a maniac cause it's not like she could HEAR us. She finally brought us the drinks and water at the same time. In total we waited 25 just for our drinks and just over an hour to get the samosas. The drink was terrible. It tastes NOTHING like mango, and was so strong with alcohol and some weird liquorice flavour that it numbed my mouth. We inquired with the waitress before hand and she said it was a sweet drink. This was not sweet at all. After waiting 15 more mins, finally waived her down and explained it tasted like pure alcohol and liquorice. She took them back and we got our new drinks right away. They tasted the exact same. I sent it back and told her we don't want them they're nothing like how she described, but told her to keep the two drinks on the bill.
Finally our samosas arrived and just like the drinks they were overpowered with fennel and some other ingredient that should not be in samosas. They also tasted burnt. I get it's a fusion restaurant but my god it was absolutely terrible. That and the waitress must never have had the samosas or drinks because they tasted nothing like how she described. If you haven't tried it, don't lie, just say you're not sure! She took them back as well after we told her they weren't good and no we don't want anything else, just the bill. She just rolled her eyes at us and mumbled something. Didn't even try to apologize or anything.
So now we have a massive headache, are still hungry, and annoyed and to top it off, they didn't give a discount for the samosas. We took one bite and sent it back. I was happy to pay the bill for the drinks though.
All in all, customer service was complete SHIT, the food and drinks were terrible and the atmosphere was just as awful! We will never be going there again and I've told all of my friends and coworkers, so they've been avoiding it too. If I could give them 0 stars, I would!