Bill's Pit North - Vaughan

We have been going to Bill's since they were at Jane and Wilson many many years ago. A classic steak house worth all the fixings, where the owner is cooking and may even help serve you.! While the current location isn't perfect, once you find it, it is easy to get to, loads of free parking, convenient. The restaurant inside is well designed, spotless and inviting. The food is always fresh and well prepared. Nothing fancy, but excellent quality. We go for steaks, but the fish and ribs and pastas and specials like Rabbit or Osso buco have also been delicious. They also carry a good wine list. Please call ahead as if you are a bigger group they will need extra staff-it is a quiet location that you wouldn't need to go to unless you were visiting the restaurant and it can be quiet on weeknights. When you do go, Trust that you will be treated with the care and service and respect and warmth that hardly exists anymore in restaurants. Frank the owner would make sure of it.

This so-called steakhouse, serves steak that is perhaps a tad better than airline quality meat that’s been overcooked and almost tasteless! The restaurant was virtually empty and there’s a good reason for this. The appetizers were only OK but we were ready to give them a pass on the apps.But the steak! I love steak and have been going to traditional steakhouses for 45 years. I think I’ve left a steak unfinished perhaps twice including our visit to this restaurant. And that includes also when perhaps the steaks weren't great, but at least they were passable, and who likes to make a scene.I’d ordered a rare steak. It arrived at best, medium rare. I decided I just had to return the steak and showed the waiter that the meat was definitely not rare. However, he asked me to cut into the middle of the steak, something I found quite odd. It still looked overcooked to me and he took the steak back. A minute later the chef/owner appeared with my original steak CUT IN HALF! He pointed out to me that the steak was indeed rare and had a cold centre (it didn’t,) and if any rarer he told me that the whole steak would be raw. Really? To make matters worse he displayed an aggressive demeanour and I know he’d have taken the steak back if I’d held my ground, but I decided that it wasn’t worthwhile and that for all intents and purposes the meal experience had been ruined at that point. As any good restaurateur would know, even if I was wrong about the lack of rareness of the steak (and I most certainly was not,) there should have been no argument whatsoever and a better prepared steak should have been delivered. I could say more, but you get the message. I will never return and I would never recommend this restaurant.

Our experience at Bill's Pit was so bad that I don't even know where to begin. I don't really ever write reviews, but this time I feel obligated in the hopes that someone else doesn't the same mistake by going there.The service was absolutely dreadful and this is an understatement. There we two waiters serving the entire restaurant which was at capacity (I assume with first time customers because I can't see anyone wanting to go back there ever.) We waited about 20 minutes to get our appetizer and then we waited at least 15 minutes after we finished our appetizer for someone to clear our plates. The two waiters having the impossible task to serve the entire restaurant weren't even assisted by bus boy. Our steaks arrive about 20 minutes after we finished our appetizers. My wife's steak was cooked well, although the quality of the piece of meat she was served was not the greatest and her vegetables were stone cold. My garlic mash was room temperature and when I cut into my steak, it was medium bordering on medium well despite the fact that I ordered it medium rare. I spent the next 10-15 minutes trying to flag down the waiter who was either oblivious to the fact that I was trying to get his attention or was just willfully blind to it. I finally got up and waled into the kitchen to get the waiter (something I have never done before.) The waiter came my table and agreed that the steak was overcooked and said they would make another one. 20 minutes later and now long after my wife finished here dinner, they bring me a new steak. This time the garlic mash was hot, but the vegetables were overcooked and actually mushy. I cut into my steak and it's blue.....I mean absolutely raw in the middle.Again, I spend the next 10-15 minutes trying to get the waiter's attention to no avail. Again, I had to go into kitchen to get the waiter. I said I had enough and to just take the steak off the bill. You would think a steak restaurant would know how to cook a steak. I can understand getting it wrong once...it happens. However, to get it so wrong twice? The waiter, who admitted the first steak was over cooked, then rudely tries contend that the first steak was cooked medium rare. It wasn't, he knew and even said so when he saw it. In the end, the service is slow, unattentive and bordering on rude. The quality of the food is nothing more than I would expect from an Outback or Ponderosa, except they actually know how steak at those restaurants. I've written this review to hopefully save someone else from a ruined and miserable dining experience. Steer clear and go somewhere else.....anywhere else!

We recently had dinner at bills pit. It is in a small plaza and not the best location. Very nice decor. They served a warm crusty bread and pickle tray to start. The bread was toasty, warm with some butter on it but no garlic. We had the onion soup to start which was very good. We ordered a small chop salad which states it is with their special creamy garlic salad dressing with feta cheese. The salad had no hint of garlic was very bland and the feta did not taste like any feta that I have ever had. Not even a hint of salt and very bland. The salad needed some seasoning in the dressing. I do not like salty and spicy food but this was simply lacking in flavour. The spare ribs which I ordered dry rub were o.k One was quite charred and I couldn't eat it and overall they were somewhat dry compared to other ribs that I have had. My husband's had the sauce on them and they seemed a bit better. Served nicely with perfectly cooked veggies and baked potato with the trimmings.

We had arranged to meet with two couple, friends of ours for dinner. Originally we had a reservation in downtown Toronto however as a result of winter weather chose to stay closer to our home in Vaughan, Ontario. A friend of ours suggested Bill's Pit North, and we made a reservation there. The restaurant is in a small strip plaza on Highway 7. When we entered I was pleasantly surprised. Nice decor, comfortable and a place where we could all talk and actually hear each other. We ordered a bottle of red and everyone ordered various items, steak and salmon. We also each ordered a salad. The food was quite very good. Bread was served with the meal and the service was excellent. Everyone was pleasantly surprised and said they would go back.