Summer Eats

Here's a rundown of some of the restaurants I've been to this summer:

Bb33 Bistro - went for summerlicious. I really enjoyed it, despite it being in a hotel.

Kit Kat - another summerlicious restaurant. It was ok but nothing special. Their seafood bisque was very tasty though.

George Bigliardi's - my last summerlicious experience this summer. A pretty good steakhouse with more reasonable prices than other steakhouses in the city.

Swatow Restaurant - I've done takeout from here a couple of times this summer. They give you sooo much food. Great value!

Red Lobster - a fallback restaurant we go to. Service is hit and miss here. Good food, but you can only eat so much of it.

Peter's on Eglinton - another family favourite. Fantastic service, huge portions, great food!

The Pickle Barrel - again service here is hit and miss. Their menu is so long that it's too much to handle, but generally anyone can find something to eat.

Axia Restaurant and Bar - getting better over time. Really fresh food, but way too expensive.

Baton Rouge - really good food but the portions are ridiculously huge, which makes them too expensive. I don't understand why they don't just lower the portions and prices.

Summerlicious 2007

Summerlicious started today! It runs until July 22nd. Tomorrow I will be trying Bb33 Bistro, and Tuesday either Kit Kat or Tundra.

Here's a list of all the restaurants that are doing Summerlicious this summer. There are quite a few reviews up there so make sure it check it out before you dine!

How Axia in Mississauga has progressed over the past couple of months

Axia Restaurant in Mississauga opened fall last year. If you look at ResToronto Reviews, you can see that in the beginning days there have been some service problems. Also, if you look at my previous post you can also see some of the service problems I've personally experienced.

I visited Axia again a weekend ago. So the question is, has the service changed?

My friend and I made reservations for a Saturday night. A couple weeks before that I had tried to get in there on a Saturday and the wait was an hour. I decided better be safe and made the reservation. When we got there there were plenty of seats so reservations weren't necessary.
The most important change is that service has improved. They are more attentive and quicker than they were when I first visited. The waitress was continuously checking up on us to make sure we had everything we needed.
I did have a couple of problems with my drinks however. Other tables were getting ice water to drink but my water was always room temperature. Additionally, the lemon ice tea they advertise is from a can - I don't suggest it!
I had the galbi bbq which was (as always) delicious. The cheques were given quickly, and we were personaly given a mint as we walked out the door!

So I'm happy to report that service has improved immensely.

Dining over the long weekend

The long weekend is the perfect time to get out and enjoy life! During the weekend, I ended up visiting three different restaurants. Even though they were all ones I had been to before, I had some new experiences!

I went and had lunch at Viet Thai Restaurant. We have our favourites by now and order the same time every single time we get in there. That includes lemongrass chicken and beef noodles. The service was very quick this time and for 2 people, the total bill was about $30.

I also went for dinner at Baton Rouge. I had forgotten how expensive this place is simply because their portions are way too big for one person. They have a 16oz prime rib, and that's the only size you can order. Once we were seated, we ordered drinks. Then we had about a 10 minute wait between ordering our drinks and getting the server to come back so we could order our meal. Also, this place is really loud so you can hardly hear what your server is saying. The food is good, but just too much, so you have to take things home and get a huge hole in your wallet. For 2 people, the total bill was $80.

Finally, I went for a quick lunch to Boston Pizza. There was only one other group of people in the restaurant when we arrived, which I thought was kind of weird. I usually order their chicken sandwich but thought that maybe I should try something different, so I tried one of their pizzas. The "meateor" pizza was a meat pizza. However, there was a lot of oil and water under the pizza which made it a little soggy. I wasn't impressed and I think the next time I'll stick with the chicken sandwich. For 2 people, the total bill was $30.

Mother's Day Brunch in Ottawa

I received an email from Lieutenant's Pump in Ottawa regarding their mother's day brunch. I wouldn't normally pass information like this along (I don't want to specifically advertise restaurants just because they have contacted me), but this is for a good cause.

On Sunday, May 13th (that's Mother's Day, just in case you forgot!), Lietenant's Pump is holding Mother's Day Brunch for the Cure. Brunch will be served from 8:30am to 2:30pm and a dollar from every plate will be donated to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

Special Brunch Menu:
Poached Eggs on Asparagus w/ Mornay Sauce
Creamed Salmon & Shrimp in Filo Nests
White Chocolate Pancakes w/ Brandied Cherry Sauce

Not only do you impress your mother with some fancy food, but you get to support a worthwhile cause! If you do go check it out, I would love to hear back from you about your experiences!

Elephant & Castle Irish Pub, Downtown Toronto

When you walk in to this restaurant the first thing you notice is the size. It seems like it goes on forever. There's a lounge area in the back with pool tables which I'm sure gets busy on weekend nights. Today I went there before going to the Princess of Whales theatre for a show. The atmosphere in this place is great! It's typical Irish pub. Chelsea was playing on all the screens to that pre-occupied me for a while, but we were seated by a fire and the bookcase. The tables are really small so we had to put some of the stuff on the table on the extra chair. Service at this place is another issue. I heard people behind us complaining about having to wait 35 minutes for their lunch so I knew we were going to have a bit of troubles. Luckily, the only troubles we had was getting the bill, which took 2 attempts and about 10 minutes before we actually got it.

I had the roast beef dip, which was yummy. The fish and chips looked good, as did the platter that had cheese, bread, and cold cuts. I decided to try their apple berry crumble which was delicious! However, the coffee isn't that great. And when I asked for milk, I got an empty milk carton, and more cartons of cream.

I would consider going back for a drink after work.

Too see more reviews of Elephant & Castle, go to ResToronto Reviews.

Turtle Jack's Muskoka Grill in Burlington

Last Friday, during the crazy snow storm, and late at night (9:30), we happened on the restaurant Turtle Jack's. Of course, not many people were as crazy as us to be out in that weather, so the place was practically deserted.
I generally like the atmosphere of this chain. It's lots of wooden beams, pictures of up north. There is a nice bar area with lots of tvs tuned in to different sports. We were very quickly seated at a booth and given menus. There is a fair amount to choose from, though it's mostly burgers, sandwiches, and that type of food. I ordered the steak sandwich even though I was a little skeptical of how it would turn out. It did take us a while to order the food, which was odd since there was hardly anyone else in the restaurant. After we had ordered, it took about 10 minutes for our waitress to come back and tell us that the soup one of my party members had ordered was no longer available. That information should have been given to us right away, not 10 minutes after you order!
The steak sandwich was great. Cooked just the way I liked it. The side cesear was also pretty good and after that we didn't have any more service problems.

See more reviews of this restaurant at ResToronto Reviews.

St. Patrick's Day Partying!!

Do you have a favourite pub to party on St. Patrick's Day? It's on a weekend this week!

If you aren't sure where to go, check out this list of Irish restaurants and Pubs in Ontario: ResToronto Reviews does St. Patrick's Day.

New Restaurant in Square One - Lemongrass

A few weeks ago, Lemongrass restaurants expanded their franchise into Square One. The mall has been in dire need for another restaurant, so Lemongrass is a welcome addition.

I went with another individual and we entered the restaurant from the mall entrance. Beware, as there is also an entrance from the outside. Since the two entrances are in completely different places of the restaurant, it can be confusing at times as to who should be seated next.
The decore of the restaurant is very stark. Dark wood, bright yellow, and white are the colours that make up the atmosphere, and it is very modern. Not much to my tastes. Plus there is dance music with thudding beats playing a little too loudly in the background. As this is a Thai restaurant, the dance music didn't seem to fit.

The first encounter we had with our server wasn't too pleasant. He seemed kind of pissed that we wanted to order drinks actually. I just ordered a soda, but the person I was with tried ordering one of their specialty teas only to be told that those aren't offered in this location. Why are they on the menu if you aren't going to serve them?

Speaking of the menu, it is huge! Everyone should be able to find something to eat at Lemongrass (assuming that they HAVE it). There is spicy and not spicy, vegetarian, and stuff full of meat/seafood/chicken/etc. I ordered the lemongrass chicken lunch special. It came with soup and rice. I tried the wonton soup as I love wonton soup, but it tasted kind of funny to me and I couldn't finish it. The lemongrass chicken wasn't what I expected of it. It was served in a red, sweet sauce. Is that lemongrass? I've had lemongrass chicken from other restaurants before and it's not served in any sauce. I wasn't too impressed, but the person I was with enjoyed her noodle dish.

Once we were finished eating, our server suddenly decided to become interested in us making sure we didn't want any more food and we were ready for our bill then bringing it promptly. Perhaps it was the fact that most of the lunch crowd had cleared out by then and he was in a better mood?

Overall, I wasn't all the impressed. They do have an extensive menu though so if I do go back I'll make sure to try something new.

See more reviews see ResToronto Reviews of Lemongrass.

Attempt at Winterlicious on the weekend at Alize

A couple friends from university and I decided to do a get together and try and hit up a Winterlicious restaurant before Winterlicious came to a close. As I'm sure many will agree, Winterlicious is a great time to try out new restaurants in hopes of finding a new favourite restaurant to visit (or because the regular menus are WAY above your typical price range!).

After looking through all of the restaurants that offer a lunch menu, we all agreed on Alize which is in the Uptown area. One of the girls got us reservations there on a Sunday only to find out that they don't serve the Winterlicious menu on Sunday for lunch (right....). But no matter, we were determined to go there anyways.

The place was PACKED! I think the only empty table was the one we had reserved. It took a while to get someone to seat us because they were so busy. The restaurant isn't that big, probably sitting about 30 people when full. But the seats are just packed so closely together you have to basically crawl over other tables to get to yours. Plus, when it's full, it is extremely loud and we were all talking in raised voices.

Is Alize a French or Italian restaurant? We argued with each other over it. They serve Italian food but the decor is French.

Anyways, we were given the brunch menu and ordered from the. Food took a bit of time but we didn't notice because we were in good company. My coffee was continuously getting topped off though so that was nice. I ordered the lasagne which came with a cesear salad. The salad was delicious!! So creamy and yummy. However the lasagne was fairly bland. They were both good portions. And once the place started clearing out, the atmosphere was much more enjoyable. No one tried any dessert.

The price was pretty good for the amount of food that was given. I'm not 100% sure if I would go back again. The restaurant is pretty far out of the way for me, so I probably wouldn't just because it is a lengthy drive.

To see more reviews on Alize, go to ResToronto Reviews.

Lunch before theatre - downtown Toronto

I love King Street in Toronto where the theatre district is. There is a whole block of restaurants for you to choose from before catching the show. Unfortunately the hours of some of those restaurants aren't quite condusive to eating before the show.
Before heading to the theatre this time, we were in a bit of a rush. We had 45 minutes to make the show so we wanted someplace quick. We ended up in Dunn's Famous Delicatessen, between Princess of Whales Theatre and Royal Alex (which is where our show was). We asked them if they could get us in and out in 45 minutes and they said no problem, so we were seated. This restaurant is long, but surprisingly not that narrow. It's nice and clean, with wood tables and benches. You can sit near the window (I suggest sitting there), or all the way at the back of the restaurant. It has a fairly pleasant atmosphere. And the washrooms are nice, clean, and don't make you want to hurl when you use them.
The two others I was with ordered their a deli sandwich, coleslaw, and a pickle. I had a chicken burger. The food was brought out quickly and was pretty tasty. If you like pickles, I suggest getting one when you are there. They are huge!
The service was so quick, that we actually had time for a coffee after our meal because we had been served so quickly.
I would definately consider going back if I'm in a rush and just want plain sandwiches/burger type food.

Go to ResToronto Reviews to see more reviews of Dunn's Famous Deli

Winterlicious in Toronto 2007!

Winterlicious is well underway. Don't miss out on this great opportunity to sample restaurants you may not otherwise visit (or try to find gems to add to your list of favourite restaurants). It ends exactly one week from now on February 8th!

Make sure you go over to ResToronto Reviews and add your thoughts on the Winterlicious restaurant you visited.

Keep an eye out for some new reviews to be posted on this blog. I have Alize Restaurant and Dunn's Famous Deli waiting in the queue.

Miga Korean & Japanese BBQ in Mississauga

I went out for lunch with my boyfriend on Saturday. Miga used to be St. Huberts about 2 or 3 years ago and is right beside Happy Court. We got there around 1pm and there was about 5 people in line ahead of us. There was no one at the counter to seat anyone and we had to wait for about 5 minutes for there to even be someone to come up to the front to acknowledge that there were people waiting at the door. We were seated within 10-15 minutes of walking into the restaurant. It's one thing not to be seated when the restaurant is busy, but it is something completely different to not be seated because there is no one to seat you.
Once we were seated, we browsed the fairly extensive menu. There's a good selection of Korean and Japanese food. We settled on 2 lunch specials and some beef dumplings. The dumplings were pretty good, and they didn't take long to arrive. We had the LA style beef and some pork. Both were tastey. Although I admit that I thought we were going to get to barbeque on the grill. I guess the lunch specials are pre-cooked.
Once we finished our lunch, we had to wait about 10-15 minutes to get the attention of someone in the restaurant to come give us our bill (forget about trying to get your plates cleared away). The bill was brought back to us, and the price was ok. About $20 per person for a fair amount of food (you get salad, soup, sides, and an orange with your meal). But once we had left our credit card there, it took another 10 or so minutes to get them to come pick it up!!! The service was just appaling in terms of waiting for someone to come serve you.
Good food, not great service.

For more reviews on Miga, see ResToronto Reviews.

Lunch at Wangs Kitchen in Mississauga

I got a review on the site for this a while ago and had never even heard of the place even though I drive by the area frequently. Yesterday, I decided to figure out where it was and try it! Wangs Kitchen is a mix of Chinese and Indian food. I would say they specialize in spicy food. Their prices are very good for the quantity of food that you get.
There are only about 6 tables in this restaurant. I'm not too sure how busy things can get but takeout is always an option. There is a lunch menu where you can order a main dish and three sides. I'm not much of a fan of spicy food, but most of the items on their menu are spicy. I think I went for one of the least spicy items - the sweet and sour chicken - and even that had a bit of a kick! First, the soup and the spring rolls were brought out (2 of the 3 items that we chose). The spring roll was yummy, and the soup was a bit too goopey for me. Too much cornstartch. After that the main dish came out. I also had a side of rice, which was tasty. Overall, the food is pretty good. The space is a bit cramped though. The servers are very attentive and want to make sure that you have what you want!

For more reviews of Wangs Kitchen, check out ResToronto Reviews.

Lunch in Etobicoke at Big Papa's!!

With a name like Big Papa's what can go wrong? I went for lunch with some friends in Etobicoke. I was in a great mood because when I parked, I found a $50 bill in the parking lot.
The walls of Big Papa's are packed full of memorbilia, mostly Italian. I'd bet that during the World Cup in 06 this place was packed. There's a bar in the back, and an area for a small patio in the front. We sat near the window and benefited from the sun being out during the day.
There are a variety of lunch specials for $10 (including tax) that give you a drink, a soup/salad, and a 1/2 portion of whatever you order. They also have some funny challenges on the menu such as eating huge portions in an hour without being able to get out of your seat. I just had Ziti pasta, which is a cream based pasta with veggies and chicken. They don't really tell you what the veggies are, and I didn't like the ones that they gave me, so I passed them to my friend. The pasta was quite yummy. I also tried my friend's lobster ravioli which was also good.
I also had the homemade tiramisu. I had high expectations because it's homemade from an Italian restaurant, but it didn't quite measure up to my expectations.
Our waitress was very friendly and quick (until when we wanted to get our bill, that took a while). And the meal was fairly well priced.
Not too bad for a place to eat lunch. I don't know if I would go there for dinner though.

For more reviews on Big Papa's Trattoria, see ResToronto Reviews.

Red Lobster in Toronto (... or is that Scarborough?)

We thought that New Years Day we would go out for dinner rather than stay at home and make it (and get a trip to my grandfather's at the same time). We've been to this restaurant a few times before and it's pretty decent. There is usually a line up to get in but yesterday there were no problems, we walked right in.
We were seated behind the bar area (the first time I've been there), and didn't really have much problems with service. My dad got a flat coke for his rum and coke but that was quickly remedied.
I had the dish that had shrimp, crab (my favourite), and lobster. Sometimes servers foret to bring the crab crackers but they remembered this time.
Had coffee to finish off the night and was pleased with the meal and the service!

For more reviews on Red Lobster, go to ResToronto Reviews.