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!

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.

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

Pre-Concert Dinner Downtown Toronto at The Wokker

My friend and I were heading over to the Billy Talent/Alexisonfire/Moneen concert at The Opera House on Queen Street East and needed some food before we went. The restaurants in the area are pretty sketchy looking and we had to choose between The Wokker, and Dangerous Dan's Diner. Both looked very suspect, but there was no where else to go. We ended up at The Wokker. We figured it was ok since there were about 3 other tables worth of patrons in there, and people getting take out. Power in numbers!
It's a very small place, only about 7 tables and a bar area in the entire restaurant. We were seated quickly and given a much larger menu than expected from such a small place. The seats are gross. You sink into them when you sit down and there are weird stains all over them. All menu items are very cheap. If you order a dinner, you can get a won ton soup for 95 cents! You just can't beat that kind of deal (unless you get food poisoning or something).
I ordered won ton soup, an egg roll, and cantonese chow mein (plus a pop). My friend ordered the egg roll, chicken curry, and a drink as well. The food arrived fairly quickly. I got my soup and egg roll. The soup was yummy, as was the egg roll! And the main courses were fairly tastey as well. Much more food than I could finish. I was offered a doggy bag, but those aren't too good for concerts so I couldn't take it home.
The best part of the meal was the price. All that food for only $14! So there you go, sometimes the sketchy places turn out to be pretty good.

Family Dinner at The Blackhorn Dining Room

Close to my grandfather's house is a little hole in the wall restaurant called The Blackhorn Dining Room. Honestly, if I wasn't brought to this restaurant on my own, I never would have ventured into it because it looked like a dingy place that may not be too safe. I'm glad that I was taken there though, as it really is a gem!

The restaurant is run by a couple, who you see walking around the restaurant talking to the patrons. Our waitress recognized my grandfather, and gave us the same seat as he had eaten at the last time he was there. They are a very friendly staff, and even if they are a tad slow, they make up for it with their friendliness.

You get bread and pickles (delicious pickles, by the way!) as a starter. Then, if you choose a full entree, you get to choose from soup or salad. Their soups seem to be home made and are fantastic! I've had both pasta and steak there, both were great. Cooked just the way they should be.

Their dessert selection isn't that large. I've had the tartufo, which was just as it should be, but unlike any other restaurant.

Really, the main reason to visit this restaurant is for the service and friendly atmosphere.

For more reviews on The Blackhorn Dining Room, see ResToronto Reviews for The Blackhorn Dining Room.

Final lunch @ Korean Grill House (Korean BBQ) in Toronto

My final day at work today saw a group of us at the Korean Grill House on Queen Street West in Toronto. I've been to Korean BBQ before and quite enjoyed it so I was looking forward to this restaurant. We had made reservations so once we got there we were seated immediately. Unfortunately, since each table has a grill in it (or more than one grill), you can't move tables around to sit with a large group. Our group ended up taking up 3 tables. We ordered the all you can eat meat, with extra short ribs. You're given quite a selection of food! There are all the regular Korean/Asian foods, like kimchi, sprouts, tofu and sticky rice. Then there was chicken, beef, and pork (as well as the short ribs) to cook on the grill.

That is the main reason for coming to this place. It is a lot of fun to cook your food, even though you may think that you could do that at home, so why bother coming to a restaurant. But the service here is excellent. They are very quick with bringing more meat, more rice, more drinks, more napkins, anything you need really.

The atmosphere is somewhat less appealing. I found it kind of dark and dingy looking, and the chairs aren't that comfortable.

The cost of the food is a little pricey, but you leave with a full stomach (and then some!!!).

For more reviews on Korean Grill House, see ResToronto Reviews for Korean Grill House.

Bye bye party for me @ Bistro 222 in Toronto

So I only have a week and a bit left before I return back to the university world (no professional student comments!). A gang of us from work headed over to Bistro 222 on Richmond. It's in a weird area, because during the day there looks to be nothing on the street, but they are actually mostly clubs.

Anyways, we arrived there with dinner reservations for 6pm and headed upstairs to their rooftop patio, which was fairly full. The service up there was good. They asked if we needed more chairs, and empty bottles/glasses were cleared quickly. Around 7 we decided to go back downstairs to eat dinner. The restaurant was empty! What restaurant is empty on a Friday night at 7pm? But it was too late to back out.

Ordering drinks took a while. Infact, from my time of ordering to my time of receiving it was about 10-15 minutes. I ordered a Diet Coke, and what was placed infront of me was a can of President's Choice Diet Coke and a glass of ice. President's Choice Diet Coke is the cheapest of the cheap!! And I'm paying $3 for this? I could go buy 1/2 the case for $3!

When we try to order, the waitress isn't too sure what the soup of the day is. She also didn't know if you could replace fries with something else for your dinner. I tried to order steak, medium, and to replace the fries with roasted potatoes. I got a steak, well done, and fries. For the amount of money that it was, this should not have happened. Even if they had told me that I could only get fries, that would be better than telling me I could get roasted potatoes and give me fries instead.

Someone that had dessert said that it was very good. We perhaps all would have been better off eating only dessert!

For more reviews on this restaurant, see Bistro 222 ResToronto Reviews.

With a name like Superior, it has to be good?

I was downtown for some theatre on the weekend (Canon theatre), and walking along Yonge Street I saw the restaurant Superior, which is fairly close to the Canon. We walked into the restaurant and the entrance is fairly impressive. There is a massive wooden bar located to the left, and stairs to a second story section of the restaurant.

We were seated on the first floor of the restaurant, near the middle of the restaurant, and were one of 3 other tables full in the entire restaurant. This was slightly weird, as it was noon and the street was very busy, so why was there no one in the restaurant?

The menu was very limited, and I was pretty disappointed with it. I didn't know what half of the items were, and the things I did know were not quite to my taste. This is definately not the place to go for people that want simple food. I ended up ordering the steak sandwich, which was pretty tasty. Our waiter was attentive, as he should be since no one else was in the restaurant.

I would return to this place if they beefed up their menu. For more reviews on Superior, see ResToronto Reviews for Superior on Yonge.

After Theatre Lunch - Bistro 333 in Toronto

After a day at the theatre, some friends and I decided to go for a very late lunch/very eary dinner. It was just after 4pm and the restaurants in the Entertainment District were just starting to open. We wandered along King Street looking at menus to decide which restaurant to visit and settled on Bistro 333.

We were the first patrons inside of the restaurant (there were a couple on the patio). I can't imagine this place when it is busy, it must get fairly loud because it's a very open space. Our server was pretty good, but I noticed that when another group came in, they got glasses of water an bread to start their meal, which we did not. But our meals came in record speed. I guess it helps that we didn't order anything fancy. Two of us ordered ceasar salad, and one ordered a chicken mango wrap. My salad was great, the dressing was homemade and vinigrette based, like real ceasar should be! I also tried some of my friends fries, which were great.

For more on this restaurant, check out ResToronto Reviews for Bistro 333.

Summerlicious at Barootes Casual Dining

A group of us went to Barootes Casual Dining for Summerlicious. It's the restaurant right over Quotes Bar & Grill (and I think they are owned by the same people). While Quotes is more like a place to grab a quick lunch, Barootes is a definately for dining.

It was raining when we arrived, and we were graciously offered a place to put our umbrellas so we didn't have to take them with us to the table. We were seated quickly because we had made reservations. The person serving us drinks wasn't very good, and thankfully he wasn't our server. He forgot what drinks people ordered, and for the orders he did remember, he gave the drinks to the wrong person. One thing I thought was funny was that rather than telling us to wines they had specially, they told us we could go up to the bar and look at them. I'd rather be told than go running around the restaurant.

The summerlicious menu had food that I was interested in, so I didn't even look at their regular menu. For $25, I had crab cakes, steak & fries, and tartufo! The steak was probably the beste part of the meal, but the tartufo was very good too! The service throughout the meal was consistent. For the most part, our water glasses were topped off (near the end, they weren't). When multiple people paid with credit cards, we had enough pens on the table for each person. Little things like that were handled very well.

As for the atmosphere, the place is fairly dark because it has dark stained wooden beams running across the ceiling an it isn't well lit except for at the tables. I loved the paintings on the wall. They were all very colourful, and very interesting!

This was a good experience, and I would return to check out their regular menu.

For more Barootes reviews, go to ResToronto Reviews for Barootes.

Go train not running? Dinner downtown at Marinela's

I, like tens of thousands of other commuters, was affected by the freight train derailment earlier this afternoon and had no way of getting home. So rather than try to quickly find a way to get home, I made a reservation at a little Italian restaurant called Marinela's. I hate the heat, so I sat indoors, but they have both a curbside patio and an upstairs patio that offer seclusion and charm.

The atmosphere of Marinela's is great. It's a very small restaurant, with only about 12 tables inside (that I could tell of anyways), maybe even less, and a long bar. There are lights and dried herbs attached to the roof, and a great view of the patio. The restaurant is basically in an old house.

It is a little pricey (pasta mostly costing over $15 and steaks costing over $30), but it is worth it! There is also about a page of wines (mostly Italian, not surprisingly!). I ordered a starter of brushetta, which although it isn't the best brushetta I've ever had, was still delicious! Very fresh.
My main course was the chicken fettuccine. The sauce that this pasta is served in is devine. It is a cream sauce, but there is something about it that makes it super tasty. There were also mushrooms and tomatoes in the pasta.
And of course, I couldn't resist the dessert! I had a tiramisu. Although it wasn't as good as my pasta, it was still a nice way to finish the meal.

Also, most of the other patrons decided to use the patio, so the main dining area was very quite.

The only downside to this restaurant is that all the parking near there is very expensive. It could cost you $10 for a Friday night to park just for dinner.

I would definitely go back to this restaurant (infact, this was my second time returning). And, I did manage to make it home!

For more information, see other Marinela's restaurant reviews.