Sketchy Time at Walt's in Hamilton

My friend and I were rushed for dinner on Friday because we were set to attend an event at the Art Gallery of Hamilton. Walt's is right across the street from it so we decided to eat there. On the way into the restaurant we were approached by a homeless woman telling us how sexuality is evil, etc etc. Crazy! So we walk into the restaurant and there is no one there to seat us, and not that many people in there to begin with. My friend grabs to menus and we seat ourselves, then she goes up to the bar to tell the bartender that we have seated ourselves. What does he do? He claps at her!! Weird!! The atmosphere is kind of dodgy. The bar probably sees the most action. Once we started ordering food, the service was much better. I had chicken fingers, so there isn't much you can do wrong with those. My friend had a veggie burger that she had to send back because it was so rubbery. We quickly got our bills and left! Definately not a place I would go back to.

There used to be a Walt's out in Mississauga that was a great place to go but it's been replaced by another restaurant. It's unfortunate.

To see more reviews on Walt's in Hamilton, see ResToronto Reviews for Walt's.

Rosewood Bistro in Mississauga

Last week I went out for lunch to the Rosewood Bistro. It was fairly quiet there and we were seated quickly. This has a real bistro feel to it and the atmosphere is quite nice. There are high ceilings (it's 2 stories) and the decorations are nice. The seats look like they are really uncomfortable but they actually aren't that bad. As for the menu, there are quite a few different options. They weren't too expensive, however the first time we tried to order, we were told that one of the menu items was not available. Shouldn't they tell you that while seating you? This is a wine bar as well, so there is quite a good selection of wines. I ordered the chicken cordon blue. I was told that it would take a while to make, so I was patient, and it really did take a while. The food was well presented, but the style wasn't quite for me. It was too fancy. The chicken was served with fancy vegetables. Over all, food wasn't bad. Would I go back? Maybe. It just wasn't my type of place.

To see more reviews, go to ResToronto Reviews for Rosewood Bistro.

Axia in Mississauga, Take 2

Unless I've had a really bad experience, I'm usually willing to get restaurants a second chance. It's not really like this one NEEDED it, as I probably would have gone back anyways. It's just that in the previous visit, the restaurant was a bit... raw I guess is the best way to describe it. Axia had just opened and it was obvious a few kinks needed to be worked out. This time round? Much better!
I brough my boyfriend this time, who is part Korean, and told him to decide what to order for us off the Korean section of the menu. I had some Green Tea, and he had a soda. Delicious tea, but lots of leftover leaves in the bottom (that's been happening to me a lot at home these days too and it drives me nuts!). However, major improvement #1 because last time we went, the tea came after the meal! Since the menu is so large, it took us about 5-10 minutes to figure out what we wanted. Our waiter came back 3 times to ask if we were ready. It didn't bother me, but I think it bothered my boyfriend. Once we had finally decided, we ordered, and our waiter actually asked if we wanted our appetizer with the meal or before hand! Major improvement #2! The mandu dumplings were delicious!! Yum Yum, I'm drooling just thinking about them. Our meals were also brought together - major improvement #3! My boyfriend ordered Bulgogi and I ordered Galbi. They were all brought at the same time, with the sides and the rice! My Galbi was delicious! I tried my boyfriend's Bulgogi, which was good, but no where near as good as my Galbi! Yummy again!
Still, this is an expensive place to eat. Lunch cost us (including tip) $45. Steep price! I think they should lower the price of the appetizers, because they're just as pricey as the main courses, so it's like eating for 3 if 2 people share an appetizer. They've done well in the month or two they've been open!

For more reviews on Axia, see ResToronto Reviews of Axia.

Lunch at Moxies - Square One Mall, Mississauga

My mom and I went for lunch one weekday at Moxies in Square One. We usually have problems getting into this place for dinner, so we don't bother even trying anymore. Lunch isn't too bad, but there can be lineups sometimes. I like the atmosphere there, but the waiters always feel pretentious, walking around with microphones in their ears like they're working at The Gap!
The menu there is great, there is a lot to choose from, including quite a few Asian-influenced foods. My favourite is probably the chicken burger. I've had the nachos there before too and they are good - made with real cheese rather than Cheese Whiz.
The service is a completely different issue though. It is always SLOW!! Slow to get to you, slow to get your drinks, very slow to get your food, and then slow to get your bill. It's a little pricey here, but overall not too bad. I go back, but only when I'm not in any rush, and when there isn't a lineup.
To read more about Moxies, see Moxies ResToronto Reviews.

A crappy lunch at Lucy's Seafood

I've been to Lucy's Seafood before for dinner, and gave it an overall ranking of 7/10. If I were to review based on my lunch today, it would be much lower.

We didn't have to wait at all for seating, but we were seated in an elevated booth that for some reason was really hard to get into. I had to go wash my hands before eating because we had just come from getting a pumpkin for Halloween, so my hands were dirty. The washroom was dark and not the nicest. I decided to order and appetizer (popcorn shrimp) and a salad. My mom ordered coconut shrimp and the soup. Our food came very quickly (I would give service an 8/10), but boy was I not impressed with *what* came. My popcorn shrimp were plentiful and pretty tasty. The salad on the other hand? Bad lettuce and not enough dressing. Gross!!
My mom's soup was ok, but she was only given 3 coconut shrimp (for a price of $7.50!?). Our bill came out to $32 for lunch. It was ridiculous. I'd probably rate the food I have a 4 or 5/10.

Not a good experience overall. I won't be going back for lunch.

For more Lucy's Seafood reviews, check out ResToronto Reviews Lucy's Seafood reviews.

First time at Boston Pizza in Mississauga

I don't really know what made me decide to go there, but I went to Boston Pizza with my mom a week ago for lunch. The atmosphere there is very... sports bar-ish. There is a lot to choose off the menu, so all appetites can be satisfied here. Side note: Why is this place called Boston Pizza? From my understanding, it is a chain that started in Canada. So why not Toronto Pizza?

Anyways, our server was very attentive. However getting the food was too slow for the type of restaurant, type of food, and number of people in the restaurant at the time. I expected much quicker service in that aspect. I did get a refill on my drink without having to ask for it though, so that was nice.

As for the food, I enjoyed mine. I had a chicken ciabatta sandwich, and the mayo they had on it was delicious! Some type of garlic mayo. Yum. But really, this is nothing I couldn't get elsewhere. I might go back, I might not. It was nothing spectacular.

For more reviews on Boston Pizza Mississauga, check out ResToronto Reviews of Boston Pizza.

Lunch at a new restaurant in Mississauga - Axia

A recent review was given over at ResToronto Reviews by a friend of mine for a new restaurant in Mississauga. It's fairly close to my home so I decided to go yesterday with my mom. It's in a new building and looks pretty cool from the outside. The interior is nice looking as well, and is Asian inspired since the restaurant serves Asian food. I think I was most amazed at the menu however. It was about 15 pages long, and seperated by ethnicity. There were lunch specials, Chinese food, Japanese food (including a couple pages of sushi), Korean, and Viet/Thai. There's also about 2 pages of curry. My mom ordered off the lunch menu (a Bento box that comes with soup and tea), and I ordered off the regular menu (Cantonese chow mein, and a strawberry-banana shake).
The waiter was obviously very new to the job. You could tell he was trying hard, but you could also notice the little things. Like how he didn't realize that he should ask if you wanted something to drink before ordering your whole meal, and that you should bring everyone's food at the same time. He also seemed to forget my mom's soup, and only brought her tea with the bill (the tea was excellent though). Definately not the best service right now, but I can see it improving over time.
The meals were VERY fresh! Some of the freshest shrimp I think I've ever had at a restaurant. I was taken by surprise when there was squid (or at least I think it was squid) in my cantonese chow mein. I'm not an adventurous eater, and I'm sorry but they just don't look appealing at all! I took them off my plate and the rest was delicious!
This place isn't cheap though. For the 2 of us, I think it ended up costing just under $40.

For more reviews, check out Axia ResToronto Reviews.

One of my favourite restaurants - Saucy in Streetsville/Mississauga

My family is repeat eaters at Saucy's in Streetsville. We just can't get enough there (and everytime we go in we convince ourselves we're going to order something other than the usual but only 1/2 the time are we successful).

If you are visiting this place on the weekend, make reservations ahead of time or else you will be sitting in the bar area on stools that aren't too comfortable. Also, if you can, there's a table that's tucked away beside a window and behind the wine rack at the front. It's a great table. Request it if you can! Also, this restaurant is a 19+ restaurant, so don't expect to be able to bring your kids there!

We started off with bruschetta, and once we had finished all the bread (but still had tomatoes left), we were given extra garlic bread at no additional cost. There's always great service here (though I've always wondered why there is never a male waiter?). I ordered my favourite, the chicken linguini, and others ordered pasta, lamb, and a sirloin. All if it was fantastic! And the portions are huge (not something you would expect from a restaurant like this). It's more than enough to take home and fill you up once again for lunch.

I splurged and had a tiramisu for dessert - also very good (but pretty pricey at $10).
My only complaint - their coffee is pretty bad. It's way too strong and bitter.

This is a great place to go to! I go with friends and family.

To see more reviews for Saucy, see ResToronto Reviews for Saucy in Streestville.

Great Italian experience at Rocco's in Oakville

We ventured over to Oakville yesterday and walked up and down the streets there looking at menus for restaurants. Everything was too fancy for my tastes yesterday, but we settled on Rocco's Trattoria. Once inside the restaurant I felt like I was in a trendy Toronto restaurant. The downstairs is a bar and casual eating area while the upstairs is more geared towards people that want to stay and chat over their meal. Everything upstairs is painted a different, lively colour. Rocco's certainly gives off a fun vibe. Additionally, I loved the fact that there was a skylight in the middle of the room because it seemed to brighten things up a bit more.

Our server was attentive and quick (that is, until we had finished our meal). We were given delicious bread with oil and balsamic vinegar to start, a traditional Italian starting. However we were told that if we wanted to order pizzas it would take an additional 15-20 minutes. Unfortunately my mom wanted to order a pizza and decided that she better not (we were on a parking meter). I had chicken fettucini. The sauce was amazing! If only I could duplicate it for my own cooking!

Our waiter sort of disappeared after we were finished so it took us a while to get our bill. Other than the slight problems with the service (nothing too major though), it was a great experience!

For more reviews of Rocco's Trattoria, see ResToronto Reviews for Rocco's Trattoria.

Lunch in Buffalo on Thursday, Dinner in Mississauga on Saturday

My mom and I took a trip down to Buffalo, New York on Thursday for some shopping and mailling. In the Wallden Galleria, we decided to try our luck at the restaurant Ruby Tuesday. I'm actually surprised that this restaurant hasn't found its way into Canada given the success of Kelsey's and other similar type restaurants. This place had the fastest service I've had for a long time! I went to the washroom before sitting down, and by the time I had returned, there was already a drink waiting for me at the table. Our waitress was fast throughout the whole meal. There was a lot to choose from on the menu, including a very extensive burger list (I guess burgers are their specialty?).
I had the chicken BLT burger and I was content with it. It was tasty, and of course, arrived very quickly. Before we were even fully finished, our waitress left the bill on our table. Quick quick quick!! Top marks for service at this restaurant!

Then on Saturday, we went to another family favourite, Happy Court. While not the more visually appealing restaurant, it's very consistent. The food is always the same, and so is the service. I enjoy their won-ton soup and that's always my first stop at their buffet. This visit I noticed some new items in their buffet, so it's nice to see them trying new things. Specifically the tiramisu dessert, that was great! I've never paid the bill there so I'm not too sure about its value in proportion to the food.
For more reviews of Happy Court, see ResToronto Reviews for Happy Court.

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.

Vacation time! LaPortas in Alexandria, Virginia

On my 5 day vacation, I went down to Washington DC for some much needed R&R. Jason and I went to a restaurant in old town Alexandria, Virginia. We had a bit of trouble getting at the restaurant because we tried to get at it from the back, but that's impossible. There is a parking garage right by the restaurant though, and there was no parking attendant there when we showed up so we didn't have to pay anything.

This is a business casual restaurant, so I wouldn't suggest walking in off the street in jeans and a t-shirt. The restaurant is in the bottom floor of an office building, and looks like it could easily convert into an office space if it had to. Not the most appealing of atmospheres. Also, the patronage was definately older than most restaurants I go to.

I ended up ordering the salmon fettucini, and the sauce alone was delicious!! It was a dill cream sauce, I loved it! Our waitress was very attentive and friendly. We both ordered dessert, which was also quite good. The food here is definately worth the trip.

I think drinks + entree + dessert ended up costing us $30USD per person. Not too bad! (And I love the fact that sales tax down there is significantly less than it is up here).

So if you're ever in Alexandria, you should look this place up!

For more reviews, and an address, check out We8There LaPortas Reviews.

Spice of Life - A disaster in Port Dalhousie (last week)

A group of us (over 10) made reservations for a restaurant in Port Dalhouse - a town close to/in St. Catharines. From the outside, the restaurant looks like a cute place. It's got a nice patio too (that unfortunately couldn't be utilized because it was raining). Our group was put upstairs in the dining room. I had to use the washrooms, and I know that some people don't understand why I would talk about the washrooms in a restaurant review, but I believe that part of good atmosphere is having a nice restaurant. I thought that their restroom was rather grungy. The paint was peeling, there was paint on the toilet, and nothing looked clean. Though it did look like they tried hard to decorate the place.

Since we had arrived before 5pm, we were waiting until after 5 pm to order off the dinner menu. Before then, I split an order of spring rolls with 2 other people at the table, and they were amazing! They had potatoes in them, which is odd to me for spring rolls, but they were delicious!!

However it seemed that after 5pm, things went downhill. We ordered our dinner around 5:15, and had to wait a good hour and a half to actually get our meals. The excuse was that everything is made from scratch. Once the meals did start arriving, there was probably a 10 minute span from when the first person received their meal, until when the last person received their meal. Once I received my meal, I started to eat the mashed potatoes, and they were freezing cold! It was disgusting. I had to send them back to be reheated. Also, I had ordered my steak medium rare, and it was cooked well done. I don't want to know what the steak would have been like if I had asked for well done.

As if that weren't enough, once the bills came (we asked for seperate bills), they weren't actually seperate bills, and we had to figure out whose food was on which bill. My dinner ended up being on three different bills.

Needless to say, not much of a tip was left after going to this restaurant, and I definately will not be returning. For more reviews on Spice of Life, see Spice of Life ResToronto Reviews.

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.

Birthday Dinner for Mom @ The Keg

The family went out for a birthday dinner at The Keg last night. This place is usually packed on the weekends, but on the weekdays its not too hard to get in. The accoustics in this place suck though, because you can hear the conversation of everyone around you.

We all ordered Prime Rib Classics, and we were told that there might not be enough prime rib left to serve us. How can The Keg possibly run out of prime rib? That should be illegal. Thankfully none of us were kept from that yummy prime rib. You can always count on good food at The Keg, but you do have to pay for it. However, you'll never leave without being completely full!

The service was ok. And we managed to grab some extra chocolate mints on the way out. I love those things!

For more reviews of The Keg, see The Keg in Mississauga ResToronto Reviews.

Easy Dinner in Etobicoke - Dundas Street Grille

I was in Etobicoke on Saturday hanging out with some friends and we decided to go to the Dundas Street Grille. The parking lot was surprisingly packed at 6pm. This place is definately a family restaurant. It is not by any means a trendy spot to dine. The average age of patrons is probably older than most other restaurants. We had to wait a while to be seated because it was so busy.

The menu was huge and the prices were low! We all ordered one of the specials, a turkey dinner. It didn't look too appetizing, but I thought it was pretty tasty. However, we did have a bit of a problem with the service. I ordered my drink soon after sitting down, but I had to ask for it again, and didn't get it until after I had received my dinner.

It was weird because around 7pm, the restaurant cleared out. There was hardly anyone left in the restaurant! I'm not too sure I would return, unless I was with my parents or my grandparents.

For more reviews on Dundas Street Grille, see the Dundas Street Grille ResToronto Reviews.

Also, after dinner we headed over to the Yellow Cup Cafe, which is a cute place that serves sandwiches, salads, all different types of coffee and desserts. It has a great atmosphere (and yummy coffee!). Check out the Yellow Cup Cafe ResToronto Reviews.

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.

Friday Night Blahs - Dinner at Swiss Chalet

Unlike most other residents of Mississauga/Toronto, I had no plans to visit the cottage on the long weekend of the Civic Holiday. By about 7pm, there was hardly anyone left in town! We didn't want to cook dinner so we headed over to the local Swiss Chalet. We can't get enough of their chicken!

When the parking lot is close to empty, take this as a sign that there is no one in the restaurant! I think there may have been about 5 other families in the restaurant in total. And just a note for those with young ones, this Swiss Chalet location has a kids area for you children to play!

I got my favourite, the double leg dinner, which was great as always. I think our waitress was fairly new, as she seemed to forget about us once dinner was brought out. We had to signal to her to get us refills.

This restaurant is by no means an up scale restaurant, but for family dining it serves its purpose.

For more reviews of this Swiss Chalet, see ResToronto Reviews for Swiss Chalet on Leanne Road.

Dinner on the warmest day of the year - Baton Rouge

By the time I got home from work, I was too warm to do anything. I decided to head out for dinner up to Hart Land in Mississauga to a somewhat new restaurant up there called Baton Rouge. I had been to the Baton Rouge at Eaton Center and wasn't too impressed, but I thought I would give this one a try with an open mind.

The biggest downfall to this restaurant is its prices. For the atmosphere, services, and food it provides, it is way too pricey. A steak runs upwards of $25 and the prime rib is over $27. I am a prime rib fan though, so despite the price I decided to try it out. It was delicious, and the portion was way too big to finish in one serving. It would be better for my wallet if they reduced the portion sizes, and hence the prices. That would give this restaurant the extra edge and probably kick it up a rating or two in my book.

Our waitress was ok. There really wasn't much to complain about with her. The acoustics in the place were weird though. The ceilings are high, which I think carries the sound weirdly and at times I had trouble hearing my waitress. Also, the booths are slightly elevated, which makes you feel like you're peering down into other tables around you.

Given the high prices, I expected a mint after my dinner. Maybe I've just been spoiled with good restaurants recently.

Overall, a good meal, but too pricey.

For more reviews on Baton Rouge in Mississauga, visit ResToronto Reviews for Baton Rouge.