The place pretty much looks the same as it did back then. It has a lot of charm. It's an old Victorian building with high ceilings in the main room. The main room has an exposed brick wall on the left with some banquette seating, and the bar on the wall. The wall is covered with some art -- not prints. It seems a lot nicer than most of the nasty shit people hang on walls these days. They still have the original floors in the place -- they look like oak. There is also some seating in the back room, with a smaller bar.
I was there on a Thursday night. It wasn't too hectic. I'm not sure if it was because of the weather or if this was a typical scene. There were no old people that I could see in the place. There were also not many couples there. Most of the crowd was women. I would probably say that they would in their late-20s to the early-30s range. There was a group of 4 sitting close by. They were decent looking. Mind you they struck me as more a square-toed-high-heel-type than the pointy-high-heels variety.
The service is pretty relaxed and casual. They staff look really bohemian -- you know the struggling artist with no talent look. I generally don't have an issue with causal, but it would be kind of hard to tell the difference between the staff and the customers here. They were playing some stuff by the Beatles as the background music. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but not my first choice.
I didn't have any wine, but they seem to have a fairly extensive offering of bottles with some available by the glass. The markup seemed to reasonable -- about 2.5 times LCBO prices. Mind you I doubt you'll find anything that will really impress you, but you should be able to find something acceptable.
I started with a clam chowder and had the bouillabaisse as my main. After I had placed my order I hear the waitress describing the clam chowder as being different from most clam chowders because they use a tomato base. Well that might be interesting decision, it also means that it isn't a clam chowder anymore and perhaps a more suitable name may be appropriate. Also if you plan to use a tomato base for the soup it would be helpful if you used fresh tomatoes because it would taste better. The bouillabaisse also turned out to have the same tomato base, also not a good improvisation. For a french bistro they do use a lot of tomatoes. I'm not sure if whoever's cooking doesn't know how to make a fish stock to use in the bouillabaisse, but it would have helped. The bouillabaisse also had a lot of mussels and clams, at the expense of other types of seafood. Definitely not one of high points in the menu.
I had a taste of the stuff chicken breast. It wasn't undercooked or anything. It tasted like roast chicken. The serving was absolutely huge (as was the bouillabaisse). I find it hard to believe that they have such a large female clientele with servings this big. They also don't really plate the food very well. Its just heaps of food -- kind of like what you see at one of those Portuguese BBQ chicken joints.
The place isn't really cheap either: a couple of drinks 2 chowders and 2 mains came out to $70 not including the tip.
Overall, I was not impressed at all with the food -- even though I kind of liked the look of the place. They need to put a lot more effort into the presentation of the food as well as actually cooking good food and the appearance of the staff. They might start by hiring a real chef instead of whoever's cooking right now. Bodega is far better in terms of what you get for a similar price, e.g., the staff look like staff, the food is plated well, etc. You could also get a lot better meal for the money at the Foxley.
There are better places to eat and hang out.
Rating: 0 Bunnies
Notes on the Bunny Rating System:
- 0 or no Bunnies, it's a waste of time; don't go.
- 1 Bunny, the place is worth checking out.
- 2 Bunnies, you should go out of your way to check out the place; the food is really good and the place is cool.
- 3 Bunnies, you absolutely have to go there; the food is exceptional and the place is really cool
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