I went on Thursday night. The place is kind of dead up until about 8:00 when it really picks up and get a lot more bodies in there. I've walked by the place on a Saturday night and its pretty busy. The crowd is a bit of mix -- some couples, women out for dinner, some old people. I'd say its probably a 30-40 crowd for the most part. The weekends seem to lean heavily to a woman clientele. I'm not sure if its local crowd or people from uptown.
The choice of music in the background is a little odd. Before 8:00 they were playing this techno/electro lounge music that was somewhat annoying. After 8:00 they started playing some kind of indie rock stuff, which was a lot better. Why there was such a difference in the selections is like really hard to understand.
The service is kind of casual, but they'll do things like change the cutlery after the starters as well as clean the table.
They cleaned up the place a bit. On the main floor they've repainted the walls and they put this colour accents on walls where they hung prints -- really HGTV. They also put in a bar, with some stools. Gives the place a really different look than its previous incarnation. The floors look nice, but when I was checking them out I noticed that the baseboards are kind of crappy. Some of the walls have these little 2 inch baseboards that you see in basement apartments, while other places have something like 4 inch baseboard. They put in a banquette on the left wall and a mirror above it, although looks kind of cheap (there's no frame and if you sit at the end of the banquette you can see that the mirror sits on top of some particle board). The lighting is kind of dim though, and that helps a little. I didn't see the second floor. I remember there being a bar and a two smaller dining rooms as well as the walk out to the patio.
I ordered a campari and soda to start. The bar guy/waiter butchered it -- too much soda water. I suppose he's spent a lot of time watching Cocktail and he believes he's the master of the free pour.
I shared the escargot with mushrooms to start. This was really tasty. The sauce/gravy it came with really good. I kept dipping my bread in it. The waiter/bar guy brought an extra basket of bread for the dipping. I had the lamb shank as my main. It came with some grilled vegetables in a sauce that was was kind of liquidy. I found my lamb shank to be a little disappointing. It was not adequately cooked because the meat wasn't falling off the bone. You had to tear it a bit to get the meat off the bone. You could also tell that lamb shank is not a choice cut of meat. I guess that's why you cook it until the meat falls off the bone -- so you won't notice its not a great cut of meat. I sampled a bit of the gnocchi, which came in a bit of a butter sauce. They were OK.
I ordered an americano and shared a creme brulee for desert. The americano was typical of what people pass off as coffee in this city -- so it was bad in other words. The creme brulee was kind of good. It didn't have a really thick crust so its not like you would have to really pick to get threw the crust on top.
In terms of the price point, its in the middle range of the mid-range restaurants. So dinner for two will probably run into the $120-140 range if you order wine. If you just have a few drinks with dinner you can get out of there for $90-$100.
Overall, the place isn't that bad, but its not that great either. In terms of its comparators. while Messis, just across the street, might be a little too much to stomach because of the over 50 set, they do the little things right -- e.g., they can make a good campari and soda and know how to cook a lamb shank. In terms of other bistro's I've checked out I would say that both Pastis and
Le Select Bistro are better choices in terms of the food. So while the place isn't a total disaster I don't think I can give it a bunny right now.
Rating: No 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
2 comments:
What is all this ageist shit about you not being able to "stomach" people over 50 in a restaurant ? This maybe is why Toronto is such a boring ghettoized town. The best you can hope for is that your little clique gets bigger. And then one day you might even be over 50.
Some people don't like to go to places where the patrons tend to be older because the place might have a different vibe then one with younger crowd.
I guess you're offended by the term "old people". Perhaps something like baby boomer might be more politically correct or acceptable. But old people is simpler to use and has a much clearer meaning.
Thanks for your comment.
Post a Comment