Toronto restaurant recommendation

Originally Posted by unjung

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Are the wait staff at ONoir legally blind? Given the inspiration for the whole "dining in the dark" thing, it would almost be offensive if they weren't employing folks that have a tougher go of it in the sighted world.

Yes - they're blind. I believe CNIB helps them out with picking candidates. I saw one go find a stall in the washroom while I was there with his hands.

Don't think that was for show. They all wear dark sunglasses in and outside of the dining area.

There are also plenty of people with regular sight manning the bar, doing the ushering and in the kitchen (didn't see the kitchen myself).

The piano player is also legally blind but he can hear pretty well (heard my conversation on the mobile). And he could tell when I put money in his cup.

You don't have to have "no" vision to be helped by CNIB - you can have "low" vision as well (as in everything is a big blur 1 feet out)

Was at the York Station Bar today at the Fairmont - then I had to run an errand to the Rainbow district. Now the subway is down..hmm..suggestions for time to kill?

Thinking of Nota Bene tomorrow for lunch.

Ended up at Big Daddy's Crab Shack today for lunch - not my choice. Catfish was eck and then when I explained where you can find catfish, my work mate hurled. We then set off to grab a lunch time tipple at the patio on York and Wellington. After excruciatingly slow service, I went over to Queen west to the Thrush Holmes Empire for a press event (free drinks meant mocktails..did you know that?!?!?!) and capped off the night at York Station in the Fairmont until it was safe to venture back to my apartment.

Started off at the Marche patio because of the commuters then headed to Runnymede to this Yellow Griffin pub. Choice of beer for a pub was disappointing but they let you mix any burger patty with special toppings to create $10+ burger combos.

Ended the night at Sassafraz (which was dead) and I think I totally screwed up the tipping.

Went to East yesterday for lunch. Didn't know this was exactly like Spring Rolls, only no pho and certain other dishes, and everything is jacked up by $2. Veggie Thai Curry came out as Chicken Veggie Thai Curry.

Originally Posted by fwiffo

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Started off at the Marche patio because of the commuters then headed to Runnymede to this Yellow Griffin pub. Choice of beer for a pub was disappointing but they let you mix any burger patty with special toppings to create $10+ burger combos.

How were the burgers? I see the ad for this place all the time at Islington Station ("We have more burgers than this subway system has stops!") and have wondered if any of the burgers they have are actually worth eating.

Originally Posted by Pookehs

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How were the burgers? I see the ad for this place all the time at Islington Station ("We have more burgers than this subway system has stops!") and have wondered if any of the burgers they have are actually worth eating.

The turkey burger wasn't bad. It wasn't too heavy and held together when eating. Salmons I didn't try but they charge a premium. My friend had the bison burger - it looked pretty meaty. If I go back next time, I'd have the lamb + curry one (was trying to be healthy that day).

100% of the customers there ate burgers so I imagine it's got to be half decent. The place is small, though, and customary of places on the strip, there's no A/C inside.

As I said, liquor choices were lacking. Rail drinks were basic at best.

I ended up at Thai One On today on Dundas. Nothing special - except more Thai food. This place can get very very dark though and the service was non-existent after they serve entrees.

^ Cool, thanks.

I don't normally read The Star but I saw this on the tele:

http://www.thestar.com/living/article/687567

Truffles is closing.... I knew when they started offering fixed price it was beginning of the end!

Friday night... Acqua.

Had the calamari and spring rolls to start and really just drinks after that. This place is beyond a tomb on a Friday night. You know a place is a dead when I walk in and the maitre d' is sitting there with his legs crossed at a table reading a newspaper with his wallet and a bunch of things on the table at 6:00 PM. I almost thought he was a customer until he decided he might need to get up and actually work for his money.

Saturday night... Via Allegro at Sherway Gardens. Family friend recommended this as a good place. She works near the airport triangle and came down here for a holiday dinner once with her company. It's "good italian" but seeing as no one in my family is European, that kind of recommendation is hard to take at face value. My brother comes in and asks for antipasto. The server apologizes. Italian place with no antipasto. Strike 1!

We had a baby in the party and the high chair amazingly brings the baby to about 2 inches below the table. She has to rest her elbows above the table to be comfortable. OK I recognize most SF blokes don't dine with babies but come on, at least buy a high chair that fits your restaurant yeah - Strike 2!

Bread is really soggy - or at least the one I keep getting. You squeeze it and stuff comes out. We start off with the "Pavarotti" pizza (aka lots of meat) and then some calamari. The calamari is OK - decent size, like a Mediterranean place.

I had the rabbit and pasta. Portions are pretty big. Rabbit is actually not half bad, tastes like a ***** turkey. Prices are something like $25 for basic entrees going up to $70 for choice meats. My mother had a lamb and asked for a side of mint. The entire restaurant has no mint and my mother gets a mini lecture on how not to eat your lamb with mint. Bloody hell, if you have no mint, just say it, stop it with the holier than thou culinary tips. Strike 3!

Capped off the evening with espressos, cappucinos, Spanish coffee and at least they were kind of enough to offer two pieces of cake split up for our party and some biscotti.

There are a lot of servers here, but still I didn't really get the idea that this place was worth it. Lychee martini was OK - they used a real lychee. Beer choices suck (ale or lager from Cameron's in Oakville) and wine choices galore but I'm not a vino fan. The front of the place is rather classless as they have a big liquor cabinet enclosed in glass but then they have a tray in front with the overspill of liquor choices. Looks like my apartment.

Anyway..Sunday was reserved for BBQ and trying homemade wine but it's nippy as hell outside.

Week before Labour Day so I hope to hit a few more places before summer psychologically ends.

Tuesday..lunch at Bay & Gerrard - tiny Japanese place that I keep forgetting the name to.
Drinks with work mate on the rooftop patio at the Hyatt. Mojito comes with a rock sugar stick. Lots of bees and it was windy though. Nice day still.

Wednesday... lunch on conference call so the day was ruined. Drinks at York Station in the Fairmont.

Thursday... hmm, think I'm supposed to meet up after work.

Drinks at Jump but with work mates instead of the usual.
Was supposed to meet a mate today and go to Smokeless Joe's (!??!) but he has food poisoning. And someone I'm meeting on the weekend has a cold.. not a good start.

I am waiting for caplanskys to reopen. I really enjoyed it at the monarch, and the new menu looks great. Hopefully the bump up in space and expectations is not too much.

Originally Posted by doink

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I am waiting for caplanskys to reopen. I really enjoyed it at the monarch, and the new menu looks great. Hopefully the bump up in space and expectations is not too much.

Weren't they supposed to open during the summer? I thought I read that somewhere.

Anyway, I ended up at Ninki in Scotia Plaza doing all you can eat..so stuffed and sick of Japanese food I won't be touching it for a week now. Also stopped off at Duke of whatever at First Canadian Place and Queen & Beaver on Elm the same night. Liver guilt is settling in.

Tuesday....Duke of Somerset. They had free food last week. Paid food didn't taste that great.

Wednesday....Pi Thom..service terrible. Left there with a bad tip.

Thursday...Fairmont York Station to start. Very busy but was hoping to talk business quietly. Then we went to Bikkuri on King. Deadly quiet and the waitress sounded like she barely spoke English (I'm a bloody minority in case). Night cap at Jack Astor's watching the NFL game.

Friday..lunch with a vegetarian. Where could that take me?