Toronto restaurant recommendation - Page 50

flaky service at Fishbar, lol.

Zing!

Totally unintentional. The server was completely distracted and never really focused. It seems like despite there being multiple people in the room he was the only one actually taking orders.

No...it's a proper restaurant, not a restolounge or anything. Haven't been there for dinner as yet though.

Thanks. Maybe I'll try it this weekend.

Thursday lunch at Obika. Just picked it randomly even though it was good weather that day. We did the mozarella tasting, which came with three hunks of cheese; a smoked buffalo mozarella, a classic buffalo mozarella (somewhat salty) and the creamy one...burrata? We chose olives and some pestos as the side (actually her choice, I wanted proscuitto). I liked the burrata the most and the smoked one the least. We also had the crostini con n'duja, which had a sharp spicy taste to it; maybe not the best thing to add to a cheese tasting. Couple glasses of pinot grigio and it ended up being something like $96 including tip. Service was okay, but not spectacular. I think around 2:30 PM, I felt my heart slow down a bit so I'll wait awhile before going again.

Thursday dinner at Starfish. This was a work dinner and the person had wanted seafood and had been staying downtown. We had some of the sardines and fish cakes. Him being a yank, was struggling with the Portugese sardine bones. Entrees were a tahitian wahoo and a striped bass. The wahoo was cooked like a tuna, but the bass was cooked all the way through. Had a bottle of rose. $116 + tip. Did some cocktails in Little Italy passing by the queue to Cafe Diplomatico.

Friday lunch was spent at Yuzu for sashimi for two. I had a lunch meeting that got cancelled at the last minute - hurray! I'm starting to like Yuzu since they sear and do some creative things with the raw fish.

Friday pre-dinner I went to Snakes & Latte with some friends. The reservation system is inane because it changes between daytime and peak periods (i.e. Friday night). But my party of 5 ordered 6 or 7 alcoholic beverages and a bunch of chai lattes so reservations ended up not being required. There's no place to "wait" for people either so you could potentially get drinks and just stand around until a table frees up. It's an interesting concept but I don't really understand how they can make money since someone can grab a bottle of water and play for 5 hours. We played for 2 hours on some games that were beyond me. Oh wait, there was Pictionary and my E+ grade school art. It's $5/person plus drinks - reckon the final drink bill was something like $80.

Then broke off to Le Select with my cousin, her flatmate and myself. This was my cousin's choice as she recently returned from Europe after six years. I was really surprised I could walk in at 8pm and just get a table even if it was a sub-optimal one. Flatmate ate nothing but a hummus starter so bonus for my wallet. Had a bottle of riesling. Bone marrow, beef tripe, salmon tartare and steak & frites. Capped off with the ladies sharing a creme brulee and an armagnac for me. Stuff came out at the right time so I couldn't complain. I never had to refill the wine glasses either even though it was busy. $189+tip.
Edited by fwiffo - 8/6/11 at 12:20pm

I went to Le Select last friday and also noticed it wasn't too busy to despite the fact when I called to move the reservation later they said they would "squeeze" me in.

Le Select is still around?  Do they still hang your bread in that silly basket?

 

lefty 

Not on Friday night - no. The bread was just placed on your side plate from a basket. No choice on what type though. It was piping hot.

The Black Hoof Cafe renovations have apparently ceased. The former Cafe spot will now become a cocktail bar until 2012 when the restaurant and cafe will swap places. In the meantime, they'll offer cheese and cocktails in the newly renovated space.

La Palette has stopped offering horse meat - so I guess now it's just a regular French bistro.

And I had to break it to my friends that Smokeless Joe is closed. They were saddened - me not so much.

Trattoria Nervosa at Belair/Yorkville Ave. is always a safe play for Italian in Yorkville. Fieramosca is a bit off the beaten path for Yorkville but it was decent the one time I ate there; it's across from Opus on Prince Arthur.

That's a tough one, most Yorkville restaurants and bars are places to see and be seen, and while they have good food they aren't always the best restaurants Toronto has to offer. I have yet to try the new French bistro on Bloor, La Societe (see above posts), but I'd say the place I go to the most is Trattoria Nervosa. I should have also mentioned Dimmi on Cumberland Street next to Hemmingway's. It's good italian food but I prefer the atmosphere at TN. Also, get a table upstairs at TN, the main floor is neat to see the kitchen in action and warmth from the stove is wonderful in the winter, but I prefer the cosy atmosphere upstairs (I love the milled tree trunk table in the corner with the bench).

I went there the other week. I went pretty late, so the place was empty. The food was pretty decent and the beer on tap was great. The place isn't very German, though. Has a sorta Danish feel to it, tbh.

Apparently it's because they can't verify the source and treatment of the horses.