Toronto restaurant recommendation

[fwiffo]

Originally Posted by SField

Again, it depends on what part of oakville you're talking about.

...but not all of us live by the Lakeshore or have a backyard view on to Glen Abbey yeah.

Originally Posted by eg1

I grew up in Oakville (well, we moved there when I was 10), and while the "town"

is a little more complicated than that, your point about the ideal distance from Hogtown is well taken -- it used to be the end of the GO line, but now regular service extends to Burlington, which is probably why I think it is, as Goldilocks might put it, "just right" -- emphasis on RIGHT, of course ...

All trains, express or not, stop at Oakville going west. But the "town" has one mall. Seriously, I don't think it supports itself unless you count endowment money from the rich & (in)famous.

Originally Posted by Alter

This is a classic hijack thread. I love the idea of someone searching the forum in the future actually expecting to find some restaurant recommendations.

I'm sure Torontonians would love to trip over ourselves to give some, but first they need to trip over themselves a bit more.

 

[MrGimpy]

Originally Posted by ChicagoRon

I'm probably a little late on the train here.... but I ate at a restaurant in Toronto called Mildred Pierce once and it was quite good. Inexpensive French fare, wonderful torchon of foie gras with a quince paste as an appetizer, fantastic salad, and a succulent duck breast for an entree. It was also fairly inexpensive for the quality.

In case anyone here still cares about restaurants, Ron's recommendation was a good one. To the disappointment of many, Mildred Pierce closed a couple of years ago. I was only there once, too, but had some beautiful venison and was impressed by the service and the offbeat dÃ

cor.

The good news is that the owners of Mildred Pierce have recently launched a new restaurant. There's a review of it here.

 

[sjg22]

From the recommendations I've read in this thread, people tend to be trotting out the really hyped restaurants at the highest end of the price spectrum. One thing that Toronto does have is good italian food and so I'll give you a relatively high-end recommendation as well as a cheaper recommendation.

First, Sotto Sotto on Avenue Road just north of Bloor is fantastic. It's downstairs and is a very intimate, old-school italian kind of place. Absolutely fantastic food and really friendly staff. Highly, highly recommended (also, check out all the pictures of celebrities in the entrance way; this is De Niro's favourite place during the Film Festival).

Second, at the lower end is Terroni. There are two locations, one on Queen St. and the other on King just east of Adelaide. I tend to go to the King and Adelaide location as it's in the old York Courthouse and has a very bright, airy atmosphere. Their pizza is as close to authentic, straight out of Rome, as you'll ever find. Very well priced and friendly staff as well (just don't order off the menu or ask for any changes to a dish; house rules expressly forbid this, which is a tad strange for an italian restaurant, but nevertheless..)

 

[lefty]

Originally Posted by MrGimpy

... was impressed by the service and the offbeat dÃ

cor.

Trivia time. The banquettes at Mildred Pierce came from the set of the Brando movie, The Freshman.

lefty

 

[fwiffo]

Originally Posted by sjg22

Second, at the lower end is Terroni. There are two locations, one on Queen St. and the other on King just east of Adelaide. I tend to go to the King and Adelaide location as it's in the old York Courthouse and has a very bright, airy atmosphere. Their pizza is as close to authentic, straight out of Rome, as you'll ever find. Very well priced and friendly staff as well (just don't order off the menu or ask for any changes to a dish; house rules expressly forbid this, which is a tad strange for an italian restaurant, but nevertheless..)

I used to go to Terroni for lunch when it was on Victoria. That was packed and cramped all the time (I've sat about every place except inside the bathroom) but I never really did warm up to the new place when it moved down the street.

I know a bunch of people at my workplace love going to Mirto for drinks and drinks+food but I never found that too spectacular either.

I was dragged out to Little Anthony's about two months ago. Bloke working there was the same one working Toula down at the Westin Harbour a few years ago. My mushroom ravioli came with exactly 6 pieces.

 

[audiophilia]

Originally Posted by sjg22

First, Sotto Sotto on Avenue Road just north of Bloor is fantastic. It's downstairs and is a very intimate, old-school italian kind of place. Absolutely fantastic food and really friendly staff. Highly, highly recommended (also, check out all the pictures of celebrities in the entrance way; this is De Niro's favourite place during the Film Festival).

Glad you had good food there.

I've been there twice (the second time was as a guest). IMO, it's pretentious and almost dungeon-like. The meal my wife and I had there was truly awful. Lousy mussels, hard pasta, bland sauce, average service. Good dessert, good coffee, but that does not make a meal. As a guest, it wasn't much better. Maybe they were off nights as it does have a good rep, which is why we went in the first place. Mind you another 'TIFF fav' is Sassafraz, another overly hyped average restaurant. Just my two cents.

 

[Xiaogou]

Auberge du Pommier

 

[bcx]

Originally Posted by sjg22

From the recommendations I've read in this thread, people tend to be trotting out the really hyped restaurants at the highest end of the price spectrum. One thing that Toronto does have is good italian food and so I'll give you a relatively high-end recommendation as well as a cheaper recommendation.

First, Sotto Sotto on Avenue Road just north of Bloor is fantastic. It's downstairs and is a very intimate, old-school italian kind of place. Absolutely fantastic food and really friendly staff. Highly, highly recommended (also, check out all the pictures of celebrities in the entrance way; this is De Niro's favourite place during the Film Festival).

Second, at the lower end is Terroni. There are two locations, one on Queen St. and the other on King just east of Adelaide. I tend to go to the King and Adelaide location as it's in the old York Courthouse and has a very bright, airy atmosphere. Their pizza is as close to authentic, straight out of Rome, as you'll ever find. Very well priced and friendly staff as well (just don't order off the menu or ask for any changes to a dish; house rules expressly forbid this, which is a tad strange for an italian restaurant, but nevertheless..)

There are 3 Terronis. The other one is on Balmoral just south of Yonge/St Clair.

 

[vinouspleasure]

I was in toronto 2 weeks ago for work, had dinner at Terronis and thought the pizza very good, not great and everything was very well priced. I'll definitely try it again.

I stayed at the marriott on bay street and went to an AYCE Indian buffet called Indian Flavour. for dinner. It was inexpensive but all the meat dishes were absolutely inedible. I understand there are some good chinese restaurants in chinatown, next time in town I'll try a couple.

 

[syracuse1976]

Wow. Come on...

There are lots of gems in T-O.

 

[UserNameToronto]

Originally Posted by bcx

There are 3 Terronis. The other one is on Balmoral just south of Yonge/St Clair.

There's a 4th in LA as well: http://www.terroni.ca/images/PressRelease_LA.pdf

Of course, only Queen and Adelaide locations really count--friends don't let friends go north of Bloor.

 

[TRINI]

I've had good Italian at Trattoria Giancarlo in Little Italy...on Clinton Street, south of College.

 

[bcx]

Originally Posted by UserNameToronto

There's a 4th in LA as well: http://www.terroni.ca/images/PressRelease_LA.pdf

Of course, only Queen and Adelaide locations really count--friends don't let friends go north of Bloor.

I'd only count Queen then. Ever since the Victoria St. location moved to Adelaide it seems to be full of douchebags.

 

[syracuse1976]

It's always fun to pick up a la carte fixings at Whole Foods on Bloor. I haven't been to very many Toronto restaurants, and have yet to be disappointed. I'd like to splurge at Truffles sometime.

 

[fwiffo]

Originally Posted by vinouspleasure

I stayed at the marriott on bay street and went to an AYCE Indian buffet called Indian Flavour. for dinner. It was inexpensive but all the meat dishes were absolutely inedible. I understand there are some good chinese restaurants in chinatown, next time in town I'll try a couple.

Indian Flavour? Why didn't you go over to King or Queen for something better?

Indian Flavour used to be a lunch hang out when it was still in the Atrium (office people didn't want to walk far especially in the winter) but since it got expelled over there on Dundas when St. Louis kicked it out, it went downhill. I went 3 times, 1 after I realized it moved and found out they had way too many dishes than heat lamps and so parts of the buffet was cold. Then I went twice more to check if it had improved but...........no and the selection kept shrinking. (I work 3 minutes away from said Marriott in case anyone is wondering why I torture myself)

If you're looking for a buffet lunch, I'd try something like Aroma at King and John, southwest corner from Princess of Wales. There's a couple other Indian places there too - bit more upscale.

Originally Posted by syracuse1976

It's always fun to pick up a la carte fixings at Whole Foods on Bloor. I haven't been to very many Toronto restaurants, and have yet to be disappointed. I'd like to splurge at Truffles sometime.

You mean the one in Hazelton Lanes? I went there once to pick up 3 paninis and two sodas (I skipped a soda myself because I had an inkling it would be expensive) Bloody hell, it was $30 or something with no service.

Of course I start looking around and all I saw were mothers with kids and babies sitting around on a weekday at lunch. If only I had a sugar daddy like that.

I haven't been to Truffles or anywhere swanky lately. Maybe I should but my bills tug on my demoted salaried wallet quite a bit.

I went to Beer Bistro for Winterlicious the other day and had a salad to start (some kind of cured meat + greens), a macaroni and cheese with german sausage entree and an apple crumble desert. I counted I got literally 6 or 7 cheese tortellinis which they called mac & cheese. And the sausage must have been 10cm long. The apple crumble was served on something that looked like an ash tray in a previous lifetime - probably no bigger than a tablespoon. If I hadn't gotten the frites, I probably would've starved there.

Then surprisingly Reds was still running Winterlicious this past Friday and I had a $60 wine pairing set. Service was pretty shite not because the guy was busy or trying to kick us out but the fact that he's pretty much non-existent and offered no colour commentary (okay it was Friday, I was expecting to be slightly amused).