Dissapointing
We had been there before and loved it so, when we saw that Lolita's Lust had a Winterlicious menu at a good price ($25/per person) we decided to go back there. It was dissapointing. The place seemed a little run down which is not how I remember it, although it is a couple of years older now. The staff were great, friendly and knowledgable. We all ordered potato and leek soup as a starter. Since when are either potatoes or leeks brown? It was tasteless - we asked for salt but it didn't help. The main courses, stuffed chicken, salmon or gnocchi were pretty good, but nothing to rave about - not special. Desert was the same - ok.
We were dissapointed but have decided not to give up on the place. The regular menu looked interesting and we notice that the place had contstant turnover and was constantly full so we figure it must (usually) be good.
We will try again. Dissapointed, but not disillusioned!
Comments
We too had fond memories of this restaurant (at least 5-6 years ago), but skipped winterlicious there because of a bad experience a couple of years ago. We were the ONLY ones in the place (was a Friday night at 7pm) and service was extremely slow and food not that good. I think it's seen its day!
When we walked in at 7:30 there was only one other table with people but by the time we left the place was full and there was a constant turnover. Those people must know something we don't, so we will try again.
Definately Worth a Try
I went with a girlfriend the other night. It is indeed a "hidden gem". It is dimly lit with a sexy but relaxing atmosphere. We had two different types of pizza and shared. Both were excellent. The wine was also very light and good.
Wait staff were really nice, food was very good and wine was wonderful.
I would say it was worth a try, wouldn't you?
Perfect Evening
Went there for Winterlicious last week. Had no problem getting a reservation for a Saturday night which was a surprise but that's the recession I guess.
Sat at the bar for drinks as they were clearing our table. Martinis were excellent and they had mixed nuts at the bar which are my weakness. The nice thing was that our table was ready almost immediately but they allowed us to sit at the bar to finish our drinks. It was really nice not to be rushed. It made the evening last longer and seem like more than just "dinner".
The winterlicious menu had something from every category. One of us ordered fish, two of us had a veal stew and the other ordered gnocchi. As a matter of fact my girlfriend and I shared the gnocchi and the veal. The food was absolutely fabulous. After one bite of the veal, I knew I would never forget it and I haven't.
Desert was varied and good - not great, but good.
I loved the place, I love the waiter (easy going and funny and sweet and cute) and I loved the food.
It was a perfect evening.
Excellent Food for Excellent Value
Went there tonight. Food was perfect. Even the steak my sister-in-law ordered was great and her steak is never good on the first try (rarely even on the second try). Six of us had two bottles of wine, cocktails, appetizers, dinner, coffee and desert and the meal came to $450 including tip and taxes which I think is really good for all that food, especially when all is it is really good. Can't believe not one person at our table complained about even one thing (food wise)....... amazing!
Classy Place, Good Food, Great...
They had been fixing this place up for a while. I drive by almost every day and was beginning to wonder if it would ever open. A couple of days ago I finally saw a sign "Open"! Of course we had to try it as soon as possible.
It was the first Saturday night so there were a few kinks to iron out but all in all we were very pleased. The place is really nice with comfortable but minimalist trendy decor with an open kitchen. I didn't much actually like sitting next to the entry into the back of the kitchen but I made my husband face that way and I got to look at the rest of the place. There is a back room which is glassed in and I suppose perfect for private functions as well.
We arrived at 6:15 which is very early for a Saturday night so many of the tables had kids at them which was surprising because this was not a kid's place or a kid's type menu but apparently there is a kid's menu as well and by the time we left...
They had been fixing this place up for a while. I drive by almost every day and was beginning to wonder if it would ever open. A couple of days ago I finally saw a sign "Open"! Of course we had to try it as soon as possible.
It was the first Saturday night so there were a few kinks to iron out but all in all we were very pleased. The place is really nice with comfortable but minimalist trendy decor with an open kitchen. I didn't much actually like sitting next to the entry into the back of the kitchen but I made my husband face that way and I got to look at the rest of the place. There is a back room which is glassed in and I suppose perfect for private functions as well.
We arrived at 6:15 which is very early for a Saturday night so many of the tables had kids at them which was surprising because this was not a kid's place or a kid's type menu but apparently there is a kid's menu as well and by the time we left there was only "grown ups" in the place.
I ordered a Martini. They have a variety of different types but I went for straight up. Kink = small olives but I made sure that the large ones are now on order and I guarantee that by the time you read this they will have large olives in their Martinis. The bread was really good, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside and the butter was especially good but I can't tell you why that is. They don't have beer on draft yet but that too is coming.
Because we got there early we got right in but based on how full the place got as the evening progressed, I suggest reservations. You will need them.
We ordered the cheese and spinach dip. Cheese tasted cheddary and as it cooled on the table, it got clumpy. It was not bad but I've had better.
The menu is not big but has enough things in every category that you won't have a problem finding something you like. All of the food looked really good but "make your own pizza" seemed to be a specialty and baked in a stone oven, so we decided to try that. You pick the type of crust, then the type of dressing (ie. tomato sauce, herb and garlic oil, etc.) then the toppings. Some toppings were the usual type and some were really different. My husband has sushi grade tuna on his pizza and not just a couple of pieces but quite a lot. I ordered boccochino cheese, shrimps, grilled zucchini and asparagus tips on my pizza. Didn’t see any boccochino (maybe it was just totally melted in which case I owe them $3.50) on the pizza but there were a ton of shrimps (and not the baby shrimps but regular size, perfectly cooked shrimp). The crusts were thin and light - really home made type and very good. I think mine could have used some salt in the dressing but otherwise they were unusual and delicious.
Portions are quite generous. Personal size pizza is 12 inches as opposed to the usual 8 or 9 inches but because the crust is so light it is easily finishable. We also noticed that other portions were large. Rack of Lamb included four pieces instead of the usual two pieces that most "trendy" restaurants serve.
Then came desert. There was a large desert menu and it was hard to chose. I ordered Pecan Pie and my husband had Chocolate Lava cake. The lava cake flowed as it should but the pecan pie had next to no pecans. I’m a nut nut so I noticed. Both of the deserts came with large dollops of ice cream but the taste of the ice cream seemed to overpower the taste of the deserts. Perhaps smaller dollops or a dusting of icing sugar – not sure – but we want to taste the deserts, not ice cream.
Espresso was quite good as was the Baileys coffee although the cold whipped cream made the coffee taste cold until you got to the bottom. Guess I should have mixed better or maybe less – not sure.
The prices are slightly high but considering the portion sizes, I guess the prices are fair. If this restaurant were downtown, and it easily could be, I would say the prices were on the high side of average. It just feels higher because it is in the burbs. But truthfully you could pick up this place and plop it anywhere in downtown Toronto and neither the look nor the menu would be out of place.
The absolutely best thing about this restaurant was the service. If you go, ask to sit in Ariela's section. The girl is a doll and really loves her job. The owner is also a really nice guy and his philosophy is that the customer can have anything they want. Good philosophy, no? He told us that he likes to hire experienced people who know what they are doing and like doing it. It shows.
This is an upscale Italian restaurant, both in terms of its look and its menu and we are happy it came to Thornhill. If the food stays consistent (not always easy in the restaurant business) and the service is half as good as it was tonight, this place will do very very well and deservedly so.
Comments
RUTH!! i think you beat me to the longest review on n49! way to go :-)
But not to pictures!
SURPRISE! GREAT PLACE!
My daughter suggested this place but we were sceptical. It is located in a small strip plaza and from the outside looks like a dive.
Guess what - it's not! You walk it and are immedately taken aback. It is sleek and classy looking with a cool bar right at the front. The tables are not fancy - paper napkins, but clean and minimalist looking, not at all like a dive.
My daughter suggested the shrimp chips and peanut dip. It was good but nothing I would write home about. To be fair, I am told that they are very good there by people who know - it's just that I am not crazy about shrimp chips, I guess. My husband and I then ordered something I cannot pronounce. It had large flat noodles, bean sprouts, shrimps and was just a little spicy. My daughter ordered the Pad Thai. Both meals were generous in portion and very very good. As opposed to Chinese Food, this Malaysian Food is much lighter and more flavourful.
I...
My daughter suggested this place but we were sceptical. It is located in a small strip plaza and from the outside looks like a dive.
Guess what - it's not! You walk it and are immedately taken aback. It is sleek and classy looking with a cool bar right at the front. The tables are not fancy - paper napkins, but clean and minimalist looking, not at all like a dive.
My daughter suggested the shrimp chips and peanut dip. It was good but nothing I would write home about. To be fair, I am told that they are very good there by people who know - it's just that I am not crazy about shrimp chips, I guess. My husband and I then ordered something I cannot pronounce. It had large flat noodles, bean sprouts, shrimps and was just a little spicy. My daughter ordered the Pad Thai. Both meals were generous in portion and very very good. As opposed to Chinese Food, this Malaysian Food is much lighter and more flavourful.
I would go back and will go back. The menu is huge so we will have to go back many times to try out different things. Based on what we already ate, I am confident that the rest of the menu will be delicious.
The drinks were interesting. They have no liquor licence - so pre-drink! I ordered iced lichi - excellent and my husband ordered iced honey lemon water - also excellent. Go figure, take some water and add honey and lemon and its good!
The shrimp chips came practically before we could even finish ordering them and the rest of the food came within five minutes. Funnily, the drinks took a while. Apparently they have several cooks but only one bartender. They also do take-out.
Bottom line - very good! Go!
Good Breakfast - Good Price
This restaurant seems to be popping up all around us. They have opened three of them within a ten mile radius around our house. It is a real breakfast place! Small menu with everything you could want for breakfast and that's that. Food is good. Eggs were ordered over medium, which is a hard one to get right, but they really were medium on the first try. Homes fried potatoes were good - needed salt but I guess that's good cause everyone can add but can't take it off if there is too much. Rye toast was excellent. Fruit and yogurt tasted like a Sundae - it was that good. My daughter tells me the chocolate chip pancakes are really good and plentiful.
Issues - coffee is ok (hard to compete with Starbucks next door). If you want organic maple syrup or real whipped cream, etc. there is an extra $1-3 charge. Not the end of the world since the prices are quite good. Full breakfasts for 4 came to $33.00. Can't complain about that....
This restaurant seems to be popping up all around us. They have opened three of them within a ten mile radius around our house. It is a real breakfast place! Small menu with everything you could want for breakfast and that's that. Food is good. Eggs were ordered over medium, which is a hard one to get right, but they really were medium on the first try. Homes fried potatoes were good - needed salt but I guess that's good cause everyone can add but can't take it off if there is too much. Rye toast was excellent. Fruit and yogurt tasted like a Sundae - it was that good. My daughter tells me the chocolate chip pancakes are really good and plentiful.
Issues - coffee is ok (hard to compete with Starbucks next door). If you want organic maple syrup or real whipped cream, etc. there is an extra $1-3 charge. Not the end of the world since the prices are quite good. Full breakfasts for 4 came to $33.00. Can't complain about that.
Tell them to clean the sticky (syrup) off the tables and salt and pepper shakers and menus - but I guess that's par for the course. The place was quite busy for 9:30 on a Sunday morning and I can see why. I'd definately go back - not for a delicacy but for a decent down home breakfast - any time.
Comments
so they got it right this time...buts what's so hard about over medium anyway? I can do it myself and I'm not even a pro. These guys make like 2,000 eggs a day - you'd think they would know how to get it right. The sunset grill that i frequent severs 3 smaller eggs and "ever medium" always seems to come hard.
Great Martinis
We went for dinner on the recommendation of our friend's daughter who went for a friend's birthday and loved the place. It was a Saturday night. We got there around 7 and left at about 10:30. There was a large party of about 10 kids, one other couple and the four of us - no-one else came in all night, so I don't know how long the place will remain in business.
The atmosphere is really nice, loungy and relaxing with sleek modern surroundings and really comfortable chairs. The martini's were perfect. The fruity ones were good - but the real test, straight vodka martinis with olives, were also excellent with really large olives. Only problem was that were ordered Grey Goose martinis which added $3.00 to each one so that they got quite pricey quite quickly.
They have tapas platters (3 or 5 items of your choice) which is interesting. My girlfriend and I ordered that. She liked everything on her plate while I really liked the...
We went for dinner on the recommendation of our friend's daughter who went for a friend's birthday and loved the place. It was a Saturday night. We got there around 7 and left at about 10:30. There was a large party of about 10 kids, one other couple and the four of us - no-one else came in all night, so I don't know how long the place will remain in business.
The atmosphere is really nice, loungy and relaxing with sleek modern surroundings and really comfortable chairs. The martini's were perfect. The fruity ones were good - but the real test, straight vodka martinis with olives, were also excellent with really large olives. Only problem was that were ordered Grey Goose martinis which added $3.00 to each one so that they got quite pricey quite quickly.
They have tapas platters (3 or 5 items of your choice) which is interesting. My girlfriend and I ordered that. She liked everything on her plate while I really liked the coconut shrimp and everything else was ok (should have been better at a price of $35.00 for a plate of 5 items). My husband had the rack of lamb which was good and my friend's husband had a form of pasta with lobster and shrimp which was really good with huge pieces of lobster - quite impressive at a cost of only $19.00.
We started with an order of sweet potato fries (one of my favourites) but they were cold, not luke warm, but cold. We sent them back and new hot ones came. They were very little and did not seem fresh. The dip was good but the fries were so little it was hard to dip them. The rest of the food was luke warm. Hard to understand since the place was empty so why would it have been sitting and waiting. Oh well.
We enjoyed the evening, especially the martinis (not the price so much, but the taste) and would go back for a drink. Wouldn't say no to the place if someone wanted to go but probably would not suggest it. The meal came to close to $300 for the four or us but it didn't have to. Next time we would order the meals instead of the Tapas and maybe wine instead of a total of 8 Martinis. Bottoms up!
Comments
Your tapas platter was 35$? that's just nuts.. I saw the photo..so not worth 35!
SO-SO
I've heard from my girlfriend who is Greek that the food in this place is pretty good. OK, I tried it. It was a warm night to we decided to sit outside.
We walked into the restaurant and waited while the maître d' talked to a waitress or bookkeeper or somebody for several minutes - sort of just standing there - weird. We were then taken outside to a table.
We ordered martinis from a waiter who was very nice. My girlfriend's martini had a bug in it. A manager or somebody like that walked by (not in waiter's clothes) and we said that there was a bug. His response - "well you are sitting outside". True, but that's not the point. Under no circumstances do you argue with a customer - somebody should tell them that. He did take it away and the very nice waiter brought us a new one.
They had an all inclusive type menu. We got greek salad, calamari, veal with a cheese and sause, baklava and...
I've heard from my girlfriend who is Greek that the food in this place is pretty good. OK, I tried it. It was a warm night to we decided to sit outside.
We walked into the restaurant and waited while the maître d' talked to a waitress or bookkeeper or somebody for several minutes - sort of just standing there - weird. We were then taken outside to a table.
We ordered martinis from a waiter who was very nice. My girlfriend's martini had a bug in it. A manager or somebody like that walked by (not in waiter's clothes) and we said that there was a bug. His response - "well you are sitting outside". True, but that's not the point. Under no circumstances do you argue with a customer - somebody should tell them that. He did take it away and the very nice waiter brought us a new one.
They had an all inclusive type menu. We got greek salad, calamari, veal with a cheese and sause, baklava and coffee all for $30. The food was ok, not bad, nothing to write home about but ok. The portions were quite large and we were totally stuffed when we left. Of course, since the food was only ok, we really didn't need to eat all of it but that's a different story. The baklava was really good but that's because I love nuts and it was full of nuts. If you don't like sweet stuff, stay away from baklava.
If I ever decided to give this place another try and I might because it was not a bad place, I would order off the menu (as opposed to all inclusive). I'm sure they have some really good items as well as the just ok ones or my Greek girlfriend would not think it was a decent place. Makes sense, no?
This is a firm that actually cares about it's clients as people. They are friendly, helpful and chock full of great ideas to help you save money. I have never met a person there I didn't like and respect. Try them. You won't be sorry.