No shortage of choice (Other Restaurants in Toronto)

Member Name: sarajackson

Product:	Other Restaurants in Toronto
Date:	04/09/02 (117 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Multicultural choices, Very good value, Excellent service

Disadvantages: Too much choice, Nothing else, Nothing else!

Toronto has an endless list of restaurants. Because of its multicultural nature, I imagine good places to get chinese/italian etc would be in the individual districts although this is something I have never done.

Eating in Canada is always a pleasant surprise as even in top class restaurants the cost always pleasantly surprises me. A meal that would cost us £150+ in the UK will cost less than £100 in Toronto. For a casual meal at a good pizza restaurant for example could cost you about £30 including drinks and tip which is pretty good.

If you are looking for a casual fairly cheap meal, my favourite places are down by the Lakeshore, especially the outlets in Queens Quay Terminal. Spinnaker's and The Boathouse offer no-nonsense good quality light snacks and meals, and are particularly good in the summer as they both have outdoor terraces overlooking Lake Ontario. Next door is Il Fornello serving really good pizzas, including build your own options, and also pastas. We visited there for a casual meal, both having pizza, with a couple of beers each, and the bill including tip came to less than £25.

In the Royal York Hotel's Epic Lounge are served the best cocktails and also a light menu. It's a good place to relax and watch the action in the lobby. Next door is Epic Restaurant which has had good reviews but which I was pretty disappointed in (see my review of the Royal York Hotel for more detail). All the hallmarks of a really good restaurant are here, but the end result was not quite there. I would still say it's worth a try, if the items on the daily menu appeal to you, as I might have just been unlucky.

For really good places to dine there are loads, and the difficult part is deciding. For really good views of the city, a meal at the 360 restaurant is unforgettable. Although the revolving motion of the floor takes some getting used to, the food is good quality, the service usually top-notch and this revo
lving restaurant manages to avoid being just a tourist friendly option.

For seafood, we always visit Pier 4 on the lakeshore. It is housed in a wooden building that doesn't look much from the outside. Even inside it isn't decorated in modern minimalist style, but is marine themed, with nets, etc suspended from the ceiling. The interior decor may not inspire you, but the food will. We always go here for lobster, and although the menu doesn't seem to change very often, the regular items are always good and the view across the lake are lovely. The service is not as attentive as in some more pretentious restaurants, but is helpful, quick and efficient. Our three course meal, both of us having lobster, plus cocktail and a bottle of wine plus tip cost us less than £90.

Far Niente on Bay Street is quite popular and serves modern style food, in fairly casual surroundings, and although it wouldn't be my favourite restaurant in Toronto, made for an enjoyable meal on New Years Eve. I would say the food is actually better than the surroundings.

For the best restaurant options I swear by two words - Oliver Bonacini! The group have three restaurants in the downtown area - Biff's, Canoe and Jump.

Biff's is supposed to be the more casual of the three - a bistro type restaurant, although I think this description is misleading. As soon as you walk through the door, you realise this is a restaurant that could hold its own compared to the best. The decor, lighting and atmosphere is quite romantic and the service impeccable. We enjoyed some really good cocktails too. The meals we enjoyed used good quality ingredients and although the style is lighter and simpler than nearby Canoe, I think I prefer it. One common factor in all three restaurants is the friendly and professional service. We are always pleasantly surprised by how helpful and happy the staff appear, and we always leave feeling glad we went. Biff&
#39;s is also only a short walk from The Royal York Hotel, opposite the Hummingbird Centre. Our meal for two including starter and main course, with cocktail beforehand, a bottle of Canadian wine and a port afterwards plus tip, amounted to less than £80. For the standard of service and food, this was unbelievable.

Jump is situated on the ground floor level of the Commerce Court, and is very light and airy, with an outdoor terrace too. The food is innovative and modern and the service as expected is brilliant. I think the best waiter we have ever had was here at Jump, although most of the staff seem to hit just the right balance of not being too familiar or aloof either. A couple of years back a two course meal with a bottle of wine and tip came to just over £50.

Funnily enough the restaurant that is always stated as being the best in Toronto was my least favourite of the three downtown Oliver Bonacini restaurants. Canoe is on the 54th Floor of the Toronto Dominion Tower, and has great views of the city towards the Lake and the CN Tower. It has a small bar area where you usually have to wait for your table, but they serve some really good cocktails so I never mind. The main restaurant is always smaller than I imagine and if you go there as a couple one of you usually has to have your back to the view which is a shame. The food is more hearty and complicated than at Jump or Biff's with emphasis on Canadian produce. The last meal we had there was extremely good quality and the sometimes complicated sounding dishes always work. I was tempted last time to order two starters as these always sound more appealing than some of the main dishes, if you're not into red meat and substantial dishes. The lobster salad I had for starter though I would definitely recommend as being a top class dish. What is lacking here I think are the little extra touches that set apart very good from the best. I expected to get a small appetiser compliments
of the chef, as is often the case. I also thought it was a shame that the waiter who takes your order and is the main focus of the night, is not the same person who brings your food, and takes away your plates. There are lots of lower members of staff who fulfil this role, and so you don't really form any kind of bond with the waiter, who stays very much aloof. I cannot fault the quality of the food here, and the style is very much something you either like or do not - personally I found some items a little heavy, but the desserts were wonderful. Even taking into account my slight criticisms, I think the price tag of just over £100 including a two course meal, one side order of vegetables, one dessert, a bottle of Canadian wine and two cocktails each (a rather long wait you see - excuses excuses!) plus tip is pretty amazing for a restaurant of this reputation.

Oliver Bonacini also have a restaurant, Auberge du Pommier a short TTC or taxi ride away near the York Mills subway station, and a steakhouse type restaurant, Steak-Frites, slightly out of downtown, but still within an evening's trip away by taxi. I haven't tried either yet, but from reviews and my experience of the chain in general, I have no doubt they are well worth a visit.

Summary: