Toronto Restaurant Tips by jamiesno

Restaurant Name: Baton Rouge!

The resaurant has great staff, very nice and clean and overall a great experience! Huge portions as well so be hungry!

Favorite Dish: Ribs!

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Theme: Steakhouse
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: 416-593-9667
Address: 216 Yonge Street
Directions: On ground level in the old "Eaton's Centre" now Sears.
Website: http://www.batonrouge-restaurant.com/

Restaurant Name: In Camera

In Camera is a restuarant located within the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. It is catered by Compass Group one of the world leaders in restaurant catering and their food is great at all the locations I've ever been where they catered.

In Camera has a nice decor, great service and the buffet was really nice.

I guess the main point of this tip would be business related. If you are traveling to Toronto for business and or have any dealings with the government this is a good place to make a reservation and meet officials. It's a easy place for them to meet because its right at their workplace and if you don't have any meetings arranged and you know who you want to talk to its a good place to bump into government people.

This place isn't cafeteria style. It's a fine restaurant and great place to meet. Enjoy!


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Theme: Local
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$21-30  » Currency Converter
Phone: 416-325-7398
Website: www.compass-canada.com/loa

Restaurant Name: Eggstasy Diner and Grill

It was early one morning in Toronto and the concierge at the Four Seasons Hotel recommended Eggstasy as a nice place to go and have breakfast. So I took that as a good reference and thought I would try it.

The diner is located right in the trendy Yorkville District. From the outside it looks modest but on the inside it was very trendy looking and fit right in with the local surroundings.

But I guess to get right down to it and past all that, the breakfast food was great. I had a French Toast topped with apples, crumble and maple syrup with some of the eggs on the side. It was great food without a doubt.

It was also reasonably priced.


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Theme: Local
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$21-30  » Currency Converter
Phone: 416-964-2333
Address: 1255 Bay Street

Restaurant Name: Embrujo Flamenco

Ok so they say Toronto is a cultural place and I took a liking for Spanish food, culture and flamenco a couple of years back when I visited Spain so on a visit to Toronto I decided to seek out authentic Spanish food and flamenco and sure enough there is one place in Toronto at least that is authentic.

All the other listing I could find seemed to be more like Mexican places versus Spanish. This place Embrujo Flamenco is about $8 in a cab from the Four Seasons Hotel on Avenue Road. It's small place, but the service would good. One of the waiters came outside and hailed down a taxi for me for example.

My visit was on a Sunday night and I caught the last set of Flamenco so it wasn't as busy. They say its busier early on the weekends and earlier on Sunday nights. They only have live Flamenco late in the weeks and weekends.

There was a $25 minimum charge and I had already eaten but a glass of good red wine, a tapas and a dessert will cost you $25.

It seemed like a great place to bring a friend or spouse for a unique night out. For me nearing closing on a Sunday night it was like a private Flamenco performance. Gotta love it when things work out and you find something cool!

Favorite Dish: Shrimp Tapas in Chocolate Saurce.

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Theme: Other
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$21-30  » Currency Converter
Phone: 416-778-007
Address: 97 Danforth Avenue
Website: www.embrujoflamenco.com

Restaurant Name: Mortons Steakhouse

It's very hard to put into words when you have possibly one of the best steaks of your life. Up to the time of my visit to Morton's, Queue de Cheval in Montreal and Le Charbon in Montreal where by far the best steakhouses I had ever tried and then there was Morton's.

The restaurant in Toronto is right across the street from the Four Seasons hotel so it was a short walk. In any event the service here is great. There is a bar downstairs on the main floor where they make great Martini's and they serve little steak sandwiches to keep your stomach from growling.

The eating area is great and for private functions you can get what they call the boardroom. This is where I ate at my visit and they treat you really good there. It's quieter as well and condusive to a business type of dinner.

Favorite Dish: THE FOOD! I ate a lobster appetizer, the Cajun Ribeye Steak was was melted in my mouth and for dessert I had a chocolate mouse cake with raspberries. I can't beleive I ate the cake after the steak and trimmings, but I did, LOL.

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Theme: Steakhouse
Comparison: most expensive
Prices: US$41 and up  » Currency Converter
Phone: 416-925-0648
Address: 4 Avenue Road
Directions: Park Hyatt Hotel
4 Avenue Road at Prince Arthur (just north of Bloor Street)
Toronto, Canada M5R2E8
Website: http://www.mortons.com

Restaurant Name: The Little House of Kabobs

During my stroll along Toronto's Yonge Street was needed a lunch to get me through to what I knew was going to be a big dinner and there is obviously lots of choices as you explore this street.

So then I decided let's go for something foreign keeping in line with the cultural diversity theme of Toronto and then I finally had to just decide so this place had a huge sign so I walked in.

I am a fan of Saffron and all the chicken had saffron infused into it so i was optimistic I was going to get some authentic Halal food and I did it would seem. I went with a simple wrap because they only took cash and I was very low but the chicken was great.

Traditional people were also at the restuarant as I overheard several conversations about Muslim culture and politics.

So overall the Little House of Kebobs was a unique and worthwhile stop along Yonge Street.


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Theme: Kosher/Halal
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Phone: 416-595-9988
Address: 357 Yonge Street

Restaurant Name: Sightlines Restaurant

Site Lines is a restaurant in the Toronto Skydome and it turned out to be the site where I say my first ever professional baseball game. A colleague working for the company the runs the operation treated me and I was impressed to say the least.

The way it works is you go to the Skydome hotel and in the lobby your turn left after entering the main door. It’s just about fifty feet away and you get an open air table to the game. We ended up getting front row. At the site you are out in centerfield and once you see the food you will quickly realize you loose track of the game. They do have televisions and play by play there so you get to see the replays often.

It’s a buffet style with lots of selection. I was excited to be pleasantly surprised to find they has Spanish Paella on this night with an amazing selection of other national dishes from other countries.

It roughly about $50 for the buffet and the game, so I think that is a steal really. During my visit the Jays where playing the Baltimore Orioles and they won 7-3.

This restaurant is operated by Levy Restaurants!


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Theme: Local
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$41 and up  » Currency Converter
Phone: 416-341-2364
Address: 1 Blue Jays Way
Website: http://www.levyrestaurants.com/Levy/DiningExperiences/SportsAndEntertainment/Group4/Toronto+Skydome.htm
Other Contact: http://www.rogerscentre.com

Restaurant Name: The Sultan's Tent

The Sultan's Tent is one of my more memorable eating experiences and at the same time one of my worst. I quickly explain why one of my worst. I was extremely sick with a sore throat and this was the type of food the helped the situation. I was in extreme pain eating a lot of this food in the state I was in. This was very annoying because this is one of my favorite types of food.

Anyway for $39.95 you get a four course meal and you want to make sure you book about 30 to 40 minutes prior to the show starting and sitting in the aisle is pretty good becuase you get to see a lot of the show.

You get an appetizer, a great main meal and dessert and the tea ceremony is something neat to watch. I got a nice picture of this.

During the belly dancing performance I wasn't sure what was going to happen for pictures but a lot of the patrons were taking pictures so I snapped a few too which you can enjoy with this tip!

Favorite Dish: I honestly can't remember my meal here. I was so sick that I couldn't enjoy the food and ended up sipping on the Perrier water for my throat and enjoying the belly dancing show.

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Theme: Middle Eastern
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$21-30  » Currency Converter
Address: 49 Front Street East
Website: http://www.thesultanstent.com/

Restaurant Name: Hot House Cafe

This is a nice restaurant located on Church Street. Apparently they have a really good buffet according to some police officers on bike outside the place and they would know. When you check out their web site it also sez the buffet is award winning and have some pictures of it.

This was another disappointing experience for me becuase I was sick with a sore throat. The food at this place looked awesome and I had a main dish with some saffron in it which I liked but unfortunately I spent most of the time sipping carbonated water to help with my throat again.

Favorite Dish: Chocolate Chip Banana Cake - $6.95
Four layers of moist sponge cake with fresh Bananas and Chocolate Chips covered in Milk Chocolate Truffle. White Chocolate drizzle finish.

This went down well and didn't irratate my sore throat at the time.

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Theme: Local
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Address: 35 Church Street
Website: http://www.hothousecafe.com

Restaurant Name: The Mandarin

The Mandarin was a very unique expeirence and one I'll probably never forget. The Mandarin is a chain of buffet restaurants in Ontario and they are famous for their customer service. The location I went to was in Missasauga and it was extremely busy there.

You will hear a constant ring of "Welcome to the Mandarin", Welcome to the Mandarin, Welcome to the ..... They are very focused on customer service.

Once you get to your seat and decide to tackle the buffet its hard to know where to start. The buffet is extensive and I don't know how you are suppose to eat the right proportion at a place like this.

I ate two heaping plate fulls of main courses and then two more heaping plates of desserts.

Favorite Dish: It's hard to say at a place like this what would of been the favorite. I remember the prime rib was extremely good and the spring rolls but there was just so much food to remember it all.

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Theme: Buffet
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Website: http://www.mandarinbuffet.com