Toronto Restaurant Tips by hotsauce28

Restaurant Name: Hemingways...fondly nicknamed Hemmys

Located in the heart of Yorkville, the patios (yes, plural) at Hemmy's are the best. Unlike the rest of Yorkville, it's not a "OOH, look at me I'm so pretty.." bar...it's a chillin', casual, inexpensive place to hang out for drinks or some grub.
3 levels of fresco dining and when you get really drunk, you can throw sh*t at the patrons on the patio at Remy's next door who are standing around thinking "OOH, look at me I'm so pretty.."...

Favorite Dish: My favorite dish?? Guiness...oh, and Pad thai's not bad...

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Theme: Other
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$21-30  » Currency Converter
Address: next to the 4 Season, across the street from Nike

Restaurant Name: Chick N' Deli

Sundays and Mondays are affectionately called "Cougar Nite" by the locals. The bands are great and the place can get pretty rowdy.
Casual dress (jeans & t's work best!) unless you're over 50......HOT MAMA'S PUT ON YOUR SHORTEST SKIRT AND DANCE DANCE DANCE!!!

Favorite Dish: the wings...obviously...

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Theme: Local
Comparison: about average

Address: 744 Mt Pleasant

Restaurant Name: MASA

Lemme give you a crash course in Sushi first.
Sashimi - raw fish and the raw fish only..
Sushi - raw fish and other yummies on top of rice
Maki - rice rolled in seaweed with various goodies inside (avocado, cucmber, egg, etc..)
Sake - japanese rice wine served cold or heated (get it heated...it's a better kick!)
Got that?? k, good...

Now, the restaurant....it's quite pretty, the decor is your typical Japanese-y look except for the "lucky cats" peeking out from various parts of the dining room watching you eat (I'm gonna assume that the place has Chinese owners!)

As far as sushi/sashmi goes, it's not the best I've ever had but it's certaintly not the worst. It's caters to more mainstream sushi eaters, not much variety but what they have is quite good.

Oh, I almost forgot the most important part...you can order King Cans of Japanese beer!!!
Hey...would they then be called King Kong's??? sorry........

Favorite Dish: I was impressed by the Maki Rolls (the Spicy Salmon Skin roll was my fav....obviously..)

Now here's the real "TIP"....Even though it's all you can eat, order small bits at a time. It's not buffet style so they know exactly what your table has ordered. Anything ordered and not consumed will be charged on your bill on top of what you've paid per person.

This IS written on the menu but in fine print...sneaky little buggers...

cost:
$12.99 lunch
$15.99 dinner (weekdays)
$17.99 dinner (weekends and holidays)

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Theme: Japanese/Sushi
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: 416-920-3388
Address: 15 Charles Street East (lobby of Comfort Hotel)
Directions: Downtown Toronto
South of Bloor, West of Yonge

Restaurant Name: Home of Hot - Taste

Okay, so they're not so creative with the name and no...they haven't fully grasped the english language but none of that matters... Once you've tried their Blazing Fire Chicken, nothing else matters except that they have cheap beer.
$2.99 domestic
$3.50 import
K, now that we've gotten the important information covered, I'll tell you about their food...
With dishes called "Tearful Blazing Chicken" and "Sauna Squid" I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.
This restaurant is for hard core iron guts!! To all lightweights...please....there's a Lick's down the street....

Favorite Dish: Tearful Blazing Chicken. Do I really need to tell you why??

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Theme: Other
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: (905) 881-0230
Address: 7289 Yonge Street (Glen Cameron Center)
Directions: Yonge North of Steeles, South of Clark
Website: www.bundak.com

Restaurant Name: Ruth Chris Steakhouse

Know what I hate when I go out to eat? I hate leaving a restaurant thinking "I could do better than that!"

The average price for steaks here are about $47.00... and that's JUST the steak. You order all the sides separately, oh about $10.00 for a plate of fries and $9.00 for a piece of broccoli... RIDICULOUS!

Our bill for 6 people was over $1000.00 (but that DID include a bottle of wine..)

Over priced, no presentation skills, no ambience... I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.


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Theme: Steakhouse
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$41 and up  » Currency Converter
Address: 145 Richmond St
Directions: Inside the Hilton Hotel (Downtown)

Restaurant Name: Margarita's Fiesta Room

So our dear VTer friend Kaspian decided to throw a 'soiree' at Margaritas.

Here's the scene as I arrive to the restaurant first:

ME: Hi, i think there might be a reservation for about a dozen people but I'm not sure.
HOSTESS: what name would it be under
ME: I'm not sure, it could be a few different names... what names do you have??
H: NO! you tell ME what name you're looking for...
ME: (geez... have a tequila and chill the F out!)

Besides the rude hostess, the waiters really didn't have a clue. Hovering over us to see if we were finished and trying to rush us out til fiesty (and tipsy) Sacchrinicity says "WE'LL LEAVE ONCE WE FINISHED WHAT WE PAID FOR!!" God bless her... hehe..

Then once the check comes, the waiter actually sat down at our table and watched everyone sort their money... RIDICULOUS!!!!

Favorite Dish: Sorry, bad service... worse food. Stale chips in a Mexican restaurant is really not a good sign.

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Theme: Mexican
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$21-30  » Currency Converter
Address: 14 Baldwin Street
Directions: Closest subway St Patrick Stn

Restaurant Name: Joso's.

Naked... that's the first thing I noticed.
Pictures and statues of naked men, women, men & women together along with pictures of the ocean, aquatic life... the walls are VERY busy! But it's definately not cheesy or tacky. Done very tastefully, I was in awe surrounded by all the quirky pieces of art!

Now for the food... Oh my good lord.

A server will come to your table with a tray of assorted fresh fish, everything from octopus to seabass to shellfish from Austraila, Italy, etc... so you have an option of ordering from the tray or the menu.

I strongly recommend that you make reservations and keep in mind, they're closed on Sundays and Saturday afternoons.

Favorite Dish: I had the Austrailian bass, Insalada de Mare and oysters on a half shell and sampled the Scorpion fish. It the best damn dinner I've ever had.

Everything is kept very simple, the fish is grilled using only olive oil and lemon and it is DELICIOUS!

If you want great food, great service at a funky place, GO HERE!

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Theme: Seafood
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$31-40  » Currency Converter
Phone: 416-925-1903
Address: 202 Davenport Road at Avenue Road.
Directions: Yorkville

Restaurant Name: Tomi Kro

Tomi Kro (meaning a little place in Greek, written to seem Japanese) is a tiny little restaurant with BIG art. As you're dining, you'll be staring at a bigger than life picture of a Sumo wrestler (rear view) on one side and a HUGE Nike picture on the other. Good dinner conversation starter!

It's an a la carte restaurant and what I really like (besides the food) are the servers that "recommend". And by that I mean, if you order your main and your side and they think the two shouldn't go together, they'll say "no, no.. you don't want that. here's what you should have."

Sound obnoxious?? I thought so at first but when you taste what they bring you, I guarantee you'll be glad you took their advice!

Medeterranian cuisine with an Asian flair, it's a MUST when you're visiting Toronto!

Note: closed on Sundays and Mondays - open at 6pm Tues-Sat

Favorite Dish: This is hard. The LA ribs were delicious, lambchops.. yum.... The salmon was great.. mousaka was the best I've ever tried! There's not one dish that I was disappointed with. And the presentation is stunning!

Sorry, no pics of the food... yet...

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Theme: Other
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$31-40  » Currency Converter
Phone: 416-463-6677
Address: 1214 Queen Street East
Directions: Leslieville