Toronto Restaurant Tips by keida84

Restaurant Name: Le Papillon

I had the pleasure of dining at this restaurant on Saturday night of the Toronto VT Meeting. I must say, a better choice would be hard pressed to find. A quaint French restaurant in the downtown region of Toronto, Le Papillon is sure to please even the pickiest of eaters.

Depsite the "closed" quarters of the back room, the staff assembled the tables perfectly to accomodate the 30+ VT'ers. We were able to move around, take pictures and carry on conversations without problem. The highly efficient staff moved in and out through the throng and delivered the hot, tasty food and drink without spilling a drop; and they were able to accomplish this despite the continual flash from all the cameras.

The restaurant was being used for a film the next day and that is why there was a lot of Christmas greenery about.

Favorite Dish: I had the Crêpe Jacqueline which was filled with bacon, fresh apple and cheddar cheese. I had 2 martini's, 1 vodka martini with extra olives and a sour apple martini which was very good. For dessert, (I would never leave a french restaurant without trying dessert) I enjoyed a Meringue glacée:
Meringue shells with ice cream, chocolate sauce and whipped cream, oh boy that evening's meal cost me 2 days on the treadmill for an hour!!!!

You can eat reasonably well here with little expense, the reason my dinner was costly was due to the martini's and dessert. (The price I quote below includes gratuity)

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Theme: French
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$31-40  » Currency Converter
Phone: 416 363 3773
Address: 16 Church street at Church & Front.
Website: http://lepapillon.ca

Restaurant Name: Hot House cafe

I did not get a picture of this but when we walked back to the area where we were having our meetin there was a couple of candles on the end of the bar's passbar. You could tell they had been there a LONG time as the numerous candles that had burned there melted into a large heap of white wax.
Totally cool.

I liked the brightness of the room from the skylights. It was a grey day outside but quite pleasant to be inside with the natural lighting.

Favorite Dish: The Sunday Brunch. This was a very complete brunch with an omelete bar, waffle bar and a carving station with the biggest side of beef I have ever seen. There was something for everybody. I hit the fruit and cheese station, which was along side the Salmon (although Lori said it was "fishy" tasting" and since I do not care for fish, it didn't bother me one bit).

The key here is to portion controll yourself. If you just take a small amount of food, you can tell what you liked and didn't like and get more on your return trip to the buffet. The waffles and cinnamon apple french toast were devine, I had scrambled eggs, bacon, side dishes such as potatoes and pastas.

The dessert table was heavily ladened with sweets of all kinds, I finally selected the lemon popyseed cake with cream cheese frosting. It was very good.

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Theme: Local
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: 416 366 7800
Address: 35 Church Street, Market Square
Directions: Right along the waterfront next to the Hockey Hall of Fame on Market Square. Corner of Church and Front streets.
Website: http://www.hothousecafe.com/index.htm

Restaurant Name: Pappas Grill

The restaurant has bi-level dining rooms and for our recent VT Meeting we were given the downstairs dining room. This was excellent because it had a bar and accomodated the noisy VT crowd. I enjoyed the facilities and the staff was most accomodating, the only problem was there were not enough servers for the large party of 30+ poeple. They only had one waiter for the entire party. This poor guy tried valiantly to keep up but unfortunately through no fault of his own, he failed miserably. Food orders were sporadic and none of us seemed to eat at the same time. I had a personal pizza which was good but I know that my friends ordered chicken and it was not palatable at all!

Favorite Dish: The only dish I tried was the Margharita pizza, the crust was good not chewy and the tomatoes and cheese were very good.

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Theme: Eclectic/International
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: 416-469-9595
Address: 440 Danforth
Directions: In Greektown
Website: http://www.pappasgrill.com