Via Mercanti

Date Visited: Dinner on Thursday Jul 9, 2015

Company: +Will Ives 

So this year, I gave Will the job of choosing a Summerlicious restaurant for us to try! He decided on Via Mercanto, an Italian restaurant located across the street from Sick Kids Hospital that is known for its authentic pizza. I was impressed and excited to try this place, I didn't realize how close it was to us either so we could go again easily in the future. It was a sunny evening so the patio was packed by the time we got there, we also followed suit as the inside looked fairly empty. When we first got the menu, we didn't see any Summerlicious on there so we had to ask specifically for that. The service was a bit slow, especially with water and taking our orders. We decided on totally separate items so we could share our meal. 

For the appetizer, I ordered the Caprese Salad with Fior de latte cheese, Roma tomatoes serviced on a bed of arugula with basil dressed in extra virgin olive oil. It looked very pretty on the plate and a good size also. The ingredients were all excellent but I thought it could have used a bit more flavour as it was a bit bland. Will got the Rancino Di Riso, a rice ball with Risotto, Mozzarella, Parmesan, Peas, and Beef. I was pleasantly surprised how delicious this was! There was a ton of flavour in the ball and the consistency of the rice with cheese and beef was excellent. I definitely could have had a few of these. 

For my main, I knew I wanted to try their pizza but couldn't decide between the Vegetarian or Romolo's. I read that the Romolo's Pizza, a half tomato sauce, half olive oil with Fior de latte, Prosciutto cotto and Mixed mushrooms is one of their classic dishes so I opted for that and also because Will would be more willing to eat it (without the veggies). I enjoyed the tomato side better cause I'm not really a fan of the smell of olive oil and found it overpowering. Other than that, the dough was very crispy but a bit hard, I thought it could be a bit more chewy. 

Will went for the Faggotino Di Parma, Housemade pasta in a cream sauce wrapped in Prosciutto crudo. This pasta was delicious, the sauce was extremely cheesy and the prosciutto was amazing, there was a lot of it surprisingly! I did find everything a bit salty though from the excess of cheese, great dish otherwise.

Finally, for dessert I went for the Tiramisu and Will got the Chocolate Gelato. The presentation of the Tiramisu was excellent, the piece was kind of small but they sprinkled lots of cocoa powder to appeal to the eye. The flavour was great and the cake was very spongey and light! As for the Gelato, it tasted like chocolate, I don't have much else to add to that :)

Food: 3/5 - Not going to lie, my taste buds may have been a bit off due to a bit of sickness but found a lot of flavours more prominent than others in the dishes.
Decor: 2/5 - Didn't see much of the interior decor but the the outside was a bit difficult to find and the seats weren't very comfortable on the patio.
Service: 1.5/5 - Not the best, very slow.
Willingness to go back: 2.5/5 - Would give it another shot, had lots of good options on their menu.
Overall: 2/5

Website: http://www.pizzeriaviamercanti.ca/

Arkadia House

Date Visited: Lunch on Saturday Jun 20, 2015
Company: Walk-in for 6 with the girls pre-bridesmaid dress shopping

In preparation for +Joslynn's wedding, the girls and I planned a date to go into David's Bridal to try on some bridesmaid dresses. Our appointment was just on a Saturday afternoon just after lunch so I decided to find a place for all of us to eat beforehand. While looking, I was pleasantly surprised at all the options I found, there were a ton of nice places to try in the industrial area. The bride made the final call in getting some Greek food.

We all met at the restaurant just before noon and the large restaurant was empty at this time. We got a big round table for 6 in the centre of the restaurant. We all admired the lovely decor and how fancy and cultured it looked. We got some bread to start as we checked out their menu. The butter we got was rock hard though so it was very difficult to spread over the bread. Most of us chose something from the lunch menu as the prices were cheaper than dinner and we probably couldn't finish all the food from a dinner plate. The waiter was very friendly and was attentive as he needed to be.

I ordered the Chicken Souvlaki with Greek Salad and Potatoes and the portion size was perfect. Everyone also thought the plates the food was served on was super cute. The chicken was very tender and juicy, great flavour also. I'm not a fan of very thick tzatziki sauce but the flavour was delicious despite this. The potatoes were pretty boring, not enough flavour and a bit dry. The greek salad was delicious, the dressing was thick, creamy, and rich if that's what you like! It was a good authentic meal at a reasonable price.

Food: 3.5/5 - Authentic and good flavours.
Decor: 4/5 - Spacious with lots of lighting and Greek decor!
Service: 3/5 - Really good, only a bit slow at the end to get the bill.
Willingness to go back: 3.5/5 - Would definitely go there again!
Overall: 3.5/5

Website: http://www.arkadiahouse.com/

Greek Tycoon

Date Visited: Dinner on Friday May 29, 2015

Company: Walk-in for 2

On Friday night before I was heading to Toronto for the weekend, I asked +Stephanie to get some dinner with me before I left. We debated a few places to visit but decided on Greek Tycoon since it's on the top of my list of restaurants still to visit in Oshawa. My parents were recommended this place by a Greek neighbor and they said there were large portions when they went.

The restaurant is located in a small plaza close to the 401. I was waiting in the parking lot for Steph for a few minutes and saw a lot of people walk-in. When we entered, most of the tables were full and even though we didn't have a reservation, they were able to get us one. It was a lot bigger inside than I had expected with an elevated floor near the back where we were seated. The seating was a bit tight as we were pretty close to other tables but once we got settled, we hardly noticed.

There were many options that looked really good, all the seafood sounded delicious! All the dishes started with a Greek Salad and Bread. The Salad was in a pretty big plate and filled with iceberg lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, feta cheese, and dressing. everything was extremely fresh and the dressing was light and a good proportion to the veggies. Quite filling for a starter. We also got a warm dinner roll which tasted good but Steph said she saw they were from The Baker's Table in Oshawa from the packaging near the kitchen.

There were many tables ordering something which required a waiter to come out and pour alcohol on the dish, light it on fire, and call out 'Opa!' but I wasn't sure what it was!

For my main, I chose the Shrimp Saganaki, pan-fried in garlic butter, wine, tomato sauce, and topped with feta cheese, rice, potatoes, and steamed vegetables. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from my choice, I just Googled imaged the name and saw some delicious shrimp so I thought it would be OK. We waited a bit for our orders, but it was very busy so I could see why. When I got my order, I thought the colours looked great on the plate! The portion wasn't as large as I was expecting, I think the Souvlaki dishes had a lot more than the Seafood. The flavour of the shrimp was OK, very tomatoey above all, I thought there would be a bit more uniqueness to it. The shrimps though were very large and fresh, and cooked excellently. Steph and I both agreed the rice was a bit hard and bland. The potatoes on the other hand, were delicious and had so much flavour. 

Food: 3/5 - Disappointed by the rice but everything else was good, would like to try the souvlaki!
Decor: 4/5 - Very nice decor and cozy feeling.
Service: 3/5 - Friendly and decent wait considering.
Willingness to go back: 3.5/5 - When you don't want to go to the mall for Greek, one of the only places in Oshawa/Whitby to go!
Overall: 3.5/5

Website: http://www.greektycoonwhitby.com/

Cabo Eats: Campestre

Date Visited: Dinner on Monday May 4, 2015
Company: Walk-in for 4

So... it's been a while, but I'm back and ready to hit the restaurant scene again... and just in time for patio season! I was in Mexico the first week of May and had spend the most of the month prior at the gym and trying to eat better in preparation. I was pretty lucky to to be able to try lots of the restaurants in Cabo San Lucas as we didn't stay at an all-inclusive. But instead of blogging about all of those places, I thought I'd just pick one that really stood out to my palate :)

Campestre is the spot where I thought we got to try the most authentic Mexican food, it was filled with locals and located off the beaten path. Our Cabo expect Laura suggested it when we asked for a cheap, authentic Mexican restaurant to check out, and it also happened that two of her local friends work there. It took about 10 minutes to get there from our hotel via taxi into some dirt road streets away from downtown. We were dropped off and entered a fairly large open restaurant with ample tables and even more floor space. It was about half-full for dinner and I didn't see any tourists there. Luckily they still had some english menus. We also got started off with some chips and salsa for the table. The portion of salsa was hefty compared to other restaurants, there was also a spicy salsa that was more liquidy. The tomatoes in the mild one were extremely fresh but light in flavour.


To start, I ordered the Bloody Merry (according to their menu) while the boys got beer and Laura got a Beer and tomato juice combo drink. I hadn't ordered a Caesar as of yet the whole trip so I was very excited to see how it would taste. The drink looked fancily dressed but more importantly it tasted amazing. Almost exactly like a Caesar but with more of a kick of different spices. The prices here were cheaper than anything we had seen before too which made things even better!

Their food menu had a lot of options with some photos to accompany. The one dish that stood out to me though Grilled Steak Tampioueña with Quesadilla, Enchilada, Guacamole and Rice, mostly the photo beside it looked delicious. The plate I got however, looked even better. The steak was perfectly grilled a medium-well (just like how I asked) and extremely tender. It was a thin slice but had a lot of character with some fatty and muscly parts on the edges and tons of flavour. I thought I had gotten a tortilla on top but turns out it was filled with cheese! One difference I noticed from home was that their tortillas are flakey and layered unlike a soft taco shell. Also their quesadillas are mostly just all cheese, no veggies inside. The Enchilada was great too, I could only finish one of the two but I loved the red sauce and cheese on top. The guacamole was a nice addition to the plate as well as the rice, which had a lot more flavour compared to other plates I'd had.

Overall, I was very happy with my choice of dish... even happier the next night where I got to drunkenly finish my leftovers. Like many of the restaurants we visited in Cabo, the service was quite slow, we were sitting a while just waiting for our bills before we could find anyone to flag down. But despite this, they were always accommodating and even nice enough to call us a taxi to pick us up since there was no way we could flag one nearby. I would definitely recommend this to anyone going to Cabo that wants to try a local authentic restaurant, I'd try to come back here anytime I was in the city.

Food: 4.5/5 - Best meal we had in Cabo and cheap prices!
Decor: 3/5 - Pretty cute restaurant.
Service: 2.5/5 - Really friendly, but pretty slow. Little bias since Laura knew our servers though
Willingness to go back: 4.5/5 - Totally worth the trek.
Overall: 3.5/5

Website: http://www.restaurantcampestreloscabos.com/#_=_

Piola

Date Visited: Dinner on Saturday Feb 28, 2015
Company: A sick +Will

I had been watching the dates for Piola's All-you-can-eat Gnocci nights for a while now to see when the 29th would fall on a good weekend to attend. Luckily for the month of February, they decided to have Gnocci night on the 28th which happened to be a Saturday instead of skipping it altogether! I made a reservation for 2 for the 7PM seating and patiently awaited for the date to come. Unfortunately for Will, he started to get sick that week and still wasn't feeling 100% on the Saturday. We were debating skipping it and trying again next month, but in the end Will thought he could still eat a decent amount of gnocci.

We drove to Piola because it is quite a ways from us on Queen West. We found parking easily on the street but had a bit of trouble with finding the right entrance to the restaurant. Apparently the left side is not where the entrance is and the different coloured building to the right is also Piola, much to my mistake. We waited a few minutes after we told them of our reservation and were then taken to an open room in the back. There was some confusion on our table as we were moved a bit later to a smaller table for 2  right in the middle of the room instead of a table for 4. There were a huge group of older Italians which took up a lot of the area so I think they were trying to sort them out.

We didn't have drink menus on the table or anything so we ended up just getting waters. About 15 minutes after 7PM, a waitress came out of the kitchen with a huge bowl of gnocci and started going to tables. They would come up and tell you what flavour they had and we would tell them if we wanted any or not. Then they would scoop a bit on your plate and go on to the next table. It was a really fun experience to anticipate what we were getting next and trying all of them.  The speed at which them came was a bit slow at first but it allowed you to enjoy the food and some conversation as well. They started flowing more heavily at the end but by then I was starting to reject them. There were about 9 flavours we got to try before they started repeating.

The gnocci itself I thought was good, very squishy and softer than I remembered them. Will said the texture is usually like that and only the size was a bit smaller than normal. I would have liked to taste a bit more potato in them though, I felt like it was all dough. I've ranked the flavours and what I thought about them below:

Favourites:

Rose - This was my favourite of them all just because the flavour was mellow, sweet and not too prominent. Great combination of creaminess, tomatoes, and cheese.

Sage & Butter -  This one looked like it had no sauce but it was packed with flavour. Never tried anything like it before and really enjoyed it.


Ham & Tomato - Second one we got and compared to the Tomato & Mozzarella, it tasted so much better. Very smooth and creamy with a nice lightness added from the tomatoes.

Bolognese - The bolognese had lots of minced meat in the tomato sauce. Interesting flavour, a bit sweet almost like Chef Boyardee.



                                                                         Neutral:

Ham & Mushroom - Nothing too special about this one. Had it third after the Ham & Mushroom so it was almost the same except I thought the sauce was heavier.

Tomato & Mozzarella -This is the first one we tried, the tomato flavour was too sour and very little mozzarella.

Didn't like:

Four Cheese -  A little disappointed by this one, not enough cheese flavour to be honest.

Puttanesca (spicy tuna, olives, capers, onion, tomato) - Wasn't sure what it was when we first got it but could definitely tell there were olives from the colour and some kind of seafood from the taste. Not a fan of either tuna or olives.

Basil Pesto - The texture was the biggest turnoff, too grainy.

After dinner, I didn't want to have gnocci for a long time. Now, I can't wait to have it again. I noticed though that I favourited the ones with mild flavours that let the gnocci do the talking, which is a good sign I think! Fun setting to enjoy so authentic Italian food in a well organized manner. All in all, we paid $25 each to stuff ourselves silly with little dough dumplings of goodness.

Food: 4/5 - Lots of hits with the flavours, amazing AYCE experience
Decor: 3/5 - Very rustic, wooden walls everywhere with colourful tables. Lots of space.
Service: 3/5 - Impressive flow of food, no one was going to go home hungry. Some of the servers looked like they hated their lives though and others were hard to understand what flavour we were getting.
Willingness to go back: 4.5/5 - Totally, their pizza looks amazing too! So many Italians there, it must be legit.
Overall: 3.5/5

Website: http://www.piolatoronto.com/

El Catrin Destileria

Date Visited: Dinner on Friday Nov 14, 2014
Company: Reservation for 6 (but actually we had 8)

+Stanley was back in town once again and planned a group dinner to catch up with everyone. I suggested El Catrin in the Distillery District and a lot of people seemed to also been wanting to check out this spot. El Catrin opened last summer and I've been hearing some mixed reviews of all different aspects of the restaurant. Apparently, you can only make a reservation online for 4 people here and we had about 8 confirmed attending. Stanley called in closer to our date and changed our reservation to 6 which we were allowed to do... we had 2 were coming later into the night. I was the 6th person to arrive on the Friday night, and found the entrance a bit confusing...I had no idea the entrance was behind the infamous heated patio. Nonetheless, I searched the area which actually wasn't that huge and found my friends in a half booth/half chairs table. We were luckily able to squeeze another on the booth and fine another chair for our extra 2 people who came later, our waitress was very accommodating even though it was very busy.

The waitress explained the menu to us and said that their portions are a bit smaller because they're for sharing. For us, we just decided to get 2 orders each :). But to start, we got the Guacamole which was made for us table-side and served with unlimited tortilla chips. It was really awesome to see someone mixing the ingredients right in front of us, a little awkward but still cool! The flavour was great, we got it spicy so I couldn't taste the lime as much but I think they have a great recipe. There was also some salsa and limes on the table that apparently were there when my friends sat down but didn't have any chips, maybe they were for tacos? Each of the salsas were different with varied levels of spiciness.

For my first order, I got the Vegetarian Mini Burritos with Sautéed Corn, Zucchini, Tomato, Mushroom, Tofu, and Black Bean Puree.  The Burritos were so small and cute, they almost looked like Taquitos, the 4 pieces were quite a bit of food though and good for sharing and sampling. There was nothing really special about them, just a bunch of cooked vegetables stuffed in a tortilla and grilled. The salsa is what really gave it some life as the vegetables were bland otherwise. I tasted a lot of mushroom and corn but it was interesting as unlike a real burrito, there was no rice or even much bean puree to hold it all together.

For my second order, I got the Tacos (which I've heard great things about)! +Laura, +Brian, and I all got different kinds so it worked out perfectly that we could each try one of the Baja, Gobernador, and Pollo Con Mole Tacos. The first one I tried was the Baja Taco with Crispy Fried Cod and Chipotle Lime Coleslaw, the fish was very tender and light, not too greasy. The coleslaw paired nicely with the fried fish and added all the flavour it needed. It was a pretty decent sized filet, I wasn't very hungry after finishing it. Next, I went for the Gobernador with Sauteed Shrimp, Lobster, Chipotle Aioli, and Black Bean Puree which was my original order. I found the texture interesting, very creamy but with the bean puree, it wasn't all smooth. I was impressed on how much filling you were given in the taco because shrimps were dropping everywhere. The seafood was fresh and cooked perfectly. Lastly was the Pollo Con Mole Taco with Pulled Chicken, Crema Fresca, Cotija Cheese, Xni-Pec, on a Corn Tortilla unlike Flour like the rest. I didn't really enjoy this one, the chicken was a bit dry and dull, and I didn't like the Corn Tortilla either. I was also very full at this point and not sure it I just needed to stop eating...

Lastly, I'll talk about the lovely drinks I ordered. They have an an awesome assortment of tequilas and I couldn't resist trying some of their cocktails. In the beginning of the night I started off with a Watermelon Fire which was very tasty and the name speaks for itself. It was very refreshing and a great choice for the watermelon lover. Later in the evening, I went for the Cucumber Devil. I love cucumber drinks so I couldn't resist ordering this one. It had the flavour I was expecting but also a lot of kick! There's peppers in there so not suited for those who can't handle spice, none of my friends enjoyed it. Also, the drinks all price around $10 so not the cheapest of dinners.

Food: 3.5/5 - Better than I was expecting, I don't think it's as overpriced if you know what to order and have people to share with. 

Decor: 4/5 - Loved staring at that colourful mural all night long, felt like I was in old town Mexico

Service: 3.5/5 - Surprisingly good, very accommodating to our large group and good wait-time between each course.

Willingness to go back: 4/5 - Definitely left with a good impression and would like to return.

Overall: 4/5

Website: http://www.elcatrin.ca

Avli

Date Visited: Dinner on Saturday Aug 16, 2014
Company: +Stephanie

+Stephanie and I were hanging out in Scarborough on the weekend, attempting to do some hiking at the Bluffs and I suggested going to the Danforth for some dinner afterwards as we were kind of close-by. I really wish I had more chances to visit the Danforth because Greek is possibly one of my favourite types of food. We found a parking spot a few blocks from the core of Greek town and walked down trying to decide where to go with all the options we were presented with. Avli seemed like a small, busy (but not packed) restaurant on the strip and we were appealed by their 'World Famous Dips' sign. They had their menu specials presented outside their door and were surprised how cheap it was... Little did we know that it was their Lunch Specials and they forgot to change the sign.

We started with some World-Famous Dips and ordered a combination of 3 for $16.50 instead of $6.50 each. It also came with Grilled Pita for which we got an extra order for $2. An order was 2 round pitas and we though it was too many but we actually used all of them. We tried the Kopanisti (Feta Cheese, Roasted Red Peper, and Olive Oil), Skordalia (Creamy Potatoes with Olive Oil and Garlic) and Melitzanosalta (Eggplant with Onions, Parsley, and Garlic) to try ones we've never had before. The plate was presented with some cucumbers and olives on the side which were a nice addition to eat with the dips. Some of the pita looked a little burnt but still tasted OK, it was thick and held together well with the various dips and also delicious on its own. When we ordered our dips, the waitress warned us about the Skordalia, saying that it has garlic in it... aka there's LOTS of garlic in it. The creamy potatoes was basically only for the texture which was nice and smooth but the kick was from the garlic flavour. The Melitzanosalta was an fun one because I tasted something different in each bite, it was sour, eggplanty, sweet, and refreshing all in different instances. The Kopanisti was the thickest and richest of the three, mostly from the feta cheese, the red pepper gave it a nice orange hue and subtle flavour. You could get really full off that one alone, so it was nice to have all three to complement each other as they were all so different.

We were able to have a good taste of the dips before a manager came back to let us know that the $12 Chicken Souvlaki 'specials' we ordered from the front menu was only for Lunch. Our waitress had told us we could still get those prices because we couldn't find them on the menu and had to show her what was written  outside. The manager I guess didn't allow that so we said didn't want them anymore (since we already were pretty full from the dips). She then mentioned that they had a dinner with one chicken skewer for $13 instead of the $17 one, we decided just to order those instead.

We go got our Greek Salads shortly, it was a small appetizer plate topped with lots of feta cheese and the standard ingredients. I didn't like how shredded the lettuce was and the dressing was rather plain and flavourless. I also tried to save most of it for the main meal since there are usually no vegetables with Souvlaki plates.


So at this point, we were pretty full already so when we got our very hot plates, I can't say that the appealing food added to our hunger. The plating looked bland with all the brown colours and the placement made the plate look empty. The potatoes had amazing flavour though and melted in your mouth, it was over-cooked but the taste made up for it. The rice on the other hand was also over-cooked but was pretty bland and dry. The chicken and tzatziki was not bad, it was really hard to tell when you're stuffing yourself. It wasn't too dry and had good flavour, I tried to add some tzatziki to the rice but it made it even more dry, nothing could save it.

Overall, I was left unimpressed by Avli, if we hadn't had ordered the Chicken Souvlaki's I think I would have a different impression because the dips were amazing. I think they have some other interesting dishes on the menu that I wish we had room for to try instead of the Souvlaki. The dips really fill you up so I would be mindful of that for the future.

Food: 2/5 - Torn here because I was left with a bad impression from the Souvlaki but the dips were actually good!

Decor: 2/5 - The tables where we were near the window were pretty close to each other in the small restaurant.

Service: 3.5/5 - Very sweet waitress we had, manager was less nice but good timing between dishes.

Willingness to go back: 2/5 - Depending on the nature of the meal, definitely know how not to order here as it left me ridiculously full and hating myself.

Overall: 2.5/5

Website: http://www.avlirestaurant.com/home

Vagabondo

Date Visited: Dinner on Friday Feb 14, 2014
Company: Valentine's Day Dinner with +Will

Last year, I was looking for restaurants to go to for Valentine's Day and Vagabondo's $55, 4-course, fixed-price dinner really caught my eye. This year, I linked +Will two different restaurants' menus to choose from and he picked Vagabondo's, forgetting that we went there last year. I was happy to go again though because I had a great experience the first time around and now, I had an opportunity to blog about it! I made a reservation on OpenTable, a great site to make reservations and earn points for dining for many restaurants in Toronto and other cities!

Vagabondo is in a bit of a odd location, not really on the street but in a square. It's pretty noticeable though if you know where you're going as there's a large sign outside. The interior was decorated well for the occasion with tons of red and white balloons. We were immediately greeted and taken to our table. The restaurant is large with many different rooms, and we were placed in a small one with about 5 other tables. The placements of these tables were pretty close to each other so I felt a bit squished especially because we were also right against the wall. A waitress gave me a balloon upon entering and I tied it on my chair but I was worried it would keep hitting the guy behind me (that's how close we were to each other) so I stuffed it under the table instead. Anyways, we ordered Spearheads to drink which is one of their beers offered on tap which was described to us as a Toronto local brown ale. 

Once we placed our food orders, we were immediately brought some warm bread with olive oil, balsamic vinaigrette, and butter to start. I loved that they gave the oil and vinaigrette in their bottles (which fit perfectly together, so cute) for us to pour on our plates ourselves for dipping. The bread was great, so soft on the inside, it felt like it was just baked. Shortly after, our first course arrived, the Bruschetta Feta! I remembered when I had this last year, that it was literally the best Bruschetta I'd ever had before. I'm happy to say that it still is. The perfectly toasted baguette was loaded with tomatoes and feta. They were very generous with the toppings and literally pack it on! The tomatoes are so flavourful and lightly brushed with olive oil. The bread doesn't crumble and the toppings don't fall everywhere when you bite into it which is a nice change from previous bruschetta experiences I've had.

For my second course, I choose the Gamberi Coco, tiger shrimp dipped in coconut batter served with honey garlic sauce. The plate came with two large deep fried tiger shrimp on a bed of arugula and the sauce on the side. The shrimp was very hot and pretty large. I loved the coconut flavour with this dish, not something I've had before. The honey garlic sauce was also delicious, an interesting but tasty combination! I would never think to pair those together but it made for a nice appetizer.

There were many good choices for the main dish but I had to go with the Fettuccine Pescatore, pasta with fresh mussels, clams, king crab, tiger shrimp, jumbo scallops and calamari cooked in a tomato basil sauce. The dish was huge when I saw it with large clams topping it off and an empty accompanying bowl for the shells. The pasta was excellent, it was hand-made and the texture was a bit on the hard side which I enjoyed. There were so many mussels, calamari, shrimp, and clams in the pasta, the thick tomato sauce was complemented well with the seafood. There was only one jumbo scallop in my dish and it was awful, it was so hard I couldn't even eat it after one bite. The king crab was also disappointing since there were only about 3 small sections cut of it, so very little meat. No complaints about the rest of the seafood though, they were great. I left just under half of it to take home because there was no way I could finish it and still have room for dessert. I also had a bite of Will's medium-rare filet and it was very tender, I enjoyed it a lot.

Finally, our meal was finally ending with the Chocolate Lava Cake. It was a cute sized little cake packed with chocolatey goodness. There was the sauce coming out from the top and nothing really came out when you broke into it. Will said that you really had to get to the middle for it to come out. It was great though, the perfect end to the meal. I only had less than a quarter of it and asked for it to be packed up but unfortunately the waitress had dropped my lava cake! She was very sweet and said they can make another one but I really didn't need to take it home so I said no. 

Overall, I had a wonderful romantic meal at Vagabondo. I must say that the waitress was extremely attentive the whole night and always made sure we had enough water and asked us how we were doing. It was a bit much at times but definitely no complaints about service or wait times for food. The $55 fixed price dinner was definitely worth it, great value for delicious food as I know their menu is normally quite pricey.


Food: 4/5 - Overall great food here, they know how to do the simple things right!
Decor: 3/5 - Nice place but a little too packed, expected for Valentine's day though.
Service: 4/5 - Would be perfect service, minus the dropping of cake and asked us how we were a bit excessively.
Willingness to go back: 3/5 - Love their Valentine's menu options, wouldn't say no to coming again but wouldn't initiate it either.
Overall: 3.5/5
Website: http://www.vagabondo.ca/

Mexico-Lindo

Date Visited: Dinner on Thursday Oct 10, 2013
Company: Reservation for 2

On days when I work from the office, I take the Steeles/Tauton road all the way from Scarborough to Oshawa to get home. Whenever I get to the Brock intersection, I always notice the sketchy-looking restaurant on the corner and their busy parking lot. It's not a very attractive restaurant and the parking lot is pretty much on a dirt path along the main road. It also seems like there's a house attached to the restaurant at the back, hidden among the trees. It looked shady, but I figured it must have had decent Mexican food if it always seemed to be full with Durham locals. I looked up the spot and found that it had a lot of raving reviews for the best Mexican food found in the Durham Region. I had to go!
+Will was working in town and I decided to make a reservation after work to check this place out. Most websites/reviews recommended reservations for dinner and knowing how busy I've seen this place, I thought it was the safest bet. We arrived around 6:30 and parked on the dirt parking lot a few meters away from the door, most spots were already taken. The entrance is pretty small and the counter is very close to the door. There are seats to both sides of the door in smaller connecting rooms. We were seated and taken to the right side, most seats seemed to be filled in the smaller room on the left. 

The waiter that took us was a pretty young guy and it looks like its a family run place. The walls were covered in Spanish paintings and knick-knacks you would see if you were on a resort down south. The whole restaurant isn't very big but they try to fit as many people in as they can with tables close to each other. Thus the atmosphere is very lively and filled with chatter. When we sat down, we were given some chips and a small bowl of salsa. The salsa was mostly tomato sauce as it almost looked like soup/watery ketchup. The chips were also very hard and thin, not the best.

To start, we ordered Guacamole which was served with the chips we already had on the table. I think either the Guacamole, the bowl, or both were kept in a very cold fridge prior to serving because it extremely cold when we tried it. The taste was decent, it could have used a bit more lemon IMO but the ingredients were fresh. It was much better when it warmed up a bit.

For drinks, I ordered a Pina Colada and +Will  got a Strawberry Daiquiri. The drinks were rather pricey but they were large glasses. The Pina Colada was very frothy and thick, topped with some nutmeg. The taste was good but a little too thick, almost like milkshake and too much foam. The Strawberry Daiquiri was like a slushie and a bit too sweet for my liking.

For our main dish, we decided to share Chicken & Steak Fajitas for Two. It came with tortillas, sour cream, lettuce, and cheese. We were glad we had the guacamole to add in the fajitas. The pieces of chicken and steak were very large but I was expecting more flavour from the hot plate. The had minimal and bland seasoning, didn't seem very authentic to me. The tortillas came with a bit too less and we had to ask them for more (not sure if we were charged for it) in order to use up all the fillings. The portion was way too much for us with our drinks and app also.
It was a good and filling meal but I was disappointed after hearing about the authenticity. I could have had the fajitas at any restaurant that would have tasted similar. It was also pretty pricey after everything added up, not great value for your money. I would give it a second shot though and try anything with the rice, it looked promising. 

Food: 2.5/5 - Huge portions, pricey, decent food.
Decor: 2/5 - Definitely makes you feel like you're in an authentic Mexican restaurant, not the prettiest outer appearance though.
Service: 2/5 - Nice & friendly waiters, nothing special though.
Willingness to go back: 2/5 - If I wanted something different for the night, I'd go again.
Overall: 2/5 
Website: http://www.mexico-lindo.ca/

Mercatto

Date Visited: Dinner on Friday Dec 20, 2014
Company: Annual SJ Secret Santa gift exchange with 11 participants

This year, I was put in charge of organizing the annual Secret Santa with university friends, handed down from +Stanley who's off in NYC doing bigger and better things. I started planning early because I knew it would be difficult to find a reservation for a large group during that time of year near the Financial District downtown Toronto. I looked up a few places and decided on Mercatto, a restaurant where I could blog about the food and my non-foodies friends could still get familiar dishes without spending too much. They have a few locations in the downtown area, all situated fairly close to each other. Anyhow, I emailed them and they were very accommodating of our reservation for 14 and even warned us of the 18% gratuity fee added to large parties.

Our reservation was at 6PM and people slowly started to trickle in while others we knew would be arriving late. About 3 people went to the Eaton Centre location because of a bug on Facebook phone app leading them to the wrong address (not my fault, worked fine on a browser!). We got a long table in the back near the kitchen, but the restaurant isn't very big anyway so you could still see the front entrance from where we were. The staff was helpful and gave us an extra table to put all our presents on so they didn't have to be on the floor. I especially enjoyed the lighting of the place, it was warm with lots of candles but still bright enough to see each other. It was also very warm in temperature which made it extra cozy.

For drinks, they have a huge selection of wine and about 3 choices for draught beer each at $7 so I ordered a Moretti from Italy. We decided to put in our orders around 7PM as it was uncertain when the others were going to make it. My friends had a bit of trouble figuring out the menu which consisted of many Italian words which I think may have been a bit imitating. After questioning the waitress, we all ended up getting pizza anyways. I ordered the Speck e Spinaci with was topped with smoked ham, spinach, padano cheese, and besciamella sauce. We also requested the complementary bread as their menu noted that we had to ask for it.

Our free bread came and it was joyous because we were starving. The bread was soft and the olive oil given was surprisingly flavourful. Funny story, one friend of mine (who I"ll keep nameless) tried to spread the oil across the bread with his knife and it got everywhere! It was hilarious as having gone to university together, we're used to going to McDonald's and low-budget bars together and not classy adult restaurants, so it was a fun(ny) experience!

Our pizza came and as I was taking pictures of mine, +Alex had rolled his up to a tortilla and finished his first slice already! The pizza looked big on the plate but it was extremely thin, possibly the thinnest pizza I've had. I found the dough a bit floury especially on the crust. I was also not used not having a tomato based sauce so it was an interesting eating experience for me as well. The ham was delicious, crispy like bacon and the spinach was mushy (in a good way!) and added subtle flavour. There was something I didn't quite enjoy fully about the pizza and I'm not sure if it was the sauce or cheese. I was also very envious of the Pepperoni Pizza because that looked amazing and I almost got that instead.

After everyone had arrived and ordered, we got to exchange presents and pass around chocolates that people had received for dessert. We had settled the bills and still stayed for a quite a while after that. I think the restaurant wasn't too impressed but they didn't say anything to us. They didn't need the table or anything but I think we stayed about 4 hours there. I want to think that everyone had a fun and good dining experience here, for me it was a great night and Mercatto was very accommodating.

Food: 2.5/5 - My pizza wasn't the greatest, thought it was over-priced. I can appreciate the authenticity but I've had better. 

Decor: 4.5/5 - Great ambiance and atmosphere, many large groups that night similar to us.

Service: 3/5 - Very helpful and I don't think we were the easiest party to service but they were nice and friendly. Waitress wasn't impressed that I didn't tell her separate bills in the beginning though.

Willingness to go back: 2/5 - Good for parties like this but probably wouldn't go here specifically on a date night or anything, could think of better places.

Overall: 3/5

Website: http://www.mercatto.ca/