7 West Cafe

Date Visited: Lunch on Saturday Feb 14, 2015
Company: +Will

For Valentine's Day, Will and I had tickets to see Cannibal! The Musical at Panasonic Theatre for the 2PM show. The play was in the Yorkville area so I researched and found 7 West Cafe, a quaint restaurant to have lunch beforehand. The building was interesting looking... 3 stories, black exterior, and in line with other stores that look more like houses. We entered and headed up one story to find a table in an area which looked like a classy cafe with baked goods on the counter and sun shining in through the large windows. The area was pretty cramped but luckily it wasn't too full or noisy.

They had a menu with brunch specials and I ordered a Mimosa to start which was priced at about $10. When we got it, it came with a mini bottle of Champagne, small jug of orange juice, and a small glass to pour yourself. Will was glad he didn't order himself one as it was great for sharing. It lasted us the whole meal and I loved that they let you decide the proportions yourself.

For the mains, we ordered one of the breakfast specials, Fruit Waffle and a classic, Pesto Pita Pizza to share. The Pesto Pita Pizza had Pesto, Sun-dried Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Chicken, and Mozzarella with a side of House Salad. It was a big and colourful plate of delicious looking food when we got it. The Salad had some chickpeas in it which was a nice touch from what one would normally see in a house salad. But other than that, it just had some garden greens and nothing else of substance. The Pizza was great though, lots of chicken and good proportion of pesto. Overall it was a filling dish which left you feeling slightly healthy.

The Fruit Waffle we got came with blueberries, strawberries, apple/banana sauce and whipped cream. The Apple/Banana sauce was a great for the waffle as it sustained us without needing any maple syrup. It wasn't too sweet and tasted home-made. The overall waffle was good but there were a few holes throughout so they probably could have used more batter. We got a nice balance of sweet and savory with our choices so I really enjoyed switching between the two dishes.

7 West would probably be a go-to spot of mine if I lived in the area, and it helps that it's open 24/7! It has a chill, European vibe to it but I'm sure it gets hectic at night. Cool spot for a date though, very intimate. The service was a little slow though and our waitress was always disappearing. I'm not sure if she had to go and run to the other floors to pick up food but she wasn't always around.

Food: 3.5/5 - We got pretty lucky with our orders but all fresh and tasty.
Decor: 3/5 - Unique decor and great ambiance, just a little small.
Service: 2/5 - It was okay, we didn't need much but she didn't really check up on us.
Willingness to go back: 3.5/5 - Would definitely go back if I was in Yorkville but would be cautious of the space they have.
Overall: 3/5

Website: http://www.7westcafe.com/

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/