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/#_=_

Johnny's Eatery

Date Visited: Brunch on Sunday Apr 5, 2015
Company: +Will

On Easter Sunday, Will stayed over the night before and we planned to have breakfast in the morning before he left back to Toronto. I heard about Johnny's from a co-worker who told me it's a very popular breakfast spot in Oshawa with 2 locations. We called ahead just to make sure it was open and they were! We drove down to their newer King St. location which is in a large plaza. The place was pretty large with lots of seating and sections. The crowd was a bit older but there were also lots of families with large groups. We were seated immediately (I think by Johnny?) in a room beside a large TV playing sports. 


We took a glance at the menu and we decided to share a sweet and a savoury dish. +Will ordered the Waffles with Fruit and I got the Reuben Sandwich with Fries. Our waitress wasn't the nicest or fastest but she did her job. I noticed there was a very friendly atmosphere in the air, everyone seemed to know everyone and the workers too. My sandwich came out extremely fast! Will still had to wait a bit for his, which was just coming out of the iron. 

The sandwich looked really good, it had lots of layers of corned beef with some sauerkraut on the top. There was some plain mustard on the side for dipping. My only complaint would be that the bread was extremely buttery and not fun to hold. Maybe if they toasted it a bit more then it wouldn't have been as wet? The fries were plain but crisp and almost perfect looking with a golden colour. This is usually not something I'd order normally but wanted to switch it up and I'm glad I did, very reasonably priced also!

Will wanted the waffles and we also asked for it to be topped with some fruit and whipped cream. I was very impressed with what we received. The fruit was fresh and there were tons of it. The waffle was thick and fluffy but not very crispy on the outside. Will and I finished half our dishes and switched so by that time the waffle was pretty moist, but made the syrup easier to soak up! Delicious waffle and even better pairing of the two dishes by Will and I if I do say so myself :)

Food: 3.5/5 - Nice assortment of classics at fair prices. 
Decor: 2/5 - Very old feeling to it, nice amount of space but not very appealing to the eyes.
Service: 3.5/5 - We were in and out so quickly! Waitress was just ok.
Willingness to go back: 3/5 - Good spot for a quick breakfast but I can imagine how busy it gets with all its regulars.
Overall: 3/5

Website: n/a