SilverSpoon - Platinum Experience!

http://www.silverspoon.ca/

I made a reservation at SilverSpoon for a Thursday night in November. It was my boyfriend's birthday and I wanted to take him out. When I made the reservation I mentionned that we were celebrating his birthday, but only in passing.

We showed up right on time and were greeted immediately upon entering the intimate restaurant. The decor was minimal but very comfortable. With high ceilings, a windowed front and a door that opened right into the restaurant, I was pleased to discover that it was comfortably warm and cozy. The smells coming from the kitchen already taunting my olfactory senses.

The service was spectacular, the waiter along with the kitchen staff catered to our every need. We were offered our choice of a number of tables and chose a table in the corner. The waiter took our coats and we were comfortably seated. It was not a very busy night, but there were only two staff serving tables and two in the kitchen. All the tables seemed to have received the same attention we did throughout the evening.

I never opt for the more expensive wines on a menu (if I want an expensive wine, I'll drink it at home, instead of paying inflated restaurant prices), and I was pleased that our choice was well received, and not met with derision. This is an unfortunate behaviour, to which I have been on the receiving end, of waiters and sommeliers, who frown, tsk, or make otherwise rude comments on wine choice, seeming to be based on price. If you don't like the wine, don't put it on your menu. Or if you have a better wine in the same price range, suggest it. But please do not attempt to change my decision simply because you disapprove of my more thrifty choice.

I had trouble choosing what I wanted from the fabulous menu options. Should I go with the lobster bisque or rainbow trout as my appetizer, wait...or maybe the venison carpacio. Then for my main I was torn between the agnalotti stuffed with sweet potato and the Lake Erie pickerel. When our waiter came to take our order I explained my dilemma and asked for his opinion and assistance. He suggested to start with the bisque and then the pickerel (our wine choice had been a Pinot Grigio).

We received some bread and a dish full spicy oil w/ vinegar. We enjoyed the soft fresh bread and our wine as we waited for the appetizers. Shortly thereafter the waiter brought over two tasting spoons with a melange of flavours to tickle our taste buds, a little amuse-bouche before our meal. All I remember is apples...it was sweet and savoury, a lovely refreshing little mouthful. Unexpected and well received.

Our appetizers arrived and we enjoyed every last bite. Ian had the shrimp and it was fabulous...every last bite on the plate was devoured (yes, I helped). I enjoyed every last rich drop of the bisque and sopped up the remains with the bread on the table. I could have eaten a whole meal of just those two appetizers. Ian's shrimp had come with some lemon gelato which we both enjoyed before our entrees were served.

Ian had ordered the cornish hen. It was served in a aromatic jus, full and dark in flavour. My Pickerel was served in a bamboo steamer with root vegetables. It was very light, and it felt like the healthy option. I have now realized that when dining out, I prefer the richer menu options. When our waiter came over to enquire if I was enjoying his choices, I explained this to him. Saying that although I was enjoying the pickerel, nothing being wrong with it, I realized that I prefer something more decadent. He smiled, explaining that he had chosen the richer appetizer but thought I might not want too heavy a meal. He also said he felt the pickerel was nicely complimented by the pinot grigio. I agreed, and was happy to have learned that I will always look to the sweeter, creamier, fuller menu options in the future.

I was not unhappy with the pickerel, more unhappy that I had missed out on the agnolotti, but confirmed to him that I would most definitely be back again in order to try the things I had missed this time. A couple of minutes later as we were finishing our meals, our waiter came back with a small dish. In that dish was one single agnolotti in the duck broth & truffle oil. I was very happy to get the opportunity to sample the dish. It was marvellous...I can't explain how "goooood" it was (to those of you who know me, it was two hands good). That taste alone will have me returning in order to enjoy the dish. It was sweet and rich, yet light and savoury. In that single taste, I think I discovered one of my new favourite meals.

When it came time to order dessert, upon reading the menu, there really was only one option. Warm Flourless Chocolate Cake. And. It. Was. Fabulous. The waiter came out a short while later with a single thin candle in the dessert, the plate decorated with the words Happy Birthday Ian around the edge. I had not mentioned it to anyone that evening, just having said something on the phone a week early when the reservation had been made. I was so happy...they had made me look GOOD! And the sweet was a wonderful, rich dark, warm, drippy, cakey chocolate. It was perfect.

To top it all off we each enjoyed a glass of a late harvest vidal, which tickled our tongues nicely as we sat there, completely sated and happy.

Over the past couple of months, I have received some of the worst service in my life, in restaurants in Toronto. The word service seemed to me to have lost it's meaning in the service industry. Many restaurants making me feel as though they're doing me a favour by letting me in the door. SilverSpoon went above and beyond. Yes, the food was fabulous, but food in Toronto IS fabulous, there are a million restaurants old and new where you can have a wonderful meal. However, SilverSpoon is a restaurant where you can ENJOY the food, because you're being treated like a guest, someone they are happy to have in their establishment. Not only were my gastronomical senses sated, I was completely relaxed and felt glorious after such a fabulous experience.

Thank you SilverSpoon, thank you for giving me hope in the service industry in Toronto. I will return!

Lee - NEVER again!

Harsh? I don't think so...

As I said Hurt me once, shame on you. Hurt me twice, shame on me.

I should have known better. I should never have gone back. But the food at Lee is sooooooooooo good. He has a way of tickling your tastebuds with the flavours he choses, with the wonderful gastro-creations. Everytime I have gone to Lee I have ordered the Singapore-style Slaw and everytime I have loved every last bite. It is really a fabulous dish. Even the fingerling potatoes which are potato peelings, deep fried. The sauce they are topped with is scrumtious and wonderfully creamy, they are lightly dusted with spice and are fun to eat. I love his food, I love eating tapas, because you get a large variety of flavours and food, but I cannot return. I will never get the chance to enjoy any of his marvellous dishes, because I will not put myself through the torture of the service his restaurant provides. Just because my mouth is happy, doesn't dispell the fact that eating at his restaurant makes me feel like a piece of sh*t.

SO...after the rude treatment from the hostess at my last visit I considered never returning. However, Mr. Lee's menu, being what it is...when our friends wanted to head out for dinner before an evening on the town one night...I still had to suggest Lee. I knew they had never been, they had just moved out of the neighbourhood, and had always wanted to try it, so I went against what I had considered and suggested it. They loved the idea, although my boyfriend and I prayed that the hostess we had encountered was no longer employed.

Now, I had learned my lesson with the previous visit. So about a week before, I called and left a voicemail. I left the same message as before, but THIS time I finished the message with, "Please call me back to confirm the reservation", leaving both my contact numbers like last time, and repeating my cell number at the end of the message.

Later that afternoon a pleasant (and from the sound of her voice I assume) young lady called me back. YAY, I thought in my head when she said where she was calling from. She was pleasant and very informative. They could not take my 6:30 reservation request, but were available at 5:45 or 6pm. She explained that they did two seatings and only booked for certain times. I said I would take the 6pm reservation. She mentioned that it would be a two hour reservation, as my table would be reserved to someone else for 8pm. I understand this practice in restaurants and assured her we would certainly be done by then, having to meet friends somewhere else at 7:30pm. I did mention off-hand that we might be a couple of minutes late...she then repeated again that our table was only available to us until 8pm. Okay, yeah, I got it. But, shook it off because I understand the stress of booking reservations, especially rotating ones like the appear to do at Lee. I thanked her, and said we'd see her next Friday.

So the Friday of our reservation arrives, and mid-day at the office I receive a phonecall. It's the restaurant, calling to confirm our reservation for 6pm that evening. YAY...I think, they've fixed whatever the problem was before. They are DEFINITELY on the ball. "Now remember...Your reservation is only..." she starts. "until Eight!", I say a little exasperated now. "I know, don't worry, we'll be out." I'm a little bit concerned about this harping on the only two hours and the eight o'clock reminders, but I know I'm just over-worried due to prior treatment at the hands of Lee staff.

Friday night arrives, the four of us get in a taxi and head over to Lee. We arrive at about 6:05. When we walk in the hostess has her back to us. The hostess station is set up like that. There is no where for the hostess to stand behind, so if she is on the phone or writing something down, her back is to you. Even if the service had been impeccable every time, I find this a little rude. I understand the difficulty with the set-up, but it's still not the most welcoming site to be greeted with someone's back.

After a couple of minutes of just standing there at the door, the hostess turns towards the two gentlemen in our group. I am exstatic to see that it is not the same hostess as before. Then she opens her mouth. "I'll be with you in one moment...gentlemen. I have some ladies to deal with...FIRST." She says this in a very dry unimpressed voice, as though they had rudely interupted her. NO...I must be just hearing this in my head, but I swear it was the same girl's voice as last time...just in a different body. I SWEAR. Then I figure I'm just making this up...I'm projecting this bad attitude onto this poor girl because I expect to receive it.

She then turns to my friend and I and smiles a nice fake smile with her nose slightly turned up. Yes...can I help you ladies?" There is something too sweet in her voice.

I look at her and point at the guys, "yup, we're with them." Okay, I'm not giving her a fair chance here. "Yes, we have a 6 o'clock reservation under Stewart". She looks in her book and then looks at her watch...Oh GAWD...NOOOOOOOOO...but oh, YES...she does.

"Well, now your reservation is only for two hours from 6 o'clock. And it's already 1o minutes after 6..." (yeah, but we've been waiting for you to turn around for the past five minutes...I think to myself in my head) "...you only have until 8 o'clock."

"Yes, I know" I answer stiffly, but trying to be calm about it...I know, I know, I know...it's like the 5th time I've been told! "No worries, we're sure to be done by then, no problem at all". Again, I'm starting to feel the same embarrassment that I felt the last time. D@MN! Why did I suggest we come here.

She shows us to our table and I start to apologize to my guests, explaining that the restaurant does a second seating of all of the tables and that they're pretty strict about how long a reservation is, and pretty much trying to make her behaviour okay. They look at me quizzicly, and we get seated.

I'm very excited because they have my favourite red wine on the menu Wildass Red. Then the waiter comes over.

"Has everyone been here before?" He asks quickly.

My friends half raise their hands, kind of playfully explaining that they have not.

The waiter then jumps full speed ahead into a speech delivered at the pace of someone working at a farming auction. He describes how the menu works, that it's tapas and that multiple dishes should be ordered for the whole table to share. He starts to go through different items on the menu, spewing product knowledge all over the place. Although it's a shame he's speaking so fast because it's a little difficult to follow him, and I've been there before and already know how it works. He finishes, not even seeming out of breath. And then much to my utter dismay, sticks two fingers from his right hand, into the gap between buttons on his dress shirt and SCRATCHES HIS STOMACH!!!! and then starts again. (no word of a lie, there were four of us that witnessed this event...and he was so non-chalant about it that at first his attitude about it made me realize how NORMAL he made it feel to me...which made the whole thing EVEN MORE DISTURBING!)

"Now I know you probably want to order drinks right away, but I suggest you look at the menu and figure out pretty quickly what you want to order. I mean your reservation is only..." NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!! DON'T SAY IT! PLEASE!!!!! DON'T SAY IT!!!! "....until 8pm, and food can take a little while longer!" AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH "Also, I have a table of TEN people coming in shortly", he gestures to the table RIGHT beside us, "and I probaby won't have any time to talk to you again." WHAT?!?!?! "So you should probably concentrate on ordering your food, fast." (wow...McDonald's eat your heart out!)

Okay, I could finish this here. And really, this is where this story should end. I should have stood up, explained to the waiter that I was sorry we were wasting his time and told my guests we were leaving. But again, I just nodded in compliance.

"One second", I say, "we do know what we would like to drink."
"Yes?" he says.
"A bottle of your Wildass red. It's my favourite wine." I explain, trying to be a little personable, maybe he'll calm down a little.
"Oh, we've been really low on that, I don't even know if we have ANY." He says.
"Uhm, well, could you check. We'd like a bottle and if you don't have any...then we'll take your Chilean Cabernet Savingon". Now...I'm a BIG fan of Chilean Cabs...it's what I drink right now. I don't care about the cost (within reason), but the first two things I check on a menu are...do they have Wildass, and do they have a Chilean Cab. They had had both...there was no question. Now...the Wildass is a $40 bottle. Whereas the Chilean Cab $31.
He looks down his nose at me at the request of the CC "Oh", he says as though I just ordered a bottle of water from the toilet.
"YES", I said rather firmly, "if you can't bring me the Wildass, I'll take the Chilean Cabernet".

So he leaves...I feel shocked, but I'm still thinking...maybe it's me? Maybe, I just can't see the service properly because of my previous experience. Maybe I am ruining all of this in my own head for myself. It can't REALLY be going this badly. Can it?

Then my friend sitting next to me, who is a very calm and collected business professional, who I have seldom heard speak a negative word or swear, turns to me and says "Are you fucking kidding me?!?!".

And then we have at it, and the table lets loose. Nope, it is NOT just me. I am NOT making any of this up in my head. We start to explain to each other how shocked we are with the hostess, the waiter, the stomach scratch (!), and the repeating of the bloody 8pm kick our @sses out threat! (I jokingly laugh and say...yeah, we should sit here and eat ourselves sick until 8pm and when they ask us to leave, just walk out and not pay the bill...Op...8 o'clock...better go...next reservation).

I pipe up and say we should probably worry about this later. The food her really IS amazing, so let's figure out what we want to order before he gets back. So we scour the menu...they let me choose some really yummy items, and we're ready for him when he gets back.

And like the hostess from the summer who looked like she'd blessed us with the patio table, he is carrying a bottle of the Wildass red to the table. You'd have thought it was the Stanley Cup!

"The second last bottle in the place!" he says proudly, like he gave birth to it himself.
"That's great", I say, "since there's 4 of us, we'll probably drink two bottles. Could you put the LAST one aside for us too?" Then I think twice about that, "Actually...", I say in a humourous but dead serious voice, "why don't you open that last bottle for us now...and let it breathe". Ha ha...yes.

So...we order our food. Then we drink our fabulous wine and bitch about the service so far. The table of ten comes in and true to his word, we don't see him again, and a plethora of other wait staff deliver our different dishes. The food is wonderful. Better than ever. We eat dish after marvellous dish. I joke "it's almost worth the horrendous service"...and I question in my own head if it is anymore.

The our service comes over, just as we're finishing the last sips of our bottle of Wildass.

"Unfortunately," he starts...not really looking like it's unfortunate at all, "we can't seem to locate the other bottle of Wildass. We've even used flashlights to look for it". Of COURSE you can't, of course you did, I think to myself. But if I get up from this table and find it on another table, I will smash the bloody thing over your head!

Instead I say dryly, "Then we'll have the Chilean Cabernet, won't we?". And he disappears, no apology. We then wait 20 minutes, until I have to call another server over and ask them to bring me our wine.

There's not much more to write. The wines were wonderful, they always are. We ate every last bite of food, mopped up every last bit of sauce. Everything tastes so good and is so fabulous...but after the treatment we received, after the behaviour of the staff and the way we felt...I can never ever return to Lee.

I have never felt more like a piece of sh*t than when our waiter informed me that he would not be able to SPEAK to us once his table of 10 had arrived. I have never felt more like standing up and making a scene when the LAST bottle wasn't available, even though he made such a big deal about the SECOND LAST bottle. Why tell me about it if you can't deliver?

It's unfortunate, but if you ever want to taste Mr. Lee's fabulous creations, my suggestion is as follows. See if they'll do take-out, and have someone you don't like very much go and pick it up for you. Otherwise, you'll have to deal with someone that works there in person, and I would not inflict such an encounter on anyone other than my most disliked acquaintances.

http://www.susur.com/lee/index.html

My History with Lee

I first took my mother to Lee one Friday evening when she was in Toronto visiting me about 2 years ago. I had always wanted to try out the food. So on our walk home along King Street West, we stopped in for a bite to eat. Lee is a tapas restaurant so we ordered a couple of dishes between the two of us, which if I recall correctly were the fingerling potatoes, the Singapore Slaw (their signature item, including no less than 17 ingredients), a soup and something else. We were blown away, the food was amazing. Our tastebuds tingled from flavours, aromas and mixtures we had never had before. We fell in LOVE with Mr. Lee's creations. I don't recall what the service was like, which means it was probably fine. Unfortunately (or fortunately) it's only the extremes one seems to remember.

Since then I have had nothing but conceited, rude and downright insulting service from Lee.

It started this past Spring when I wanted to book a bite to eat for a bachelorette party I was organizing. The bride in question really likes the food at Lee, so I wanted to make a stop in there with the group for a bevvy and a bite. When I tried to book the reservation, explaining that it would be late and we wouldn't require a full meal, I was condescendingly informed that a credit card number MUST be left and if all the guests did not order a MINIMUM of three plates each, that the credit card would be charged for the difference. "WHAT?!?!?" Yes, there would be 10 of us. Yes we would be taking up space. No we weren't Neanderthals. We were a group of late 20's/early 30's women who would spend an adequate amount of money on food and liquor and wouldn't trash the joint or embarrass anyone. As a side note I have gone in with 4 people and not ordered 12 dishes for the whole table...maybe we should have been charged extra...god-forbid we take up the space and not eat enough. Even my mother and I only had 4 plates between the two of us...CALL THE POLICE! Needless to say we did not bring the bachelorette party to Lee.

Then this past Summer, my boyfriend and I decided to take his brother and his brother's girlfriend there for dinner. I called on Monday of that week, and reached their voicemail, which asked me to leave a message for a reservation with all of my details including contact information. I gave them my name, that I required a 7:30pm reservation on Saturday night for four people, then I left both my cell phone number and my work number. No, I never heard back from them. In retrospect maybe I should have called to confirm. But I didn't, I figured they would have called if they couldn't take me. So Saturday night at 7:30 the 4 of us show up. I walk up to the hostess who looks at me questioningly, and in a snotty voice says "Yessss? Can I...help...you?"
"Yes, I have a 7:30 reservation for 4", I reply.
She looks at me again, like I'm a moron, "I...don't take reservations for 7:30."
Pause...she continues to look at me, like she hopes I'll go away.
"Well, I called and made a reservation for 7:30", I say again, feeling rather embarrassed in front of our out of town guests.
"Who did you speak with?", she asks.
I realize then that I had only left a message and never received any confirmation. "I left a voicemail", I said.
"Well, did anyone call you back?". Again, I understand that I SHOULD have called to confirm (apparently), but the tone of voice she was using, like she had been blessed by the Hostess-Gods to rule over her door post, was starting to grate on my nerves.
"No, I left both my work and cell numbers and no one called me to tell me that my reservation was NOT available, so I assumed you were too busy to confirm, and came at the time I left on the voicemail."
She is now looking more and more unimpressed with me, like I am not qualified in the art of reservation making. And because of that, I am not WORTHY to eat at the restaurant she is guarding. And then she just STANDS there, looking at me, like she is hoping I will just walk away.
I am no longer embarrased in front of my guests...I am pissed off. Especially since looking around the restaurant half the tables are empty.
I look back at her after obviously giving the half empty restaurant a once over and ask, "We were hoping to have dinner with our reservation. Can you seat us?".
She glances down at what I assume is her seating chart/reservation list which you would think by the way she is holding it, that it is written in gold.
"Yes...we have a spot available on the patio", as though she fought a battle to score us such a lucky opporutnity.
"Thanks", you can tell that I don't mean it.

After that fiasco with the hostess, the rest of the service proved to be mostly uneventful, and as usual the food was fabulous. Our guests loved every bite, but the lack of hospitality at the door was a conversation piece for the remainder of the evening and passed on to others in the days afterwards.

I admit my fault, I should have followed up. I should have figured since I hadn't heard anything that maybe something was awry. And I feel foolish for assuming that if they couldn't take my reservation that they would have called me to either find a better time or let me know that they were booked, so that I wouldn't expect to be able to show up that night.

This is just my history with Lee, the best is yet to come. Hurt me once, shame on you. Hurt me twice shame on me.

Restaurant Reviewer - Who I am

I never thought I'd be using my blog to review restaurants, but here we are. Over the past couple of months in the city of Toronto I have had some of the WORST service in my life, from all levels of restaurants. However that being said, today I am hoping that maybe things have turned around, and service is picking up. Twice now this week I have actually thanked my servers for not only being decent human beings, but for providing a service, which at the end of the day is why I am going to restaurants.

I have decided to blog about this so that maybe my experiences can make a difference. Whether it makes a difference in where you decide to eat tonight? Or maybe even with the restaurants themselves, if they actually give a sh*t that I am a paying customer who likes to spend money on food and service or that I talk to other paying customers who also like to spend money on food and service.

To start out, a little background information about me is only fair. I could simply be a raving lunatic looking for a forum. Who knows, maybe if you met me you WOULD think that...but I thought I would provide you with the following information, so that you can decide (if you've never actually met me) if you would actually care about what I have to say about dining. So, here are my qualifications as to why I think I should be allowed to review restaurants.

First - I LOVE food...adore FOOD...I can't explain how much I like to eat. Ask anyone who knows me. I HEART food. Good food, fast food, delicately flavoured foods, wafting aromas of food...garlic, salty, smooth, creamy, meaty, crunchy, sweet, textured, EVERYTHING...yummy yummy food. Note: I am not a huge SPICY fan, I don't mind a little spice, if it's backbone is FLAVOUR, but hot for the sake of burning your face off? No thanks. That being said, I do eat curries, Indian food and Mexican foods. Also, I will pretty much try anything once, AND if made to look and or sound wonderful, am willing to try something AGAIN that I didn't enjoy before, like soft goat cheese. As a side note: I had never been a fan of Swiss cheese, but now I put it in my sandwhich for lunch.

Second - I have worked in the restaurant industry, and I understand and appreciate the hard work put in by wait staff in restaurants. I don't think I was perfect, but I believe I appreciated and understood the paying customer and cared about my job, so I tried to provide my customers with the best experience I could. So in turn I do expect a basic level of service when dining out, from the kitchen staff to the hostess.

Third - I am a paying customer and I pay well for such service. I have and will always pay 15% if I get what I consider to be a basic level of service. To the extent that I will not sit down in a restaurant if I know I don't have access to enough cash to eat AND to tip (credit/debit card, cash, whatever). No, I'm not a warden, here is what I consider to be worth my 15%:
- greet me, seat me, take my drink order, take my meal order
- bring me my drink, bring me my meal
- check on me at least once...just in case I need something/want to spend more money/whatever
- clear the table & bring me my bill (heck...if I'm in a rush, you don't even have to clear the table before I leave)
- do this all without making me wait for an eternity between each step of the way
- treat me with respect (note: and I will do the same)

I consider the above basic level of service part of the cost of eating in a restaurant over and above the printed costs on a menu. There are many people that do not realize that almost all wait staff (in North America) DO NOT make the regular minimum wage, that their salaries are LESS than the lowest paid minimum wage worker, as restaurant industry minimum wage is indeed LESS per hour.

Needless to say, if I receive service above my basic level of expectation I will also tip above the 15%. And in reverse I have been known to tip LESS for receiving a lesser dining experience due to a lack of service. Please also note: I know that it's not always the servers fault, that a kitchen can ruin a servers evening, and that a drafty window (non-service related issues) has nothing to do with their service. I take this all into consideration...as a customer, it's easy to tell by opening your eyes and looking around to see if a kitchen sucks or if your waiter is just making excuses for their incompetence.

One last point of note...I find it interesting that even when we, as a society in general, get bad service...we still tip...even if we tip less...we still pay for this bad service. So if we are not complaining and are still tipping, how will anyone know that way they are doing is in any way bad, wrong, or unacceptable?

So...enjoy...as I start my journey of restaurant reveiwer...bear with me...it's a new venture for me. (But boy have I accumulated a lot to say in the past couple of weeks!)