We just returned from a getaway weekend for two to Niagara Falls. We stayed a single night (Saturday February 20th) at the Sheraton Fallsview in a comfortable 8th floor room directly overlooking the Table Rock House at the top of the Falls, about two blocks away from the Fallsview Casino. The room rate was approx. $130 (inclusive of all taxes) for the night plus $20 for surface parking in a lot adjacent to the hotel. We dined on ribs at Tony Romas (located in the Radisson, next door to the Sheraton) for dinner. We also enjoyed mid afternoon warmers at The Keg (on the 9th floor of the Embassy Suites hotel) and pre-dinner cocktails at the Blue Martin Lounge on the 34th floor of the Hilton (which is undergoing a massive expansion, with a 55 floor adjoining all suites resort tower being erected next door). I can highly recommend their SweeTart Martini! Finally, we had brunch Sunday morning at the Fallsview Casino’s grand buffet (featuring made to order omelettes and carved ham steak) for less than $12 per plate, including coffee, juice and complimentary coat-check! Before departing we went through the Louis Tussaud’s Wax Works museum at the top of Clifton Hill, posing for pictures with “the stars”.
Pic links:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=79676&id=526885372&l=8d7d1
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=79673&id=526885372&l=7ab2e
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=79677&id=526885372&l=5c85f
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=79681&id=526885372&l=76a3c
Showing posts with label Dining out. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dining out. Show all posts
Monday, February 23, 2009
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
72 hours in Calgary
I have spent the past 72 hours in the city of Calgary Alberta. I stayed downtown at the Fairmount Palliser hotel and attended a conference at the Telus Convention Centre sponsored by the Canadian Tax Foundation.
The first thing a Torontonian has to adjust to upon arriving in Calgary is that the inter-building connective walkways are not on the underground concourse level (as in Toronto's PATH network; rather they are elevated in bridges across intersections on the mezzanine (Plus 15) or second levels.
I had a chance to sample both a Stampede style breakfast and a mini-rodeo (featuring cowboys riding bulls and a first nations native performing a hoop dance) while in Calgary. The rodeo was held on the Stampede grounds in the agricultural building just across the street from the Saddledome. I also and also made it out to Flames Central (an old theatre converted into a sports bar - eatery featuring jumbo flat panel TV screens). Also I enjoyed an excellent 5 course dinner (featuring Alberta beef and sea scallops) Tuesday night at the Divino Wine and Cheese Bistro. Both Flames Central and Divino are located on the Stephen Avenue Walk section of 8th Avenue. That section is a pedestrian only mall. The city is easy to navigate. It is laid out in grids along numbered streets (running north to south) and avenues (running east to west), similar to Upper Manhattan.
I flew on Air Canada flights from Toronto Pearson to Calgary. Flight time in the air is approx. 4 hours but since Calgary is on Mountain time you gain two hours on the flight out West and lose it on the return flight back East. The aircraft I flew out on came equipped with seat back VOD displays. I was able to catch two feature length movies on the way out, both of which were excellent. The first, entitled Man on a Wire, is a documentary telling the story of a French high wire walkers successful attempt to walk between the tow towers of the World Trade Centre in the 70s. The second, entitled Frozen River, is a contemporary drama about the unlikely pairing of a two mothers--- one native, one American-- who form an unlikely business pact to shuttle Asian illegal aliens from Quebec into upstate New York across frozen rivers flowing thru a native reserve. I would highly recommend both.
The first thing a Torontonian has to adjust to upon arriving in Calgary is that the inter-building connective walkways are not on the underground concourse level (as in Toronto's PATH network; rather they are elevated in bridges across intersections on the mezzanine (Plus 15) or second levels.
I had a chance to sample both a Stampede style breakfast and a mini-rodeo (featuring cowboys riding bulls and a first nations native performing a hoop dance) while in Calgary. The rodeo was held on the Stampede grounds in the agricultural building just across the street from the Saddledome. I also and also made it out to Flames Central (an old theatre converted into a sports bar - eatery featuring jumbo flat panel TV screens). Also I enjoyed an excellent 5 course dinner (featuring Alberta beef and sea scallops) Tuesday night at the Divino Wine and Cheese Bistro. Both Flames Central and Divino are located on the Stephen Avenue Walk section of 8th Avenue. That section is a pedestrian only mall. The city is easy to navigate. It is laid out in grids along numbered streets (running north to south) and avenues (running east to west), similar to Upper Manhattan.
I flew on Air Canada flights from Toronto Pearson to Calgary. Flight time in the air is approx. 4 hours but since Calgary is on Mountain time you gain two hours on the flight out West and lose it on the return flight back East. The aircraft I flew out on came equipped with seat back VOD displays. I was able to catch two feature length movies on the way out, both of which were excellent. The first, entitled Man on a Wire, is a documentary telling the story of a French high wire walkers successful attempt to walk between the tow towers of the World Trade Centre in the 70s. The second, entitled Frozen River, is a contemporary drama about the unlikely pairing of a two mothers--- one native, one American-- who form an unlikely business pact to shuttle Asian illegal aliens from Quebec into upstate New York across frozen rivers flowing thru a native reserve. I would highly recommend both.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
More chain eateries than ever in downtown TO
It seems that every time I turn around another chain restaurant is opening in downtown Toronto.
There were already Jack Astor locations at University & Front, Richmond and John and at Yonge & Dundas... now they have opened yet another downtown location up at Yonge & Bloor (we had dinner there last Thursday).
Meanwhile the condo on the north side of King just west of Church recently welcomed another Lettuce eatery (I hear one also recently opened in College Park too) and is about to welcome a St. Louis bar and grille (pic above). The St Louis chain already has one downtown location in the Atrium at Bay and a second down near the Rogers Centre in the base of one of those Canacord condos. I am especially excited about St Louis opening a location down the street from us. They may not offer food as fresh and delicious as Lettuce, but I find their wings among the most tasty in the city! I used to be in the habit of having lunch at the location up in North York on the East side of Yonge just south of Finch when I was working up at 5000 Yonge and my tastebuds (if not my waistline) is looking forward to having nearby access to their menu again!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Dinner at Vaticano
Following the TIFF screening of Patrik 1,5 at the Varsity cinemas Saturday night, Gary & I enjoyed a late dinner at Vaticano Trattoria (on Belair in Yorkville).
Overall we were both very favourably impressed with the restaurant.
We arrived in the driving rain just past 11 Pm (we are disciplining ourselves to eat later in the evening, in anticipation of our upcoming trip to Spain, where dining well after sunset is the norm) and we we were immediately seated (by a hostess awaiting us at a podium) at a beautiful table for two situated on a riser in the middle of the floor. On one side of or table we could see up out thru the patio and up the stone steps into the rain splashed street, while on the other we could see down thru a railing upon which were set three large vases holding huge gladiola stems and various other bric-a-bat (including an miniature of Michelangelo's David (the genuine article, which we are looking forward to seeing on our visit to Florence early next month.))
We first ordered a bottle of San Benedetto sparking water (or "water with gas", as they say in Europe) and enjoyed it with an Italian bread basket (served with olive oil and vinegar). For starters, we eat ordered a salad. Gary went with the traditional Ceasar while I ordered a Della salad, (which is tossed greens with sliced pears, walnuts and shaved parmesan cheese). We also ordered a half litre decanter of the House Chiraz from the wine list to accompany our main courses of veal. Gary ordered a Vitello Marsala (veal scallopini in a marsala sauce) while I had the daily special-- a thick cut veal chop served in a red wine reduction with cranberries. Following the entrees, we ordered two cafe Americanos. For sweets we ordered one tiramisu and a chocolate torte, which we divided and shared.
The total tab including gratuity was $197.
Over all we were delighted with the food quality and flavour and were impressed with the service and the atmosphere.
This ranks as highly as the more famous Sotto Sotto as a Yorkville Italian dining alternative.
Highly recommended.
Overall we were both very favourably impressed with the restaurant.
We arrived in the driving rain just past 11 Pm (we are disciplining ourselves to eat later in the evening, in anticipation of our upcoming trip to Spain, where dining well after sunset is the norm) and we we were immediately seated (by a hostess awaiting us at a podium) at a beautiful table for two situated on a riser in the middle of the floor. On one side of or table we could see up out thru the patio and up the stone steps into the rain splashed street, while on the other we could see down thru a railing upon which were set three large vases holding huge gladiola stems and various other bric-a-bat (including an miniature of Michelangelo's David (the genuine article, which we are looking forward to seeing on our visit to Florence early next month.))
We first ordered a bottle of San Benedetto sparking water (or "water with gas", as they say in Europe) and enjoyed it with an Italian bread basket (served with olive oil and vinegar). For starters, we eat ordered a salad. Gary went with the traditional Ceasar while I ordered a Della salad, (which is tossed greens with sliced pears, walnuts and shaved parmesan cheese). We also ordered a half litre decanter of the House Chiraz from the wine list to accompany our main courses of veal. Gary ordered a Vitello Marsala (veal scallopini in a marsala sauce) while I had the daily special-- a thick cut veal chop served in a red wine reduction with cranberries. Following the entrees, we ordered two cafe Americanos. For sweets we ordered one tiramisu and a chocolate torte, which we divided and shared.
The total tab including gratuity was $197.
Over all we were delighted with the food quality and flavour and were impressed with the service and the atmosphere.
This ranks as highly as the more famous Sotto Sotto as a Yorkville Italian dining alternative.
Highly recommended.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Dinner at Johnny Rockets at Yonge-Dundas Square
Gary & I ate dinner tonight at Johnny Rockets in the Toronto Life Centre at Yonge Dundas Square. Although this was our first visit to this newly opened location, I was familiar with the chain, having previously eaten at other locations in South Beach, Florida, at the Fallsview Niagara casino and up at Vaughan Mills. The chain also boasts locations aboard select Royal Carribean cruiseships.
Upon arrival, we were surprised to see how sparsely attended their dinner service was for a Wednesday night, given their prime tourist mecca locale, allowing for the built in "curiosity factor" that usually drives diners into an eatery following a recent opening. The diner was, at best, half full and we were able to be seated in a booth with no wait.
The decor tries to mimic a 50s malt-shop atmosphere, a la Happy Days. The booths and tables feature red leather upholstered seating and jukeboxes are prominent. If you don't like 50s style doo-wop (I do) this is not the place for you since it will feature prominently in your mealtime audio entertainment (unless you come equipped with an ipod and noise cancellation earbuds)! 70s era dance music (Donna Summer and BeeGees) does spell off the 50s heavy songlist on occasion to allow the wait-staff to show off their disco line dance performance skills (much to the amusement of pedestrians passing by and peering in the picture windows!)
The one page menu is heavy on burgers, fries and onion rings. Grease abounds. There are some salads on the menu but its surely not a prime destination for calorie counters. We ordered some fries, rings and buffalo wings as starters to share and then each ordered a St. Louis burger for our "entree". We selected the St Louis burger, which came with bacon, cheese and sauteed onions dressed with a special sauce (that the waitress described as a cocktail sauce). The burger (1/3 lb) was fab and reasonably priced at $7.99. The onion rings (served with a ranch dressing) were also good (although the price ($6) was a tad high for the serving size). Meanwhile, the wings disappointed (very bland-- no choice of sauces-- just mild) and the fries were likewise non-descript. We ordered colas from the soda fountain. Beverage refills are free and you can add lemon, cherry, vanilla or chocolate flavour shots to your cola. They also offer shakes. Although the desserts looked tempting, (esp. the chocolate brownie and NY cheesecake) we passed, having already over-indulged our junk food fix.
The service was attentive (even allowing for the dance breaks). Our drink glasses were refilled without request. The servers, in addition to mastering line dance steps, are also required to possess the basic visual art skills necessary to paint a happy face on a dinner plate with the squeeze catsup bottle when serving fries!
Our total tab, including tip, was $45. We were forced to pay cash because their debit/credit connection was down (and had been for several days, according to the waitress).
Monday, August 18, 2008
Weekend Update (Aug 15 - 17)
It was another busy weekend. Here's my re-cap update!
Friday PM:
I had planned to pick up Ryan and Claire at the Kilgour Estates early after work because Gary got free tix work to the Argos - Als game at the Rogers Centre (with a 7:30 PM start time). However Claire had a school friend over visiting her until 6 PM. When I did get around to departing, I found the entry / exit door to the garage broken (could not lift). Service men were working to repair it but in the meantime I found my exit route was blocked. So we had to regroup and improvise. I called up to Kilgour and instructed Ryan and Claire to catch the TTC down. I met them at King Station. We then proceeded over to the RC from there.
The Argos tix came courtesy of the CAW (the union at Gary's employer -- Bombardier at Downsview) who have some sponsorship arrangement. The CAW issue vouchers have to be redeemed at a designated booth located near Gate 5/6 to obtain tickets. Last time we went to a game (versus the Eskimos) we arrived earlier and scored excellent seats (near the 20 yard line). This time (thanks to the garage door snag) we were later and not as fortunate in our seat selection. We ended up down near the 5 year line at the Jumbotron end of the stadium. We just managed to get in the gate before the rain started to pour down! Thank heavens for the retractable roof!
The field had been completely reconfigured from the NFL regulation playfield they had set up for the Bills exhibition the day before to a CFL regulation playfield. (The NFL playing field is shorter and narrower.)
The Argos' game performance was pitiful. They were clearly outplayed offensively by Anthony Calvillo and the Als. The Argos could muster little on offence under either QB (Kerry Joseph or Michael Bishop) who split the playtime. In what not nearly as entertaining a game as the Eskies game we saw a few weeks back. In fact, the most exciting elements of the stadium experience were the audience participation game show elements including Name that Tune, Deal or No Deal (featuring Rona tool boxes in place of suitcases), Power of 13 (guess the attendance (it was close to 30,000) figure within a 13,000 red-zone range) , the armchair QB football target toss (if you win, you get to keep the armchair!) and the unitours package holiday giveaway (where a blind-folded contest was directed to a midfield target (by fan noise) to claim the prize). Unlike the Argos, no audience participant went away a loser on the night!
We wound up leaving early (after the third quarter) with the Argos down by a score of 28 to 11. I believe the Als and boatmen traded field goals after we left, so we didn't miss much. We got home in time to see Michael Phelps win his 8th gold medal of the games live.
Saturday:
AM: We went out for breakfast at Frans (corner of Shuter and Victoria Sts) and then shopping to the EC. We wound up at Sears' Super Saturday around 9 to purchase some clothing items for our upcoming cruise (less than a week away now). Ryan & I purchased shorts and tees while Claire got a few tees. There were some great deals since the remaining Summer apparel is at close-out prices now (tho the selection was thin)! We also went to Bluenotes where Claire found a back to school hoodie. (Her school requires a uniform but they get "civies days" occasionally.) The total toll was around $150... not bad!
Following shopping, it was back over to Dekla in the Liberty Market village to review the redesigned Scovolini kitchen that Boris had worked on for us there. We were very pleased with his design (version #12) tho the price quotation was still toward the high end of our budgeted range. He committed to speak to his manager and try to get it down to a "best price".
PM: Ryan had to get up to Finch station to hitch a ride to a video taping session he had to attend on behalf of Kumon, where he has been attending after school math study session since he was in grade 5 (and now also works as a part-time instructor). Kumon were filming footage for inclusion in a documentary featuring Kumon students from around the world. Ryan was selected by the operator-head instructor at the franchiser location he attends (at Middlefield and McNiccol) to be one of the students interviewed for Canada. Ryan was give a $50 Indigos/Chapters book token for his efforts.
Shortly after Ryan's return from his video interview session, and following a light supper, we headed out to attend a screening of the movie The Dark Knight in the IMAX theatre at the Scotiabank (formerly Paramount) theatre at Richmond and John St. We caught the King streetcar there. This was the fifth weekend of release for the movie and the first time all of us had seen it. We arrived (what we considered) early so did a bit of shopping at Indigos. Claire bought the new Mylie Cyrus CD and the first book in author Stephenie Meyer's bestselling Twilight saga for teens. When we did get to the theatre (I had pre-ordered tix online and printed them at home) we were surprised to see how long the line formed was outside the IMAX auditorium! In any case we were still able to claim good seats at the centre.
The Dark Knight is by far the most realistic and darkest of all the big screen Batman movies. Heath Ledger's final role as The Joker is extremely creepy. I came away feeling very unsettled. There was a smattering of applause at the end. Unlike most Summer blockbusters, the movie does not over-rely on outlandish CGI special effects or stunt sequences. I was glad we paid the premium to see it in the big screen IMAX format.
After the game we returned home in time to watch Usain Bolt (Jamaican track athlete) win the 100 m dash gold at the Olympics, claiming the title as "fastest man alive"
Sunday
AM: The 10:30 mass at St Mikes Cathedral featured a special guest homily from a visiting priest from a parish in the Philippines, that was quite interesting. He was soliciting foreign mission fund donations to help educate seminarians studying for the priesthood in his homeland. Unfortunately, the cathedral has no AC in the Summer and Claire started feeling faint during the Eucharistic rite. I ended up taking her outside to get some fresh air. She rallied fine after that. I am hoping she isn't coming down with a bug (I was felling cold-flu symptoms last week and Gary is down with similar symptoms today) given our upcoming vacation plans. I am going to purchase out of country medical insurance coverage on line, just in case!
PM: We went "back to school" shopping at the Staples location at Parliament between Queen and Front. Claire needed a new back-pack in addition to the usual school supplies. On the way back from there, I made the mistake of stopping by the Sobeys (at Front / Princess) to pick up a few grocery items. I proceeded to the express check-out (8 items only) and wound up behind a woman who had at least 30 items in her basket (most of which were veggies that required weighing). The cashier was inexperienced at recognizing the items and her scale was malfunctioning so it took forever to check out... sooooo frustrating! Don't you just hate when that happens!
Overall, it was a hectic but entertaining weekend.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Dining Out Restaurant Review: The Six Steps
We had dinner Tuesday night at The Six Steps Restaurant, at 55 Colborne St (Downtown Toronto. Colborne St is north of Wellington and South of King-- located in the historical building block that extends West from Church over toward Leader Lane).
Gary and his sister Cathy joined me for this meal. It was not our original dining destination. We had a reservation at La Maquette—which has held over its Summerlicious prix fixe menu—which we decided not to keep when we arrived to find the legal marketing association (“Lexpert”) had commandeered their terrace (adjoining the sculpture garden) as a venue to was host a large n loud group soiree.
This was our second time dining at The Six Steps, having previously come here during the Winterlicious festival.
The Six Steps is divided into two rooms, a more casual lounge area in the East room and a more formal dining area in the West room. We were the first dinner group (having arrived at 6:35) seated in the formal West room. Thereafter, patronage was steady (if not busy), allowing for the fact that it was a midweek night. I imagine they draw diners from the central business district office workers during lunch and theatregoers (attending the St. Lawrence Centre and the Sony Centre) and guests of the Le Meriden King Edward hotel for evening dinner service.
The dining room ambiance is modern chic overlaid with traditional elements, such as dark hardwood floors and exposed brick walls. The tables are constructed of real wood with cloth linen table runners to protect the surface while leaving the wood on the table fringes exposed. Hanging on the wall behind our table were two large mirrors titled on an angle out from the wall at the top (which conveniently allowed me a discrete view of the plates served to adjoining tables).
Overall, service was prompt, friendly, helpful and unobtrusive. Our group consensus was that the food was of high quality. Our table candle was lit mid-meal as twilight set in. There was initially some disappointment in the menu selections insofar as the pizzas we had spied on their menu on a prior visit had been deleted from the menu we were presented with and that there were also no poultry entrees on it.
I ordered a beet and goat cheese salad plate as my appetizer. The presentation was amazing and the taste matched the appearance. The sticky toffee pudding dessert was likewise a meal highlight. I was less impressed with the tiger shrimp tagliatelle pasta dish I ordered as an entrée that came served in a bowl (the noodles were clumped together). Gary ordered the daily soup (potato leek) as his appetizer, a halibut fish plate for his entrée and a banana flame dessert. He enjoyed all of them. He noted that the fish fillets were served piping hot , were nicely crusted on the edges but were tender flaky otherwise. The ridge of lemon-mustard sauce greatly enhanced his plate presentation. Cathy passed on an appetizer but ordered a ravioli pasta dish as an entrée and followed with the same sticky toffee dessert as myself as a sweet. Her pasta dish impressed more than mine.
The tab averaged $60 pp including tip, coffee, plus a glass of wine (pinoit griggio) for Cathy and a mixed cocktail for Gary.
Gary and his sister Cathy joined me for this meal. It was not our original dining destination. We had a reservation at La Maquette—which has held over its Summerlicious prix fixe menu—which we decided not to keep when we arrived to find the legal marketing association (“Lexpert”) had commandeered their terrace (adjoining the sculpture garden) as a venue to was host a large n loud group soiree.
This was our second time dining at The Six Steps, having previously come here during the Winterlicious festival.
The Six Steps is divided into two rooms, a more casual lounge area in the East room and a more formal dining area in the West room. We were the first dinner group (having arrived at 6:35) seated in the formal West room. Thereafter, patronage was steady (if not busy), allowing for the fact that it was a midweek night. I imagine they draw diners from the central business district office workers during lunch and theatregoers (attending the St. Lawrence Centre and the Sony Centre) and guests of the Le Meriden King Edward hotel for evening dinner service.
The dining room ambiance is modern chic overlaid with traditional elements, such as dark hardwood floors and exposed brick walls. The tables are constructed of real wood with cloth linen table runners to protect the surface while leaving the wood on the table fringes exposed. Hanging on the wall behind our table were two large mirrors titled on an angle out from the wall at the top (which conveniently allowed me a discrete view of the plates served to adjoining tables).
Overall, service was prompt, friendly, helpful and unobtrusive. Our group consensus was that the food was of high quality. Our table candle was lit mid-meal as twilight set in. There was initially some disappointment in the menu selections insofar as the pizzas we had spied on their menu on a prior visit had been deleted from the menu we were presented with and that there were also no poultry entrees on it.
I ordered a beet and goat cheese salad plate as my appetizer. The presentation was amazing and the taste matched the appearance. The sticky toffee pudding dessert was likewise a meal highlight. I was less impressed with the tiger shrimp tagliatelle pasta dish I ordered as an entrée that came served in a bowl (the noodles were clumped together). Gary ordered the daily soup (potato leek) as his appetizer, a halibut fish plate for his entrée and a banana flame dessert. He enjoyed all of them. He noted that the fish fillets were served piping hot , were nicely crusted on the edges but were tender flaky otherwise. The ridge of lemon-mustard sauce greatly enhanced his plate presentation. Cathy passed on an appetizer but ordered a ravioli pasta dish as an entrée and followed with the same sticky toffee dessert as myself as a sweet. Her pasta dish impressed more than mine.
The tab averaged $60 pp including tip, coffee, plus a glass of wine (pinoit griggio) for Cathy and a mixed cocktail for Gary.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Dining Out: Milestones at Toronto Life Square
Gary & I had dinner at the new Milestones in the Toronto Life Centre at Yonge Dundas Square tonight. The Toronto Life centre is a complex located on the north east corner of the Yonge-Dundas intersection around the Ryerson bookstore and parking garage. Tenants started to open back in March. The complex's anchor tenants include an AMC-24 multiplex theatre, a Future Shop electronics store, an Adidas retail store and (below grade) a Shoppers Drug Mart and an Extreme Fitness gym.
The new Milestones is one of two full service eateries on the AMC theatre entrance level above the food court (the other is Jack Astors, where we have eaten three times previously). We wanted to eat al fresco out on their sky-terrace patio, which is long and slender shaped, extending in a north-south direction along Yonge Street.
The wait to get the patio table was very long. In the interim we were seated at the bar in the lounge to wait. The lounge is tastefully decorated with a full wall of floor to ceiling windows wall running along the south side offering views from the bar down to the street. There are also two very large video screens onto which sports were projected from overhead. The bar is made of white fleck acrylic composite material and is underlit with an orange-red colouring. A false fire alarm went off for about 10 minutes while we were seated there. It was loud and annoying. The manager came through to apologize for the disturbance and cheers erupted from diners when it was cleared. In the end, I was able to consume a pint and a half of beer while we waited for our dinner table. The potables of choice in the lounge appeared to be frozen Bellinis, pitchers of mojitos (served with fresh mint leaves and also available in a raspberry infused variation) and shots of vodka with red bull mixer.
When we were finally assigned our table outdoors, we were seated toward the north end of the patio at a small table for two. Although they have real wood plank deck flooring, the tables are of inexpensive construction (chrome metal legs and plastic table-tops with coloured pigments to resemble a wood grain). They have installed a clear plexiglass railing along the street side which allows an unobstructed view of the Yonge-Dundas intersection below. This is preferable to how they finished the railing at the Jack Astors along the Dundas side of the complex where the railing is opaque.
We ordered two appetizers from the menu as share plates (a trio of mini kobe beef burgers and some thai spicy chicken drumettes). Each of us then had an entree sized chicken salad, which featured cold thinly sliced chicken breast meat, red corn tortilla strips and cilantro, tossed in a honey-lime vinaigrette dressing with peanut sauce. The food was tasty and served hot from the kitchen.
The total bill for two was $91 including tip and three pre-dinner pints in the lounge.
Overall I would rate the experience as better than next door at Jack Astors. Rather than ordering dessert at Milestones we went down to the subway level to order gelatos from the Vici Gelateria and Café located there. I order butter-pecan and Gary had rum-raisin. Not as good as you get at Solferinos on Wellington St or at Soma in the distillery district, but still tasty for a chain store outlet.
The only eateries remaining to be opened in the TL complex now are Woos (which will be nestled between Milestones and Jack Astors on the 4th level) and the Johnny Rockets burger place which will be located on the ground floor on the Dundas side. I will look forward to posting a review of JRs, having previously eaten at the Fallsview casino location in Niagara Falls and other locations Stateside.
The biggest culinary disappointment about the Toronto Life complex is that the original publicity claimed a Wolfgang Pucks would be opening there but it has unfortunately not materialized.
The new Milestones is one of two full service eateries on the AMC theatre entrance level above the food court (the other is Jack Astors, where we have eaten three times previously). We wanted to eat al fresco out on their sky-terrace patio, which is long and slender shaped, extending in a north-south direction along Yonge Street.
The wait to get the patio table was very long. In the interim we were seated at the bar in the lounge to wait. The lounge is tastefully decorated with a full wall of floor to ceiling windows wall running along the south side offering views from the bar down to the street. There are also two very large video screens onto which sports were projected from overhead. The bar is made of white fleck acrylic composite material and is underlit with an orange-red colouring. A false fire alarm went off for about 10 minutes while we were seated there. It was loud and annoying. The manager came through to apologize for the disturbance and cheers erupted from diners when it was cleared. In the end, I was able to consume a pint and a half of beer while we waited for our dinner table. The potables of choice in the lounge appeared to be frozen Bellinis, pitchers of mojitos (served with fresh mint leaves and also available in a raspberry infused variation) and shots of vodka with red bull mixer.
When we were finally assigned our table outdoors, we were seated toward the north end of the patio at a small table for two. Although they have real wood plank deck flooring, the tables are of inexpensive construction (chrome metal legs and plastic table-tops with coloured pigments to resemble a wood grain). They have installed a clear plexiglass railing along the street side which allows an unobstructed view of the Yonge-Dundas intersection below. This is preferable to how they finished the railing at the Jack Astors along the Dundas side of the complex where the railing is opaque.
We ordered two appetizers from the menu as share plates (a trio of mini kobe beef burgers and some thai spicy chicken drumettes). Each of us then had an entree sized chicken salad, which featured cold thinly sliced chicken breast meat, red corn tortilla strips and cilantro, tossed in a honey-lime vinaigrette dressing with peanut sauce. The food was tasty and served hot from the kitchen.
The total bill for two was $91 including tip and three pre-dinner pints in the lounge.
Overall I would rate the experience as better than next door at Jack Astors. Rather than ordering dessert at Milestones we went down to the subway level to order gelatos from the Vici Gelateria and Café located there. I order butter-pecan and Gary had rum-raisin. Not as good as you get at Solferinos on Wellington St or at Soma in the distillery district, but still tasty for a chain store outlet.
The only eateries remaining to be opened in the TL complex now are Woos (which will be nestled between Milestones and Jack Astors on the 4th level) and the Johnny Rockets burger place which will be located on the ground floor on the Dundas side. I will look forward to posting a review of JRs, having previously eaten at the Fallsview casino location in Niagara Falls and other locations Stateside.
The biggest culinary disappointment about the Toronto Life complex is that the original publicity claimed a Wolfgang Pucks would be opening there but it has unfortunately not materialized.
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