The Wine Bar
Location:
9 Church St., Toronto
So, clearly I missed the boat on Jamie Kennedy's Wine Bar, instead this place is now known simply as The Wine Bar.
And, I know I've said it before and I should've listened to me:
If a restaurant is EMPTY, go somewhere else.
The Wine Bar was eeeempty.
The Wine Bar
Aside from the wine (good thing it's called the Wine Bar), this place is a disaster!
Oh, and I still don't get "tapas" - small portions are not for me. I love food and I love seeing LOTS of it.
First the positive:
The service.
Very attentive, polite, accommodating to dietary needs.
The negative:
We ordred the grilled flatbread (with house smoked chicken, tomato and mozzarella) and requested less mozza, to which our server suggested he could do less on one half and no mozza on the other if that was preferred. Great! Perfect.
The flatbread arrives and the chicken looks a bit pink in the low-light.
Flatbread
The taste? Awful. The chicken truly is pink, is bad cuts of meat, and doesn't taste at all fresh.
The next thing we had ordered was the artic char (smoked) - with arugula. The smoked artic char arrived looking...smoked. And fishy smelling - fresh fish should never smell fishy - and overly salted. Were we ever grateful for the salad!
Smoked Artic Char
Then there was the scallops - OMG!! Both of our upset stomachs the next day verified what we'd thought all along: neither the scallops (nor the fish or chicken, for that matter!) were fresh. One bite of it was all we needed - it tasted like the bottom of the bay, like how you'd imagine a fish tank tasting.
Scallops
And the wine? Besides the fact that we thought it was $10 for a glass (turns out it's $10 for a TASTE and $22 for a glass!) they were both very good.
Menu
Needless to say we drank every last drop of the wine, mostly to rid ourselves of the terrible food flavours. Soooo gross, you guys!! And we were so sick after!
I must admit I'm glad the portions were so small!
We ended up having to go for dinner again after that meal.
We headed over to JUMP where we KNEW we'd get incredible food, wine and service.
4 Comments | Share Article | tagged WINE BAR, Wine Bar toronto, artic char, jamie kennedy wine bar, scallops, seafood, the wine bar, toronto the wine bar, wine bars toronto, wine toronto | in Dinner, Drinks, Fish, Toronto | Friday, June 18, 2010 at 5:05AM
Reader Comments (4)
I love wine bars....Balazs and I love good wine:)
Kisses
Do not eat here EVER!! Only go for wine if you have too much money in your pockets
I agree. I took my mom there tonight because it's in my neighbourhood and wanted to give it a try. I laugh reading your review because we had a very similar experience. I thought that I would have learned by now not to go into the only empty place in the area! I was giving them the benefit of the doubt and figured that at the prices they were charging, the food would be mediocre at least, but it was terrible.We ordered the stuffed pork over lentil puree. At first it came out looking under cooked, so the server took it back and put it under the broiler. I honestly almost gagged eating it... it tasted off and even so it also looked bad, I could have gotten far better food from the pub down the street! The lentil puree was actually disgusting. We also had the scallops which were over cooked and served over some pathetic looking greens and our quail was served over an equally sad looking mix of greens. Its a nice looking place and the server was very nice (but obviously annoyed with our displeasure in the food)...I cannot believe this place is still in business or that whoever runs it could allow the kitchen to serve such terrible food and not feel ashamed to charge people for it. I was honestly shocked by how bad it was!
Hi Km, thanks for your comment! I'm so sorry you ate there! :( I know how gross it was, so I feel your pain. And just reading your review makes me gag. Definitely surprising that the place is still open and running.