If I had to sum up my experience of dining at One restaurant in one word, it would have to be "absurd".
I came for Winterlicious dinner. I'd made the reservation on the very first day that bookings were permitted i.e. 3 weeks in advance. My +1 and I were seated on what seemed to be a temporary makeshift table on the side of the room next to a common walkway, thus impeding the path of staff and guests. The leg of my chair was accidentally kicked 4 times during the evening whilst the back of my boyfriend's chair was incessantly knocked all through the night. Meanwhile there were other tables left vacant, better located and had cushioned seating as well as a small stand beside the table to place your personal belongings which we did not have. Furthermore our chairs were stiff and wooden-like and our table had a patterned tablecloth covering it, which did not match the decor of the rest of the tables in the room. I looked underneath to find, to my disbelief, a very worn out table with its surface chipped all around the rim. Wow. So not only did this restaurant have a table that blocks people's path, ensuring the diners are given a "bumpy ride" but they also used a table that was in such a state you wouldn't even find it at a garage sale, all the while attempting to cover up their sins with a tablecloth.
I shouldn't have to point out to a restaurant let alone a high-end one in the middle of Yorkville that not only was this table poorly planned and an embarrassment but that the use of such a tablecloth is also unhygienic as the servers kept placing cutlery directly onto it when it is clear that such a thick and deeply patterned cloth was not a typical one that could be replaced and cleaned. In addition I could not help but feel like we'd been cast aside and relegated to this "pop-up" table because I had specified "Winterlicious" on my reservation.
I much prefer a restaurant to be able to capture my attention with their food rather than any other aspect of the dining experience but alas not only was the food quite unremarkable but the most noticeable facet of it was that the portions throughout their Winterlicious menu were so small that they were irrefutably not enough to satisfy anyone expecting a half-decently-sized meal. The 3 courses they served were the size you would expect in a tasting menu consisting of at least 6, if not 9 items. Perhaps One is a novice at Winterlicious or at satisfying anyone with a normal-sized appetite? Their main clientele appeared to be those who were more interested in drinking and pretending to eat. The main entree entitled: "Snake River Farms Wagyu" containing braised brisket ravioli just consisted of 3oz wagyu beef and 1 mere piece of ravioli. (Note the actual entree on their daily menu would yield 6oz of wagyu beef which is already small for a main course). The so-called "apple sundae" was more frozen sour cream than anything else, whilst the "S'mores brownie" could be more accurately described as a slim piece of chocolate brownie beside a couple of charred pieces of marshmallow accompanied by a random strand of watercress.
My most entertaining point of the evening was when I got to witness "absurdity" in action: I saw staff lift a fully-set table for 2, decked with wine glasses and all the usual trimmings like cutlery and napkins, off the floor and through the walkway to the bar area of the restaurant. This could've been a scene out of a comedy-sketch it looked that silly. Those glasses could easily have toppled and smashed to the floor and spontaneous furniture arranging is not what you'd expect from a reputable restaurant. We later passed the same table on the way out and it wasn't even occupied. Other observations included how a staff member dropped a menu on the floor and then another staff member passing did not pick it up, how noone once asked us how the food or our experience was (which may have been a blessing in disguise considering how badly things were going), and how even for a place that presents itself as being upmarket they did not introduce each dish upon serving it, nor were there any doormen to greet you and help you with their 2 sets of front doors. There were no small bites to start the meal nor petit fours after the meal, nothing was extraordinary about the food, the ambience was simply dark and anticlimactic, and the atmosphere around our table was unsettling with all the people rushing by.
At best, this is a place to have a drink to drown your sorrows and put up a front with whomever you're with, pretending that you have taste and have nothing better to do with your money. I wouldn't even call this a restaurant; it is essentially a self-indulgent bar that serves disproportionately small-expensive portions of food that they attempt to dress up nicely, (much like their waiters), to mask the fact that everything is below-par, and in reality you can get better food, atmosphere and service almost anywhere else in Toronto especially at that price bracket. read more