Let me start by saying that I am a long-time patron of the Toronto location and have never been disappointed. I have wanted to try the Oakville restaurant for some time and was very very excited to get a New Year's Eve reservation. Other than that - that's where the positive comments end.
While the location is superb and the building is elegant, the restaurant itself is a dump. Absolutely no style what-so-ever. Cramped space, with tables too close together, zero atmosphere (especially at the holidays) unless you consider the brown/dying plants as a barrier to the other table in front of me and the pile of boxes and other recycling clogging the window of the wine cellar that my partner and I were seated up against. Also, the washroom was filthy and tacky. The plastic plants and pile of dirty water under the hand dryer was especially gross. Shocked (totally). Now that I've set the ambiance - let me share our 'experience.'
We walked in for our 9pm reservation, not greeted by anyone so I boldly said hi to the woman behind the bar. Someone came over and led us to our (tiny/squished) table. No one took my full-length coat, so I had to drape it over my chair with the bottom dragging on the floor and spilling into the path of the passing servers.
There was a lame oil lamp on the table. The server came by and said, "oh looks like we didn't light the candle" and proceeded to walk away without lighting the candle. The place setting was a joke. Two dinner forks and two dinner knives each.
We ordered a glass of wine each (rose and white). They were both room temperature. I ordered the arugula salad and calamari/shrimp combo. My partner had the Caesar salad and lamb. My salad had some lettuce, 2 tiny cherry tomatoes and some shaved parmesan cheese. What a joke for $18. His Caesarwas very mediocre and more croutons than "good stuff". My calamari were rubber and tasteless. I was starving so I ate about half. The shrimp was atrocious. The shell was fused to the meat,and I had to use my hand to attempt to get a bite. I gave up. My husband's lamb was also tasteless, in a watery broth.
No one asked if we wanted fresh pepper - I had to ask for some pepper. It was table variety - not acceptable for a "high-end" restaurant. Close to the end of the dinner, the server asked, "did you want any bread at all with your dinner?". Ahhh no thanks. Ridiculous.
We ordered one slice of tiramisu - it looked sloppy but was the best thing about the whole experience. For the pleasure of what was listed above, we paid nearly $300. We are not wealthy people who eat out often and this was a HUGE treat. I cannot tell you how outrageously disappointing the meal was. I wish we'd stayed in and cooked. We'd have saved a bundle and the food would have been edible.
I'd be happy to accept a refund and spend it on the Toronto location. Really really unacceptable experience. read more