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| - As with other touristy areas in Toronto, eating in the Distillery can be very hit and miss, as restaurants can thrive on the ignorance of people from of town rather than have to improve themselves in order to survive in the otherwise-cutthroat competitiveness of the Toronto food scene. The chaos of the Distillery is compounded infinitely during the popular annual Christmas Market, and this year was no exception. We made sure to arrive in the area early in order to avoid some of the crowds, but found it difficult to lock down a reservation even as early as 6pm. After our first choice for dinner said they were closed for a private function, we tried booking at Cluny, but were told they were completely booked until at least 9pm, albeit with some space reserved for walk ins. We walked into the restaurant with our fingers crossed that the wait wouldn't be too long. We were greeted by a very pleasant, polite hostess dealing with an extremely rude woman who I guess was tired of waiting for a table and who was asking the hostess to tell other paying customers to leave because they has already been there for an hour... After the hostess was done defusing this childlike nonsense, she told us the wait would be between 30-60 minutes and that we were first on her list. There was only 2 of us, which I'm sure helped immensely, as our wait time was maybe 10-15 min. She guided us to a raised booth in the bar/lounge area, and when my fiancee asked if we could have a table instead to ease her aching feet and back, the hostess was happy to help us by clearing off the table of some patrons whon has just left. Before moving on to the food, I must say the restaurant itself is absolutely gorgeous. I was blown away by the bread prep area, the raw bar, and the private function rooms too. They did an outstanding job fixing up the original building.
On to the food: the bread basket our waiter set down was elegantly presented and chock full of various kinds of freshly baked bread. For appetizers we ordered their take on the Caesar salad, as well as the seafood bisque. Both were fantastic. The vinegrette on the salad extremely fresh tasting and definitely some of the best I've ever had on a Caesar before. The biqsue was equally delicious, not too heavy or rich, and the presentation of cracking the puff pastry dome and pouring in the steaming, seafood-laden soup just added to the spectacle of the meal. For entrees my fiancee ordered their take on on pho and I ordered the skirt steak frites. Let me tell you, I'm not usually a fan of lamb and its gaminess, but perhaps it's because the shank was clearly braised gently for hours on end, it was both fall off the bone tender and completely devoid of any gamey taste. Definitely the best lamb I've ever tasted, and the accompanying soup was also excellent. My steak was perfectly cooked to the medium rare that our waiter recommended, and the frites were perfectly seasoned and accompanied by some delicious lemon garlic aioli. If Soma wasn't so close to our location, we definitely would have tried dessert there as well, but alas...
All in all, one of the best meals we've had in Toronto. The bill was also much less than we were expecting too, especially after having a very disappointing meal at El Catrin a couple months back, after which we were both still hungry and definitely did not feel like we got even remotely close to our money's worth. Our waiter was also extremely polite and professional, answering questions for us about private events (we were so blown away by our experience that my fiancee is considering having her wedding shower there).
By the time we left (about an hour later, so suck it cranky old lady), there was a huge lineup forming, so I'd recommend making a reservation well ahead of time. We will definitely be back, as even though the menu is small, there are still several things we want to try, including dessert as the aromas from the patisserie near the front entrance were borderline orgasmic.
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