We were being very west-end - out on College Street looking for a quick, late night bite after attending an art exhibit opening at a Bathurst Street gallery.
We'd actually gone in to Utopia a few doors west, but Utopia was full and we were too hungry to wait for a table.
We must have caught College Street Bar at the very end of dinner service as they seemed to start charging cover just after we arrived. The DJ was already playing and the place was starting to fill with 20 somethings there to drink. I really wasn't expecting much in terms of food. We were clearly the only table there to eat and the night had moved on from dinner spot to loud, bad sound system lounge.
The service was laid back, but genuine. I had the green salad followed by the lamb Bolognese gnocchi and my partner just had the gnocchi with the cream sauce, add chicken breast.
My salad was delicious. Fresh crisp greens with perfectly grilled red peppers and sliced Roma tomato tossed in subtle wine vinegar with very good quality olive oil.
My lamb Bologneses was very, very good. Robust sauce with gnocchi that, if not house made, certainly fresh.
The plating for both dishes made it clear that the food had been prepared by somebody who cared about what they were doing.
Avoid the by-the-glass chardonnay unless you have a thing for really horrid wine. For some reason, it took me two glasses for it to sink in just how bad it was. I'm talking - clean rust stains off the sink - bad.