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| - The old Bâton Rouge, one of the restaurants that's been around for a good amount of time in the Richmond Hill/Markham area. I remember when it first opened and we'd gone for a huge family occasion dinner - it was someone's birthday probably? At the time the place was more upscale - typical of a steakhouse - and it was dimmer lit like The Keg. Now - the 6:00pm dinner wave is almost all families and casual groups, with the more well-dressed individuals making an appearance for 8:00pm. The prices were out of my reach back in the day and steaks were too heavy a meal for many in the family, but in the last month or so I've frequented twice on different family occasions - our tastes have changed!
The first things I noticed were the kids - since when did this become a family restaurant? Babies, toddlers, children, teenagers, bring them all because they'll all be welcome at 6:00pm. I wasn't annoyed per se, mostly surprised and a tiny bit nervous about noise levels. Turns out what really brought the noise was just the restaurant layout - round group tables with booths all along the side, and dumbbell-shaped setups for larger groups. People yapped away loudly to one another and the music was playing all at the same time, and from 6:30pm until 9:00pm when I finally left the place was packed.
The menu was as expected - a focus on steaks with a smaller selection of pastas, poultry, and seafood for other appetites. A prix fixe menu is now available starting at $40, including a starter soup or salad, a choice of mains (with two sides) from catch of the day to surf and turf, and chef's choice dessert (mini slice of cheesecake - flavour predetermined for the day). A really good deal for the price, providing enough variety and volume for most patrons.
Shortly after being seated we got a round of water from the server - she spilt some on my menu and soaked the napkin she'd placed, but quickly moved on to another table to take an order without coming back to clean up. Disappointing - I can only think to say water is clear and maybe she thought it was a small splash, but that still makes her quite unobservant since the napkin was drenched. Subsequent to this we were server-less for quite some time. Nobody to check if we had questions with the menu, nobody introduced themselves to be taking care of us for the rest of the night, nothing. As the rest of my party of 13 showed up it took some time to get even water. One of the chairs was rickety and coming loose so we needed a replacement - the same water-spilling server had finally reappeared but the attitude she used to ask a fellow server for assistance with the chair was rude. I wouldn't want to be helping her at all - and shockingly (or rightfully...) the fellow server gave back equal amounts attitude. Not what I picture from a good restaurant service team.
I went with a medium rare top sirloin, 8 oz, with added blue cheese on top. My sides were steamed veggies and hot cinnamon apple slices. Quite promising upon arrival, but cutting in my steak was a bit overcooked - it was more medium to medium-well. I could send it back...but I'm not a fan of waiting for remakes. Aside the doneness the steak had decent flavour - my decision to add blue cheese was great. The sides were as expected - my apple slices were a bit cold and my steamed veggies a bit too raw for my liking. It was okay, I'd say, given I was with a large party of 13. On any other occasion I'd be disappointed.
In my visit in the distant past, I remembered a rich baked cheesecake selection available at Bâton Rouge. I wasn't disappointed the last two times I've visited - interesting classic flavours available, and a gluten-free peanut butter brownie cheesecake for those with diet restrictions. The cheesecakes are rich and creamy, and quite firm. None of that gelatin-induced mousse-like texture, these are baked cheesecakes that weigh their worth. There was caramel drizzle on the New York style mini-slice that came with my prix fixe meal, which wasn't too sweet or too plain. The mini slice size is good for a small dessert - nothing to share, not too much to handle, no feeling of guilty afterwards.
I also ordered a classic crème brûlée to share, it was a decent size and looked pretty good. Mine wasn't as brûlée as others that arrived at the table so I was disappointed, and rightfully so upon tasting as mine was quite cold. The poor torch job meant my caramelized sugar wasn't crunchy enough to break into small pieces under the attack of my fork - more effort required and large chunks stuck to my teeth unnecessarily. Fortunately I'm not a crème brûlée fan, meaning I won't be considering the item for my next visit - no points lost with me as a returning patron.
Cheesecake for dessert rounded out the meal for me positively and helped Bâton Rouge retain their star rating for now. But for the cheesecake - two stars flat based on poor price-quality ratio.
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