| rev:text
| - 5 second summary: Mediocre/average food (except the desserts, which are great), boring decor, great service. Might be a bit loud for those looking to bring a date, but otherwise a good option if you're in the area: you'll enjoy the meal and it has a friendly atmosphere. Lots of competition with moxies, jack astors and others in the immediate area as well.
Reason for 3 stars: The apps and entrees were ok, while the dessert was great.
Would I go back? Yes - but mainly for dessert.
Loong review:
Good looking staff + modern decor + decent food seems to be the recipe for success these days, and earls has seen plenty of it over the past few years. The ever expanding franchise opened up a new location in Woodbridge this past week, right next to the Colossus movie theater, and it follows the same tried and true recipe, although it executes on some parts better than others.
Food at these neo-American restaurants is typically isn't the strong point, good enough so people enjoy the meal, but you're coming for the drinks, atmosphere and service. Call me Picky, but I've rarely had a meal that blows me away at one of these places, except for Joeys @ Don Mills. Earls pretty much falls into the same category as these places, with medicore food, though not spectacular, save the desserts which are frickin good, especially the smores. While the starters & entrees are good, the dessert is the strong point here, so definitely save room. I came here with a few friends and we shared multiple things. Full rundown at the end of the review.
As most folks head to earls for the atmosphere, I'll mention it here as well. There's a nice entrance with a stone exterior and an outdoor fireplace, 'cause, we all know how cold it gets in the winter, right? Indoors, it's dimly lit and there's little separation between the bar and restaurant areas, so it may be a bit noisy for some seeking a quieter dinner (i.e. on a date). The decor is similarly dark and I'd say on the verge of old fashioned or boring. Those chandeliers they have in the restaurant section have got to go though, it's a round piece of wood with lights circling the thing, I wouldn't be surprised it they came straight from Medieval Times.
There was nothing medieval, rough, or boring about the service though. The staff, manager and hostess' were all very kind, friendly, inviting and made you feel comfortable.
Starters:
Ceasar salad - pass on it. boring.
Spinach dip - delicious. comes with deep fried bread and the dip is very good. Eat it quick, once that dip goes cold it's not nearly as good.
Entrees:
Salmon - well cooked, well seasoned and a healthy portion, it was an enjoyable dish. Fairly standard, though anyone ordering this isn't looking for a "wow" dish
Steak w/ some mushroom sauce - well cooked, thick cut though small portion (looked like a filet, but not sure it was), it was a fairly average steak at a restaurant. You won't go wrong with it, it's a safe pick
Steak (sauceless) - Dry for my liking, wasn't juicy enough for me to order it again. I'd go for the sauced version.
Pizzas - the pizzas are ok, thin crust and not overpowering with any one ingredient. Another safe order
Salad with prawns - this was really good. I enjoy sweeter salads, and this was one of them, coming with a mix of berries, nuts cheese and lightly glazed with a sweet dressing. A healthy portion of shrimps was given in the salad as well.
Chicken club sandwich - typical chicken club, meh
Pasta - I tried two pastas, both were mediocre. One with a tomato sauce was a bit sour, and the other with an alfredo sauce was a bit bland and the pasta undercooked. I'd shy away from the pasta, but I'm not a big pasta fan anyhow.
Chicken Curry w/ Nann and Rice - I'm always surprised that there's Indian dishes at these places, but I guess that attests to Toronto's multi-culturism. Anyhow, the curry was alright, not overly spiced, the rice had been buttered up so it was good, and the nann was fresh, though didn't have those burnt edges/seared surface that I love.
Desserts:
Sundae in caramel toffee bowl - the bowl itself is made from some caramel/toffee mixture I think, so it's edible, and delicious. It's what sets the dish apart from other places. There aren't many toppings on it though, I wish it did.
Chocolate toffee cake - it's delicious, sweet, warm, rich, it's great.
Cheesecake - my friends liked this more than I did. It's a good portion and not very sweet. I'm a fan of sweet and creamy cheesecakes (i.e. Cheesecake factory) and this was the less creamy, less sweet kind.
Smores - I'm saving the best for last because this was AWESOME. Homemade marshmallows, homemade graham crackers with a gingery tint to it (if you like Starbuck's ginger molasses cookie,you'll LOVE this) and melted chocolate. Comes with two smores... mmmmmmmmmmm... so much better than making them around a camp fire. This is the one dish I would definitely get for dessert, though you can't go wrong with the cake
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)