| rev:text
| - Pretentious and cliche attempt at avant-garde / molecular gastronomy -- a near total waste of time and money.
Pros:
- smoked pork loin was very tasty and beautifully presented / plated - despite one of the pieces being a big piece of fat
- pretty much all of the dishes ordered were beautifully presented / plated
- nice decor
- food quality is top notch
Cons:
- Indifferent and superior wait staff, who seem as if it is a bother to serve the patronage
- Wait staff that had no clue how to properly pair wine with our food, their suggestions were completely off
- Automatic 18% gratuity, 4% of which goes to the owner, who never even bothered to show his face at our table of 8 (large spend)
- Prices have increased 33-50% since the restaurant opened in 2007, they are now out of line with reality, $16 for a small tepid bowl of soup?
- I suppose the 3 year old reviews that pop in front of your face on the website justify the price jump?
- The service was incredibly slow, there was a gap of nearly 60 minutes between our starters and our mains
- The portions are very small and relatively unsatisfying; order a minimum of three dishes for every two people
- We had to ask our server for bread, at which he seemed quite put off
- The dishes seem like the tired, old, and cliched attempts (luke warm poached eggs, liquid N, etc.) at molecular gastronomy you've seen on foodtv for the last 10 years, way to move the game forward
- Some dishes work well, others are a terrible combination of flavours that seem oddly miss-matched (the scallops were perfectly prepared but the flavourings were horrible together), and still others just plain bland or boring (the miso black cod)
7/8 of our party left disappointed - fueled by the minimal creativity and originality of the food and the apathetic hospitality. We left hungry and feeling ripped off, and not because we opposed to this type and cost of cuisine; but because it failed to deliver on everything that it is supposed to be. When spending $100+ per person, you should expect to feel welcome and appreciated, not like you're a bother.
I suppose, this is a very polarizing restaurant... you either really like it, or you do not; there is no middle ground. I applaude the effort for trying to raise the bar for dining in Toronto, it's too bad it doesn't live up to the hype.
A quote by the Caludio Aprile sums up his pretention and arrogance (albeit, this is in relation to Origin, not CL):
"If you can do a better job than me and my staff, then why aren't you doing it?"
Is he saying that one must be able to prepare food as well as or better than him in order to have an opinion? Wow.
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