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| - Upon arrival I had high hopes - gelato and chocolate made in-house with natural ingredients, 0109 was promising me the good stuff only found at home or at high prices. The place is decked out in IKEA gear - hipster lamp installation above the open concept kitchen, the chairs I'm sure come from IKEA's garden/patio selection, the cutlery, the tea pots (I own the same one at home! It is a good one I must say). It gives it that homey feeling that everything is made right there with things that you recognize. A large selection of chocolate products are displayed on the side counter and in the display case - from chocolate bars to molded chocolates to flavoured truffles - all for prices that remind me of Laura Secord, Purdy's, or even Lindt's outlet store at Vaughan Mills. Everything is luxuriously packaged and branded with a gold 0109 sticker to make it all the fancier. Quite a sight!
The dessert prices proved to be acceptable though the coffee on the expensive side (more than Starbucks?!) and the gelato was tasty...but I have a few items to note.
Firstly, there is a requirement that everyone in the party must order an item - a 1:1 ratio on items to patrons. There won't be any cutesy sharing of a crêpe, or a drink, or anything under $15. There are a few select shareable items that will count for two people - notably the selection of 4 gelato scoops, and the gelato/macaron/marshmallows fondue set. The portion is quite large so I was annoyed that even the large fondue set counted for only TWO ORDERS.
Next, about my order. Affogatos marry my love for coffee and ice cream, so I was excited to see it on the menu. I expected a choice of gelato flavour, to which I was told it is default vanilla and any changes is an extra dollar. I rationed, maybe the vanilla gelato is cheaper, to which a friend identifies it on the menu as being the exact same price as all the other flavours. I guess I paid extra for having to remind the kitchen of my special order? This was disappointing, particularly since the waitress didn't even consider to inform me the gelato flavour. I ended up paying the dollar to get mint chocolate chip gelato in lieu of vanilla, which made the order much more interesting. The espresso is presented on the side but if you're not quick the waitress will pour all of it onto your gelato immediately. Gelato melts quickly and the warmth of the espresso leaves you with a slurpy mess only minutes in. I caught my waitress in time but she seemed annoyed and nervous about having to leave me the little espresso cup. Should I have made my preference earlier? Maybe if they wanted to take away my choice, they could've just brought the affogato over pre-done. Problem solved. I ended up having yet another awkward encounter after the gelato flavour fiasco, making things even worse for both parties. Eventually she noticed I finished blending my espresso in, so she did come by to pick up the cup - but there was no rush, and looking around, I was the only one to order an affogato anyway out of about 20 patrons...the espresso was weak and watery, I guess suited for a more Asian taste.
My party of 8 ordered gelato tea floats, a cappuccino, tiramisu, cheesecake, and scoops of gelato. The tea float was interesting, served cold with a choice of about a handful teas - green, lavender, rose, oolong, etc. and a choice(!) of about a handful gelatos as well. They're served with ice and the ball of gelato floating happily atop a medium soda drink glass like you would get at a casual restaurant/diner. After mixing it altogether, it resembled a diluted cold tea latte. I can see promise in finding the perfect combination, but personally I'm not a fan of tea lattes hot or cold. The cappuccino looked pretty good, and the gelato was very well received. Fruity flavours were raved to be very interesting and refreshing, while savoury flavours were strong and looked rich. The balls of gelato are comparable to a full scoop of ice cream from Baskin Robbins or Marble Slab, just perfectly rounded...it was good to see they were a decent size.
Overall, there was interesting stuff on the menu and the Friday night was a full house almost all night from 10:30pm until close at 1:00am. I would return (very) occasionally for gelato - if not for the great gelato flavours I wouldn't come back.
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