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| - Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has opened his first restaurant in North America at Yorkdale Mall and I had a chance to eat there this evening (which happened to be opening night) after doing some Christmas shopping.
Overall, the dining experience was quite good. The restaurant is fairly spacious and has a relaxed and laid-back feel to it. It wasn't too busy tonight and the overall noise level was quite acceptable as it allowed you to carry on a conversation without having to raise your voice or shout.
Both the hostess and the waiter were very friendly and knowledgable about the establishment and the Jamie Oliver brand. More importantly, they also had a good knowledge of the menu. One minor oversight was the fact that the waiter made no mention of the specials which we only discovered by accident on a chalkboard as we were ending our meal.
As far as the food is concerned, everything was quite excellent with just a couple of missteps which may have simply been due to the fact that this was their first official day in business and it would expected that there might be a couple of bumps. We started with the mushroom fritti and the arugula salad. The mushroom dish was excellent. The mushrooms were expertly breaded and flavourful and the garlic mayo was fantastic. However, the arugula salad seemed to be missing the aged balsamic dressing as there was little evidence of balsamic on the plate or on our tastebuds. The arugula and radicchio was very fresh. We also had the funky chips (garlic and herbed fries) which were also very good.
For our main entrees, we had the bag-of-fish and the rabbit casarecce (originally, I had wanted the sausage pappardelle, but they ran out of this dish). The rabbit pasta was quite good with excellent flavours however, I felt the past was just a little too al dente as I found it slightly too firm. The bag-of-fish was terrific with good flavours and a little bit of kick given that there was a chili thrown in the mix.
For dessert, we had the lemon meringue cheesecake. I'm not one who really enjoys desserts so I will reserve making any comments, however, my wife certainly seemed to like the dish and felt the berry compote was a great compliment to the dessert.
For the quality of the food and experience, the prices are very reasonable and there is little to fault or complain about when it comes to assessing the value of the meal.
Overall, the dining experience at Jamie's Italian was quite positive and with a little more time, I believe the very minor missteps we experienced today will be a thing of the past. I will definitely be returning in the future and would also recommend this restaurant to anyone who is looking for a good, somewhat rustic, Italian meal in a comfortable setting and at a price that represents reasonable value.
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