| rev:text
| - Great experience at this new 17th Ave hotspot!
I had once tried to walk in on a Friday night, but it was not happening - the place was PACKED! So we made reservations for a Thursday night. When we got there, it was still completely packed. In fact, our table was not even empty yet because patrons had not left. In fact, we had to wait for a table despite a reservation. I was about to get annoyed but the hostess offered us a glass of prosecco for waiting. Okay, we said. The wait wasn't so bad anymore, since we had drinks in hand. Husband finished his prosecco before me, and the hostess came and topped up his glass! Great, now we definitely did not mind waiting! The hostess was super nice, so we made conversation and asked her about the menu etc while we waited.
When our table was finally ready (about 10-15 mins), we were seated quickly and once again, offered another drink on the house, "for being so patient". Seriously, these people know how to please customers! I ordered a glass of pinot noir, and the husband ordered a bourbon cocktail. We ordered four plates of food to share from the menu: The tuna wraps, the beef cheek, the lamb chops and the polenta with mushrooms.
The food all came in RECORD time.
The tuna wraps came almost immediately after we ordered. Excellent! The tuna was generously portioned, and had an interesting flavour because of the cumin. It came with a small head of butter lettuce to wrap them in.
The lamb chops arrived as soon as we were done the tune wraps. They were like lollipops, and were meant to be dipped in the accompanying korma sauce, and then dipped into the accompanying toasted slivered almonds, and then bitten into. SO FLAVOURFUL! One of my favourites of the night.
The polenta with mushrooms came after, and it was absolutely heavenly. The truffle oil, mushrooms and polenta were an exquisite combination. My other favourite of the night.
The beef cheek came after. It was Guinness braised, and served with mashed potatoes and broccolini. The meat was so tender it was almost buttery. It was my husband's favourite, along with the polenta.
We also asked to sample some house made bread and we got two hunkin' HUGE chunks of bread. One was a beet bread, and the other was a dark bread that I am having trouble remembering because everything was so delicious and I was deliriously full!
But aside from the food, the second highlight of the night was the service. At one point my husband dropped a knife. I kid you not, a server appeared right behind him IMMEDIATELY and handed him a new one. Before he even had a chance to bend over and pick up the knife he had dropped. C R A Z Y. So between our super personable and knowledgeable server, and the knife incident, not to mention the free drinks to make up for the wait times.. man, they were on the BALL!
To end this gigantic review, both my husband and I were very impressed with our experience at Cleaver. It is a casual place, but the quality of the food and the quality of the service are phenomenal. The people behind Cleaver know what they are doing, and a lot of new restaurants can learn from them. Easy 5 stars!
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