| rev:text
| - I am writing this review the day after visiting the restaurant, and subsequently falling ill from the meal. Today is the last day of 2016, and I can easily say this is the worst overall dining experience I've had this year, and quite possible last year as well.
Firstly, let me openly state that my wife and I are food snobs. We search for the best food everywhere - we have eaten amazing meals in roadside shops in Jerusalem and Bangkok, eaten our way through Spain and had life-changing sushi in Japan. We can point you in the direction of the best fried chicken in a 500 km radius from home, and we will chase food trucks and restauranteurs when they deserve it. I don't take time to review dining experiences often, mostly the outstanding ones, and this was an outstandingly atrocious one.
If you read website reviews for a restaurant and see a trend of "great, great, great, terrible" reviews, there are two likely scenarios. One: the restaurant is truly good, and the bad review came from a disgruntled diner; two: the main clientele for the restaurant is unrefined, and the bad review came from a sophisticated diner. I would, without a doubt, now state that the latter is the case for this restaurant. However, my wife having grown up in the area and hearing for years about this place, we decided to not judge a book by its cover (although the restaurant management certainly does, more on this below) and give it a shot. Certainly an experience to close a terrible year.
The ambiance: nice decor, makes you quickly forget that the location is within a suburban strip mall. When we arrived, soft clubby music was playing, but quickly changed to enjoyable live jazz guitar.
The wine: First sign that something was really off with this restaurant, $3000 bottles on the wine list, but when asked about an Ontario wine from a Prince Edward County winery we personally frequent, the sommelier indicated it to be from Niagara. Extremely sad that a supposed "fine dining" restaurant does not seem to be aware of Ontario's hottest new wine region, let alone know where their bottles are coming from.
The food: Truly, very unimpressive, downright appalling for the price point. The tomato soup was only exciting if you've never have had goat cheese before. We have made better ones at home on a weekday night. Garlic potato soup was delicate and balanced well enough. Foie gras appetizer was acceptable, although quite small and buried within a croissant platform. Before our entrees arrived, a lemon sorbet palate cleanser was brought, which was appreciated.
The risotto main was absolutely flat, with no layers whatsoever, and clearly not made smooth by the proper way risotto is cooked (that is, slowly and with the gradual addition of broth), but rather by over-adding cream. The gnocchi were nicely presented, browned on the pan, but simply served with, again, a flat, overly rich cream sauce.
By the time our entrees had arrived, I noticed a fruit fly around the bread basket. One lone fruit fly, however, this is utterly unacceptable for an establishment serving $40-50 mains. Not to mention the $3000 bottles.
I should have asked to see the manager at this point, but wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, which turned out to be a big mistake.
The service: The staff are clearly trying very hard to bring a fine dining experience. Table was cleared promptly, water was refilled often, and although more than the one bottle of sparkling water we ordered was brought, we were only charged for one. Sadly, this is where the flare ends. Based on our experience with the food and the flies, we decided to forgo dessert. When the sommelier/manager returned to ask on our choice of dessert, I requested to speak to him in private. I politely informed him of the problems with the meal, and of my intent to present these on online reviews, as it is not fair to a restaurant to receive a scathing review for which no opportunity at reparation has been offered. The manager thanked me for the information and told me that he would relay the information along. After this, we received a small plate with complimentary crackers and Parmesan cheese slices, on which, tragically, another fruit fly arrived. We did not touch this plate. Following this, our full bill was delivered, with no apology from any management or staff member, and thus no attempt whatsoever at salvaging our experience.
I must assume that, since my wife and I do not drive a European car, and since we came dressed to enjoy each other's company, rather than to impress other diners, the management thought it unnecessary to address our immeasurably disappointing experience. I would counsel anyone who remotely enjoys dining for the food itself, to avoid this establishment at all costs. If you don't leave Thornhill often, need to impress a suburban date with a unrefined palate, and don't mind the occasional fruit fly with your $200-300 bill, you will probably love this place.
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