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| - Come for the ambiance, but leave before your wallet starts leaking TFSA tears.
Oh King Street, the place where your money goes to deliciously die. Or not so deliciously (ahem Bier Markt). You know you're going to spend at least $30 and get a heel-blister from your Finally Got To Wear These pointy shoes but you hope that it will be money well spent.
ATMOSPHERE
Pretentious but not cloyingly so, Crush's high ceilings and warm wood tones make you feel distinctly classy. A far cry from being a place where everybody knows your name (a scuzzy dirt-hole) it nevertheless sets a business casual tone where you can order a glass of wine and talk with friends without having to a) elbow people out of the way on the way to the bar b) yell over the music or c) worry about being judged because you're not wearing a cocktail dress.
Good for impressing:
a good friend or date
a group of friends from college (with jobs)
a wine-snack with your parents (shut up)
FOOD/WINE
I wanted to enjoy some wine and cheese while toasting with my friends from college, so I ordered an exciting flight of red wine. I love ordering beer flights from my favourite bars so I was very excited to do the same here. There was a white, rose and red choice of flights. I drink red, so I went there, since it was supposed to be robust. The offerings were Californian, vintage 2009, going from a fruitier shiraz to a drier cab sauv. Price tag is prohibitively $28 bucks for the flight, so it better be good right? With beer, you get three little cups equivalent to about 1 pint, and for the price of one pint. I don't know about you but I don't make a habit of ordering $28 glasses of red.
The wine came and I confess to being a tad disappointed. The three glasses were teensy and I am sceptical if they would have added up to an excessively full glass if I'd poured them together. Aaaand the wine itself was very approachable but unspectacular. In addition, of the two cabs, one was subbed out for a zinfandel.
The cheese platter. The selection was exciting, and the menu does a great job of explaining the taste of the cheeses. I ordered three, and right away I could tell they were good cheeses, not some brie or cheddar from Longos. But and this is a big but - the cheese on that cheese platter was very small. A few grapes and a slice of prepared pear were there too, sure but really people, I don't care if you give me oodles of crackers, I know that crackers cheap. This platter is $20.00. Are you seriously going to tell me that those nubs of cheese are just under $7 each? Come on now.
On another good note, my friend next to me ordered a halibut main course and it was very delicious, but this is a wine bar, so I expected a little more from the wine and cheese part.
At least the table bread they brought us was very good. They are not cheaping on that at all- four types of bread and even given my post-Paris bread snobbery, I enjoyed all of them.
SERVICE
Our server was pleasant and knowledgeable about the wine and the cheeses. Our service was not particularly fast but not slow either, nothing to complain about here.
LOCATION
Easily accessible with a brief street car ride away from King Station to Spadina. You could walk from King - in comfy flats hidden under your nice business casual pants. If it was summer, it is conceivable to walk from Union as well. Keep your eyes peeled for the sign outside - it's not loud, but it's not as pretentiously non-existent as Spice Route unsignage just a bit further down the road.
OVERVIEW
Come to impress and make sure your wallet is full. Enjoy a clean, classy but not-too-pretentious environment. Order a glass of wine, share a snack and make that bread basket last. I enjoyed my evening but I won't be a recurring customer. Excuse me, I have to go comfort my wallet now.
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