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| - The short critique is that for the money, and even not for the money, but especially, for the ASTONISHINGLY overpriced menu items found at this restaurant, this was easily the worst meal that we have EVER had (we being a party of 5, including one 10 year old child) in Toronto. The meal in question was eaten on a Saturday night, this past September. It must also be emphasized that this was NOT the fish and oyster, ground floor restaurant, but the fine dining 5th floor companion restaurant with same entrance on Temperance Street.
In terms of the service, I have had better, faster, more courteous and personalized service, at a Wendy's restaurant. We were celebrating a special birthday for my mother who had specifically chosen the Chase based on a really good meal and overall experience that she had here about 3 and half years ago. Either things have gone seriously downhill or that night was an anomaly as we were unanimous this time in hating our experience from start to finish.
We had made our reservation a few weeks in advance and had requested seating in a certain area of the restaurant. Our request was not granted even though the restaurant was not full and we were placed in an uncomfortably drafty back corner, which had little of the only thing worth recommending about this place- ambience.
From this point forward we were served in a totally ad hoc fashion by no fewer than five of the wait staff, including one of the hostesses and a somelier. The man we thought would be our dedicated waiter introduced himself at the beginning of the evening only to disappear and then return when another young woman had already come around to take orders from us. He made a joke about her being in training (she was not, in fact, a new staff member) and was happy to just observe. It seemed that the staff were much more interested in amusing one another than serving their patrons and the service for the remainder of the night remained very slow and in all respects, poor.
Complimentary crostini and cheese filled tomato amuse bouches were the only highlights of the meal. The portions of the appetizers and main courses were perversely small. My AVACADO (crab meat and avacado arranged in a sushi roll configuration) appetizer was more like an hors d'oevre at a price of $22.00.
I opted for the salmon entree which, rather than being a thick succulent filet was a thin dry-ish tail with a hefty dose of the dark fleshy underside. The cuisine-the way the food was dressed up-in both cases could not be said to be uninspired but the substance of the meal was sorely missing. I am not ordering a $34.00 empty plate with a few spoons of smoked tomato fondue. I am ordering the SALMON!! My mom's dish was a similar disappointment. The $40.00 cod entree while tasty enough was gone in about 4 bites-about the size of a small appetizer. The most egregious part of the meal was when my sister-in-law requested a substitution of shrimp for lobster in the pasta entree but was charged for both!! I did not see the price of the modified dish, which lacked it's most expensive element, but I am sure I would have gasped. Could failing to mention this beforehand have been said to be pure stupidity or just more gouging?? It matters not as there was no excuse for this! The last straw was when a pre-ordered surprise birthday dessert was not served following our meal but yet another new wait staff face came by with dessert menus. An additional item that we ordered came late.
So in the final analysis-a disaster. We left at least as hungry as we arrived but with a particularly bad taste in our mouths, wanting to run from this Chase and into one of the nearest fast-food places outside. I must say that it would be a great pleasure to see this appalling example of a fine dining establishment go down. Now that's a mouth watering prospect!
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