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| - Tucked away on a little alleyway between Eastern and King, this place offers up some tasty treats to eat in or take-out, in a cafe style atmosphere. You've probably heard of Jamie Kennedy's latest venture, a front for his catering kitchen.
We went on a Sunday afternoon and it got pretty busy. Apparently, there are two cash registers, but little directing, so my friend and I were waiting patiently, with no acknowledgment from the staff (5 people). The staff that worked there looked completely frazzled and frankly a bit annoyed that the cafe was getting busy. Right away, I was not impressed. You will see time and again, I will credit or discredit service at a place I eat, because I feel it's extremely important. How can anyone enjoy their meal when met with a crabby face and tones of attitude.That is not to say that I won't go back to a place if the service is crap, but the food had better be amazing otherwise. Anyway, I digress.
The cafe itself is warm and sunny with rows and rows of jarred fruity items along one wall. There are tables to sit at or a counter along the window with stools. We both ordered the daily poutine which turned out to be a lamb patty one. The flavours of the lamb were smoky and lovely. Not a lot of gravy and the cheese was more like bits of shavings rather than "curds". Luckily, the flavour, the lamb, and the fries themselves made up for that, and I suppose Kennedy wasn't trying to go for a soppy "New York Fries poutine" interpretation here. Fair enough.
One thing I have to say about the set-up is the disorganization of it all. There's 1 runner, who brings out your food and basically calls around your name until you put up your hand or acknowledge yourself. Perhaps, they should try a more efficient method like giving people numbers and then the runner can quickly identify the patrons OR just have the people pick up their own food?
Despite my initial distaste of the service, it was my first time there...so maybe it was just an "off" day, hence the 3/5...I definitely would give it another go and try a few other things next time. Like the soup. That looked good.
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