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| - After reading an article about Signs coming to Toronto, I've been wanting to try it since.
Signs is a unique dining experience where guests can learn more about American Sign Language (ASL) by attempting and succeeding to order food items by using the language as well as to interact with deaf servers through simple phrases. The staff at Signs are very patient and welcoming and are attentive to everyone's needs. The hostess guided our family through using the menus - each food item has diagrams that illustrate how to sign them in ASL to the server. At every table is more sheets, a "cheat book", to learn phrases to help you throughout your dining experience - the ASL alphabet, phrases such as "thank you" and "one bill please", etc... It was a great and fun learning experience for me and my family - we all loved learning more about ASL, trying it out, and helping each other learn the signs.
For food, we ordered:
Appetizer: Korean BBQ Wings ($14)... were okay. They were a bit salty and had a soggy feel to them. They came with a side of kimchi which added a sour countertaste to the chicken flavour. I wouldn't recommend them as apps.
Mains:
Grilled Chicken Panini ($15)... this was one of our favourite dishes. We would give it a 4/5... a good sandwich stuffed with chicken breast, lettuce, tomatoes, bacon, mayo, and served with either soup, salad, or fries - my mom chose fries. The fries were good too - reminded us of Costco fries. I'd definitely recommend this sandwich!
Butternut squash ravioli ($19)... this was a pretty yummy dish. I liked the ingredients and toppings mixed in - pecans, cheese, sage, and mushrooms. It had a bit too much olive oil tossed with it but the flavours were good. Not the best butternut squash ravioli I've had but delicious nonetheless. A recommend.
Miso Salmon ($26)... grilled salmon served on a bed of risotto. We were actually disappointed with this one - which we didn't expect to be. We love salmon but we didn't find ourselves agreeing with the flavours and textures in this dish. Salmon was soft and tender - not well done but light pink and juicy (which I prefer) but didn't go well with the mushy risotto and the flavours were bland. Unfortunately, I can't recommend this dish - especially at their asking price.
Pad thai ($18 but if you want either chicken or shrimp, you have to add $5 each)...we ordered three plain pad thai because a few of us were craving it. For the most part, it was good pad thai - the flavours were mostly spot on - not the best we've had but good - 3/5. Only downside is that all dishes needed more sauce. They were all on the dry side. Portions were big but, again, at the price you're paying, you can get a lot more pad thai someplace else.
Overall, we'd rate the food a 2/5 and the experience 5/5. What you're coming here for is the experience - something nothing else in Canada offers. While the food unfortunately lacks in quality, the ambience and the people here more than make up for it. We enjoyed our stay - we got the chance to learn more about ASL and what Signs is doing is innovative - Signs is a restaurant that provides deaf people a workspace that wouldn't normally be open to them while, at the same time, giving non-deaf people a chance to learn more about ASL as well as a chance for deaf people to order in ASL.
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