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| - I was excited to try a new Brazilian resto in Toronto, as ex-pat Brazilians here tell me there aren't any good ones in the entire GTA, you have to have home cooking. After trying Mata, I have to say that the situation has NOT improved...
Mata fits in perfectly with a lot of the Parkdale scene: stylish hipster hangout with overpriced everything (especially considering the portions)... But tapas-style Brazilian food? Is that an oxymoron? Brazilians like BIG portions! As another reviewer mentioned feijoada in a ramekin-sized container, I should've known better than to expect value for money, nevermind authentic cuisine. Reading the brunch menu, there isn't even any meat in the feijoada! For $15?? Pretentious and presumptuous. If that's your vegetarian version, drop the price and put some meat in a regular one. The best feijoada I've had in recent times was at a place called Muqueca, in Cambridge, MA of all places, and while it was more expensive ($22 USD) it was legit in every way--slow cooked with pork, beef, sausage, etc., served as a complete meal with plantain, collards, farofa, etc...
Entering the dining room, the decor is great--hip, with that "recovered antique/faded dumpster finds" look that some people find "homey" and "down to earth". There's lots of space to move around, not too cluttered with tables slammed into each other--great for being able to hear your date/friends!
On to the food:
I had a classic caipirinha cocktail to start, which came after quite a while and had a decent presentation, with sugar cane "swizzler". In taste, it should be balanced between the cachaca, sugar and lime, but all I could taste was the sugar. Pity. Maybe some of their other caipirinha selections are tastier, but I'm not sure I would give them another chance if they mess up the classic!
On to the swordfish ceviche, which was sadly lacking in almost any flavour. A ceviche should POP in your mouth with citrus, but I couldn't even taste any in this--how how is that possible??? Portion size was okay.
I had grilled salmon with pepper glaze, coriander potato puree, and crispy parsnips... Again, portion size was smaller, but at this point I was expecting that. Plating was a bit sloppy, but this isn't fine dining. The puree, parsnips and glaze were savoury but again lacking in flavour. As well, somehow the grill cook had overcooked both small pieces of salmon. Everyone knows grilled salmon should be soft, velvety, pink and warm in the centre. This salmon was overdone and dry--were it not for the puree and glaze (and the Nicklebrook IPA I'd ordered with the "main" to wash it down), it would've been hard to finish.
Luckily the server had presented us with their pickled peppers, which had three degrees of heat. I liberally used all three to punch up the two dishes I had, which shouldn't have needed to happen--they should've been able to stand on their own. If I wasn't averse to extra salt, I probably would've asked for that as well...
The best thing about the meal was the dessert, a tasty sorbet with acai and other berries. Some people don't like the taste of acai, but I do, so this was a pleasant surprise after so little flavour in the preceding plates and cocktail. It had a very satisfyingly creamy mouth feel, as well.
Service: We unfortunately had a new server, who admitted that she was new, and made several mistakes. In the end, a more experienced server came to her rescue and wound up doing a lot of the service. I wondered to my friends if this was entirely her fault--if a new server isn't up to snuff, the restaurant shouldn't have hired him/her, or should've properly trained him/her to begin with. I was just glad the vet stepped in to make things better.
In the end, I can't justify giving this place more than 2/5--it probably would've been a 1/5 based on most of the food and price (although drinks were decently priced), but the decor and dessert bumps it up a bit.
Like many other places in Parkdale, Mata looks good but doesn't deliver the goods, hyped up by people who don't know any better. For me, the Yelp definition of 2 stars, "Meh, I've experienced better" fits this place to a T.
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