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| - Just to clarify for all of you who may have googled 420...this is a restaurant, and only a restaurant with a street number of 420. I'm not even sure they owners are aware of the double entendre. ;)
Ok, so I really wanted to like this place and was quite excited to try it, but I just had my first meal here and left feeling a bit disappointed. I'm being generous with 3 stars as this place is still fairly new, and I want to give them a chance. The food was quite a mixed bag.
The FOOD (2.5 stars): Between my friend and I we got a nice assortment of offerings:
***420 Smoked Meat Sandwich ($12): The sandwich on the whole was fairly successful in terms of the smoked meat itself with a nice bit of whole grain mustard. The bread, however, was not up to the challenge....the plain white bread instantly began falling apart. This needs a heartier bread to contain it. Unfortunately, the side of coleslaw was utterly inedible. A violent salt explosion seemed to have taken place in the kitchen resulting in the saltiest thing I've ever had on a plate in a restaurant. I pointed it out to the server who went back and tasted it and agreed.
***Pulled Pork Sandwich ($12): The pulled pork was pretty average. On its own it was rather bland without any BBQ sauce...also lukewarm in temperature. The BBQ sauce on offer seems to be Hoisin sauce straight out of a jar (as sickly sweet as it is) perhaps spiced up with just a little bit of added heat. The combo of BBQ sauce and pork was edible, but my friend didn't enjoy it much.
***Jalapeno Corn Bread Side ($5): This was by far the most successful item of the night. A delicious light and fluffy cornbread which had a pleasant, but not overpowering heat. The portion side was pretty tiny for $5 though...not enough to share really.
***Duck Confit Sandwich: This was a special of the night, but I didn't try it. I love duck confit, but again it came with Hoisin sauce. This place needs to step up its game and make its own BBQ sauce if it really wants to be a smokehouse. As we were leaving another customer ran up to us to ask what we thought of our meal. He just wanted to share how much he disliked this sandwich, as the meat was terribly dry. That's not a good sign if a stranger wants to commiserate about how bad his food was.
The SERVICE (2.5 stars): We had a friendly Quebecois hostess who seemed to be serving the entire restaurant. I pointed out the coleslaw disaster. She and the chef apparently went to the kitchen and confirmed it. I was trying to offer constructive feedback, and the appropriate response would have been to either offer a replacement or take the other side dish off our bill. They did neither and when clearing our plates should have noticed that my friend and I both had our mounds of coleslaw 95% intact. There were a lot of delays to service and some general confusion. It's not really running smoothly yet...I wouldn't come here in a rush.
The DRINKS (3.5 stars): They have a decent and fairly priced wine list. I quite enjoyed the Valpolicello which was around $21 for a 1/2 Liter. For some reason the whole bottle of wine is way more than the 1/2 liter...I'm confused. The beer list is Ontario macro-micro standards (Beau's, Wellington's, Steamwhistle, etc.)...no standouts for me. I do find the wine list to have a nice variety and reasonable prices, especially at the 1/2 liter size. No cocktails available.
The AMBIANCE: It's nice and cozy. I quite liked the window seat. Warm. Nice volume levels and real candles.
OVERALL, I left on the disappointed side. The food was quite the mixed bag and how they handled the problem and service didn't inspire confidence. I'm going to give them some time to shake out the bugs and try it again in a few months. 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.
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