I went to Brassaii twice in one week for two different meals and had two opposing experiences. Instead of averageing them out I am going to write two reviews.
This one is for BRUNCH which should get 4 stars.
We met up with some friends for brunch on a Sunday and it was great to have elbow room as it wasn't too crowded. I was disappointed that they don't offer any muffins or bread for the table but I must say that the food was great. I had eggs benny with peameal bacon and my DH had the same with smoked salmon. All four of us also shared a basket of muffins and those were delish. We did not feel hurried and lingered over coffee and good conversation.
This one is for DINNER which should get 2.5 stars.
My DH brought me back to Brassaii this past weekend for a pre-birthday celebration. The place looked great and was pretty packed at 9pm. Although we had asked for a corner (quieter) table we were seated right in middle, next two very loud women. Note that there is barely any elbow room between tables here. To make things worse they seated a table of about 10 - 12 college grads right behind us. Not very fun if you are trying to enjoy a conversation.
Out waitress was inattentive and ignored us for most of the evening. We poured our own wine and didn't get any bread at all.
All this would've been bearable if the food had been good. I ordered the foie gras app and it was a tiny sliver of it on a mushy piece of brioche - not very appectizing especially when you are charging entre prices for it. My husband ordered the oysters and there wasn't anything special about it. We've definitely had better elsewhere in TO. For my main I ordered the rissotto which wasn't my favorite - it had a strange paintain aftertaste to it. My husband ordered the steak and although it was cooked well, the portion was pretty sad.
We saw the manager (owner?) walking around but she ignored us as well otherwise we would have been happy to share our experience with her.
For the price of the meal, we felt ignored, dissatisfied and a little annoyed with all the noise behind us. Toronto has a lot of other great restaurants downtown.