I abide by the old adage that we "eat with our eyes," and I do appreciate when a place puts a bit of an emphasis on presentation, not that I frequently eat in places that make a practice of this. But with that said it does go a long way when a slice of lemon comes perched on the edge of an ice filled water glass or a wrap is cut neatly on a bias and stacked against a bed of fries and not just plopped on a plate. I relish the collective gasp of a table when certain crowd pleaser's make a grand entrance and at Utopia everything is aesthetically pleasing. Simple, yet elegant in it's own way, and yes the portions are more than generous.
When I first frequented Utopia a few weeks back it had been on my to do list for a few months prior. It came highly recommended by a roommate whose track record on food had been pretty solid, I was told to order the panko crusted salmon burrito, which I did and my girlfriend ordered the poutine and a mushroom/goat cheese salad. The poutine was EXCEPTIONAL!! I didn't think that veggie gravy could do the trick, but it did. the cheese curds were plentiful and the fries retained their satisfying crunch despite being drenched in amazing gravy.
However I was a bit disappointed with the panko crusted salmon. The portion was incredibly generous and coming to the table it did generate the aforementioned gasps of pleasure that a good looking plate of food should, yet unfortunately it didn't quite live up to it's potential. It was definitely passable, but wasn't memorable in any way. And in this case looks were deceiving, like a beautiful girl with a vacuous stare and a hollow heart. You want it to work so badly, but question whether it ever can or will, and this is my current predicament with Utopia.