. . "More like 2.5 stars because I've definitely had much better food & service at this price point. \n\nI had been waiting for Fring's to open every since I heard about it and even got a friend to physically go there and check to see if it was opened yet, so when my friend was able to make a reservation for Thursday (2? days after it opened), I was super stoked. \n\nMy friends were already seated as I arrived ~10 minutes later than our reservation time. I was told they had been trying to the waiter's attention for a while but the waiter kept \"ignoring\" them aka pretending not to notice them. I didn't think it was bad as I got my water quickly but I understood what they meant soon after. I wasn't entirely sure if the waiter was ignoring us but he was definitely slow and didn't notice us after we tried to get his attention many times. For example, when he finally came to the table, we told him we were actually ready to order but he said he'd put down the order for our drinks first and then come back. Not only did he take forever to come back, but the two drinks didn't arrive until ~15 minutes later. He gave no explanation of anything other than heavily emphasizing that their food is served \"sharing style\" meaning that each dish will come out whenever it's ready and not together with everyone else's dishes. He would come and \"check up\" on our dishes by saying an awkward comment and then leaving. \n\nFor drinks, we ordered two Tom Skudras ($18). It has \"fresh lychee cactus pear juice\" in it but I tasted none of that. Did not taste the mint either unless a mint leaf came through the straw and definitely did not taste any raspberry unless they just meant the two raspberries that came as garnish. All I could taste was the rum and Cointreau. It was more tolerable after it was watered down but my friend hated it and did not drink it after her initial sip. When we asked for the bill, her glass was completely full but the waiter did not ask about it at all. I usually don't care if waiters do not acknowledge an uneaten dish/drink but I wanted him to do something about it to give this place some redeeming qualities.\n\nFor appetizers, my table ordered steak tartare ($20), organic salmon crudo ($18) and the wild mushroom & prosciutto toast ($10). As others have said, the tartare does taste a bit like pate and not like the regular tartare I'm used to having. There's a lot of tartare for the amount (5) of sourdough they give you so if you like piling it on or just eating it without the crunch, this would be a good ratio. Personally, I would have preferred more sourdough. The salmon crudo was good, especially the salmon, but there was nothing special about it. The toast was good, very creamy but like the crudo, nothing special. I would not be dying to come back for any of these dishes.\n\nI got the pan seared branzino ($32) for my entree. It came with the fish sitting on top of a squash puree with almonds and capers on top of the fish skin. First few bites, I really liked it. The fish was very moist and seasoned lightly so it's natural flavours came through well. However, I started noticing fish scales with each bite. At first, I thought okay, it was probably just that one spot but it was actually throughout the whole fish. I wanted to enjoy the dish but the scales were just ruining the experience. It's annoying to have scales stuck in various places in your mouth and throat. If diners are not meant to eat the skin, they shouldn't have put the almonds and capers on top. If we are, then maybe I just don't know how to appreciate fish scales. The fish does come deboned though and this I appreciated.\n\nThere is a dessert menu available even though it doesn't show on the site. Everything is priced at $14 other than the ice cream selection ($12). Our table did not order anything though. \n\nThe restaurant or at least the bar area which was where we were seated was pretty dark but it didn't bother me, just not ideal for talking pictures. My friends found the music to be too loud but it didn't really bother me either. They played a few drake songs, some weeknd and other similar types of music. I didn't notice any songs replaying more than once. If you're into that kind of music, it's a great bonus. The table (for 4) we were seated at was much too small for more than 1-2 dishes at a time, which I guess worked out because we never had more than 2 dishes at our table due to the \"sharing style.\"\n\nOverall, I must say I was disappointed. I had been really excited for the opening of Fring's but neither the food nor the service lived up to expectations. I'm hoping that it was just because Fring's is a new restaurant and they're still working on everything but at the same time, I won't be asking to come back. \n\n*A reviewer said her waiter told her they don't do split bills (but ended up splitting it afterwards) but one of our friends asked for a separate bill and did not run into any problems or reluctance from the waiter."^^ . "3"^^ . "2"^^ . . "0"^^ . "2015-10-24T00:00:00"^^ . "1"^^ .