For me Winterlicious is a special time. It’s a time for me to build my repertoire of recommendations for personal and professional use. I work in an office that does events and we’re always looking for new places to host dinners. The more places I try, the more heartfelt recommendations I can make to clients and friends alike.
Last night I tried Alleycatz for the first time. I went not only for Winterlicious, but also for a friend’s birthday and to familiarize myself with an establishment in my neighbourhood. All things considered, I was excited for the evening and had high hopes. Those hopes didn’t stay high for long though, as the evening went on my issues with Alleycatz grew and grew.
Right away the service was mediocre. I didn’t feel like the waitress cared about our needs or how well she was doing her job. Good service, to me, is as important as the food. If you’re receiving bad service it throws everything off kilter because you’re focusing on mistakes and poor attitude, instead of the food and atmosphere. Maybe if the waitress had done a better job I wouldn’t have noticed how awful the food was.
As a starter I got the shrimp. They were just as mediocre as the service. They were small and weren’t especially falvourful and were served to us at a tepid temperature. Tepid became the theme of the evening as our mains quickly followed.
Half of my table got the stuffed chicken breast and the other half the braised beef short ribs. The half that got the chicken said most of their meal was cold or barely warm. They said the flavour was fine, but the fact it was cold really diminished any good impressions they got from the taste. I ordered the short ribs and was also disappointed. My beef was barely warm and most of it was fatty and gristly. It came with vegetables and mashed sweet potatoes. Most of the vegetables were cold and felt barely cooked at all. Constant attempts were made by my partner to get the waitress to bring us some salt and pepper. The beef was so bland that it needed to be drowned in salt and pepper to make it edible. The waitress never did come and my partner had to get up and fish the seasonings out of the waiters’ kiosk. I rarely add salt to my food, but even I was hogging the shaker in an attempt to save this meal. On a number of occasions I considered calling the waitress over and telling her that I couldn’t manage another mouthful and I’d be leaving without paying, but I didn’t want to spoil a friend’s birthday dinner. If I had gone with a smaller group I would have sent all the food back and left.
For dessert I ordered the fresh berry parfait, which was only tasty because of its simplicity. Berries and cream is pretty hard to ruin, even for the lamest of kitchens.
After all was eaten and paid for I was completely dejected. I had been the one to suggest we try this establishment and I felt ashamed for coming to a place with no taste. There was only one thing that went well and that was the live music. The jazz band they had was superb. Carlos, the lead singer, sounded like a mixture of Matt Dusk and Michael Bublé.
If I ever return to Alleycatz it will be to sit at the bar and enjoy the music. The food was disappointingly cool, but the music was hot.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Thank you letter to Canoe
Dear Canoe,
Thank you for the lovely meal I had last week for Winterlicious. It was my first time eating in your establishment and I was very excited, and apprehensive, all at the same time. I'd been warned by many a friend and colleague not to expect much from you. People told me that the service would be mediocre and the portions would be small. They said that because it was Winterlicious you weren't going to treat me as well as you might a regular customer. But all of that turned out to be false! From the moment I walked in you were nothing but hospitable and gracious.
As a starter I had your Chilled Slow Cooked Heritage Salmon and may I just say, “bravo”. All salmon should be cooked that way. There’s nothing more offensive to my mouth than overcooked salmon, except perhaps overcooked beef. It came with a Radish Emulsion and Maple Sherry Reduction. I’d never thought of pairing radish with salmon, but it really works well together and I plan on incorporating that duo in my home cooked meals in the future.
For the main, my whole table got your Duo of Ontario Beef. Our conversation slowed to a halt when we started eating that beef. Everyone agreed that it was beyond fantastic and we all had to remind each other to slow down and make it last. Everyone also agreed that Molasses Glazed Carrots were marvelous and there were much exclaims of “why haven’t I had this before!”. I’m not normally a fan of creamy mashed potatoes. I prefer my spuds with texture, but you managed to pull off creamy potatoes without making me feel like I was eating glue. I’m not sure how you did that, but I’d love to know your secret.
I was the only one at my table who didn’t get the Birch Syrup Cake. I chose the Niagara Pear Panna Cotta instead. My friends adored the cake. Mouthfuls were followed with comments like “I’d come back just for dessert!”. I thought I might have chosen the wrong dessert until I had my fist taste of the panna cotta. Divine! When the waiters came back to the table to clear the dessert plates they asked me what I thought and I said, in all honesty, “that was like angel filled clouds dancing across my tongue.” They laughed and said “that’s good. We’ll tell Chef. He will like that one.” and I really hope they did.
Our main server, Brendan, was perfect. He was attentive without being overbearing and he made us feel at ease. I appreciated his sense of humour and his obvious talent for hospitality. When we left he shook all of our hands and said he hoped to see us again soon. That’s always a nice thing to hear. When it came to paying our bill, Brendan made up a copy for the table and then a bill for each individual so we could decide how we wanted to pay, without any prompting to do so. When he did that, I think I fell in love with Canoe. Every restaurant should adopt that billing process! It’s considerate and practical and I really appreciated it.
When we left, each of us received a packet of house-blended spices and a recipe to use it with salmon. It probably didn’t cost you much to do that, but I found it really touching. No other restaurant has done that for me before and I congratulate whoever thought it up. I get to take home a little bit of my Canoe experience with me because of it and that makes me feel special.
So thank you, Canoe, for all the great service and the wonderful meal. I won’t forget it and I hope to see you again soon.
Best regards,
Amanda
Thank you for the lovely meal I had last week for Winterlicious. It was my first time eating in your establishment and I was very excited, and apprehensive, all at the same time. I'd been warned by many a friend and colleague not to expect much from you. People told me that the service would be mediocre and the portions would be small. They said that because it was Winterlicious you weren't going to treat me as well as you might a regular customer. But all of that turned out to be false! From the moment I walked in you were nothing but hospitable and gracious.
As a starter I had your Chilled Slow Cooked Heritage Salmon and may I just say, “bravo”. All salmon should be cooked that way. There’s nothing more offensive to my mouth than overcooked salmon, except perhaps overcooked beef. It came with a Radish Emulsion and Maple Sherry Reduction. I’d never thought of pairing radish with salmon, but it really works well together and I plan on incorporating that duo in my home cooked meals in the future.
For the main, my whole table got your Duo of Ontario Beef. Our conversation slowed to a halt when we started eating that beef. Everyone agreed that it was beyond fantastic and we all had to remind each other to slow down and make it last. Everyone also agreed that Molasses Glazed Carrots were marvelous and there were much exclaims of “why haven’t I had this before!”. I’m not normally a fan of creamy mashed potatoes. I prefer my spuds with texture, but you managed to pull off creamy potatoes without making me feel like I was eating glue. I’m not sure how you did that, but I’d love to know your secret.
I was the only one at my table who didn’t get the Birch Syrup Cake. I chose the Niagara Pear Panna Cotta instead. My friends adored the cake. Mouthfuls were followed with comments like “I’d come back just for dessert!”. I thought I might have chosen the wrong dessert until I had my fist taste of the panna cotta. Divine! When the waiters came back to the table to clear the dessert plates they asked me what I thought and I said, in all honesty, “that was like angel filled clouds dancing across my tongue.” They laughed and said “that’s good. We’ll tell Chef. He will like that one.” and I really hope they did.
Our main server, Brendan, was perfect. He was attentive without being overbearing and he made us feel at ease. I appreciated his sense of humour and his obvious talent for hospitality. When we left he shook all of our hands and said he hoped to see us again soon. That’s always a nice thing to hear. When it came to paying our bill, Brendan made up a copy for the table and then a bill for each individual so we could decide how we wanted to pay, without any prompting to do so. When he did that, I think I fell in love with Canoe. Every restaurant should adopt that billing process! It’s considerate and practical and I really appreciated it.
When we left, each of us received a packet of house-blended spices and a recipe to use it with salmon. It probably didn’t cost you much to do that, but I found it really touching. No other restaurant has done that for me before and I congratulate whoever thought it up. I get to take home a little bit of my Canoe experience with me because of it and that makes me feel special.
So thank you, Canoe, for all the great service and the wonderful meal. I won’t forget it and I hope to see you again soon.
Best regards,
Amanda
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