Came here for dinner this evening and we were pleased with our experience.

Upon entering, we were taken to our table in the lounge/tavern side. Loved the atmosphere. Dark steakhouse feel, pretty typical rich finishes, music was at an appropriate level for the lounge side with deep bass but not overwhelming. Music selection was well curated too. Our server was professional, not overbearing and we really enjoyed that the experience did not feel pretentious and was a bit more casual.

We ordered a couple appetizers - scallops and beef tartare. The appetizers were okay but I wasn’t blown away unfortunately. I was a bit confused with the flavour pairings on the scallop dish. The smoked shallot vinaigrette was very overpowering and masked the sweet, subtle flavour of the scallops. It was quite bitter, over smoked (liquid smoke?) and I felt that it needed some acid to brighten the dish. I felt the smoked shallot sauce that was served with this dish was better suited for the beef tartare. The pork belly was almost non existent on this dish.

The beef tartare - portion size was spectacular. The beef was minced well, the truffle was forward but not overwhelming. The beef tartare itself felt quite a bit flat. Underseasoned unfortunately - I was really trying to get pull more salt from the potato chips to compliment the beef. A bit of acid on this dish would have really been amazing again, to cut some of the richness of the beef and brighten it up. Even the greens dressed with a light vinaigrette instead of plain olive oil could go a long way here.

Entrees - we ordered a vintage greens salad, a 14oz prime ribeye, mushrooms and creamy peppercorn.

The salad is exactly what we expected. The spinach in the mixture was fresh and crisp - everything else as we expected. The ribeye was cooked perfectly, seasoned perfectly, served at an appropriate temperature. Great steak. The mushrooms were good, however these were underseasoned. Creamy peppercorn was great as well although I was hoping for a bit more peppercorn presence.

We ordered a creme brûlée and the brownie for dessert, with a 20yr Taylor port. The creme brûlée was amazing - although I don’t feel the sugar cookie was necessary. The brownie was also perfect and I always forget how well port pairs with chocolate so I loved seeing the port listed on the same page as the dessert menu. Thank you for that.

I can see some different plateware being used for a few items - mushrooms and the brownie had some exciting and vibrant plates from Churchill - hope you can make the change throughout the rest of the core menu to elevate that part of the dining experience.

All in all, a great night out and we thoroughly enjoyed our experience. The meal was definitely on the pricier side but I felt the value of our meals service and environment was appropriately matched to the menu prices. We will plan to enjoy another meal here in the future for sure.

Cheers!