Abrielle — Restaurant in Toronto

My wife and I tried Abrielle because we heard of the hype on this new mediterranean place. While we were not disappointed at all, I wouldn't say all the stellar reviews are an accurate reflection of the experience, at least not currently. (Creditability-wise, while my wife and I are not chefs ourselves, we know a few and used to be fairly familiar with Toronto's restaurant scene. These days we had to cut back due to our young kids.)

Let's start with the good stuff: Simple but well executed dishes. Every item came out very consistently. Great flavours + txture balance maintained on most things we tried. We were told about Abrielle is about family style dishes: oh boy, they weren't kidding. Large portions - so very bang for the buck, and it is really good for sharing. Of course not every fine dining's "family style" will mean just that. But they do.

One area to improve on is Service, probably the weakest point of the restaurant, from our experience: We were surprised our waiter did not at all offer us to see a cocktail or wine list, and they had plenty of opportunities. While my wife and I actually did not want to drink that evening, we were surprised at the lack of the offer. I mean this is bread butter of the income, so a bit surprised. I can tell the staff were new, and needed more training. A couple of examples: forgetting items in our orders (both for initial order, and dessert), rushing to clear the plates creating a bit more rushed meal progression experience. And finally when we asked to pack up one item to gom I noticed they put our used/dirty cutlery, on the same plate to be packed - in the sauce of the same food item that we were going to take home, when they collected the dishes. Not a big deal, but that's a No-no in fine dining. A very clear lack of training for its staff.

Now finally a few suggestions for food: While the executions were great and portions are large, my wife and I both felt the dishes lacked restraint. For example, the sauce that came with the chicken was very tasty, and balanced, but there was just too much of it. The chicken was swimming in the sauce. The shrimp pasta had a similar issue where the sauce again was tasty, but not as smooth as we'd hoped. Some of the dishes we tried just needed more, finesse.

Overall my wife and I had a great experience on the first try. But the restaurant may need to have better training for its staff, and further "refine" its dishes, if it is to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with likes of Cafe Boulud or La...

I’ll just give an overview… a frustrating experience.

Arrived 5pm for dinner and were made to wait, no one to greet or seat us for at least 10 minutes.

Was charged $8 for water we didn’t ask for… that should be illegal. At least ask if we want tap.

Music at dinner was strait up club music. Bass drops, EDM, terrible dinner vibes. So loud and obnoxious my seat was vibrating the whole dinner with the bass. Horrible.

Server was very nice BUT, gave us the wrong menu 3 times. Our reservation was for summerlicious as clearly stated in our reservation. Was initially given the normal menu. Then was given the lunch summerlicious menu. Then finally the menu we wanted.

We’re now 1 hour into our meal having been asked to wait for 10 then seated and forced to wait another 20, then given the right menu after 10 minutes, and finally able to order after an hour……

A fly… a great big fat fly landing on and around our table the entire dinner. Unacceptable. When the manager came by she waved away the fly and gave a meek apology. Unacceptable.

Despite being the first people into the restaurant, 5pm, people seated at 6pm were fed before us. This was the last straw and we were absolutely pissed. Things we ordered well before other people were brought out to us last. Like imagine you were in our shoes… again: unacceptable.

Our meal took so long to arrive that we had to let management know we needed to be elsewhere. We never had our mains or desert and were told the price would be adjusted. Nope… ended up paying $130 for 3 appetizers and a water.

Needless to say I’ve never been so let down by a restaurant in my life. Was absolutely absurd and my partner and I ended up just getting tacos after (which were far better tasting and far faster served).

Save your money, your time, and your patience by NOT COMING HERE.

To the management and owners I’m sorry for this review but it’s the unashamed truth of my experience here.

Suffice to say I truthfully feel scammed and will never be coming back.

Great food - at absurd prices - in minuscule portions - served terribly - and eaten under...

It's a stylish spot located in a historical building – the Canadian Westinghouse, - new Toronto theater district, Roy Thompson Hall, Glenn Gould Studio,  and the Metro Convention center. The service is very good - friendly and quick.

We went with 2- and 3-course pre-theater menus, and added foie gras.

WAGYU CARPACCIO Wagyu carpaccio per se does not much differ from a regular beef carpaccio, but the combination of flavors from Grana Padano cheese, aioli, pickled chanterelles mushrooms, and charred chopped green onion was amazing.

ENDIVES This is a very intriguing dish with bitter endive, sweet candied walnuts, aged Manchego cheese with salty notes, sweet orange, sour-sweet sherry vinaigrette. I was very impressed! However, may be if enive will be soaked in salty water beforehand, the degree of bitterness will be reduced and additional saltiness could improve the pallet of tastes.

FOIE GRAS An extraordinary dish featuring a light whipped foie gras paired with sweet tomato jam and lightly toasted brioche topped with hazelnuts. It’s a perfect quartet of textures and tastes, if I may use such musical metaphor.

Whole Sea Bream is a good dish (although not big enough). While it didn’t impress me as much as the appetizers, although the grilled fish nicely paired with Spanish sofrito with olives and capers is definitely interesting.

Half of a small Canadian Gianonne chicken roasted with fennel, onion, pepper, and brown jus. On its own the dish is good, but with broccolini...

CHARRED BROCCOLINI WOW! Charred broccolini with its mild bitterness perfectly contrasted with sweetness of lemon marmalade. As a side dish for chicken (or salmon) , it's a match made in heaven.

SAFFRON CHEESECAKE The best cheesecake in my life! With saffron, cardamon, and some lemon notes, and a bit of torched caramel on top to resemble a creme brule.

Overall, it's a great place with very reasonable prices, great service and a trully thoughtful and...