Actinolite Restaurant — Restaurant in Toronto

I really wish I could give this place a better rating, I really do. But as far as fine dining goes, this just isn't it.

The good: Lovely servers, who were very intent and kept us taken care of Good food. Not gourmet by any means, but it is true to their offering and it was very enjoyable

The bad: Why only 2 stars? The experience. Fine dining is traditionally accompanied by fine service. This was accompanied by a horrible experience with ashes blowing into our food.

They have an indoor dining room that they don't use. The night we went it was about 3 degrees above freezing and windy, yet we ate outside. When asked for a blanket, we were told the restaurant doesn't have them. If you're making people eat outside in near freezing temperatures, you'd better supply blankets.

Ventilation. The open fire is a cool concept. The open fires under a shelter with poor ventilation is terrible. We heard multiple groups, including ourselves, coughing throughout the service, the space was filled with smoke to the point that we still have sore throats and eyes the next morning. The CO2 intake was too much.

Is it even legal to have open fires under a shelter without a chimney? It's hard to believe in a city so regulated that this is even allowed.

Smoke, everywhere. Expect to take your jackets to the dry cleaners the next day to get the smell of smoke out. The expensive meal comes with a dry cleaning addition you're probably not planning on.

Ash, everywhere. The winds whipped up the ash flowing out of the fires and neatly deposited them in our food and wine.

No real drink list. They call themselves fine dining, but do not have a cocktail list, or even a proper wine list. Most chain pubs have a deeper wine list, this is rather shameful.

Metal chairs without cushions. Again, near freezing, the chairs acted as a cold plate and anyone not wearing a long coat would have frozen.

To improve the experience: If it's below 10 degrees, use the dining room Offer blankets when it's freezing If you're going to do the fire thing, don't do it under a roof Just don't do the fires near the tables Don't smoke out your customers The fire is a gimmick, if you can't control it (smoke, ash) then don't use it in front of patrons

I was really looking forward to recommending this place, but will have to steer people away from this unfortunate experience until they can sort out the comfort side of customer service and...

The food was very yummy, the service was great, it was an interesting and unique dining experience but sadly we left feeling quite hungry. There were 10 courses sure, but a “course” might be one oyster, or one delicious piece of cauliflower, a few sips of soup, or one tasty morsel of chicken. You blow through 6 courses and you’ve really only had a few bites to eat. The chef is extremely passionate about the food, the locally-sourced ingredients and the sustainable farming partners. The stories and background behind each dish were elaborate and enjoyable to listen to. The spoonful of lobster was really fantastic, as was the pear and blue cheese combo, the few bites we got of chicken and pine mushrooms were amazing - really all the food was super yummy but there was just so little of it. I’m not a particularly large person, my appetite is pretty average, but I could have easily eaten twice (my husband, three times) the amount of food served. The biggest criticism I have is about dessert. I absolutely love indulging in a decadent dessert at a restaurant but I was quite disappointed in both of the dessert courses - the corn (and possibly hay?) ice cream really didn’t work. Never before in my life have I not been able to eat a dessert at a nice restaurant, I’m not picky when it comes to desserts - it was simply unpalatable. While the mushroom ice cream was definitely better than the corn ice cream because it had chocolate shavings, I’m not sure why you need to shoehorn chanterelle mushrooms into being the star of any dessert. It wasn’t one of those times where you say, “I’d never have thought of using mushrooms in ice cream but WOW” - it was more like a “darn, I was so excited for dessert but this ice cream tastes like mushrooms”. Also, if two of your ten courses are desserts, can’t ONE of them be an actual dessert? Why do both have to be vegetable-flavoured ice creams? My guess is the chef just isn’t a dessert guy, doesn’t have a sweet tooth. Overall though, it was a lovely evening out - we enjoyed it, I was wavering between 3 or 4 stars. The menu I’m sure changes daily so you probably won’t have to try the corn or mushroom ice cream, maybe you’ll get lucky - it’s definitely worth a try (just maybe don’t arrive too hungry or you might be stopping for a burger on...

Unfortunately, my experience at Actinolite failed to justify its per person price as well as its Google rating. Below are some of the things that could have been done better:

The concept is great, however tables are too close to the fire. After I left the restaurant, I could still smell the smoke on my clothes. If you have breathing difficulties, a windy day at Actinolite could very quickly turn into a bad experience.

The cutlery was never replaced throughout the different courses. I ended up cleaning it with the towel they have provided between courses.

They don’t provide a menu. I understand that they want to play it by ear every night but a menu still helps. After I was told this, the waiter asked me what I wanted drink. Not everyone is comfortable to make a wine selection without knowing what they will be eating. The waiter proposed starting with a white and moving to red. I ended up getting a beer.

Overall the food was ok. But this price point made the expectations much higher. It is wood fire, whatever you cook with it will be good unless you burn it. Unfortunately the plates were simply mediocre at best. The main course had a lamb which had at most 50 grams of meat and the rest was fat.

When your kitchen is visible, everyone is watching you and your moves. There were a lot red flags such as overcooking certain sides and failing to sear the meat properly in some cases or adding wood to the fire in an amateur way. You could taste these red flags in the food as well.

I couldn’t finish one of the appetizers because although it had an interesting idea it had too much of it. The chef saw the not finished plate in the waiter’s hand and asked what was wrong with it to the waiter. I would have loved the provide feedback if I was asked but that didn’t happen. Yet I saw this interaction and found it a bit unwelcoming.

Overall, this is an overrated and overpriced restaurant which in my opinion does not deserve its current rating of 4.8 because of the reasons I...