Blu Ristorante — Restaurant in Toronto

I went to Blu Ristorante for their Summerlicious menu with my family, as it was one of the highest rated restaurants (on Google Maps) in the Yorkville area that was participating in Summerlicious.

I really liked the decor of the restaurant - it was upscale and elegant, and each table had a good amount of space such that it didn't feel crowded. The servers were very attentive and provided excellent service from the beginning to the end. Unfortunately, it was the quality of the food that let us down.

The complementary bread that is served at a lot of Italian restaurants has consistently been a good way to predict the quality of the rest of the food to come, in my experience. They served focaccia with olive oil to start, and I thought the focaccia was quite dense and extremely salty. With that said, it was still moist and it felt freshly baked so, overall, it wasn't the worst one I've ever had. The beef carpaccio was well-prepared (ie the thickness of each slice of beef was perfect), it just needed a bit of seasoning and acidity. The pickles that were served on the side brought some life to the plate, but I felt a bit more acidity component (e.g. may be from vinegarette or even a quick spray of lemon juice) and salt on the actual carpaccio itself would have made the dish more memorable and also a better starter to the meal.

The braised short ribs for the main course was a huge letdown. Yes, it was cooked well and the ribs were very tender. However, both the jus and the ribs were very poorly seasoned, they completely lacked the depth of flavour you'd expect from a nice cut of beef that's been braised. I was also not impressed with the polenta - honestly, I was expecting it to be creamy, but it was served in a more solid form, almost like a cornbread. It wasn't as dense as it looked and it was better seasoned than the ribs, so it was the best part of the dish, but I was still a bit disappointed it wasn't prepared in a more traditional way. It just didn't really enhance the dish at all to serve it in that manner. The vegetables on the side were inedible, the asparagus in particular were extremely overcooked and bland.

I also did not enjoy the cannoli - first of all, to call the dish cannoli, they really should have served more than one... it's just not the type of mistake you'd expect from an Italian restaurant. I'm glad they served only one though, because it was just not good. The crust was way too thick, it was not rolled out enough and it was so dense that I couldn't break through it with a spoon. Also, it completely lacked any sweetness that was needed to lift the dish a little. The chocolate crumbles they served underneath tasted as though they came from the freezer. It was just all so forgettable. Given the flavour profile of the pistachio filling, I did not think sliced strawberry and gooseberry were good accompaniments; it felt like they didn't really think much about the overall execution of the dessert.

Given this is one of the more upscale Italian restaurants in the area, I was just really let down by the food they served here. Most of the food was very poorly seasoned and lacked the quality and the thoughtfulness behind flavoring I expected from this type of restaurant. I will not be coming back, and I definitely would not recommend this...

It's a new spot across the street from Roy Thompson Hall (which replaced a previous restaurant at the same location) and close to the Mirvish theaters. Elegant design. Great service. Nice, non-intrusive music plays on the background. We combined the 3-course “Summerlicios” (a summer restaurant festival in Toronto) with the 5-course “Tasting menu”.

You get a couple of complimentary slices of focaccia bread with olive oil.

Truffled Beef Carpaccio The portion is pretty small (probably due to the pre-fix menu, although some other places often serve standard-sized dishes even with prix fixe)That said, the flavors of capers, pickled veggies, and parmesan make such a wonderful ornament for beef carpaccio. It was lovely.

Ahi Tuna Tartare Good pairing of raw tuna and avocado. There is a nice – and too often exploited, - texture contrast between thin crispy sweet potato chip and soft tuna-avocado mix. It was good, but not impressive.

Italian Burrata When you mix all the ingredients – tomato, peach, salsa verde, almonds, and burrata, - you get a good combination of crispy, fresh, and creamy textures, but the flavor lacked any distinction: it was neither salty, sour, sweet, nor bitter. Just unmemorable.

Grilled Calamari with Roasted Red Pepper Coulis I don't have any particular complaints (though my wife found calamari a bit over-grilled), but I wasn't excited by the dish. It was good, but boring, with emphasis on salty notes from caper berries.

Tomato Madeira Braised Beef Cheek The braised beef cheek was tender, but I wasn't able to detect any Madeira flavor. The asparagus was overcooked and bitter. Roasted polenta was a good pair for the beef cheek, but I expected much more and left disappointed.

Grilled Branzino Arguably the worst branzino we ate in the past couple of year - bitter from grill with equally unpleasant over-grilled asparagus. Although, I admit the fish wasn’t overcooked or too dry.

Pistachio Tiramisu It was not the worst Tiramisu I had, but definitely not the best. Still, the crushed pistachios as well as pistachio-infused mascarpone made the desert above average.

Strawberry Panna Cotta Not bad, but nothing special.

Conclusion: aside from the good service, our most prevailing feeling during the dinner was gastronomic boredom and sense of failed expectations. I wouldn't recommend...

Came for fathers day dinner and we had a wonderful evening! Food and drink was excellent and our server Brian was wonderful. He was knowledgeable and quite funny, but instinctively knew when to stop by and when to leave us be. The service from all of the staff was wonderful, not intrusive, but timing to remove dishes and glasses was just right.

Our party arrived in a couple of waves, but we weren't rushed or forced to order too soon. Service was very much at our pace, which I really appreciated.

We started with a series of cocktails, they have a wonderful drink menu with lots of options for everybody. We discussed doing the antipasti and some other appetizers, and upon consulting with Brian, he suggested doing the antipasti but with the Beef Carpaccio instead of the cured meats so we could try both. An excellent suggestion that we thoroughly enjoyed. We had also ordered some olives, but a happy mistake occurred and they brought us the tuna tartare instead. Once it arrived at the table, we all agreed that we were not sending it back, it looked too delicious. It was incredible (and nobody missed the olives!).

We tried a variety of mains, there was a lamb shank with the mushroom risotto on special tonight which two of us thoroughly enjoyed. The lamb shank was falling off the bone, served in a beautiful tomato sauce on top of the mushroom risotto, which was also excellent. Although it sounded like a heavy dish, it didn't sit heavy after eating, leaving enough room for dessert!

Our table enjoyed a few of the homemade chocolate cakes, which are made to order, and I enjoyed the tiramisu. Probably the only item that had an area for improvement was the tiramisu, it had been over soaked and the lady fingers were a little bit soggy, but it was still quite tasty.

The outdoor patio is lovely and while it was breezy this evening, Blu is well prepared with lots of patio heaters and blankets for the extra chilly folks. It was just starting to get dark as we wrapped up our meal, and I almost wished the sun had set sooner because the patio is definitely a VIBE, especially after dark!

Overall, an excellent celebratory meal at a true gem in the middle of the city. All of the food was wonderfully flavoured and put together, but not fussy at all....