David Duncan House — Restaurant in Toronto

the only saving grace for the evening was one young, very polite server who was, sadly, NOT our main server for the evening. he was fantastic and the only one who lived up to the service expectations of this “high-end” establishment.

we visited in a large group of 15+ people to celebrate a special occasion.

i would NOT recommend visiting this place for large parties.

this is supposedly a steak house. with the exception of a couple people, everyone that ordered a steak did not enjoy their meal. each steak was seemingly incorrectly cooked (i say “seemingly” because we later discovered that there was a good chance that, at least, my steak order got mixed up; however, i dont believe that it is on our part to figure that out, as that says something about the service then, instead of the chefs). for example, in the picture below was my roast prime rib that i had ordered medium. my friends next to me ordered their steaks (one rib eye, one new york strip) medium rare and both were cooked far more than mine (the ny more medium well than med rare, had very little pink on the inside; the other unevenly throughout ranging from med well in some places to med rare, wish i had taken pics).

as previously mentioned, i think my steak was likely mixed up with someone else who had ordered the prime rib as well, but they were sitting at the opposite end of the table. in a smaller group, i’d be happy to pipe up and say, “excuse me, but that steak u are serving my friend is actually mine,” but, again, we had a large party and i couldnt hear what was being served. at the time, i didnt even know what my friend had ordered because of the seating arrangement.

another couple at our party ordered the steak florentine, medium rare. it had come out near blue. this was shocking because this dish comes cut and what that means is that a chef cut this steak and deemed it acceptable as medium rare (again, apologies that i dont have a pic).

dishes that were tasty: seafood platter lobster pasta gnocchi lamb chops most of the sides (mushrooms, asparagus, mashed potatoes)

other issues: ordering the cheese board was confusing because the menu says “choice of 3 cheeses” and lists 5 options below but we were not actually given the option to pick after taking the order of about 5 people, our server asked if we would like separate bills. we said that would be appreciated but he said that it would be too hard to do... pardon, what?! then why would you offer?? (we spoke with manager and it was eventually taken care of) having to wait a long time on some sides that were ordered with mains (they were brought out and instead of being served to the people that ordered it, we would have to claim it because it was missing from our meal) a lot of our plates was quickly removed from the table throughout the night even though there was still food on the dish and we would have to ask the servers to leave it (this happened with bread, calamari, seafood platter, sides) we were (likely) being rushed out because they were closing (perhaps a reason for the quick clearing of plates, our reservation was at 7:30 which i dont think is unreasonable)

at the end of the night, there was a mix up with the billing. costco currently has gift cards for david duncan house (pay $40 for $50 gc) and one of my friends had purchased one. after our main server took the gift card to adjust their receipt, the adjusted price came back higher than original. when asking if the tip had been then included, server said “no” but had no explanation for the increase. turns out that it was applied it to somebody else’s bill.

i can understand the challenges that large parties bring to busy saturday night dinner services in a restaurant. perhaps we should have specified to bring the food out as it was prepared so people could enjoy their meals while it was still hot/ warm and maybe this could have helped with some of the issues that arose, who knows. unfortunately, the night was far too disorganized to justify recommending this place for large groups or another...

DDH = Don't Dine Here!

We had come for a date night. The ambiance was beautiful, with gorgeous, ornate fixtures, a grand staircase and set the tone for what should have been a great steak night.

It was the opposite of that. It started when the server came to ask about our drinks. I said I'm a recovered alcoholic, so no thanks to the wine list. At that, we were offered tap water or bottled sparking water, and nothing else.

Next came the ordering. I have a severe dairy allergy, but carry medicine in case and am vocal about my willingness to work with substitutes. I ordered the prime rib and when told of the sides, Yorkshire pudding and pierogies, asked if I could substitute for French fries (an item on the menu). The server said he'd ask, but the chef doesn't like to change the how the plate looked. I asked if I could just have the fries, and I'd happily pay for them. The server said he'd ask and see. He came back to say the chef didn't want to honour the request and would add more broccolini on the side. I wanted to leave but my wife and I were hungry, so we stayed.

The food arrived, and as told, there was a lot of broccolini on the plate as well as a lot of fat on the prime rib. Every time we go for steak I get prime rib. I know it can be fatty but this was prime fat with some rib meat. It was the fattiest I have ever had.

Part way through a different server asked how we were enjoying the food. We politely asked to speak with the manager. The server asked what was wrong and we explained that due to the dairy allergy, the chef's option provided was not satisfactory. The server left saying he'd ask the manager to come to the table.

After some 15 minutes the manager came. She blamed the server for his miscommunication as to the side of fries not being orderable. She said she'd talk to the server about that. That wasn't the case but she was protective of the chef. She explained the chef didn't like changing things when "busy". The place was barely half full at 7pm on a Thursday night; the excuse was a poor substitution for real empathy.

She offered to buy us dessert and I said no due to the dairy allergy. She offered berries and seemed proud she had them...no thanks, I had enough broccolini. Just the bill. She expressed her apologies and left. We didn't want anything else.

We did make a point to tell the server he wasn't who we were unsatisfied with. He said he understood and we tipped him generously.

It was such a frustrating experience we won't be back ever. Do yourself a favour and...

Two of my friends and I came here to enjoy our first proper meal as the province opened dine-in without any sort of restrictions. So you guessed it, we were hungry & prepared to come to the David Duncan House to feast.

It seems that the estate is still going through some renovation outside, in addition to the fact that it's not located at any major intersection/road, so it's not very noticeable. However, upon entering the building, the history of the 1865-built David Duncan House flashed in front of my eyes with the immaculate chandeliers, scrumptious redwood structures, and Mucha's paintings all over the wall. The building itself is a great place for dates & special occasions.

Food-wise - I ordered the Ribeye Steak (CAD 68) medium-rare. My friends shared a 16 oz Roast Prime Rib Au Jus steak (CAD 58), calamari (CAD 21), lobster tail (Seasonal), and a french onion soup (CAD 16). Originally we ordered the Lobster Pasta (CAD 42), but the waiter informed us that he had the order mixed up. We accepted the substitution to the lobster tail instead.

Personally, I think my ribeye steak is the best item on the menu. The steak is cooked to perfection. The charred, crispy and caramelized outskin trapped all the aromatic juice and flavour inside. The meat is incredibly tender - this is exactly the kind of steak I expect from an established steakhouse. I'm not a big fan of the roasted prime rib as it doesn't have the grilled flavour to the ribeye steak, and the meat is a bit too soft - not precisely the kind of steak I'm looking for. However, the portion was incredibly huge, and my friends were stuffed.

The calamari was delicious as well. I also like how they kept the lemon in a small cloth, so you don't get the lemon juice all over you. That said, the lobster tail was disappointing as it was overly seasoned. The tail was extremely salty, and we were not sure if it was worth the 42 dollars we paid. In addition, I was slightly disappointed by the host as we waited quite a while for our table (we were on time for our reservation). I understand this is not necessarily controllable, but I felt slightly neglected.

To conclude - will I come back? Yes - mainly because I really enjoyed the atmosphere AND the ribeye steak. However, there are a couple of things to improve for sure (e.g., the lobster tail, the customer services, e.g., mixing up our order & the experience interacting with...