Dotty's — Restaurant in Toronto

I’m a little sad about writing this review because I had higher hopes. The people at Dotty’s are lovely, the service is really good - perfect cadence of service where the servers are attentive, but not constantly interrupting, they have a nice neighbourhood location and it’s well designed on the inside.

Music would help the vibe. So it’s busy but feels quiet.

The big issue for us was the food. They are buying and serving good/fresh ingredients and although they are executing what they put out, any decent home cook could cook the exact same food. There are so many restaurants (I’ll leave those suggestions out) serving the same types of foods but doing it better with more interesting ingredients as a part of composed dishes.

Standouts, are the shrimp (sweet Argentinian) cocktail and the soft-serve ice cream. We didn’t have the other dessert, but it sounded good. Burrata and peaches were good, but the dish lacked textural elements (other than bread) that would’ve elevated this seasonal appetizer (ie pickled onions, fried capers, etc). The cocktails are good; in line with the food scene in Toronto these days.

Hamachi with (I think) tahini is just a weird paste-like ingredient that detracted from a beautiful fish and the dish lacked the acid you hope to find in a Crudo. Salad is very old-school (circa 1970’s) mostly lettuce with fat wedges of (acidic) heirloom tomatoes, and cucumber and an unmemorable dressing.

Fish and steak were just that a piece of fish and a steak but the fish came with corn (nothing to tie those ingredients together)…again well executed good ingredients but so so basic.

I think a chef should be creative and serve composed dishes to deliver a food experience, a point of view and a point of difference. That is definitely not the mission at Dotty’s.

If the dishes were much less expensive than other restaurants with similar menus, I would get it but Dotty’s is not inexpensive, so I don’t get it - especially with the pedigree that this team has.

I wish Dotty’s success because running a restaurant is very challenging and they really have the makings of something that could be much more special. I hope they do something more for their...

I was looking forward to trying Dotty's for some time. Looking at the menu in advance I had no idea what to expect and I didn't drill down to read reviews, only saw that most people rated the experience highly. We arrived early to avoid having to wait. The room is very simple, which is fine just know the seating is not all that comfortable. We were seated side by side and food served on a ledge. I agree with a few comments I've since read, the service felt rushed, the server was not unfriendly, but not warm and welcoming either.

Everything we ate was very tasty. We had the shrimps, which were very tender, cooked perfectly and also tried the chicken sandwich, burger, fries and Caesar salad. All were very good and I would not say the servings were small as some other reviews suggested but that is subjective. We left feeling very satisfied. Also the soft serve that everyone raves about is a 10 out of 10. They were also very agreeable to put items on the side or hold condiments for our dietary restrictions.

The wine list is short but in my opinion thought has been put into their choices. No specific bottle is noted but only the grape varietal and region. As wine is equally important to me while choosing what I would like to eat, I should have asked to see the bottle, speak to the sommelier or asked for a taste first. That is my fault. I found the glass I choose, which was the most expensive by the glass, (I guess that comes with the expectation on my part that it will be good ie a good representation of the grape and region), to be lacking. In general I'm finding the mark up on wine, by the glass or bottle at most restaurants to be enormous. Having said that I understand the plight of restauranteurs so it is what it is.

Would I go back, I had to think about it for a while and ask myself why I was hesitating. The food was very good but the service felt rushed the seating was not very comfortable and I wasn't able to feel relaxed which is the entire purpose of going out. I'm glad I...

3.5. Went back to Dotty’s last night and felt very differently from my last experience. The service was so unfriendly- and it really threw the whole vibe. I felt like our server knew she was being off (maybe having a bad day) and literally could not have seemed less interested in us/ annoyed. The hostess was nice, the chef who brought us some of our food was good but the rest of the service was such a miss and really soured the vibe.

They took the “pina nolada” drink off the menu which was sad. And they told us they pre-batch the cocktails so they couldn’t make soemthing similar. Also wanted to have the tequila drink without mezcal and again they couldn’t accommodate. None of these things is a huge deal, but in addition to the unfriendly service it was annoying.

Food was solid as usual. The sticky toffee pudding was amazing. Unfortunately will not be racing back because it felt so unfriendly :(

4.5. Loved our experience at Dotty’s! No reservations, but we walked in close to 8pm on Saturday night and were able to get a table. Be mindful you may have to park a bit of a walk away. Space is minimalist in vibe, but warm and vibrant. The cocktails and mocktails were absolutely amazing- loved the pina colada- am dreaming about it. The food was great - fun to share and try lots of things. Highlights were the the cod, the steak, and the fried squash with ricotta! The French fries came with a malt vinegar Mayo that was delicious. They change up their menu so it’s fun to visit seasonally and try out the various offerings. Bathrooms are on the...