Jump Restaurant — Restaurant in Toronto

Hadn't been here in over a decade. Used to be a top tier Toronto resto. Was one of the only restaurants available for NYE when I was booking on the night of the 30th and I know understand why.

Both Commerce Court (the building its in) and Jump both badly need to be renovated. Jump is not terrible looking but its very bland. Almost felt like I walked into the restaurant at a three star hotel.

The first thing that stood out was a stunning lack of attention to details. Its NYE! Who the hell mixes black, gold and teal?!?! The lighting was far too bright for the occasion. Candles on the table would have been a nice touch. They did a 2025 balloon installation but did it in an area with a lot of back light so photos were not great. Worst of all, the music. It was as if they took someone in their late 50s and had them put together a play list they thought would appeal to everyone in the room. At times, i felt like i was at a wedding in small town Ontario. It truly killed the vibe. How does a restaurant of this calibre have Smirnoff vodka in many of their cocktails? I was surprised to see it on the menu at all.

The next thing I noticed is how stiff the staff were. I get it. Nobody wants to work on NYE but you gotta fake it! We interacted with no less than 7 staff members including a manager. Nobody was rude but none of them were warm personalities. Its like the staff is made up of a bunch of introverts who aren't comfortable dealing with people. Not an ounce of charisma or personality on any of them.

I was there to have a good time and was willing to overlook a lot however, things did not improve. We waited for a good 20 minutes for our drinks. We ordered foccaicia bread as an app. It was under done and not as flavourful.

As it was a NYE fixed menu, options were limited. We both ordered caesar salads to start which were very lacking in dressing and flavour. We both opted for the 5oz beef tenderloin. 5oz is too small IMO, and i mentioned that to the waiter who told me there was a 12oz option which i opted for. My partner was satisfied with her 5oz steak however I received a 12oz piece of roast beef. How the waiter failed to mention this fact is beyond me but it ruined my meal. I came for steak, not a roast beef dinner and I certainly don't want to be paying over $400 for roast beef, especially when its not very good.

The meat was tender but had very little flavour. The potato side was not good at all. I'm not convinced they were even potatoes. Had a weird texture and taste.

Dessert was a mixed bag. I got the cheesecake which is baked and had a flaky pastry around it which really worked well. I loved it. My partner however, ordered the panna cotta and it was terrible! There was no cream, it was all gelatin. A dessert I'd expect to get from No Frills, not a fine dining restaurant! Overall, a very underwhelming experience (and I went in with low expectations given it was NYE). I understand why you rarely hear people even mention this place any more when the topic of Toronto restaurants come up.

My advice to the owners, scrap the name, its stupid. Renovate or at the very least, change the lighting and music. Get some staff with personality. Its unfair to judge the food based off a NYE fixed menu but I will say this. If that panna cotta dessert is a mainstay on your regular menu, its gotta go. Lastly, for bigger events, start putting more thought into what you're doing. Outside of the balloons, I would never have guessed it was Christmas or NYE when we were there. The details matter! You are in a very competitive space and if you rest on your laurels, your stature in Toronto will...

Walking into the curtained off private dining area, the tables were already set up with gleaming glasses of the caramel coloured liquor. It takes will power to not slug them back before the food arrives. Luckily, everyone’s presented with a mug of Tom Collins made with Jim Beam and the table is set up with nibbles to tie us over: tasty terrine on crostini, a passable honey tarte with caviar, and a big plateful of crunchy chicharrón (its salty fattiness is cut nicely by the sweet bourbon).

Surprisingly, the meal started off with a lobster roll, not a typical item to pair with a strong spirit. While the lobster filling was delicious, the black garlic aioli was way too powerful for seafood. I get it, they wanted something that could hold up against the bourbon and the sweet smokiness of the black garlic can, but the condiment didn’t compliment the lobster. Keep it simple, I say, the bourbon green apple & celery slaw and fish roe would have been more than enough.

There’s no fear of overindulging in drinks at this dinner, as each course is more substantial than the last. Jump’s fried chicken showed restraint, a 3-bite crispy moist chicken drumstick, but then it’s served with sweet potato lasagna. Admittedly, it’s a surprisingly tasty side where the potato’s sweetness is balanced by cheese and the spud sliced so thinly that each layer does taste like pasta.

The dish just didn’t necessarily pair well with bourbon. Perhaps it’s just the spirit itself, so strong that it’s really hard to compliment food. Personally, I find bourbon is best when it’s sipped on plain or paired with dessert. For dinner, I’d imagine you’d need something luscious and creamy to coat the tongue to really meld with the bourbon.

A dish like the lamb shoulder worked well. If anything, it’s just a really good dish in general and Jump should add it to the menu. Pieces of tender lamb are wrapped in collard greens and sit in a tomato and okra stew that has a fantastic punchy gravy, which is of coursed spiked with the alcohol. If I weren't so full, I would have wiped up the sauce with bread.

In terms of dessert, how best to celebrate bourbon than with a flaming baked Alaska? The caramelized banana ice cream inside was absolutely delicious but the actual meringue simply too alcoholic tasting. Perhaps it’s due to the flame extinguishing while the dessert was brought over; the alcohol wasn't burning off and the meringue didn’t build that lovely crust. Nonetheless, on paper, it sounded like a good choice and the flavours did go nicely with the strongest drink, the Booker’s Kentucky straight bourbon, of the evening. It’s one the certainly needs...

Went for a friend's birthday - unfortunately service and ambiance was lackluster and made for an underwhelming night. I'll compare this to another high end restauraunt - both take online booking forms. At both restauraunts you pick a day, time, party size, and write whether or not its for a special occasion. At the other restauraunt, you are greeted by a welcome card for the occasion as well as complimentary desserts and/or drinks. Unfortunately at Jump, there is no recognition a special occasion was selected - just wondering why this even an option at booking if the staff won't even acknowledge it.

When we were seated the restauraunt was virtually empty, but for some reason we were seated directly next to another party when there were numerous seats surrounding us, we asked to be moved and to have more privacy. Part way through the meal another group was attempted to be seated next to us and they also asked to be moved, as again - empty restauraunt. I am still confused, even if they wanted us to put be put in the same server's section, they could have left a gap of one table and not put us directly next to them.

The food was the saving grace here, except for the big ticket item.Although not available from the dining room menu, we requested to be able to order an appetizer from the bar menu - the crab cakes. These were amazing and the sauce was exceptional. We'd gone Saturday night and got the "Surf n Turf" special which is $59/person, lobster and steak. The lobster and steak were cooked perfectly, however the steak was drenched in white fluid/sauce from the lobster - it did not look appetizing at all and resembled a butter yogurt on the steak. Trouble came again with dessert. We'd had our eye on some of the regular desserts - however we're huge fans of the "White Chocolate Brownie" from Moxies. For those unaware, this is a warmed white chocolate cake brownie with chocolate syrup and ice cream on top. The server announced the daily dessert special was Banana Cake with ice cream and caramel sauce. We specifically asked if the Banana cake would be served warm or cold, and she said she'd check. She came back and said its not usually warmed but they COULD warm it, so we said that'd be great if they could serve the cake warm. When it arrived, we were disappointed to see what was clearly a slice of banana bread (not banana cake) which was ice cold, and the plate itself was cold as if it'd been in the refridgerator. The combination of these ended with a 2 star review. If the cost was maybe half, this would be equivalent to a 3.5 star review, but for the price there is much higher...