Le Paradis — Restaurant in Toronto

Visited here for a friends birthday and had somewhat of an odd experience with the service. The food itself was great (especially the Beef Bourguignon and Moules).

Seemed a bit disorganized as first since we had 4 people come up to our table (one to bring plates and cutlery (ok makes sense), then another to bring water, then another one to pour water from a different pitcher than what was on the table and take our drink orders, and then ANOTHER to take our drink orders again.

The most bizarre part was when we ordered the mussels in white wine sauce and the waitress comes by our table to tell us “No one has ordered the frites, so I took it upon myself to order it for you. You can’t have moules without frites.” First time this has ever happened to me at a restaurant, never had a server order for me without consulting or recommending first. We thought it was out of line, but they’re only $3.50, so not the worst.

The frites didn’t even come with the order of moules (came way after we finished them) so I’m not sure what the point of that was. Later we couldn’t get our waitress for a while so we asked a fellow waiter to split our bill in a certain manner (wanted to treat our friend for his birthday and split his meal between the 2 other people). Our original waitress comes with one bill saying we can “just split it in half”. When we mentioned that we got different foods, she said “It basically comes out to the same anyway”. Regardless, I still asked her to split it the way we requested the first time.

Maybe she didn’t get the message in time, but we asked to have it split a specific way for a reason. Once she left to correct it, the waiter we asked for the bill from came over to apologize and say he “tried to tell her but she wouldn’t listen”.

This is probably the most bizarre service I’ve ever had at a restaurant which is unfortunate. I can understand forgetting an item, or making a mistake in the order (it happens to the best of us), but this night was overall strange. It was the first time visiting, so maybe it was a one off in service but it did not paint the best picture of...

Le Paradis needs refreshing. The trouble with continuing to make something in the style of a place is that the place continues to grow and develop while the imitater gets stuck in a time warp. They need to revisit their menu choices, their decor, their attitude, and perhaps their chef. The frites were just soggy skinny fries. A French bistro can be forgiven a lot if they have great crispy, golden frites. And they were served with everything - even the liver dish - along with over-cooked green beans. I opted for a petit plat of spicy shrimp. The spice was nice but the shrimp were smaller than they should have been. They would have been a fine size for a seafood pasta dish, but not when they are the start of the dish. I would have preferred 6 Jumbo shrimp instead of the 12 medium sized ones I got, which also made it hard to get the tails off. It may be a personal preference of mine, but to leave the last section of shell and the tail on should only be done with a shrimp dish you are meant to eat with your fingers. It just makes me question whether the restaurant did any prep themselves or if they just dumped the pre-cooked shrimp out of the bag. Our meals weren't inedible but they were not up to anyone's standards. I think Le Paradis has been there so long that they are sitting on their laurels. I went often in the 1990s and enjoyed the meals I had, but I'm sad to say that last night's meal was a faint shadow of...

Le Paradis is my favorite restaurant in Toronto so I feel obliged to leave a detailed review of the reasons why.

The Food - My wife enjoys trying new things off of the rotating menu (particularly the seafood dishes) and has yet to have less than a 5 star meal. I have only ordered the variation of the steak frites, and as a boring person who always orders the same thing I feel confident in saying it is the best steak in the city.

The Value - Using The Keg as a comparison, Le Paradis is a superior experience at around 2/3 the cost. That is before you factor in the 30% discount after 9pm.

The Service - The first person to greet you when you first enter the restaurant will likely be the owner. That has been the case every time we have visited and we have learned he is a man who truly cares about his customer's experience which is also reflected by the staff he employs.

The Atmosphere - The no rush service and reasonable prices ensure everyone who visits can enjoy a stress free meal. As such you will find yourself competing over the conversation/laughter coming from surrounding tables.

Their response to COVID - When restaurants in Toronto were became limited to delivery, Le Paradis slashed their prices by around 25%. When our first order was running 10 minutes late, guess who we got a call from with an...