Light Cafe — Restaurant in Toronto

If you're looking for "light" lunches and is conveniently close to the University of Toronto, Light Cafe is the perfect place for you. At Light Cafe, they have made their mark in the Baldwin Village in downtown Toronto in order to provide some delicious varieties of food for students, citizens and general public alike.

At the entrance of this establishment, it was actually hard to realize that the place I was entering was Light Cafe - so be aware that the entrance is a bit obscure. There's a larger and more evident sign on top of light cafe with a panda, which caught my eye first before I realized the place in front of me was Light Cafe. Keep that in mind when you're visiting this cafe!The menu arrived at our table on a clipboard, which I thought was an interesting touch to the dining experience. It was beautifully decorated and displayed professionally taken photos of the food selections Light Cafe has. During this afternoon visit, my partner and I were able to sample 5 different items which were popular choices at Light Cafe.We started off with Lobster Bisque, which was beautifully crafted with its orange and cream palette. Served alongside it was fresh garlic bread and salad that was tossed with a house sauce. This soup was really refreshing and tasted very creamy - a must for a soup like this. In addition, it paired very well with the garlic bread on the side which made the appetizer a great start to our lunch that afternoon. I didn't have a taste of the salad, but my partner only had positive things to say about how fresh it was and how it was a great choice to have on the side. An additional appetizer that we received was the Pulled Pork Baked Potato - which had been perfectly presented to us on a nice wooden board with a side of sour cream and salad. The pulled pork was infused in cheese and had garnishes of onions, cilantro and other greens. This appetizer alone was quite filling, and can be shared between 2 people (1 potato per person). With the sour cream, this appetizer was a delicacy served warm and fresh. If you thought that the starters were enough - the waitress came out with three amazing entrees for us to dine on as well! Displayed on the table were Smoked Duck Salad, Marinara Spaghetti and Spicy Thai Chicken Spaghetti.

Both the Marinara and Spicy Thai Spaghetti were carefully placed into their china and served with garlic bread. Light Cafe does not disappoint with their presentation and aims to please the feast for the eyes, as well as the feast for the stomach! The spaghetti was great and the sauces were fresh, however I would have enjoyed it more thoroughly if the spaghetti noodles were thinner. Perhaps this was something that could have been requested beforehand and I didn't know, however it was something that I noted during my experience in the cafe. The Smoked Duck Salad was truly a beautiful piece of art - I was a bit hesitant to eat it just because I would ruin the plating! Served atop a bed of fresh greens were slices of smoked duck, which were displayed perfectly on the side. What was interesting about this salad is that it also had fruits inside! Besides your classic tomatoes, there were also tangerines and what seemed to be mangoes. This added a sweetness to the salad that blended nicely with the spring greens and the house sauce that came on the side for you to pour into and mix altogether.

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Great brunch offerings, huge menu with a variety of dishes that will surely please the pickiest customer, a mix of Asian fusion meals, sandwiches and hot and cold drinks.

Weekends will have line ups so if you’re patient and have time to kill while waiting in line, this could be a good choice in the Baldwin area, or you can come during weekdays.

I’ve tried the brunch sandwiches, the pancakes and their fruity cold drinks, all were good.

Lately, I had their chicken karaage snack with the recommended spicy chili sauce. Next time I will try it with the dill garlic sauce. It was served lukewarm, I mentioned it to the server but I was hungry and under time constraint, so I decided to just eat it. The servers were nice and helpful with recommendations.

We also tried the sukiyaki beef pasta. They said it was one of the popular dishes. Spaghetti with sukiyaki beef, baby corn, asparagus, soft poached egg, seaweed mix and house made beef sauce. The poached egg was cooked perfectly. Food came out quickly enough even if the restaurant was full.

It was also a big enough portion for one person and the flavour was definitely sukiyaki or a cross between sukiyaki and bulgogi, both my favourites so it couldn’t go wrong.

10% discount if you pay in cash, fyi.

Atmosphere is 4 stars because the university kids who frequent this place have a tendency to shout instead of talk, even if they’re 6 inches away from each other. In case any reader thinks they will have a nice quiet brunch, this is not the place. It’s decorated well and all but the tables are near each other so you will definitely hear the next tables conversation.

It’s not the restaurant’s fault that their customers yell instead of talk that’s why I’m giving them an...

Edit (17JUL2024): I went here again to see if maybe the service got better but unfortunately it's still the same. There was no wait so we were immediately seated. The problem was waiting for food. I was with my friend and we ordered at the same time. He got his food and finished it before my food even came. When I followed up with the staff, she talked to the kitchen and they got my food out but it has been sitting in the kitchen. If I didn't follow up, I wouldn't have gotten it. I tried to give them a chance but the service still sucks. The food is okay

Edit: I had to change my rating from 4 to 1 star because of how unprofessional my last visit was. We were told the wait was about 30 mins and they took our phone number. We came back about 50 mins after and they said they 'tried' calling us. We checked the list and saw that they had the correct phone number but they never called us. They asked if we prefer inside or outside and we said inside but at this point, we can also eat outside. They told us that there was a big group that was about to leave so we waited another 20 MINUTES. At this point, we've waited for about an hour and a half and we were so hungry and fed up that we just left. So yeah, I don't see myself getting food here unless it's by Uber eats.

The place gets really busy so I suggest making a reservation ahead of time. The food was good but it does take a while to get the order. The atmosphere is great and the staff were pretty nice. Just a heads up that they only accept...