LITTLE PEBBLES CAFE — Restaurant in Toronto

I have mixed feelings about this place. The environment and staff are very nice. They were more than happy to let my group stay all afternoon while we chatted, hung out, and drank tea/coffee.

The good: The beef menchi bowl was excellent. I like that the bowl of rice is covered with plenty of curry to the point it borders on thick congee. The curry is a touch spicy and very flavourful. The beef menchi came out crispy and tasty. The hojicha tea latte I had was pretty good. It's not something I see on menus very often.

The really ugly: The problem was the croissant/cookie hybrid. If I had rated this place purely on that, I would have given this place one star. It was so hard it was clearly more than baked yesterday stale. It was closer to 36 hours left out in the open based on how hard and stale it was. The top cookie layer and the croissant was hard/dry enough that when I tapped on the cookie, it was a sharp hollow sound. Taking a bite threw dry crumbs everywhere. There was not a single moist bit in sight except for the very sticky cookie-dough like filling inside. Worst part is it was still so dry that the filling couldn't maintain any moisture in the croissant flakes around it.

I would give the pastries a try again if I saw them come out fresh, but I was burned way too hard to risk it otherwise given how expensive the pastry was. I'm glad I stayed long enough to have more than the cookie/croissant because the service and the beef menchi rice bowl saved...

Came here after wanting to visit for so long and first visit definitely didn’t disappoint! The rolled croissants were amazing! We tried pistachio and hazelnut and they both were delicious! Super big, so we had leftovers. The filling in pistachio one was simply perfect, light but flavourful. Hazelnut one could be a meal on its own cause the filling is a bit heavy but nonetheless delicious. Pistachio cookie was soft and chewy, just enough pistachio flavour for pistachio lovers. We also tried the food - chicken katsu sandwich was okay, nothing too crazy, IG videos on their account showed more chicken and it was a bit dry. Salmon benny could have used a bit more sauce and fresher greens but overall was fine. Definitely the pastries is where the focus is on. But we came back to try the other items this weekend and unfortunately it was as good as first visit. We chose viral pistachio chocolate that was just okay. The filing was too dry and didn’t taste like pistachio at all. The viral pistachio kunaffa croissant was a bit better option. Tiramisu croissant was disappointing as it was just whipped cream and sprinkle of cacao. No mascarpone or coffee flavours were noticed, so it didn’t taste like tiramisu. But overall it’s a good spot for pastries, just need to know which ones are better than others and...

Not really sure how to review this place. I came in here about 3pm on a Tuesday afternoon because I was famished and it was on my way. When I came in, I was overwhelmed by a musty smell from the air conditioning, but I thought I had better give it a chance because the place I normally go to was closed and I didn’t have time to go looking for anything else. The floors were dirty, and I hate to say it, but I saw at least two flies. That said, I ordered the classic BLT. When I received it, I was surprised to see how good it looked. In fact, it was a really delicious sandwich. So on the one hand, I was a bit grossed out by how dirty the place was, but on the other hand, the sandwich was really tasty. This place has the potential to be great. They have board games and all sorts of Japanese pastries that look quite yummy. They are on a corner that has in the past been plagued with the restaurant curse. The Aroma, Cafe, that was there actually managed to survive for quite a long time, but prior to that there were quite a few places that came and went. I’m giving this place a very qualified four stars. Do a better job of keeping the place clean and get rid of that musty smell that is coming from some air-conditioning that has clearly not been serviced or needs to...