MY HOUSE — Restaurant in Toronto

THIS IS MY 4th TIME reposting my comment since the owner/ moderator keeps on deleting and silencing me. I’ll keep post it again and again🙂.

Had the WORST experience visiting My House for the first time last week. We live across the street and were super excited to try out the new bar. Unfortunately, the owner spoke to me in such an unprofessional, and disrespectful manner. I honestly cried when I left. I was so angry and so insulted.

My boyfriend and I were seated in the front, couch section. I had decided to go to the bathroom, and the laces on one of my boots had been untied. While he was seated and I was standing, he told me to put my foot on his thigh so he could tie it for me, and my foot slipped off his thigh and planted on the couch. It was literally no more than 4 seconds before this middle aged, blonde woman with sheer disdain in her face, beelines towards us and barked, “Get your feet off of my furniture, thanks!” And turned to walk right back to the corner of the bar where she was sitting, CLEARLY venting to the man she was sitting with. My boyfriend and I looked at each other completely dumbfounded. Like who did she think she was talking to?? Dogs? Her kids? I had to pass her to go to the bathroom, so I most definitely made a pit stop to the corner of that bar and very much composedly said to her, “You really should learn how to speak to people” She then goes, “How bout you don’t put your feet on my furniture I’m the owner of this place” And I say, “I didn’t intentionally put my foot on the couch, and it was only for a—” To which she interrupts me, yelling, “ I DONT CARE THIS IS MY BAR IF YOU DONT LIKE IT CAN YOU LEAVE!” I laughed, “You’re the owner? Look at how you’re yelling. How embarrassing.” As I walked away. Further proving my point, because she was still shouting at me as my back was turned, walking away from her. Berating something along the lines of “this not being her first business.” As if it showed.

When I came back from the bathroom, my boyfriend told me that after my exchange with her, he went to her and asked what had happened and if there was problem. He told me, that she told him, that she, “didn’t want people destroying her property”. He explained to her that he understood where she was coming from, but that I was not “destroying her property,” and that there are more polite and effective ways to go about handling situations. Unprompted, she then goes on to tell him that she was not “targeting” us and that “this has nothing to do with race.” Which, hindsight, is a little bit odd to say, don’t you think? We never once mentioned or hinted anything about race, or accused her of targeting us. Why would she just throw that in there? We thought we were just regular customers trying to spend money and have a good time. So I don’t understand the need to mention race. But I guess seeing as I am biracial, and my boyfriend is Hispanic… Seems to give me the vibe that she was trying to cover her bases, distancing herself from being seen as a bigot. How interesting. 🤔 He told me she seemed shocked while thanking him for “being friendly and not creating a scene” Once again, very interesting to assume his intention was to cause a scene in the first place. Rather than being a civilized human being trying to have a conversation. 🤔

10/10 would absolutely never recommend. The beautiful inside of this bar unfortunately does not reflect the inside...

We wanted the evening to work out for us, but it didn’t. Maybe they’ll grow into what they’ve started but at this time we cannot recommend.

We were excited to see My House open in our neighbourhood. They had obviously invested in retrospect lounge decor, and their advertised Jazz and Burlesque nights were a real attraction. Needless to say, we really wanted to like this place.

Alas, our recent visit on a Burlesque evening was a huge let down.

First, while the main decor suggests a commitment to an old school, plush cocktail and dining experience, their decision to place garish, multi-coloured light projectors throughout the space is a jarring and unwelcome contrast. This was made worse by an off choice in music (think typical club music) that was completely out of step with what one would expect from the ambiance.

Next, while our server was earnest and attentive (we really liked our server), the cocktails on offer were very disappointing - particularly for the prices. We can’t remember sending a cocktail back, but on this evening the Boulevardier was so poorly executed that we gave up after a couple sips and sent it back (to their credit they didn’t charge us). The other cocktails we ordered were just OK. If these folks are going to have their drinks match the promise of the decor and price point they really need to hire a couple professional mixologists.

We ordered a shared starter (a chicken mousse) that was very tasty and the best part of the night.

Finally, the burlesque show was a bit disappointing as well. When we arrived we asked the host which seats would be best to take in the show (the place was pretty much empty when we arrived at 8:45 pm - show scheduled to start at 9:00 pm). She said that all the seats were good because the performers moved throughout the space.

There’s no stage so the dancers have to move up and down the walkway, providing glimpses. Admittedly the close up experience when they passed by was charming, but given the layout of the space, opportunity to enjoy came in short flashes. Each set was also quite short with long breaks for costume changes.

The best part of the burlesque show was the music to accompany the dancers. It was a nice break from the club soundtrack and suites the atmosphere of the place much better.

The final bill was $175 (tax and tip included). We had four cocktails and one shared appetizer - and were charged a $20 cover (which the host didn’t mention upon arrival).

Update: We were willing to revisit after a couple of months to see if the bumps had smoothed out, possibly updating our review. As we wrote earlier, we wanted to like this place and hoped it would grown into its potential. However given the rude and unprofessional response of the owner we will not...

There have been a few reviews that have said the same thing. Atmosphere is amazing. Service is solid ( but definitely room for improvement). Food is just wrong. We hoped the previous reviews were taken into account, with changes made in the kitchen. However based on our recent dinner there, this is not the case. I REALLY want this place to be successful.. the vibe is so cool, the Junction is awesome, the cocktails are great, but without a stellar menu and food there just isn’t a way to be successful in Toronto. We are spoiled with incredible food options! I would recommend immediately doing an overhaul of your kitchen and replace whoever is in charge with someone competent ( ideally amazing) and you have a winner here. But if your game is just cocktails, own it and get rid of the food… it is hurting you, not helping in any way.

Details: we had some great cocktails to start, promptly served. Nice waiter… entertaining. Ordered beet salad and Chicken Yakitori to start. Beet salad was decent (only decent item of the night), chicken yakitori was literally bland ground chicken formed into rectangles on skewers with weird dipping sauce-no garnish, nothing (very disappointing, practically inedible). We had 3 mains after that: Harchis Parmentiere (this is actually just very bad, ground chicken shepherds pie); cheesesteak eggrolls (these were recommended by the waiter… these were just awful: ground bland mystery meat in a soggy eggroll type wrap — no cheese, no onions, no cabbage, no flavour… nothing to make the plate look nice, just the rolls); octopus (do not have this. Overcooked, fishy, and the salad on the side was inedible. We have had octopus in Greece and know what good tastes like… this is the complete opposite of good. ). Last point, the appetizers took forever and the mains were then delivered before we even had a chance to get halfway through the appetizer course… not great.

Summary: fix the kitchen and you can be great, don’t fix the kitchen and I think you...