Old Avenue Restaurant — Restaurant in Toronto

Seeing borscht ($8) described on Old Avenue’s menu, the ingredients instantly reminded me of the goulash of Austria: beef, tomatoes, cabbage, onions, potatoes, carrots, greens, and a touch of beets. Served in a covered claypot, the soup arrived piping hot and once the lid was removed, I was greeted with the European aroma. The broth was teeming with umami without the acidy of the tomatoes and filled with chunks of tender beef and finely sliced vegetables that blended wonderfully.

Old Avenue’s blintzes with meat ($10 for 2 pieces) arrived with a spectacular golden crust, adding a bit of crunch to the otherwise soft and delicate crepes. The mixture of finely ground beef and onion inside was perfectly seasoned creating flavour without being overly fussy or salty.

In fact, anything wrapped at Old Avenue is a hit. Their Azerbaijan style lula wrap ($20) reminded me of a burger, donair, and burrito all mixed into one. Ground beef and lamb were formed into kebabs and grilled then combined with thinly sliced tomatoes, pickles, onion, and mayo in a chewy wrap that got a lovely toasting just like the blintzes.

My error was taking the paper off the wrap as the thin creamy sauce simply wanted to gush out of the wrap on the first bite. A bit of messiness aside, the lula wrap was delicious – its heartiness balanced out by the acid of the garlicky pickles. The fries were equally impressive, uber crispy on the outside and fluffy inside. They were also perfect for dipping into the saucy wrap – next time I’ll even stuff a couple inside to create a dish like a gyro.

After all the meaty dishes, we were glad the kitchen sent out some pumpkin manti ($14 for 4 pieces) that were mistakenly mixed with the meat version we had ordered. Personally, I preferred the pumpkin; the squash made into a puree with some strands left in for texture that went nicely with the thin chewy dumpling wrapper. Conversely, the beef and onion version were too dense, the filling forming a meatball rather than loose like the blintzes.

Served with a slightly spicy salsa, the condiment added a pop of flavour and freshness that awoken the manti. Still, I couldn’t help smearing more sauce from the other dishes (like the garlicky humus that comes with the complimentary hot bread or the ricotta-like spread from the khachapuri lobiani) to give the manti even more flavour. My recommendation: don’t give back any of the house-made sauces as they are wonderful across the dishes.

The Georgian khachapuri lobiani ($24) wouldn’t be a dish I’d order again. While I enjoyed the buttery thin bread surrounding the “pie”, the mashed red kidney bean filling was too dry, too dense, and lacked flavour. The menu describes the beans as being mixed with onion, seasoning, and “special” cheese, but all I could taste was beans and maybe a hint of cumin. In the end, there wasn’t much flavour, and the only cheese was the small dollop of the ricotta-like spread that arrived with the gigantic pie.

I tried to salvage the dish by loading it with the salsa, garlic hummus and the mayo from the lula wrap. While it improved the flavours a bit, I still couldn’t get through a full slice of the khachapuri lobiani. Still, don’t let me stop you from trying this Georgian dish, just order it with a large table as one slice is more than enough.

Having had a lovely dinner at Old Avenue, I decided to go back for brunch. The Turkish breakfast ($40 for two people) sounded like an amazing spread but turned out to be a mishmash of cheeses (run of the mill cheddar, smoked gouda, Swiss, cottage, goat cheese, and feta), chopped vegetables, olives, and condiments. It’s not overly exciting and oddly served with a cheese pede when there’s already so much dairy.

The scrambled eggs and Turkish sausage, also meant to serve two people, consisted of literally two eggs and a handful of cut sausage medallions that was hardly enough for a duo. For my tastes, I’d rather Old Avenue should remove some of the cheeses and serve more of...

I have been here twice for lunch - the first time we had one very tasty yet smallish beef stew and one very average Georgian cheese pie - both recommendations from the waiter who was pretty good. We had a decent time it’s near our house . 1 out of 2 isn’t bad so we thought we would explore the menu more on a second visit - which is where things went downhill pretty dramatically . Second visit we had the cabbage rolls - small and mediocre - not terrible far from good . But the lamb Plov shall we say did not have any lamb whatsoever - 5 tiny mini shards lamb the rest rice and maybe 5 apricots - this was really a side of rice baked in some pastry dough . There are other reviews I’ve seen on this with pictures and I think ours had even less. What we saw next is the shocking part - the owner was talking to the table next to us - they didn’t finish their food - the owner picked up their unfinished plate and proceeded to eat off the plate right there, in the middle of the restaurant. That’s just gross behaviour- wait till you get to the kitchen perhaps?!🤔 🤣🤮. Also and maybe more importantly- it’s seems pretty obvious that this restaurant has a lot of fake or “bot” 5 star reviews . This place hasn’t been around long and to have 4.9 stars and over a thousand reviews just does not add up . Not when you read the other bad reviews. It’s the only way that they can drown out the bad reviews and still achieve 4.9 - which in itself is evidence of the ……. “You know what”🤐🤫🤔🤨

IN RESPONSE TO THE OWNER’S VERY SWIFT RESPONSE 🧐 : My review is simply to help customers not have the wool pulled over their eyes by the blatantly fake reviews. It’s pretty obvious when scratching beneath the surface. Also if you are basing your dishes on weight and price as you have admitted then flavour and enjoyment are not on your radar😂 - don’t sell lamb and not provide it . I agree the owner should have enough available nutrition at hand to avoid eating the leftovers off the plates of patrons 👍🫡- to be totally clear and perhaps jog your memory they were an Indian family of 4 - they told YOU they were from India when YOU asked them a bit nosily and they also said it was their very first visit 🫣- does this ring any bells yet ? 🔔 🧠 - I support all small businesses that are providing a good product or service on Avenue Road - i don’t support fakes or frauds or more likely in this case the owner being a bit too high on their own supply. Wishing you all the best in improving in 2025 - Maybe charge a little more ? And probably/maybe it might be better?🤔 and maybe don’t eat leftovers in front of your customers no matter how tempted , comfy or hungry...

This the longest & strangest reviews I have written for a restaurant. You have been warned

I will start by saying all the food that managed to get to us tasted amazing, but the incompetence of service and kitchen coordination was mythically terrible. We had a table of 9 people. We were told that size table needed to order in advance. I worked in restaurants for many years. 9 is a large size but nothing unusual.

WARNING LIGHT #1

We went to the website menu and texted our order in advance, as instructed . Oh, wait! The website is not up to date? 1/4 of our choices were unavailable.

WARNING LIGHT #2

After we arrive one of our party orders a beer. The waiter goes to the bar, comes back "we are out of that one". Another beer is chosen, the waiter goes to the bar and comes back again. "oh we are out of that one too." “Ok, what beer DO you have?” Waiter provides a brief list. “We'll have [insert name of last beer the waiter mentioned].”

WARNING LIGHT #3

The mains start to come out. 1 or 2 at a time with 5-15 minute intervals in between. DId I mention there are 9 of us? Do the math. 2 of the same dish were ordered, but one got cancelled. Why? Because of …I DON’T KNOW! My 80+ year-old mother-in-law waited over an HOUR after all the other food managed to come out for her salmon steak. SALMON STEAK - one of the simplest things to make…AHHHH!

WARNING LIGHT #4 with SIRENS GOING OFF!

At this point, things are tense. The manager (owner?) comes out to chat. She tells us about a plumbing problem in the kitchen, that she is distracted and frustrated because it’s Friday night and her candle-lighting and prayers were interrupted by, I guess, us eating at the restaurant. I’m sorry that having customers can be so inconvenient. The manager also begins to educate us on how difficult restaurant work is and then alludes to some personal issues she could talk to us about. Eventually, a year later, my mother-in-law's meal came out of the kitchen.

WARNING LIGHT BURN OUT! SIRENS AND SOUL CRASH! EXPLOSION OF DISBELIEF!

Look, the food was good, but what the hell happened to coordination, service and brains? Get some training in there and someone please help the manager out with her personal issues. She really looked like she needed...