PAROS — Restaurant in Toronto

Probably the worst birthday celebration I ever had. Had a reservation for dinner with my partner. Spent about $300 just on appetizers and a few drinks and they were saltier than anything I’ve tried before. Every single one of them like the chef forgot how to portion salt. Regardless I didn’t complain at all, the server saw me tossing half the table worth of food and asked if I wanted a take out container I said no thank you because it was horrible. But still didn’t make a big deal out of it.

After dinner we had a reservation on their patio for 10pm. We go to check in and the individual there tells us she sees our reservation but the patio isn’t set up so for us to come back in 10 min. We come back 10 min later and this absolute doucebag starts questioning us very condescendingly saying “what reservation, we don’t have any here”. It was in a manor almost disrespectful in its way of talking down to someone you feel inferior even though I know he wouldn’t do that outside of his job.

So I go we have a confirmation email here saying we had a reservation and even show him the email. Now he goes “oh that reservation, ya sorry it was mistakenly inputted.” How could you mistakenly input a reservation and first you literally said u didn’t see any reservation, now once I show u proof of my reservation you want to say, “oh that reservation”. I thought there wasn’t any reservation now you’re talking about that reservation. I had plans to spend at least another few hundred dollars there but I’m glad I didn’t because a place so unprofessional and staffing so incompetent shouldn’t receive peoples money.

No one should be treated this way especially when celebrating their birthday. It’s put a bad taste in my mouth and every person I know will know not to go there from my experience and I have a pretty big network.

Following after the incident and me leaving the place, someone that works there came up to me and said they have witnessed them doing this to other people of color and that they apologize for the way the other attendant treated myself and my partner. It’s 2024 and selectively choosing your crowd due to race should no longer be a thing. I was embarrassed on my birthday as a well spending customer I feel anger that a business would treat me in this way. I look forward to putting this out in various media outlets because I’ll never forget this birthday experience. Absolute disappointment to something I was looking forward to for my birthday. I hope that attendant falls off a cliff. Or worse I wouldn’t care. :)

Ps. Read all the other 1 star reviews, all similar situations if not entirely the same so I can’t be making my experience up. Seems to be that they just hire anyone without any legitimate hospitality experience as long as they’re relatively pretty and Caucasian to take care of people who might actually have more value than their...

Went to Paros on Saturday night. I had made reservations for 10:30 on the rooftop through opentable. When we arrived, the host seated us downstairs and was very confused when I showed her the reservation that clearly stated it was made for the rooftop. She ran around trying to find us a table (she was very nice and understanding) but was unable to. She said the tables were full, which made no sense as we had made reservations 1 week prior and they had been confirmed. We were then seated downstairs and told we could eat downstairs and then head upstairs for a drink afterwards. The host said she was still going to look for a table for us.

We were seated and our server came around and we made mention of the fact that our seats were originally supposed to be upstairs and if she could keep an eye out for a table for us - this is when our server became extremely defensive and said "I have nothing to do with that, you can speak to the host if you want but that has nothing to do with me and I can't do anything about it"

Running a restaurant, you would think that there would be communication between the host and the server. We asked again about one hour after getting seated and were met with the same defensiveness from the server which was frankly very unprofessional. She again stated that this had nothing to do with her and it had to do with the host. Working in customer service, you would think that a server would be trying their best to accommodate their clients, especially those who were seated somewhere they had not made reservations for. Honestly seemed like the server was annoyed of us, despite the fact that we were being very polite. A while later, the host came back to us and told us all of the tables upstairs were being flipped for bottle service so there was no possibility of being seated upstairs for dinner. Despite all of the trouble, the restaurant didn't make any effort to rectify the situation or make up for it. They basically told us we were out of luck.

We finished our food and planned to head upstairs, at this point the roof was at capacity and we were told we wouldn't be let in upstairs. I understand capacity limits but again, we originally made our reservations for the rooftop so this made no sense.

Eventually we made it upstairs and had some fun dancing on the rooftop. The DJ who played the guitar was a very nice touch.

Food was good. Service not so great. Be prepared for your reservations not to be honored....

Yorkville has a new icon restaurant that is not only fast becoming THE place to eat and THE place to be seen, but with a factor not always important in other so called hot spots…this one actually has fantastic food. Located at 119 Yorkville and nestled along the ultra-chic Old York Lane, Paros offers an experience for the palette in a tasteful relaxing environment that suggests you are in Greece. The patio is large and tastefully decorated without the kitsch found in other Greek restaurants. The indoor dining area is warm, intimate and equally decorated in moderation and taste. I decided to sample some items on the menu starting with the triple dip that was a perfect combination of fresh flavours and balanced ingredients. The eggplant was spot on. Fresh and clean tasting with just the right smoke flavour from the roasting process. The Tzatziki had the right consistency of thickness with a not overly laden infusion of garlic. It was wonderful on its own or spread on the warm zaatar covered pita bread. The third dip was a slightly spicy flavor blast blended in a quality sheep’s milk feta. Paring this trifactor of winning dips with large home marinated olives was a good decision and I highly recommend it. I followed the dips with a sample of the Hamachi Crudo which again was a balance of freshness and flavour for the pallet created by the Paros chef. The lamb chop was perfectly cooked with just the right amount of charring on the grill. I was told the number one item customers order is the Paros Greek Salad. The sesame encrusted block of feta cheese sets this dish apart from its rivals. Coupled with the right proportion of heirloom tomatoes, red onions, cucumber and a generous number of marinated olives mixed with the crumbled feta and the vinaigrette was another winner on their menu. The grilled colossal shrimp plate with the Paros salsa verde was also cooked just right and also added the right amount of freshness and flavour on the palate that is something I believe Paros has mastered and will be a trademark of theirs. I look forward to a return visit to try other dishes and sample their drinks menu when I return for my next culinary treat. I highly recommend this dining experience. I’m sure you will also head back for another visit to try and complete your...