Restaurant Tiflisi — Restaurant in Toronto

So, full disclosure - I don't have a lot of experience with Georgian food. Maybe this restaurant is an exceptional example of Georgian cuisine and it's just not for me. I also came alone for dinner, and I get the sense that this place is really more of a "bring a lot of people" restaurant and less of a "get one main and go" kind of restaurant.

That being said, this was my experience.

I got the chakapuli, a lamb stew topped with tarragon. The stew itself tasted pretty good - it had a nice savouriness and an undercurrent of spice with a pleasant sour note. The lamb, despite being an anemic grey, was tender if not particularly seasoned. The bread it came with was warm and paired well dunked into the broth.

The stew also came in a small bowl and had a very watery consistency and cost $24. I wouldn't have minded as much if this had been labelled an appetizer or something, but it was explicitly part of the mains portion of the menu. I came to the restaurant for dinner and after I'd finished the stew I was still hungry.

Not wanting to leave hungry after spending $24, I ordered the lamb chops after, which came with a side of mashed potatoes. The lamb chops were, again, relatively tasty - they were well and uniquely seasoned and tender.

The dish was also $30 and came with four (really three, since one of the chops just had two bones protruding and wasn't particularly thicker) medallion sized chops and half a plate of pickles. I don't know if the pickles were meant as a palette cleanser or if pickles are just a large part of Georgian cooking, but they tasted like regulars pickles and I wasn't interested in eating half a plate of sliced pickles. Suffice it to say, it didn't leave me particularly satisfied either.

I also ordered a Georgian lemonade - for $10 it was a little disappointing the soda wasn't even an imported product but was produced locally in Canada.

All in all, I wish I could say better things about this restaurant. It's in my area and I'd been looking forward to trying it for a while. The food was not bad, but the portion sizes were really disappointing. I spent $80 after tax and tip on a meal and came away not much more full than I felt going in. On that alone, I can't recommend it.

Also, the online menu is out of date despite the upload being labelled "July 2024." The prices have gone up since then - I ordered off the online menu for the drink and the second dish since the server had taken my physical menu by then, and I didn't realize that the lamb chops had gone up by $4 and the sodas by $2 when I ordered. No one's fault since I could've asked for a physical menu back, but just be mindful that the online menu...

To preface this, I just wanted to say that the meal we had here was arguably one of if not the best we've ever had in Toronto. It was funny because how we ended up going here was not planned.

We were supposed to go to a similar place in North York but due to an unfortunate circumstance, we had to leave. We searched for other Georgian places on Google and we found Tiflisi as one of the top of the list. We were hesitant to go there because we saw that the trip would take a long time because my partner and I don't drive, we had to commute which will take us 2 hours. With how the start of our day already turned out, we decided to take the huge risk and got on the bus.

We arrived at Tiflisi at around 4 pm. We entered their restaurant and got enamored by how charming the place is. We were given a seat near the window next to the wall made out of chopped wood. Choosing what to order was a challenge but we ended up choosing Khachapuri, Saocari, Chashushuli(which was an excellent recommendation by the waiter). The wait was reasonable and the portions were truly generous. The flavors were outstanding and the food we had complemented one another which was fun. Our drinks too was a funny experience because I ordered the Tarragon Georgian Lemonade and my partner ordered a Strawberry Compot. To our surprise, the Compot we got was just a giant bottle of it. Both drinks were pretty good. We decided to end the meal with dessert and ordered a Strudel and 2 Turkish Coffees. Both were truly outstanding. I even forgot to take a photo before eating it and just dug in because we were excited to try it. The evening was filled with munching and burping after all the good food. I slept like a baby that night.

We were ready to go and asked for the bill. However we had an issue because we noticed that we were not charged for the Strudel and the 2 Turkish coffees. We immediately brought this up to the waiter because we wanted to do the right thing and also express our full gratitude after being treated with care, respect, and excellent hospitality from start to finish. We left the place with tummies full of delicious food and joy and we shall definitely return to Tiflisi in the future. One of our best nights in this lovely city and we will also recommend this place to our friends...

If you love cheese and bread, this is the place for you!

I know next to nothing about Georgian cuisine but am known to enjoy a good Russian, Polish, or Turkish spot so I figured I'd most likely enjoy the food here. After being to Limon, we were looking for a brunch place to grab a bite and they were open -- and free from wasps!

The menu is huge, and most of it I have no idea what it is. There are photos which is nice when you have no idea, but even that wasn't always helpful. Just assume you're getting dumplings, soup, or some large bread-based entree. And they are large dishes.

Also, make sure to order a sauce. We didn't and it could have used some.

It was all tasty, and the fresh bread is delightful. I made the mistake of thinking I wanted cheese, even though I'm not a huge cheese person. It was good, but a bit too much cheese for me personally. I know people who would ADORE it however.

I also ordered the classic dumplings - I love every type of dumpling, especially Caucasian/Eastern European sorts. These sounded exactly like xiao long bao. They are similar but MASSIVE. I'm not actually clear on how to eat them lol.

Again, ordering a sauce is important.

And finally, our server was absolutely lovely. He did such a good job and felt like he really cared about everyone getting just what they want and like. He was so cute, polite, and friendly.

The whole atmosphere and ambience was very welcoming and cozy, and like they really want you to enjoy Georgia and learn about it. I appreciate that in a place. They are truly proud of their culture and want to share it with everyone possible.

While in all honesty, I don't think it really was true 5 stars for me, I am giving it to them because I want them to do well and it is a very unique place that this city...