The Carbon Bar — Restaurant in Toronto

While on a visit to Toronto I learned that I got a big promotion, and decided to celebrate in style. I love ribs, so I was looking for a BBQ restaurant downtown. Found this place on Google Maps that looked nice and had great reviews. So, I went there to find a spacious hall that probably was a factory or something industrial in the past. It had a nice vibe and I loved the huge neon sign on the wall saying ELECTRIC.

The menu is not overly long, but there still was too much choice for someone who can't decide when there are more than two options to choose from. However, this time it was easy, because I came for ribs. I went with a full rack for $55. OMG, these were among (if not THE) best ribs I ever ate. Nicely seasoned, meat not falling off the ribs, but not sticking to them either, rather unwrapping as I went, picking the ribs one by one. I believe there were about 12 of them on the full rack and as I was half way, I understood that I bit off more than I can chew (not literally, of course, but you catch my drift). I am a fully grown man, but the full rack presented a challenge. I also ordered a side of rapini with chili and garlic, but after combining up meat and drinks, there was no room in me left for vegetables...

All the while, I was served by Maria, who is a fantastic member of the team - full of energy, cheerful, smiling, knowing all that there is to know about food and drinks too.

The beer I took to wash down the ribs was finished, while I haven't even crossed the equator and my pace already started to slow down. It was time to switch to a cocktail. My original plan included having a couple beers and a Bloody Mary, so I ordered their Hail Ceasar. It was so delicious that I had to try something else. Normally, I am not a cocktail person, limiting myself to an occasional Bloody Mary, but the fact that I was celebrating and the amount of ribs I still had to consume prompted me to explore the cocktail card. Maria suggested moving to the bar, closer to the source, so to speak. Daniel, the barman, is a real pro (very friendly and knows his beverages inside out) and I ended up getting 6 cocktails that all were oh so yummy.

I also loved the playlist. In the 3 hours I spent there, I shazamed quite a few evergreen songs like "Forget me Nots", "Just an Illusion", "Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life", "Best of My Love", and "Superstition".

In short, thanks to Maria, Daniel and the invisible cooks behind the scene, I got an amazing experience and will dearly remember this celebration. Without doubt, I will come back for more next time...

I'm giving this place two stars instead of one, or zero (which isn't even an option) as the food was decent, not great (horrible dessert, but I'm getting to that later). I have been coming here for a number of years to celebrate my birthday; I'm always invited here, and it has been a nice tradition. Until tonight. First of all, despite the fact that my friend specifically notified the restaurant that it was my birthday and asked for a candle, the request was ignored (and the carrot cake was dry, stale, and an embarrassment). What is even worse is the fact that my friend received so many notifications and reminders about the dinner reservation. Why bother reminding him when the restaurant completely forgot about my birthday? Cold, distant service throughout. (Oysters were referred to as being from "Newfoundland" instead of "New Brunswick" -- manager seemed to be politely checking in on other tables, we felt a bit ignored throughout). Hmmm... I don't think I will choose to come here for my birthday moving forward, or any other special occasion. A good place if you want decent food (except dessert) and then be forgotten about. Make people feel special. Don't make them feel like numbers. Also, the initial greeting was HORRIBLE -- we waited at reception, finally for a receptionist to appear and not even smile. "Can I help you with something" was her way of greeting two well-dressed people. I was going to give three stars for atmosphere but decreased to two after thinking about how cold the greeting was. You have a LOT of work to do in the customer service department! What is the sense of sending reminders to people about a reservation if you're just going to forget their birthday?

Here are the main missteps:

1. Be friendlier throughout the meal, not in a corporate way, but be actually genuine and make your customers feel special, whether it's their birthday or not.
2. Check in. At no point did anyone ask how we were enjoying our meal
3. Charging for a horrible dessert that should have come with a candle, and didn't
4. Pay attention to the reservation notes. You send all these reminders; what's the use of them? Just making sure no one will "stand you up?" Think about your customers' well-being, not just your own!

Your food is fairly good (except, again, for dessert). However, service (from greeting to serving staff to manager) needs to be genuinely warmer and more caring. I won't rush back. A shame to break a tradition, but oh well... we did not feel that we were...

Worse experience in Toronto! This is why: We made a reservation for 10 people, we were celebrating one of my friend’s Birthday. Surprise dinner! Apparently, if you go with more than 12 people you have to mandatory order an 85 and 110 CA experience menu. It seems to me very forced since some people don’t eat that much. Anyway, we thought NO OUR CASE BECAUSE WE ARE 10! actually you have the option when you are doing the reservation and we said NO. Well, in the min that the first person arrived to the table the weitres and the manager said: ( the birthday boy hasn’t arrive yet) you guys have to order the expierence menu. We kindly said: we are waiting for the rest of the people. The server was in the table every 2 sec. Asking to order drinks right away, pushing all the time, with a very flirtatious attitude with the men who were there, which I didn't like at all from the beginning. The rest of the people came, and the person who did the reservation indeed said that at the moment of the reservation he was aware of the “Experience menu” but since we are 10 people ( less than 12) we would be ok. The manager absolutely rudely came to our table and said that we have to order the 85/110 dollars menu MANDATORY or we have to leave. We were in absolutely shock! Since of birthday boy was sitting there seeing all this ( was a surprise dinner for him) . After explaining what we did with the reservation he said: ok so don’t order the experience menu, but you have to spend 1,000 dollars in the table ( all this while we are drinking couple of cocktails ) We said: that is absolutely the same! The Manager said : is up to you! Is that or leave! My husband was ready to pay for a beer and a terrible sangria cocktail that we were drinking and the manager said again, you don’t have to pay for the drinks just go. We were all dressed up for the occasion and we were kicked out LITERALLY Again is not ABOUT MONEY We know if we are a party we have to expend a certain amount, but NOT forced in that way. We ended up in Woods where we spent WAY more than that on the party! Well, I would love for the restaurant manager to take some courses about customer service and how to treat people, sadly the only thing that matters to CARBON BAR is the money. What a...