The Monkey Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Toronto

My partner brought me there for my birthday and the food was amazing! First restaurant we’ve been to in Toronto since moving from Alberta last week. When we each ordered a glass of wine we naturally got ID’d because we look young for our age. That was not the issue. It was what happened afterwards. We then got ID’d 2 more times and got quizzed on our addresses and personal info to see if they were fakes. The server then told us that WHEN SHE HAD A FAKE ID She made hers from Alberta (it’s where we are from). WHO says to their customers that they had a fake id!? We then had to tell them about why we were in Toronto, the line of work we are in and a bunch of other stuff just to “convince” them we were 23years old. Honestly if my partner didn’t go through so much effort to plan a special night for me, and we weren’t trying to ruin the mood. We would have taken our business elsewhere. There is a line between it being compliment for looking young and then it just being completely rude and going too far. Not only that but throughout our entire meal it was as if they were investigating if we were telling the truth as well. It’s not like their prices are extremely cheap either; My partner ordered the duck which was a $40 dish and I ordered the eggplant which was $30 aswell as the wine which was $15 each. This is completely no problem for us but What kind of 18yr olds would have that kind of money to spend on 1 meal let alone order this type of food? If an 18yr old wanted some alcohol that would be the last place they would go. The vibes were off the entire time and instead of the waiter apologizing for her staffs actions while we were paying, she was just defending their suspicions and justifying their actions. We thought this area of town was the nicest part due to the income level in our neighbourhood only 5-10minutes away. You’d think the customer service would be just as nice but...

Went for winterlicious, and the starters we had were the grilled calamari and chickpea-fried shrimp. Both in my opinion were good, only got two pieces of shrimp which was a little disappointing. For our mains I had the rack of lamb and my boyfriend had the arctic char. I loved my lamb and the garlic mashed potatoes, tried some of my boyfriend's arctic char and it was good too. For dessert we both had the affagato and it was good too. The cookie that we were given I believe was cinnamon with nuts from what we overheard the waiter tell the group beside us, really enjoyed it but was not told of the other option of cookie which was a chocolate cookie? When we were ready to pay we had to go to the front ourselves because we had waited for what seemed like a while and there were only two people serving the entire restaurant. We ordered two drinks as well, a whiskey sour and dark and stormy did not like them very much. All in all it was a decent visit and would probably...

It was too late for me to plan an event for more people since Summerlicious is over soon. So my friend and I enjoyed a fabulous food and service experience. Thank you Nadia for your attentive care and knowledge. The staff here works as a team to enhance your satisfaction. I have discovered that works best in any restaurant. The shrimp appetizer, the salmon entree ( thanks Nadia ) and the chocolate ice cream sandwich desert were divine. I will be looking for the Monkey on Winterlicious, so I can book for my crowd. Last but never least, thank you to the chef and his colleagues who create their food with love. Oh, btw, my friend loved how soft your custom napkins felt. She loved her soup of the day, her chicken entree and lemon meringue dessert! We will...