Toronto Beach Club — Restaurant in Toronto

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE GOING!!!

TL;DR: My partner and I went to celebrate his birthday dinner and was terribly disappointed with the service. The food was good. However, the service provided by our server was terrible throughout, he attempted to scam us when he entered the wrong amount multiple times into the machine, demanded specifically for a large tip upon payment, and also he smelled intoxicated throughout our interactions during the night. Please do not ruin your night by going here.

If I could put half star or zero, I would. The food we ordered was not bad as we ordered a whole piri piri chicken, fritto misto and lebanese rice which we truly enjoyed. However, our experience at the restaurant was ruined by the worst service that my partner and I had have ever experienced in Toronto to date and we have frequented many restaurants at Shang Ri La, Ritz Carlton etc.

Firstly, when we walked into the restaurant, there was nobody there to greet us. The hostess assisted us to our table but we did not feel very welcomed at all. On our way to the restaurant, we contacted the manager so that they can prepare our table and our food order as we were celebrating my partner's birthday.

When we arrived to our table, our server came with no smile or polite greeting. From the get go, the service was callous and the attitude felt very cold which honestly did not initially bother us because we were more focused on celebrating my partner's birthday dinner.

Next, we ordered a bottle of champagne and to no surprise the server served it with the same mood as what he showed to us when we got seated at the table. The food was then served which was delicious but our mood was starting to get affected by the server's throughout the dinner.

My partner went away from the table for a short while and I asked the waiter politely if I could order a slice of cake with candles for my partner's birthday. The server said that the kitchen was closed in a rude manner. In my mind, I was just thinking that the cake should just be in a fridge and it's not like they were required to bake a new cake. So when they said that the "kitchen is closed" with the same nasty attitude again, I felt disappointed.

After the meal, I asked my partner to dance with me. While we were on the dance floor, the DJ approached us and told us, "If there is someone that I wanted to dance on the dance floor with my music here who were at the tables, that'll be you folks". He kept on thanking us for coming here and we appreciated that a lot. He was a DJ but he showed us more grace and hospitality than the server that was responsible of taking care of us that night.

The next thing that happened was the most bothering and terrible of all night. So before leaving the table to dance, we asked for our bill. While we were dancing, we misplaced our receipt which we later found in our pockets. When we asked the waiter if he could bring another bill, he ignored our request and entered an amount in the machine without checking with the system or getting us a new receipt.

Unacceptably, he tried to charge us significantly more than what we should pay as per the amount on the bill while smelling like alcohol. After correcting him multiple times and politely asked him to check the system again, he put in the right amount with a disgruntled attitude. Then, he had the audacity to ask for a large tip and kept peeking over our shoulders to see how much we are tipping.

My partner and I always tip if we know they deserved it for the minimum of 25% but this waiter should be thankful that we gave him 15% after he gave us terrible service, callous attitude and even tried to scam us repeatedly. He thanked us SARCASTICALLY for tipping 15% which we found to be very crude. We gave one star because the food was delicious and the DJ was kind to us. I hope this will not happen to any of your customers because it's very unfortunate to have experienced this on my partner's birthday which was supposed to be a special day of...

You can’t go wrong with one of their hot mezze that comes with a grilled pita to start. The bread arrives hot and fresh, puffed to perfection so that it’s crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, dusted with spices. They accompany the smoked eggplant ($16), a decent portion of warm soft legume that would have been amazing if the walnut and olive relish weren’t so sour that even the pomegranate molasses’ sweetness couldn’t balance it out. Maybe it’s me, but I prefer my eggplant savoury.

Their jamon iberico ($36) was sliced into respectable sized slices, the prized pig’s cured slightly sweet essence bursting on the tongue. Not quite a melt-in-your-mouth as what you’ll find in Spain, these were nonetheless tasty and worth a nibble if you appreciate a good charcuterie.

Of the three starters the sea bream crudo ($21) was my favourite. Thick meaty slices of white fish topped with citrus caviar (segments of finger lime) and chili sitting in what looks like a fiery olive oil but is rather delicate. The crudo was perfectly seasoned and wonderfully tasty, a lovely summery dish to enjoy while sitting outdoors.

Toronto Beach Club’s lamb chops ($45 for the half order shown) were cooked perfectly. So, it’s such a shame that they were too salty and requires some tableside knife skills. The seasoning needs to be toned down as the outer chops made me reach for water and since the marinated yogurt was also salted, together they were way too much. It’d be nice if the kitchen also considers the table size when finishing the dish: our four chops were only cut in half for a 3-top, which means you need to portion them yourself when they arrive. It likely helps the meat retain its heat and juices better, but it’s also a bit difficult to cut through the chops on a big platter with all the yoghurt and garnishes. The age-old joke of “how many people does it take to…?”, let me just say it is not one.

Thank you to Parv for this picture Where they really excelled was the grilled seafood. Their fileted black sea bass ($36) had such a lovely, charbroiled exterior and was still delicately done inside. While it comes with a choice of sauce (we chose the harissa butter), it’s fantastic by itself.

Sides need to be ordered separately and are more than sufficient to share amongst three. The French fries ($12) are a safe choice – nice and crisp, dusted with oregano and salt and comes with truffle aioli for dipping. Yet, what really caught our attention was the grilled broccolini ($19): cooked until crisp and covered with pecorino-ramano, pangrattato, and calabrain chili creating such a lovely almost creamy sauce with a hit of heat to end. Do get yourself some greens.

Just make sure to save room for dessert as their baklava ($12-$15) is a must. I love that it wasn’t soaked in syrup, rather the perfect amount to add sweetness but still leave the puff pastry crispy and not oily feeling. The two pieces are sandwiched between a frozen cream layer. If this isn’t the ultimate ice cream sandwich, I don’t know what is. The strawberry crostata ($12-$15) paired nicely with it – the pastry a cross between a shortbread and cake and topped with ample sweet strawberries and a cold scoop of...

Just went in for a few cocktails, so wasn't able to try any food, but everything coming out of the kitchen looked great! The atmosphere was bright and elevated while being comfortable. All of the staff seemed great except for the young man behind the bar (we sat at the bar). Ordered our first two cocktails and they were perfectly made by the shorter female bartender. The Butterfly Effect in particular was very well balanced and delicately garnished. We went to try one more cocktail that the young man made and we found quite a bit wrong. The Far Niente looks like it should have been a riff on a Gibson martini, but there was no vermouth present, they were out of their smoked cocktail onion so it was served garnishless and the truffle salt that was supposed to be rimmed with the drink was black pepper which was listed on another cocktail. When he came back to check in with us, I mentioned that I thought there were a few things wrong, and he challenged me back on every aspect I mentioned. I'm not a difficult customer, and rarely make a fuss but this cocktail was just a glass of slightly chilled gin. Both my partner and I work the service industry, we are both cocktail bartenders, and I've never seen someone insist that a customer was wrong like this. He begrudgingly asked if I wanted him to remake it, but he already expressed that he didnt see anything wrong with how it was made in the first place, so no, that would be a waste of more gin. The shorter female server stepped in and said we could make another cocktail as well. We opted for the Ole which the young man made us, and again, was garnished incorrectly, didn't include mint, and tasted like he topped up a margarita with ginger beer. That drink was comped, but if I'd had to pay $25 (+ tax and tip) for the Ole, I would have been disappointed. Clearly the shorter woman knew what she was doing in the cocktail world, so I don't know if she was just swamped or they were trying to train new staff, but it seemed like the young male bartender was more used to pouring wine or shots or draft beers, than cocktails. It's fine if you're training staff or learning new skills, but if you get pushback from a paying customer on an experience, dont respond by insisting that its the customers lack of knowledge or understanding. I live a 5 min walk up the road and my partner and I were excited to celebrate with some nice cocktails at a new place, and the first half of our experience was wonderful. The second half left much to be desired and was enough that the next day we are still shocked and disappointed enough that we will most likely not be returning. A shame. A beautiful space, calming environment, and super local in an area of the city where well done cocktails are...