Toast — Restaurant in Durham

This place is awesome in that they use real glassware, silverware, plates and bowls. The venue was clean and trendy with plenty of character and located in the heart of Durham.

This is about all of the positive things I can say about Toast to be honest. We went to dine inside. Ordering was done outside prior to entering which is also fine. The gentleman taking the order was not fine. He was condescending to one of our party when she asked a question - he pedantically read the portion of the menu that answered her question and made her embarrassed. He also said to each guest "I assume you are okay to add %20 to your bill to support the servers who bill be serving you".. the tone was such that you didn't know if you should just walk away and leave or be a mouse and say "yes". It was a bad vibe.

I ordered the Rapini with Sweet Italian Sausage and a bowl of the white bean soup. While everyone has different tastes, to me the soup tasted like Honeycomb Cereal (I have not eaten Honeycomb cereal for about 40 years but still remember it). A bunch of pepper later and it was "okay". The sandwich, while looking awesome, had large chunks of gristly meat in it that in no way was in the same timezone as "Sweet Italian Sausage". It was genuinely hard to chew and I had to hork those pieces into my mouth and pretend it was something worth eating.

In hindsight I should have returned my meal and given clear feedback. This is my fault and a lesson learned for me. TBH, I was concerned it would become a debate with the staff. It is hoped that the leadership at Toast will also listen and learn that snarky or presumptuous staff is an instant "not going back" coupled with food that was far below the...

After hearing a lot of hype about Toast, I was excited to try it for myself. I ordered an assortment of crostini and a bowl of soup. The food was alright. I wouldn't call it gourmet by any means, but the pairings were somewhat creative and it was properly cooked. My primary issue was with the prices and what I felt was an apparent effort at cost reduction at the expense of quality. The crostini that boasted goat cheese had a single, pea-sized grain of goat cheese on it. The bulk of the dish was a sweet salsa. The crostini that advertised bacon and Gorgonzola was equally as sparse - it was very apparent that the kitchen was making a concerted effort to limit the more expensive ingredients, and at the relatively high price point I felt a bit cheated by this. The soup I ordered was described on the menu as a rich onion with a gratin of cheese. I suppose there may have been some cheese sprinkled on top - you had to look closely to spot it, though. All of this might have been made a bit more acceptable if some of my money had gone toward impeccable service - but this is actually a place where you order at the register, are given a number and your food is brought to your table in one fell swoop. You grab your own canned drinks from a Coke cooler. There is no service to speak of, and so it feels that my money could have been better utilized elsewhere - if I'm paying $16 for a bowl of soup and some crostini, I expect a little more pizzazz. It was grossly apparent that I was paying to experience hype, and...

I was staying down the street so it was a very easy half mile walk. I saw really good reviews online and I wanted brunch. Lol. I like trying and experiencing new things(food related only lol) and decided on Toast because of what I saw on the menu. Had my order taken outside but I felt like eating indoors. Had a glass of white and ordered the 3 crostinis and a cup of soup. 1. Goat cheese with local honey and pepper. 2. Chicken liver with bacon and onion. 3. Garlicy mushrooms with thyme and gorganzola. The soup thay I chose was a arborio rice, summer squash & asiago. I also ordered the shrimp and sunchoke salad for later. Service was decent and the food arrived within about 15 mins or so, so not that bad of a wait at all...The soup was divine! Very creamy and lots of flavor. Out of the three crostini the goat cheese was my absolute favorite. They were all delicious, that one was just my favorite. When it comes to the shrimp salad: Oh.My.Gosh. 🤤🤤🤤. Tons of pieces of shrimp, chopped sunchokes(yum), celery, etc. with their housemade aioli that seems to have the exact amount of lemon in it. I ordered it as an after thought, but I am not regretting my decision at all. 😍😍 I am definitely going to go back the next time I visit Durham. I found my new favorite brunch spot....