When I saw this restaurant, the first thing that came out of my mouth was “what happend to my favourite furniture store”. You see, Destingo has replaced a furniture store that I use to check out. Not sure if I ever bought anything but I certainly did like this store.

When I told this to our charming waiter..he replied “well now we can become your favourite Italian restaurant”. Cute reply.

Here’s why I would recommend this restaurant:

Destingo offers their patrons SPACE. I love the fact that your table isn’t two inches from the table next to you!! Plus there’s an open kitchen for foodies like me who like to see the chefs in action (when I’m not eating…of course)

I went to Rock Lobster Food Co. on Ossington back in the winter and was totally blown away by their epic Rock Lobster Caesars. I had read that a second location had opened on Queen W and knew that I wanted to go check it out (like a good foodie) Once I read Abbey’s Kitchen blog post about the Queen W. location,  I knew that I wanted to visit sooner than later.

When I heard my mom was arriving from Ottawa on the 7 pm bus, I mentioned to her that we would be enjoying some Lobster Love for dinner. She was just as eager as I was to head to Rock Lobster Food Co. on Queen W.

Here’s a picture of  us with those epic Rock Lobster Caesars.

The menu includes many other delicious sounding cocktails but I can’t stop ordering the Rock Lobster Caesar.  There’s a part of me that really wants to try the other cocktails and another part of me that just wants to have this lobster caesar each time I visit!! #firstworldproblems

We ordered:

Peel and Eat Shrimp – which were plump, fresh, meaty and served COLD. I’m thrilled I ordered this dish.

We also shared the Lobster Poutine (Nova Scotia Lobster, hand cut fries, Quebec Curds and Lobster Bisque Gravy). I love poutine so this was not hard for me to enjoy!!

Naturally, we ordered  the Lobster Roll as well (Nova Scotia Lobster, Yukon chips and McClure’s Pickle). I will describe this in one word: YUMMY.

Now that I’ve shared with you what we ate I would like to talk about the space. To begin with – it’s a much bigger space than their  Ossington  location. This is great news for those of us who aren’t fond of line ups!!

Here’s a photo of the space (kudos to the designer).

 What appealed to me (besides the food and the cocktails) was the fact that we could take advantage of the summer and sit on the outside patio. Again, whoever designed the space thought of every little detail.

As for the service: our waitress Renee was completely charming and was super friendly and attentive too. She had the type of energy you would like to see in every waitress that serves you.

I’m sure I will be returning to try: more cocktails and the Steam Whistle Steampot. Who want’s to join me?

For more information:

Rock Lobster Food Co

Twitter: @rocklobsterfood

Instagram: Rocklobsterfoodco

Facebook: www.facebook.com/rocklobsterfoodco

118 Ossington Ave, Toronto 416 533 1800

538 Queen St. West Toronto  416 203 6623

ps please note that each location has different hours and different menus too.

 

My friends wanted to take me out for my birthday, so it seemed appropriate to select a new restaurant for the occasion!  After a bit of research, we decided to go to Lisa Marie which just opened up last week.

Here’s what the space looks like.

We were warmly greeted by Matt Basile (who also owns Fidel Gastro’s) and sat down at a lovely table by the window. Service was brilliant. We had a great waiter who answered all our questions, filled our water glasses regularly and was extremely attentive.

As for the menu – a nice variety of “small plates” that are meant to be shared. (which we did)

We ordered 4 different items that all arrived on one plate. Please note, that larger “plates” were offered but we chose not to order any.

Lisa Marie is also serving some goodies for guests to take home, which I think is a brilliant idea.

I also love how Matt knows a thing or two about Social Media. See what I mean?

Congratulations to the whole team at Lisa Marie. I’m sure this restaurant is going to be a hit on Queen St. West.

Plus I want to thank my friends for taking me out for my birthday. It was such a treat.

For further information:

Lisa Marie 838 Queen West, Toronto ON  (647) 748-6822

 

 

For some reason Fresh was never on my radar. I figured “why would I go to a restaurant to have vegetarian food I could make at home?”. Well I WAS WRONG. (in a big way).

My friend introduced me to their Buddha bowl a few months ago and then another friend gave me the Fresh cookbook as a dinner gift. Clearly this was a sign that I should go again. Infact it was the perfect restaurant to visit seeing as I am trying to follow a carb free diet (14 days and counting – thank you very much).

We started off the meal, with the quinoa battered onion rings. I was totally blown away with these onion rings. They were crunchy and hefty. What a wicked way to start our meal.

My boyfriend ordered the bbq burger which was served in a wrap and not a bun. The bbq burger is described as having a tangy bbq sauce, garlic mayo, quinoa rings, napa cabbage, hot bananas chilies, tomato and lettuce. It was not your ordinary veggie burger!

I ordered the Italian Raw Bowl which is described as zucchini noodles tossed with a basil pesto, garnished with kale chips, grape tomatoes and sun dried tomatoes. This totally appealed to me.

We would both order the same items again in a heart beat!!

There is clearly a reason why Fresh has been around since 1989. They are serving FRESH food with interesting flavors. Plus we had a lovely waitress who made sure we had plenty of water and was happy to answer our questions.

Locations:

Fresh on Bloor: 326 Bloor West (416) 599-4442…twitter @FreshonBloor

Fresh on Spadina: 147 Spadina (416) 599-4442…twitter @FreshonSpadina

Fresh on Crawford: 894 Queen West (416) 599-4442…twitter @FreshonCrawford