Pretentious Restaurants

[james t kirk]

pre·ten·tious
/priˈtenCHəs/

adjective
adjective: pretentious

attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed.



I nominate - Edulis

Fuck me, this place is just off the scale.

I had read good reviews of the place in the Globe and Mail. and had been hoping to try it out for quite some time. But every time I called, it was always one problem or another with them. Anything from being on vacation (for a month) to fully booked ("sniff, don't you know who we are, sniff, you have to book 6 weeks out, sniff").

Finally, the stars aligned and I got a reservation, (after she hemmed and hawed on the phone about 2 weeks not being enough notice), and (sniff) "I need the table back by 8:45 (no problem as I'm not one who enjoys a 4 hour dinner anyway.)

The comes the meal and the off the richter scale impatient waiter.

(And reminded that they need the table back by 8:45, (fine, it's your job to ensure that the meal moves along accordingly.)

sniff

Here's the best part.

The food was OK. Not great, just OK. I've had far better with a lot less attitude. The place is nothing to write home about from a menu point of view (2 versions of a tasting menu) and desert totally was terrible.

AND, sniff, they don't serve coca cola, sniff. (How positively boorish of me to ask.)

I'm getting tired of pretentious attitude in Toronto restaurants.

 

[GameBoy27]

I'm getting tired of pretentious attitude in Toronto restaurants.

Haven't been to Edulis and it's not on my TDL. But the nice thing about Toronto is you've got plenty good ones to choose from.

 

[TESLAMotors]

Any and all venues around Lakeshore and Trafalgar, trust me, I live there.

Except one, Southside Cottage Grill - very cool interior, reasonable prices, pretty good food, nice venue, great hangout.
But a few of the clientele can be pretentious fucks, but I ignore them as much as possible.

 

[Insidious Von]

Lakeshore-Trafalgar has my vote.

Tiberius, may I suggest the rabbit pie at The Queen and Beaver, it will set you right.

http://queenandbeaverpub.ca/

 

[steven324]

Terroni is pretentious. Great food, I eat there a lot, but it's ruled by fascists. No aspartame. No substitutions or alterations. No reservations. No balsamic vinegar, and they won't even cut your pizza. The staff are pretty cool though, in that I don't give a fuck about anything, especially you, type of way.

 

[MissCroft]

AND, sniff, they don't serve coca cola, sniff.

What about pepsi?

Seriously though, that sounds brutal. Never even heard of this place and if that's their attitude don't think I will ever go. I found Rosewater Supper Club (does it still exist?) to be similar. Went there a while back...no problems getting a reservation as the place was almost empty. Depsite the fact that they were empty, service was reaallllyy slow, the food not all that great and a holier-than-thou attitude from the waiter. These places (hopefully) will learn when people stop going.

 

[Serpent]

I'm getting tired of pretentious attitude in Toronto restaurants.

That's why I don't go high end anything in Toronto. I'll be at Keens in NYC and Sushi Yasuda couple of weekends from now. Then I'll savor the memories while on a patio at a pub here.

Toronto is overrated in every which way.

 

[TeasePlease]

That's why I don't go high end anything in Toronto. I'll be at Keens in NYC and Sushi Yasuda couple of weekends from now. Then I'll savor the memories while on a patio at a pub here.

Toronto is overrated in every which way.

There is nothing in Toronto that is high end. Only ones who pretend to be high end.

The good news is that we are beginning to see a true emergence of creative food culture. We are blessed the much variety, and chefs who aspire to make great food without the pretense.

We simply have so much choice that we don't have to suffer idiots.

 

[George The Curious]

The worst expensive restaurant: http://www.echinacities.com/Beijing/city-guide/Pyongyang-Restaurant

 

[Serpent]

There is nothing in Toronto that is high end. Only ones who pretend to be high end.

The good news is that we are beginning to see a true emergence of creative food culture. We are blessed the much variety, and chefs who aspire to make great food without the pretense.

We simply have so much choice that we don't have to suffer idiots.

Exactly. I'd rather go to this place than any place recommended by a fawning media guy in Toronto.

http://hopgoodsfoodliner.com/

For high end - take a $250 flight to NYC and go to 11 Madison Park.

 

[George The Curious]

That's why I don't go high end anything in Toronto. I'll be at Keens in NYC and Sushi Yasuda couple of weekends from now. Then I'll savor the memories while on a patio at a pub here.

Toronto is overrated in every which way.

AS the city gets expensive, so do the restaurants and cafes, and people tends to become more snob. I stay away from places like San Francisco. I'm afraid Toronto is turning into San Francisco North.

 

[Serpent]

AS the city gets expensive, so do the restaurants and cafes, and people tends to become more snob. I stay away from places like San Francisco. I'm afraid Toronto is turning into San Francisco North.

SF has millionaires on every street corner. What does Toronto have? It's not even in the same league as San Francisco.

Toronto is somewhere between Boston and Philly.

 

[legmann]

I used to love, but can barely stand College, Queen West, and The Danforth. The strips themselves are fantastic - it's the crowds that frequent them.

 

[afterhours]

AND, sniff, they don't serve coca cola, sniff.

that is actually pretty cool. I'll try to check it out.

 

[DB123]

Shame, I was mildly curious to see what was in this thread...
First of all half of you sound totally obnoxious and pretentious. "Boo hoo, despite the hundreds of high end restaurants in the city, none meet my exacting standards". Wow...that none of you see the irony in your posts is frightening.

Second, to actually contribute something beyond faux/nouveau riche douchery, Burger King. Who the fuck anointed you? Probably just an Earl or some shit. Pretentious prick...

 

[Serpent]

Shame, I was mildly curious to see what was in this thread...
First of all half of you sound totally obnoxious and pretentious. "Boo hoo, despite the hundreds of high end restaurants in the city, none meet my exacting standards". Wow...that none of you see the irony in your posts is frightening.

Second, to actually contribute something beyond faux/nouveau riches douchery, Burger King. Who the fuck anointed you? Probably just an Earl or some shit. Pretentious prick...

What are you babbling about?

Burger King is fine (though In n Out is the best!) but it's the value for money in terms of service and food quality that's being discussed. Just like people discuss quality of service from a bank or a telecom and the money they pay for the product and service.

 

[DB123]

Literally none of your posts in this thread do that. Which begs the question: what are YOU babbling about?

 

[james t kirk]

To say that Toronto doesn't have a huge number of really great restaurants is absurd and simply not true.

I love going to good restaurants and I'm quite willing to pay the price. I love unique and original food and it's a quality thing every time with me (not quantity).

But I hate attitude and that seems to be more and more prevalent in the restaurant industry in Toronto. My experience at Edulis was brutal in terms of attitude and the food wasn't that great frankly. It was a case of "good, but won't repeat" (and I'm talking about just the food here, if you factor in the attitude, I'll never go back. Ever.)

 

[james t kirk]

What about pepsi?

Seriously though, that sounds brutal. Never even heard of this place and if that's their attitude don't think I will ever go. I found Rosewater Supper Club (does it still exist?) to be similar. Went there a while back...no problems getting a reservation as the place was almost empty. Depsite the fact that they were empty, service was reaallllyy slow, the food not all that great and a holier-than-thou attitude from the waiter. These places (hopefully) will learn when people stop going.

No soft drinks of any sort. I'm not a drinker. Never have been. And fine wine? It's all gasoline to me.

I just prefer a soft drink. (And sometimes, as in the case of Edulis, the waiter sometimes bristles when you order a soft drink as opposed to an expensive bottle of wine)

They had these "home made" soft drinks, which I tried, which tasted like soap.

So I just switched to water.

 

[james t kirk]

That's why I don't go high end anything in Toronto. I'll be at Keens in NYC and Sushi Yasuda couple of weekends from now. Then I'll savor the memories while on a patio at a pub here.

Toronto is overrated in every which way.

You're just a well known Toronto basher on this site, so, frankly, your opinion counts for shit.