-
Not just Happy Hour
Here's where I like to come alive after five! And sometimes before five
-
Best Restaurants in T.O. for Healthy…
If you're like me, your life consists of a daily struggle of health decisions, and…
Glow Fresh Grill
Category: Restaurants Canadian (New) Canadian (New) [Edit]
7 Marie Labatte RdUnit E1
Toronto, ON M3C 0J1
(416) 384-1133
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Trendy
- Has TV:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
23 reviews for Glow Fresh Grill
23 reviews in English
-
Review from Pascal P.
Toronto, ON
2/10/2012
I had high hopes for this restaurant. The decor is stunning. I went for a late lupper(lunch/supper) around 4ish. The place was dead. The server that was working was evidently very new to the food service industry. The food was nice just verrryyyyy sssllllooooowwww. The owner came over to our table at the end of our meal with a tray of desserts. He was a great sales men and the dessert that I otherwise wouldn't have gotten was fabulous
Food
Satay platter- 3/5 kind of dry
grilled calamari- 2/5 I asked for lemon on the side which came after it the calamari had long gone cold
Teriyaki salmon- 4/5
Lamb shank - 4/5
repeat- not likely -
Review from jocelyn l.
1/24/2012
we came here on a Monday and were pleasantly surprised to find out that it was 1/2 price wine day on all wines! yay!
there were a few highs here:
- the yummy cracker-bread with the awesome 3 hummus dips- YUM.
- grilled calamari- charred perfectly and yummy
- great ambience, nice server
after that, it was pretty much downhill:
- they were out of Lobster Mac n Cheese for lunch. ummm. i'm pretty sure that's one of your best selling dishes...so maybe you could make more of it? we weren't advised of this until we all wanted to order it (all 3 of us)
- Linguine in pesto sauce with feta cheese which we had to swap out with parmesan instead. Feta Cheese? sounds terrible with Linguine in Pesto sauce. I'd have to say the parmesan was not any better. they dumped WAY too much parmesan in the dish and it was clumpy and WAY too salty
- trio of burgers: they were ok but again WAY too salty coz they didn't come with buns (low carb, i guess)
- Mini Pecan Cheesecake Shot: again WAY too salty. SALTY, you say? Yes, SALTY. it was pretty inedible
After our lunch, i was SO thirsty and parched, it was ridic. I've never felt like that before. i had to drink gallons of water before i felt normal again.
i won't be going back...you can't call yourself a healthy establishment and just liberally dump salt on everything -
Review from Christine R.
Scarborough, ON
1/8/2012 7 photos
Stumbled upon this restaurant while going through the mazes that is the Shops of Don Mills. Came in around 8:30pm on a Saturday night and it was packed. Surprisingly we were seated pretty quickly in a spacious booth towards the back walll.
Decorwise this a really beautiful restaurant. Wood panneling lined the walls, beige banquets and solid wooden tables. This restaurant really glows.....the ceiling looks like a white sandy ocean floor with ripples running through and it glows in different colours.
Our waiter was really friendly and gave us plenty of time to go over the menus. The drinks menu is digital...like on a Ipad sort of device...first time experiencing that at a restaurant but it was very easy to use and pretty cool.
For drinks we started off with a Red Wine Sangria. It was huge....bigger then what I expected in a tall glass with strawberries and oranges floating inside and garnished with a squewer of berries. Refreshing and tasty, I'm glad it was huge.
After we placed our order the waiter brought over a compliamentary amuse bouche.
Toast crisps with cranberries and sunflower seeds with a trio of dips consisting of an artichoke hummus, butternut squash, and pesto. I enjoyed all the dips and loved the crisps...good start to the meal.
Appetizer
Bruschetta Flatbread - Made with 100% whole wheat floor topped with marinated plum tomatoes, goat cheese & fresh basil.
Ample amount of toppings...no skimping on goat cheese here and a nice crisp crust.
Main
Asian Black Cod steamed with black bean sauce, served with asian vegetable stir-fry & aztec rice.
Could possibly be the best fish dish I ever eaten! The Cod was succulent juicy and every morsel was very flavourful. I loved the aztec rice, nutty tasting with a blend of red rice, brown rice, split peas, and lentils. Beautiful presentation and good portion size. Super yummy!
Dessert
The waiter brought over a rack of a whole bunch of mini dessert shots and went over each selection. Great assortment but after I heard the word peanutbutter I stopped listening to the rest.
Chocolate peanut butter shot - Garnished with a pecan and topped with a thick chocolate ganache followed by creamy peanutbutter cheese cake and a chocolate cookie crust...I savoured every bite!
I also snagged a bite of my dates Smores Shot - creamy marshmellow filling, chocolate mousse and graham cracker crust....also very good!
Washed down with tea and coffee. A superberb meal from start to finish! Excellent service, friendly waiter that was attentive throughout the whole meal, and I was shocked that despite how packed the restaurant was, wait times for seats and food were very quick. I definitely recommend checking this restaurant out if you are ever in the Don Mills area. Beautiful decor and a great menu. -
Review from Q H.
North York, ON
11/29/2011 4 photos
This restaurant has a lot of firsts for me. This is the very first restaurant where the decor made us feel like we were in a dance club. This is the very restaurant that gave us nausea due to crowded space and high noise level. And this is the very first restaurant where we waited for more than an hour to get our entrees.
Something about the foods says healthy eats. Not in an exciting way. It tries to utilize the natural flavor of the main ingredient, but it fails miserably. Steaks are cooked well with moist and tender texture, but the flavor isn't really vibrant or rich in its chemistry.
Well... that's about it. If you're shopping there, and you need to eat, I suggest going to the restaurant across the street. I haven't been there, but it can't be this bad. Right? -
Review from Vivian L.
North York, ON
1/2/2012
Decoration/Atmosphere- Pretty and Modern, it's really nice when you sit at the patio in the summer, the seating can be tight, and relatively loud.
Food: I've been there a couple of times, I find their entrees tend to be too salty. I tried the Lobster and Mac and Cheese (I believe what it's called) was too salty. During the summer time, they have tuna tataki or a seared Tuna Steak and it was really good however, they don't serve it during in the winter. For dessert, they have mini cups of cake/pudding/mousse and they are pretty good.
Service: It really depends on who's working. There are really nice, polite, and efficient waiters and also some rude ones. The waitstaff was not very nice. I was actually really disappointed. Our guest were late for the table, however, no matter what, employees should never give weird looks on their faces. They were somewhat rude.
Price: It's pretty desent for the food you get. I think it's a little bit cheaper than Joey's however, I think Joey has better food and service quality. -
Review from Vince B.
Toronto, ON
10/17/2011
I had never been to Glow Fresh Grill and knew nothing about the concept or the place at all, zero expectations, and because another local eatery was full, where we were going to have some fish tacos, my friends and I went to Glow instead.
The first thing I noted was a trying-way-too-hard-to-be-chic decor - not a fan, but what the heck, you might not like my jeans either but that doesn't mean I am a waste of time.
Our waiter was nice enough but I could hardly hear him he spoke so softly, he was certainly no pro - but that is not a deal breaker and I can deal with style anytime and a look-i am-only-here-to-get-outta-school-kinda-waiter.
So - here we go; WINE Yea!. The selection on the menu is rather poor and all selections are minus the vintage. HELLO "Glow Fresh Grill and Wine Bar", just a thought - if you're going to BE a "wine bar" why not BE a wine bar. And then 3 oz glass and 5 oz glass pour offering only and 5 oz for $9 - $14 apparently Glow doesn't make enough $$ on their over priced wine pours to print a menu with the vintage. OK - so they short pour - also not a deal breaker and if I wanted a 9 oz pour I can go to the KEG; check.
For dinner, we had one surf and turf (USDA Choice grilled beef tenderloin & 2 grilled tiger shrimp combo, served with pomme purée, chimichurri sauce & seasonal vegetables $29), one chicken supreme (oven roasted, stuffed with sundried tomatoes & fontina cheese,
served with roasted grape tomato & olive israeli couscous - $21) and one tilapia (lightly seasoned & grilled, topped with roasted tomatoes, kalamata olives & cipollini onions, served with roasted potatoes & asparagus - $20).
The verdict - the presentation was good across the board, however that's where it all ended. The beef was gamey (USDA? Really? Can't find some good Alberta beef or something local from Ontario?) and the shrimp were shrimp - slightly overcooked for me, but not my friend - I like them slightly glassy so I found the nugget he passed to me a bit rubbery, but hey for $29 you can't expect your shrimp to be perfect (where are the sarcastic emoticons when you need them?).
Chicken Supreme - Meh - it was chicken and despite ordering it myself, I thought, wow, how uninspiring is this (I don't typically order chicken but the decor had me worried so I went on safe, besides nothing too daring on this menu).
Tilapia - it also missed the mark and was slightly over cooked (however fish is the most challenging to do exceptionally well). The asparagus was cut and not snapped and that left them with some woody bits, hey but the potatoes we're GREAT.
All 3 of us at dinner would not return or recommend Glow.
If you go order potatoes and have a draft at the bar, at least you'll know the vintage of the beer. -
Review from Patty L.
North York, ON
9/14/2011 6 photos
Earlier this year, my friend phoned me up randomly on a Sunday morning and said he'd be driving in from Hamilton that day so we should do brunch. Well, all the usual places I go to for brunch are downtown so I went about looking for a place that was a little closer to home - and decided on Glow. It's a nice place with a beautiful, chic decor and their brunch prices were reasonable ( although edging towards the slightly overpriced side). I've since forgotten what we ate, but we started with Mimosa's (called Morning Glory's on the menu) and ended with their cute little dessert shots.
I came back this past weekend for a family brunch. I had an aunt visiting from L.A. and she is very particular about trying to eat organic, healthy and fresh so I made a reservation for us here. I booked online using OpenTable and the hostess was expecting us when we arrived and greeted us warmly.
In our party we ordered the following:
Appetizers:
Tomato-Basil Soup: simple, exactly what you'd expect. Not too salty; served with a small slice of baked flatbread with melted cheese.
Grilled calamari: nice alternative to the usual fried stuff. Served with lots of greens & olives bits.
A complimentary Amouse Bouche was brought to the table for us to share. It consisted of house-baked toast with 3 dips: an olive tapanade, hummous and sundried tomato.
Mains:
Philly Cheesesteak Open-Faced Sandwich - hubby devoured this in 5 minutes, so I'll take that as a sign that it was good.
Veal Parmigiana sandwich
Lobster Mac & Cheese - a bit boring, good bits of lobster in it though.
Stir-fried beef with noodles - a huge bowl of noodles with lots of vegges (and beef or chicken depending on what you choose).
There was nothing outstanding about any of the dishes, yet nothing to complaing about either. I liked that everything was served with a lovely fresh salad.
For dessert all of us had one of their dessert shots - the ones I remember are Smores, Lemon Meringue, Strawberry Cheesecake, Pecan Caramel Cheesecake, Chocolate Mint Mousse, 3-chocolate Mousse. All of them are quite sweet so it's a good thing they are small!
In the summer their patio is open with lots of seating facing a little grassy court. The washrooms and a private bookable dining room are located downstairs, accessible by elevator. I really like that there's a hands-free sensor to open the washroom door (so you don't have to touch it after washing your hands!). I didn't find service to be slow, but to be honest I was busy chatting away with friends I hadn't seen in a while.
Overall it was a lovely time out, a nice leisurely meal and if the occasion was right, I would come back here. -
Review from Faye C.
6/18/2011
Was here last night - the selection of food was good, we ordered a pasta (one of the daily specials), I thought it was ok, my friends did not. We also ordered the flatbread (yum), the sliders (also yum - albeit bunless (a plus), and really tasty), We also had the edamame, which was a large plate, but a little heavy on the salt, nothing you can't shake off, and the crab cakes - which were ok (neither this way, nor that). The drinks were good - the mojito was yummy. The girls had the new york cheesecake, a great taster portion, which I would have tried if I liked cheesecake.
The decor is also nice, both outside and in!
PS. The servers were nice enough to move us from an inside table to a patio table as one opened up, and let us keep the same server, which was nice... -
Review from Mariko M.
7/22/2011
The decor of this place is b e a u t i f u l ~ !
It's chic and you quickly feel relaxed in the environment. There's both a patio and an indoor dining area. Unfortunately, that's about it that I think Glow has going for them ...
Came here for lunch today because we happened to find a parking spot right by Glow (Dining Companion has a fractured ankle and can't walk a significant distance). For what is being served, I thought the prices were quite overpriced.
I ordered the grilled calamari appetizer as my main. An hour later, the food isn't sitting well in my stomach (TMI, I know).
It was definitely a 'meh' experience. I can think of five restos off the top of my head that are just as nice and that you can invite your unemployed friend to.
A solid 2 star ~ -
Review from Jenny T.
7/2/2011
My cousin and I completely stumbled upon this place because I always seem to lose my way when trying to get to Congee Star. We decided to try something new instead since we were already at the Shops at Don Mills plaza.
We have never even heard of this place and we really didn't expect the high price tags of the dishes when we walked in. It really doesn't look like the fancy dancy mini portioned dish place from the outside. Even when we ordered our dishes and saw the hefty price tags we still expected huge portions because the food that they had really reminded me of bar food; they have stuff like lobster mac and cheese, steak, pastas, the usual stuff that a Moxie's would have.
To our surprise, the surf and turf dish and pesto pasta dish that we ordered were quite small. We didn't mind too much though, but this may be important to know if you're going with a big eater. The food and service was a-ok, but the extra star is for the ambiance of this place. The patio was perfect when we went and the view was very nice, it wasn't facing a busy sidewalk like how many of the downtown restaurants have their patios situated. The washroom is one of those washrooms that looks clean and zen and they even have a beautiful private dining room in the basement for events.
I like this place because it provided a nice, calming, ambient experience for my cousin and I to relax and have a few drinks and a good chat. -
Review from Sarah H.
Toronto, ON
3/31/2011 1 photo
I have eaten at this restaurant maybe 3 times before last night, but only for lunch. All the previous times I went, I thought the food was great and service was pretty good. Last night, I went there for dinner for a work function, so we had a larger group (I think there were 10 or 11 people).
I have to say, although the food was pretty good, the service....meh. We had a 5:30pm reservation, so it was not busy when we arrived, yet it seemd to take the waiter a long time to take our wine order, bring the wine, and fill up water for everyone. Overall the service wasn't terrible, but it certainly wasn't great.
If you have eaten at Glow before, you know that there is an empahsis on healthy eating. They do this really well, portions large enough to fill you up, keeping everything fairly fresh & healthy. I had the cedar plank salmon with edamame & corn salad.
All in all, I would come back here for lunch (because I work close by) but I wouldn't go back for dinner...unless it was for a specific reason. -
Review from Christine C.
Toronto, ON
7/14/2011 2 photos
Stumbled in; not on purpose.
If given the option I would have rated Glow a whopping 2.5 stars, which would have solely covered points for decor, my comfy green patio chair and the tiny shooter brownie dessert I finished the night off with (desserts always lead to points in this tummy of mine;p).
We arrived and requested seating for two on the patio. The full house somehow prompted the hostess to advise that, "we're full and we don't take reservations", no problem we'll wait; "no miss, we can't hold tables"...hmm, I'm thinking the relationship should have just ended there lol...after 35mins we were seated (ah success!)
The menu was brief and said things like "pomme" instead of apple. I had the cod fish with rice which I could have made better myself (bad news seeing I'm Chief Ramsey's polar opposite). The waitress: I asked, what kind of rice is aztec? Her response, "like rice".....(no comment). We attempted to joke with a few of the wait staff throughout the night and not one person owned a smile, or personality for that matter. And we're gosh-darnit funny people!
It was just all wrong with all the right potential. Shame. Guess that's what they get for having poor branding. "Glow Fresh Grill" with a tomato/onion/beet, what is that?? lol
I would give it another shot; not soon.
**NOTE: 2nd review, ahhhh yeaaaya!** Elite? haha.. -
Review from Karen G.
Toronto, ON
3/30/2011
I was taken to this restuarant for my birthday last year, being told "if you're going to have a big birthday dinner, we'll take you somewhere healthy for lunch".
Glow's value prop is that they offer portioned-controlled meals that use alternate, light ingredients. Ex. the burgers don't come with buns, their sandwiches are open-faced (i.e. 1 side of bread only) and they don't use heavy ingredients like cream or butter. The menu was created by the same woman who created the healthy menu options for Pickle Barrel, but what I don't like is that for some reason Glow doesn't include calorie counts on their menu. Minus one star from me - why not here, at an entire restuarant dedicated to apparent "healthy choice" food items?
On my first occasion, I ordered the sliders and the lobster mac and cheese. I liked how the sliders were each a different meat with different toppings for variety, and they were very flavourful. This was an appetizer, but if you weren't incredibly hungry (and for the price), it could pass for an entree. The lobster mac and cheese was dry and the cheese was tasteless (lacking butter and cream perhaps?) and I barely tasted any lobster at all. It reminded me of Homer Simpson's "hello taste? Are you in there taste?" diet moment. So a hit and a miss on that visit.
The next time I visited, I opted for the open faced philly cheese steak. I had a hard time imagining that this was a low-cal option as it came on a prezel bun loaded with melted cheese. The side salad it came with however had a very light but tasty vinigerette dressing, with fresh berries that were perfectly ripe and juicy. Overall, it was an extremely tasty sandwich and I left feeling good about my waistline.
For the price, the portion sizes on a few of the items just arn't worth it. I appreciate the healthy portion sizes, but can we adjust the price please? The dry, tasteless lobster mac and cheese comes in at a whopping $18 for a portion smaller than my cereal bowl. And it would be great if I could get some calorie counts up in this piece. But overall, the food is decent and I like to think that maybe, just maybe my arse won't be wider for it. -
Review from Angela L.
North York, ON
6/28/2011
After three long years of hard work, long hours at the library studying for exams, and thousands of dollars paid in tuition, my friends and I decided to celebrate our graduation and success at Glow Fresh Grill & Wine Bar.
Located in the heart of Shops at Don Mills (Don Mills Rd and Lawrence Ave), Glow Fresh Grill & Wine Bar, or Glow, is the perfect destination for food, drinks, and a great view from their patio.
Making reservations for Glow was fairly easy and they were very accommodating. Unlike some places, they were able to reserve a table for our party of eight on the day of (I had made the reservations while lining up to walk into our graduation ceremony, 5.5 hours before our dinner reservation). When we arrived at Glow, they had our table already set up, where we had a great view of the outside, could sit comfortably, and could draw the attention of the staff there at anytime.
The menu, created by Rose Reisman (you may recognize her name from Pickle Barrel) had a wide variety of food, from ahi tuna, to veal, to bunless burgers. Their wine and alcohol list was quite extensive, with various wines from all different regions in the world. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to bring my ID, but from what my friends had said, the drinks were pretty good. From the menu, I ordered the summer pasta primavera, and the potato medley, along with an iced tea.
The summer pasta primavera was quite good. It had rigatoni tossed with asparagus, sweet peas, spinach, tomatoes, sliced garlic & white wine aioli, topped with goat cheese The potato medley, however, were a disappointment. It had maple sweet potatoes, parmesan red skins, and herbed fingerlings. Note to self: maple syrup and sweet potatoes do not mix at all.
Some highlights of Glow:
- They gave us an amuse-bouche on the house ("compliments of the chef") that consisted of multi-grain and raisin toast with three kinds of dips/spreads: beet with ricotta, mango, and spinach.
- The server was patient and constantly came back to see if we were doing alright and to take our orders (we took forever to decide what to order plus people were running late)
- The GM came by to see if we were taken care of
Some low lights of Glow:
- They got two of our orders wrong: three of us ordered the same dish and only one came out correct (they forgot to add sauce)
- They didn't offer us dessert (servers should always ask if people want dessert) -
Review from Jennifer K.
Markham, ON
12/1/2010 11 photos
I did not read Yelp reviews for Glow Fresh Grill before going in to the restaurant for lunch... so I don't really know what to expect. But my experience was A-OK!
Empty restaurant for a weekday late lunch. Service of course has to be fast and efficient!! There were like 5 staffs+ and me alone.
The deco is quite nice and chic. Love the outside patio... would be a nice place for some drinks and hang out with friends on those loungers! For the washrooms, you can take an elevator downstairs. At the lower level, there is this private dinning room for at least 20 people that you can have private party arranged.. the room is nicely decorated and cozy too.
The complimentary starter bread with raisins comes with 3 dips.. love the pumpkin, hummus and artichoke were so-so
OK for the food... yes I am starting my Decemburger with a Mediterranean Burger ($14) here. No that photo I took was my burger but bunless... Taste wise I find it A-OK, nicely cooked to medium well and the beef is Angus grounded and really lightly seasoned and with feta cheese on the side. But the sides..those greek potato were cold, however I love the spinach underneath the meat patty.
I don't mind Glow Fresh Grill more healthy concept in their menu... but it will be something to get use to if one used to having a lot of carbs, creamy sauces and tons of salt in everything.Listed in: Burger List!
-
Review from Cindy L.
Toronto, ON
11/18/2010 7 photos
After reading the reviews I was wary to go here, but my sister wanted to try it for her birthday so that is where we went.
The atmosphere is really lovely, decor and setting was amazing and so it was off to a good impression. The first impression I got was it was very modern and chic. So we were greeted by very friendly staff and we ordered our drinks first. I got a cranberry vodka and the vodka was watered down or something because it did not taste how it normally would. After drinks we got three different types of dips along with bread, it was more rough like melba toast almost. The dips were; hummus, carrot and I forgot the other one.
So, we ordered and we got bruschetta as an appetizer; this was the best part of the meal. For entrees, I got the Mushroom chicken supreme; it was average and nothing special to be honest, I have had better. The positives were the chicken was moist, not dry; but the stuffing inside was average and did not meet my expectations. My sister had the Pasta Primavera, she mentioned her pasta was undercooked; and the flavour was not impressive. My cousin ordered the Warm wild mushroom salad, which she was satisfied with. And my other sister ordered Seafood linguine but changed the sauce from pesto to a tomato based sauce. She enjoyed her dish though.
We ended up getting dessert as well. There was a variety of different flavours of desserts; I forgot most of the names as this was a couple of weeks ago. But it was average not worth the price.
I would go again to attempt to try something different. -
Review from Raymond W.
Toronto, ON
1/16/2011
The third restaurant I've visited at Shops on Don Mills, and the third one that had a problem with honouring my reservations. Pretentiousness, or just incompetence? The bloody place was near empty at 10pm on a Saturday night, what the hell was the problem?
So we ended up sitting by the bar, which I immediately saw as the best position throughout the entire first floor, but had to convince my friend so..it was her birthday after all.
So we gather three cruiser tables by the bar, and it turned out great.
Everyone ordered drinks, and they had a fair selection to choose from.
Only one other person was willing to share the wine with me (by willing I mean I told that she was drinking with me), and she left it to me to pick out something "not too dry." If I fail this simple task, I'll never forgive myself.
Thankfully, the cellar had exactly what I was looking for, South American Red. Perhaps the most overlooked gem of all wine connoisseurs. Wine from that region sells for dirt at the LCBO, which is met with no complaint from me. The bottle I ordered was very well received, and my ego went ever-upward.
The waiter came with these mini dessert puddings in shot glasses, priced at three dollars each. I was disappointed with the New York Raspberry Cheese Cake, but very happy with the Dolce something something.
I went downstairs to use the restrooms, nothing special. That is until I saw the private dining room. It was so colourful, crisp, and ridiculously contemporary. It was bloody gorgeous, and made the traditionalist in me feel dirty for admiring such a marble of a room. And it was spacious too. I might just have to plan something there in the near future.
Not romantic, shrewd maybe. I'd come here again. -
Review from Katrina L.
Richmond Hill, ON
5/13/2010 6 photos
Ever since Shops @ Don Mills opened I've frequented Joey Don Mills to satisfy my appetite. Well I've always wanted to try Glow but never got up the nerve since Joey's is a tried and true tested staple, why mess with a great thing? Well it has finally happened, I tried Glow and they failed miserably.
It took a packed Joey's with a wait time of 40+ minutes for the lounge to get me to step into this establishment and even while I was standing at the door with the hostess asking how many people were in my party, I still wanted to run out the door. I should've listened to my instincts.
When walking in, there isn't a standard hostess table, the door opens up to someone's table, correct me if I'm wrong but that isn't exactly the best way to greet a customer and whomever gets that table is just completely shafted. The decor is light wood paneling everywhere and fake plants, it has a very earthy tone which coincides with their healthy menu. The lights drove me insane, they changed from blue lighting (the best) to green light to red light. I felt like I was in a slow motion disco.
When I went to order my drinks, I browsed the drinks' menu, not a lot cocktails but they had the staple bellinis and margaritas. I ordered a mango margarita and was informed that they don't do blended cocktails anymore, in fact, they don't even own a blender...oh boy.
The menu is simply 2 pages or appetizers, salads, meats/poultry/fish and dessert. There wasn't a lot to choose from so I ended up ordering 4 appetizers and sharing. Mussels, lobster mac and cheese, sliders and crab cakes.
I couldn't even tell you which one I hated the worse. They were bland and had no flavour and the sliders didn't even come with buns, they were just the patty. The crab cakes were massive but they tasted like fake crab meat and the lobster mac and cheese didn't have any butter or cream in it and I couldn't even taste the lobster. The best thing (imo) were the mussels. They did have a slight fishy taste but it wasn't unbearably fishy tasting, it just tasted like you were eating seafood.
Not only was the food horrible and bland but the prices were outrageous. I almost fell off my chair when the bill came and the most expensive app...not the crab cakes or even the lobster mac and cheese...it was the bunless sliders for $14! That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
The only thing that made the evening bearable was the server. He was wonderful, I give him two thumbs up and he made my evening enjoyable even though the food was terribly awful. He was funny and conversed well and he knew what he was talking about.
I never got the try an entree but realistically, I highly doubt it would've been any better than the appetizers and I'll never get to try them because I will never ever ever ever come back to this place EVER again! I don't care how long the wait is at Joey's, I'll starve before I eat at this place again. -
Review from Julia H.
East York, ON
9/15/2010
Opened by Pickle Barrel, Glow is meant to be this new healthy eating restaurant that ensures you do not over indulge on certain foods. They have burgers that are served bunless and a side of salad - so make sure you read the fine print prior to order to ensure you get what you want.
The food is ok, not memorable. The atmosphere and decor is beautiful. And the service was not bad - after hearing all the horror stories I thought we would be getting terrible service.
They also have these 100 calories shooter glass desserts that are cute, but also not memorable in taste.
I think this place is probably good for a drink (for the atmosphere and decor), but not so much for their food. -
Review from j p.
North York, ON
6/24/2011
I live by the Shops at Don Mills, so my brother and I frequently go to the restaurants there. We mostly go to Joey's and Fabbrica. Went to Linda's once, which was an amazing experience, but I don't often crave Thai food, and Jack Astor's a couple times when we felt like having standard American food.
My brother wanted to try out Glow for a while, but we never went since I'm a vegetarian and they had nothing on the menu without meat except for salads (I even called and asked to make sure). A long time passed and we kept checking their menu to see if there was an actual entree I could eat that I felt like eating. Finally there was, it was some veggie burger that I was didn't mind trying, so we went in.
Whenever we go to the Shops at Don Mills we always go to Teaopia and get a drink to have while we're waiting for a seat, then finish the little bit that's left in the restaurant and order drinks after that. None of the other restaurants minded or said a word about it, even Fabbrica. This time Teopia messed up our order, so we had an extra cup of tea to drink.
Well apparently there was no wait time for Glow, and they were going to seat us about 5 minutes after we arrived. The waitress brought us to our table first before telling us we couldn't have outside drinks. Now I'm completely aware that there are places that don't allow you to bring outside drinks, but seriously, we had three almost filled drinks in our hands and the waitress looked at us awkwardly expecting us throw them all out. We just said screw this and left.
We decided to go back to our default at Joey's, but the wait was 40 minutes. At this point we were starving, so we sucked it up and drank all 3 cups of tea and went back.
Well we were seated immediately again, however we waited FOREVER for service. We ordered just water out of spite (yes, we're immature like that). I looked at the menu and noticed the veggie burger in the outside menu wasn't even listed on the actual menu they gave us. So I was stuck with getting some pasta with garlic and white wine aioli with goat cheese, even though I'm not a big fan of pasta that lacks a good serving of sauce. We ordered burrata as an appetizer, and my brother got some kind of chicken dish.
Again, waited forever for our food.
The burrata was amazing, but how can you screw up burrata anyway (unless it goes bad)? My brother said his chicken was okay. My pasta was not good though. The garlic and white wine aioli was practically non-existent. It was essentially just plain pasta that was dry and flavorless. Then only thing that made it tolerable was the sparse amounts of goat cheese that i had to evenly eat in small proportions so I didn't run out of it and have 3/4 of a plate of plain pasta. We also had a side of potatoes, which sounded flavorful on paper, but were dry and plain. I also had an empty glass of water for a very long time.
After that, there was no dessert menu. They just brought out a pretty holding device with a bunch of dessert shooters. I really wish they had just given dessert menus instead, because not only did they all look similar (where the visual aspect really did nothing to contribute to the decision-making process of choosing flavors), but there were maybe about 10 of them or so that the waitress recited to us. We had to ask what each one was about 3 times, and being the indecisive people that we are, we had a hard time choosing on the spot and felt really pressured to pick them.
We ended up getting 4, at $3 each, which was quite overpriced for what they were. Some were better than others. I liked the strawberry shortcake, my brother liked the cheesecake. S'mores was a bit heavy and the key lime pretty much tasted like a creamer version of key lime pie sans crust.
Overall, it was not a good experience, mostly based on the fact that we had to wait so long for lackluster food. I felt bad that we gave a small tip (we're usually big tippers) to the waitress because she was polite, but the service (not just the food, but also with checking up on us, taking our plates, filling our water, etc.) was just way too slow for a restaurant that wasn't even at maximum capacity. -
Review from M. C. F.
North York, ON
6/11/2010
This is a new place in the California-style outdoor mall called Shops on Don Mills. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon and the massive patio caught my eye and was inviting enough with its sleek lines, wicker chairs, and contemporary design to get me to considering eating there. The restaurant itself aims for that uber chic and modern look and feel, but it feels a bit forced (a la Moxie's).
The food is middle of the road. I tried their mini-burgers (turkey, beef, and lamb) for an appetizer and they were well cooked yet moist and well garnished. I also had their goat cheese salad which was filling but felt a bit like what I could whip together at home as opposed to find in a trendy restaurant.
Drinks were well made but service was a bit lacking. The manner, approach, and general demeanor of the staff made it feel like service was a bit of an after thought. Still, the patio is great and definitely makes this place worth visiting again at some point.
Beware that like most establishments of this type, you will overpay for your meal by about 25% compared to what you'd expect to pay for equivalent food. -
Review from Joy S.
Woodbridge, ON
5/19/2010
It was a family brunch.
There was 12 of us in total and had a table reserved for 11am. We were at a big table outside on the patio. The interor of the restaurant was very nice same with the patio, it was huge with tones of tables and some tables even had fancy couches you can sit with groups of people.
The waiter came 15min after we sat down.
After he took our orders the drinks finally came another 15min after. He even forgot a few and took another 10min to get the rest of the drinks.
The food took over an hour to get to our table.
The 2 children for their food 30min before everyone and when they finished eatting we still hadnt even got ours..
When the food finally came at around 1230ish..it was warm and didnt all come out at the same time. 2 plates came out every like 5minutes..
The food overall we all thought was OK..
It was a vegeterian restaurant which was a bonus of most of the vegeterians at the table but it wasn't anything great for the price we were paying and the location it was in.
I give it a 1 star only because the restaurant was really neat looking!
The service was horrible.
The food was ok. -
Review from Meryl T.
Toronto, ON
5/24/2010
Please stay away from this eatery unless you want to settle for mediocrity and be ripped off. Awful experience...the wait for the food to arrive...40 mins...food is horrible. If you can't make simple dish like mac n cheese albeit this one with lobster, u better close shop. It's too watery and tasteless. Where's the cheese. Please if you try to be hip like macbar in nyc where they have fancy and gooey mac n cheese, this is soo bad for $14 ( small portion). My husband ordered the pasta special for the evening...whole wheat with chicken. It was served luke warm and pasta not al-dente and also tasteless. My daughter ordered the fish special - grouper with lentil and arugula. Sooo salty the lentil and the fish (bland) is 2 inches and 1 inch wide. ( $30). way overpriced, dude. The chilean seabass you get in McCormick and Schmick's ($24) is fresh, melt in your mouth and good portion. My son had the lamb chops...it was okay and he was hungry after the long wait. In conclusion, that was one overpriced dinner, retarded, service sucks as the manager came to clear our dishes and did not even ask us how was the food and did not ask whether we would like more wines when he cleared our wine glasses??? Please, if you are the owner or share holders of this joint, please hire professional servers and managers to justify the price and ambiance of the place. Oh yes, fire the chef as well. I give 1 star as the patio is pretty nice and comfortable. I want my money back.8(
