John "The Bear" F.'s Profile

Have visited twice.  Resonable AYCE sushi buffet.  The non-sushi items include very good yakitori and teriyaki.  Sushi seems quite fresh and was very tasty on both our visits.  Nothing terribly unusual but all of the items were good.

Decor is extremely plain, but the bright green paint livens the place up.

The servers are very sweet but haven't quite gotten everything together yet and have some issues with knowledge of the menu.

I have to disagree with Mike S.  - I DO feel it compares favourably with Central Park!  As a resident of the area, I feel highly privileged to have it on my doorstep.  As Aeryn stated, it offers lots of recreation opportunities but there are nice places to stroll and gardens as well.

I'd rank it above Chicago's major park, Lincoln Park, as it seems to have more offerings plus its square-ish shape makes it much more convenient.   (Same is true in comparison to Central Park, which has a very elongated footprint).

Dismal.  Ugly interior primarily inhabited by worn looking old people and shady looking characters.  The Zellers is quite small.  Parking set-up is inconvenient.  The center area of the mall has a large empty space which looks  like a good setting for a Romero zombie movie - I can picture them all hanging out in there munching.

The non-anchors are tawdry cheap looking junk stores.

I only went here because I needed to go to the PetValu since my local one did not have what I was looking for.  Since I now know it has a separate outside entrance, I don't need to darken the doors of this creepy place again.

I was a long-term Costco customer in Chicago and then transferred my membership to Canada.  The Canadian stores are similar to those in the US, for the most part.  Of course, prices are more, even after currency conversion, and there is no booze, wine or beer (Illinois allows these to be sold by any food merchant) but mostly it's the same stuff.

Don't go expecting an enormous variety of choices.  Their stores are big because of the breadth of categories and because of the amount of inventory, not because of depth of selection in any category.

Another thing to remember is not to be intimidated by what seem like long lines - they are not actually that long as folks buy a lot of large clunky stuff which makes the line stretch out.  

As for service here, the checkers are excellent - much better than the ones at my former Chicago Costco.  Very friendly and helpful.  I'd like to see the folks at the Pharmacy have a bit more command of English however.

Also, be aware that they have a lot more online offerings if you join.  It's good for electronics and computers assuming they happen to carry what you are looking for.  Furniture, however, even the more expensive stuff, generally looks a bit off or cheesy.

As for the food, look for bargains on cheese, yoghurt and other dairy items.  Ignore the produce - you can generally buy it both cheaper and better at local product markets.  Their frozen pasta is very good.  Costco always has excellent meat, especially beef.  Another recommendation is their sheet cakes, which are quite good, very reasonable and only require a one-day turnaround for decoration.

Remember that they don't take Visa or Mastercard.  Bring cash, a debit card or American Express.

Kind of a clone of a Swiss Chalet or St. Hubert, but with a bit wider menu.  Not spectacular but not bad.

This location has the advantage of being large and the aisles are spacious unlike some of their more urban stores.  Parking is always easy here, even at busy times.

Not being Asian myself, I visit more as a tourist.  It is very large and quite fun, though as other reviewers pointed out, the stores tend to be a bit repetitive.  70% fall into three categories:  cheap electronics, bootleg dvd's and herbal stores.  There are also lots of bubble tea places, some jewelers offering very attractive looking wares (have no idea about the quality though) and two small food courts with some very good and very reasonable lunch food.

The upstairs "heritage" area features some decor of the glorified Chinese restaurant variety.  There is one Japanese store offering a nice selection of porcelain, lacquerware and the like.  

I visited the other two Asian malls nearby and found them much less interesting except for the nice supermarket in the one next door.

If you have friends visiting from out of town, this is a good place to take them if they are non-Asian and want a different style shopping experience.  As for Asian people, I'll take the word of those posting here as to how this place reflects a cultural experience (or does not).

Good LCBO location with a vintages section and free parking, which the one on Bloor does not have. If in the High Park / Junction area and picking up wine or booze by car, go here and you can spend the extra $3 or whatever saved on parking for a brand upgrade/

Very high quality brunch/breakfast food.   Menu is short and consists of about four specials plus regular items.  You can order things like bacon or individual eggs a la carte though they are not listed.

Food was delicious and prepared with flair.  I felt the prices were a bit high, but quality compensated.

Atmosphere is more like a tavern (which it is!) than a breakfast place but servers are very pleasant.

This is strictly a review of the brunch, as I have not dined off the regular menu:

Get there early, if possible, not only to avoid waiting for a table but to also avoid long lines at the buffet tables.

The brunch is a very good bargain - at $15.95 (during our visit) you could stuff yourself for a whole day.   Fresh squeezed orange juice is very good and if you are six or more, order a pitcher or two.  We were seven and one pitcher served all of us nicely.  

Atmosphere is pleasant, somewhat canned but not objectionable.  Live soft jazz was a good brunch accompaniment.

The brunch food consists of a select-your-ingredient omelet station (be prepared to wait), a carving station (offering ham, roast beef and salmon when we were there), a bread and salad bar, a dessert bar (the chocolate cake I picked was rich but not all that well flavoured - same for the apple crumble), and a steam table bar containing hot foods and cold items.  Lasagne was very tasty, but a shrimp salad was not fresh and should have been eighty-sixed.  My partner raved about the waffles.

This is a good place for a group brunch or for a young person to take parents who have fairly conservative food preferences.  There is nothing unusual about the food but it was generally good and the variety was enormous.