Nikki "I can't believe I ate the whole thing!" H.'s Profile

A group of us went to Brant House last night for my friend's birthday. I've never been here, but I've heard a lot of mixed things about the place.

We arrived shortly before 10pm (on a Saturday night), and there were still people eating their meals, so it was in "restaurant mode" still. When entering, to be honest, the door man was a bit of a jerk. We didn't really have a problem getting in, but then he started to give a hard time to the birthday boy over the shoes he was wearing. Something about the shoes being "running shoes", when they actually weren't really runners or sneakers. They were more of a fashionable casual shoe, but I wouldn't expect that particular door man to have known anything about that... He had a real attitude problem too, which is sad to see. My advice to him: if you don't like your job, QUIT and find something better.

Needless to say, we still all went in. We also didn't let the experience ruin the night.

The cover was $10, which wasn't too bad considering the cover prices at some other places in Toronto, and the club is beautiful. I loved the atmosphere, at the beginning...

Drinks are expensive, $8 for basic mixed drinks. That seems to be average though, I've paid more and I've paid less...

Music being played was a lot of Top 40, mixed in with some cheesy music from all of our pasts that are catchy and fun to dance to once you've had a few too many...

Around midnight, the club was completely packed. ("Club", no longer a "restaurant". The people working there literally came around and took the chairs from the bar while we were all sitting on them... Weird, but whatever... They have their routine I guess!)

I can't believe how many people were crammed in this place! Pretty much the whole time, I had someone pressed up against my backside, and not in the sexy way. A lot of dancing, jumping, and sweating goes on. If you're with a group of friends, it's a good time had by all! For the size of the club, they should really have more stalls in the washroom, because the line up to get to the ladies washroom had a longer wait than getting a drink at the bar...

The bartenders were pretty nice, and quick with pouring drinks which is always nice.

The music was REALLY loud. I feel old saying that, but everyone else seemed to share that though...

For a star rating, I would rate the actual venue higher than a 3, but I'm also taking into consideration the people AT the club. It's pretty entertaining to say the least, because there's a wide variety of people there. If you're a people watcher, you'll have a blast just standing back and seeing people hit on other people and get shot down, and random groups of lonely men standing around trying to find hot women to hit on...

What I've learned though, is that if you're with the right group of people, you can have a blast at any club really. Um, as long as no one gets shot...

A friend told me about this place, and said that they had some pretty good food, so we stopped in for a bite to eat.

Decor:
It looks like a "greasy spoon" type of diner. Not much in ways of being pleasing to the eye, but that doesn't always matter. I've been to restaurants that are beautiful, but the food is bland and nasty.
The washrooms are a bit scary, but clean. There's also a lot of writing on the backs of the doors, so you have something interesting to read while you go...
The restaurant is located in a more secluded area of Kensington Market, which I don't really like because I enjoy people watching in that area.

Food:
Not bad. Not amazing, but not bad. I ordered the cheese omelette. This omelette had a lot of cheese, so much that I really couldn't finish it. (It's not bad, it's just a lot of cheese... Even for me, and I love cheese...) With the omelette, they also served a massive heap of potatoes which were really tasty. I think they had onion mixed in or something, but they definitely tasted good. They also served toast, an orange slice, and some grapes. The serving size of the meal was huge. A big plate of greasy, yummy, comfort food. :)

Service:
As with the food: Not bad. Not amazing.
The girl working there seemed nice enough. The service was somewhat fast, but there weren't really many customers there. Can't complain.

Price:
The food there is pretty cheap, and for the amount you get on your plate, it's an amazing deal. The cheese omelette is less than $10, and you get a lot of food.

If you're looking for a greasy spoon type of diner, this is a great place to go in the downtown Toronto area. I went in the evening, so it really wasn't that busy... But it may be busier in the mornings on weekends for breakfast/brunch. Definitely worth a try if you're in the area.

At first glance, this place doesn't look like anything special, but it is definitely worth a try if you're in the Lakeshore West area! I almost walked right past it, but my friend suggested we go inside...

Decor:
Outside, not  much to look at. The signage is boring and a little dated.
Inside, yellow tiles on the walls, and very modest seating. Not much in way of decor, but don't judge a book by the cover, right?

Food:
The last two times I was here, I ordered an espresso and a cannoli, and my friend ordered a coffee and a chocolate eclair. Both times, everything was amazing! Their pastries are huge, and their coffee is pretty good! The cannoli they serve there looks a little different from what I'm used to, and tastes a bit different, but it was so good! I've yet to try their breads or sandwiches, but from the way the bakery section there smelled, I can confidently say it's probably amazing. Once I've tried something else there, I'll update this review!

Price:
Very reasonable. For the above mentioned order of a coffee, espresso, and two pastries: the total bill was about $6. Can't beat that, especially considering how good everything was!

Service:
Anyone I've come into contact with working there has been really, really nice. The staff there is very friendly! Both times I've been in here, there were a lot of customers, and I've always believed that that is a sure sign that a place is great!

This is definitely a place that I'll go to on a regular basis. It's refreshing to find a hidden gem like this in the area, because there's not really a Tim Hortons or a Starbucks (or even a Timothy's or Second Cup) near by.

On a random urge to wander around the Kensington Market area, I saw this place and decided to try it because it had the word "espresso" in the name. I'm a coffee fanatic, and this place claims to have the best coffee in the city. Hmm, I'd have to say that's not true... It's good coffee, but far from the best...

Decor:
The outside is a little boring, but I like how simple it is. On the inside, it's cozy, but looks like it needs a little help from Restaurant Makeover. (EDIT: I've seen that this place actually has been on Restaurant Makeover... I had a good laugh at that! It actually looks a little run down now compared to how it looked right after the makeover...) This place is pretty big, and in a great location, so it really does have potential to be awesome. Maybe couches/chairs and coffee tables instead of diner-style seating would be an improvement for the owners to consider.
The menus are pretty cluttered, so unless you already know what you're going to order, it may take a while to figure things out... My suggestion is to stick to just a coffee, espresso, latte, cappuccino, or tea.

Service:
I only saw one woman working there, but it wasn't busy at all so I guess that's fine. For the size/capacity of the place, I hope that during busier times they have at least one other person working. The woman working there tonight was really friendly though, so no complaints there! :)

Food:
They have pastries from Dufflets, so again, no complaints there! Though in terms of originality, they should try having their own baked goods instead of getting them from another bakery. It's always a let down when I go into a cafe, and they're selling someone else's food. I didn't try any of their cooked foods, because I had a funny feeling that I would have been waiting for a while to be served...
So I ordered a lemon tart (mmmmmm!!!!!), and an espresso. The espresso was pretty good (but not the city's best), not sure what brand of coffee they use though. I also didn't know if they had any specialty drinks because as mentioned above, the menu at the front was too cluttered to actually read.

Price:
Wow. For an espresso and a lemon tart, I paid between $7-$8. That's pretty much what I'd spend at Starbucks for one of my usual orders (beverage and a treat). So after paying, my expectations were that the coffee and treat would be better than what I can get at Starbucks. Not so much...
In fact, for that price, I can go to the cafe down the road from where I live and order: 1 coffee, 1 espresso, and 2 fancy pastries. And the place down the road from me is pretty darn good... At the risk of sounding cheap, it was a bit expensive for what I got. I've read that they have that $3.99 breakfast, so there's obviously cheaper items there, but I haven't seen anything good about it on here, so I'd probably never order it.

This place really does have potential to be a great hang out spot, but to be honest I would probably go to a Starbucks instead. That way, if I'm paying $7 for my coffee and treat, at least I know it's going to be amazing.

I've passed by this place so many times, but finally went in when visiting the Milton Farmers Market last weekend.
If you like cute little cafe type places, you'll like this place! If you like knick-knack shops, you'll like this place.
If you like freshly baked goods, that are made with care, you'll love this place!
I plan on going here many more times through out the summer, because it's even got a nice little outdoor patio. When I was there, I got the espresso chocolate short bread cookie (oh my... YUM!!!), and an Italian soda. Simple, but so good!
I'll post more updates once I've tried other things there, but if you're in the downtown Milton area, I highly suggest giving this place a try! The people that work there are really nice, too! :)

I had pretty high hopes about this cupcake place. After seeing it on my bus ride every day, I just had to try it! At $2.50 for a cupcake, I was expecting something amazing seeing as for the same price in Toronto I've had some awesome cupcakes...

I had the "tickled pink" I believe it's called... It was a chocolate cupcake with raspberry buttercream frosting.

To be honest, and not mean... I was let down. I do a lot of baking myself, and I've made better cupcakes many times... The cupcake itself was alright, but nothing outstanding. The frosting tasted like it was a mix of artificial, low-quality raspberry flavour, lots of sugar, and had a chemical smell. It was also a little stale. :(

The cupcakes are also pretty small, with nothing fancy on them. No little decorative elements, plain paper cup on the base, and they don't have any packaging for single cupcakes. So I'm not quite sure what their  (unique selling point) is over other cupcake shops... And I'm not quite sure why they consider their cupcakes to be worth $2.50 each... They're pretty lucky that they're a unique store in their current location for now, but seeing as so many new businesses are popping up in this wonderful developing town, they may want to improve on their buttercream recipe, and do some truly exciting cake mixes for the cupcakes. The service wasn't even anything special (the girl at the counter actually seemed annoyed that I was in there :( ...), and the place was completely empty when I went in.

I really wish I had something better to say about this place, but they really have a lot of improvements to make. I'm sure their cakes are beautiful from what I've seen on their website, but maybe more attention should go into the every day treats that frequent customers would purchase.

Again, I don't want to sound mean, and maybe my expectations were a bit high... But I just didn't have a good experience here. Maybe I'll go again at some point to give it another shot.

An upside: they have a really cute logo/store signage. That gets them the 3rd star, because I'm a sucker for a nice logo. ;)

I've got to admit, I'm not a big fan of clubs... There's a few that I enjoy though, and this is one of them! Pretty good music, and drinks weren't too bad...
A group of us went out for a birthday party, so there was a pretty big group of us... But the club is a decent size, so we all had room to dance!

Getting in was a little rough even though we were on "guest list"... And as with most clubs, even if the bouncers are nice, they still let groups of girls in with short-short skirts and all that "I'm not a model, but with all this make up on my face you'll mistake me for one once you've had enough drinks" before all of the people who have been waiting patiently in line. Frustrating, but what can you do? It's like some unspoken "rule" of clubs. (The bouncer actually said "My boss said I have to let them in, they're 'working' some tables in the VIP"...) The bouncers are really nice there, and so are the bartenders -great service by the way!-, but this one guy who a bouncer said was the owner/manager or something (not sure if he really was) seemed to be a complete [___insert bad name here___].

Once we got in around 11, it really wasn't that crowded, which was nice. By midnight, the place really started to fill up though.

So my impression of this place is pretty good, and I'm sure I'd go again if I had the urge to go out to a club. :) Nothing crazy or over the top, but if you're there with a good group, you'll have fun.

Maybe this is just a review of Pickle Barrel in general... Seeing as I've been to many different locations across Toronto, and it's hard to pick one out from the other because they're all the same.
As everyone knows who eats here, the menu is pretty much as large as their over-sized portions...
In the 20 minutes it takes the server to actually come to our table, I still can't finish looking at the whole menu.
When I DO finally decide on something to order, the plate of food I get is enough to feed at least 2 people. If I wanted to bother to take home leftovers, it would be great. So that's an upside for people wanting to make two meals out of one while dining out. Or you can even order one plate of food, and share it with your friend.
The prices are decent, not too high or anything, especially considering the serving sizes. And as for food quality, I've had an equal amount of good and bad experiences with food from Pickle Barrel. There's been times that I've ordered a wrap, and been brought a soggy tortilla messily wrapped around some wilting lettuce and veggies. There's also been times that I've been brought a really tasty salad, or chicken fingers back when I would eat meat on a regular basis.
The drinks really are a little over the top on sweetness and added junk, but their smoothies are tasty. (It's pretty much just fruit juice blended with frozen yogurt. But it tastes good.) Their desserts are also HUGE, so order one to share, or just get a mini dessert.

It's really large, and looks sooooo pretty... Very stunning terminal. Super crowded though, so we didn't stay long to enjoy any of the restaurants. Then, when we finally decided we wanted to go get something to eat/drink there, things were closed. Next time!

Upon entering the hotel, I thought to myself "damn, I will be giving this 5 stars on Yelp!"....
Unfortunately I had to knock off a star because of the prices. I understand that business people will frequent this hotel, as will tourists with a lot of money, but looking at the room service menu:
Coffee, per person, $8.
...
Really? There's a need to charge THAT much for a cup of coffee, when there's a beautiful cafe inside of the hotel that has great coffee for less than Starbucks' prices? Jeeze. Needless to say, we didn't order anything off of room service. *sigh* Same with the restaurant/bar attached. We were going to go for a drink before turning in to bed, but at $14 for a drink, I just couldn't do it... The most I've ever paid for a martini was $12, and I felt stupid for doing it.
...
That bad part aside, WOW this hotel is beautiful. RIGHT beside the Empire State Building... There wasn't much of a view from our window, as our window actually faced another room's window... (Interesting...) But we were up on the 28th floor, so would have had a pretty sweet view if the shape of the building had allowed for one. The beds were really comfortable, a queen sized bet suited us well. (Usually, we prefer king sized as my husband is 6'5", and I'm 5'8"... But queen is great too!)
Everything is modern, and looks great. The tv was large, flat screen... The bathroom didn't have a bath, but that's alright. The room wasn't huge, but it wasn't tiny.
A good point is that there were a lot of elevators, so there wasn't long wait times.