Monsoon
Posted by lawgeek on 20 Feb 2007 at 11:44 pm | Tagged as: Food and Wine
We went to the opera tonight (more in another post, perhaps) and decided to stop by Monsoon for dinner beforehand. They’re an upscale fusion-inspired place at Simcoe and Adelaide, pretty close to the new COC digs. And they have a 15% discount for COC members. They’re not cheap–they have a few mains in the 20s but mostly 35-45.
I don’t know whether it’s simply a matter of a kitchen that can’t get its head together on a Tuesday, but it was disappointing. The show is at 7:30 so we made a 5:30 reservation, with the idea of having a leisurely meal. We order, appetizer shows up reasonably promptly, then a looong wait till our mains show up about 10 minutes to 7. We’re done dinner and out the door sans dessert or coffee at 7:20. The food itself is not bad, but for $40 a pop you expect something better than not bad. Not somewhere we’re heading back to any time soon, despite it been very convenient to both COC and RTH.
[rant]
I don’t have a problem with tardy service as long as the server(s) attend to us in the meanwhile and make it up in some way. In this case, we did not receive any explanation, apology, or even an extra serving of bread. I had the distinct impression the servers were trying to avoid our gaze. It took us a good 10 minutes to get anyone’s attention to get more bread.
Totally okay if we were in some Chinese plastic table cloth, hole in a wall restaurant. Not okay if you are a self-styled upscale fine dining establishment.
We made sure the tip was no more than the minimum 15%. Had I been alone, I would have tipped no more than 10%.
[/rant]
Just looked ‘em up on Chowhound. Apparently they had a major staff turnover a while ago and that was it.
And you left 15%? You’re nicer than I am. Kitchen mistakes I can forgive; bad service less so.
I noticed a thread on Chowhound about where to have pre-opera meals — there is a rave review of the restaurant at the Sheraton (or Hilton?), Tundra, which apparently has a pre-theatre special. Another message mentions Ematei on St. Patrick, a recommendation which I’d second… very convenient, very wide-ranging, authentic Japanese menu and conscientious Japanese service.
I have become a cranky Korean and complain loudly when I feel like I am not getting prompt service. I get big discount!