Haven’t posted here much as I don’t “do” patios with traffic passing close by.
However, many of these patios do have restaurants attached, so comments on the food seem relevant.
I did attend (inside) Chotto Matte – with mixed results. The service was impressive, but I was less impressed with the kitchen. A recent bugbear of mine is that ‘small plate restaurants’ seem to prioritize kitchen efficiency over customer satisfaction. So, the multiple dishes seem to come out in random order and at random times. One can experience long waits between dishes and then several arrive at the same time – Chotto Matte seems (to me) to fit into that category – the pacing was erratic. This was compounded by the Tempura Snow Crab Croquetas being the texture of ‘fake crab’ and exhibiting no detectable crab flavour or texture. At best, seemingly minced shrimp.
But in keeping with the Patio theme, I did try the backyard one at Neon Tiger (Dupont and Avenue Road). Here the food was more satisfying than Chotto Matte, but the service was ‘lacking’. Clearly inexperienced (yes, I know there are shortages, but at least do some training before loosing on unsuspecting customers), and at least show the staff how to use a corkscrew!
Although the food was ‘good’ – there were more significant issues – the menu description and the dishes received were seemingly distant cousins. Multiple changes and also differences between the website and the printed menu (if anything, the website was closer, except not all website dishes were actually on the menu anyway – the captioned ‘Most Popular Dish’ of Siu Mai Dog didn’t actually appear on the menu!).
The ‘Hakka’ Mushroom tacos contained nothing that I associate with Hakka cuisine (but the web description does not include the word ‘Hakka’).
The ‘Smashed Cucumber and Jicama’ Salad contained more radish than Jicama.
The ‘prawn tacos’ came with pickled iceberg lettuce, radish and Thai remoulade instead of the promised “cucumber, ginger, Thai Basil and cellophane noodles”.
The KFC Blinis and Lamb Sliders were close to the description.
The Duck Fried Rice contained a duck breast that (for me) was overcooked – but that’s a preference.
The wine we ordered (from a VERY small list) was entirely different from the menu – and this from a restaurant only opened relatively recently.
But a nice patio! Except choose seating that’s ‘moveable’ – the bench seats are too far from the fixed tables for comfortable seating.
