Summerlicious is back, running from August 12 to 28:
The top price for a prix-fixe lunch is $55, dinner $75 – higher than previous iterations of the event, but not surprising given the inflationary environment.
I see that several “high end” establishments that participated in the past are not on this year’s list: Canoe, Bymark, Auberge du Pommier.
I was surprised to see 200+ establishments taking part.
I had mostly been doing the occasional 'licious at O & B restaurants pre-pandemic. I guess I’m not surprised that some higher end O & B restaurants aren’t taking part this time round.
Look forward to hearing any reports.
Chiado- $75 dinner , and those mains aren’t what I’d order off the regular menu.
This looks good, if a little pricey.
Turkish food at Flame Food. $48 lunch, $65 dinner.
I figure, with a $10 drink, tax and tip, the $65 dinner is now $100 including tax and tip. Hope Licious helps the restaurants fill their seats, but I’m thinking there won’t be too many bargains this year.
I’m curious which restaurants do summerlicious takeout.
I can’t get the freakin website to work properly. As soon as I start to scroll down through the restaurants, it takes me back a page. So frustrating. So typical of City of Toronto web work.
I asked on IG if Summerlicious was available as takeout, since I only dine on patios with well-spaced tables, and if that isn’t possible, I get take-out.
The Summerlicious social media person said
I wish there was a simpler way to check if Summerlicious restaurants have patios besides checking resto websites or Opentable/ Resy, etc.
I probably have only done 3 or 4 Summerlicious menus over the past decade, anyhow.
The ones that stood out are at places that no longer exist! Mistura was one.
The site is not user friendly for sure: it used to be much easier to get the list of restaurants?
Summerlicious/Winterlicious was good, and good value, the first few years of its existence (2003-2005), with many participating restos showing off their best, most innovative dishes. But it rapidly declined into just another prix fixe, with most restos offering a bland choice of chicken or salmon mains, standard-issue starters, forgettable desserts, and at times with shrunken portions compared to the same items on the main menus. At best, in my experience, you’ll get a free dessert out of your prix fixe money. If anyone knows of a resto that goes above and beyond the call of Summerlicious duty, I’d be intrigued to hear about it.
Agree with this assessment. Current roster of menus is not inspiring. The O&B 'licious offerings in the past were really excellent - Canoe was the gold-standard and was a tough seat to get for very obvious reasons. They had excellent 'licious menus and didn’t compromise their standards.
As I was avoiding dessert a few Licious seasons in a row, I was happy when I’d see a cheese course offered as an option.
Mistura had the nicest fruit salad as an option at Licious about 15 years ago.
Jump was always good value.
I noticed Luma is participating this year. I had several pretty good Licious meals at Luma 5-6 years ago.
