The lawsuit says employees were made to “consistently work” in temperatures “far exceeding” 27C, exposing them to health issues.
I don’t think this is illegal, unfortunately. Some industries especially those working outdoors have rules about taking breaks when it’s over 80F, but I don’t believe those rules apply to kitchens. Kitchens are notoriously hot, hence that saying …
Might be. But all I said is he is accused.
While this tactic is prevalent in the industry it might no be proven in this case.
His NIMBYism is confirmed.
The Heat Illness Prevention Law does apply to restaurants.
But asking people to clock out and continue working is also very problematic.
The problem is that critics have fallen in love with tasting menus. In some places, a restaurant will have a tasting menu aside from the regular menu, and this now becomes a “restaurant within a restaurant.” The tasting menu gets the praise.
It is a bit disingenuous because by the time you get to the restaurant, the tasting menu will be different and you can only hope the next wave of experimentation was as good as whatever enthused the critic. Even if they had multiple visits.
And once you get to the wine, then the critic (or their follower) might be drunk anyway.
I used to dabble in trying them, but I found the number of misses to be way too high. And if I really liked something, the chances of having that again were remote. Plenty of fine dining places I’ve been where I was impressed the first time then disappointed the next. If I were to list my 100 favorite meals, none of them would be fine dining.
With a group of like minded individuals, I can turn any restaurant into a tasting menu. Just order a bunch of stuff and share.
Ok . Ive read enough . What does fine dining mean to you ? Service , The meals you cant make , Cost , or ??? .
30 years in and I’m just now finding out? Yet another abuse the restaurant industry tell you to suck up and accept as normal. Can’t stand the heat, etc etc 
Well it’s not something we can ‘just get rid of’. Are the Fancy Police going to go around making sure no one uses table linens or offers an amuse-bouche?
It’s nebulous and relative but aside from price point and tasting menus, atmosphere. The music, the lighting, the linens, the tableware, the formality, the luxury.
What is considered fine dining is so relative, depending on one’s interests, budget, experience, expectations.
I don’t do tasting menus very often. The price point for the handful of tasting menus I’ve eaten over the past 6 years is quite low as tasting menus go. The most I’ve paid is around $150 CAD per person before tax in Toronto, when some tasting menus run $230/ person and Kaiseki might cost $475 CAD/ person. $1 CAD = $0.73 USD / 0.54 GBP lately.
That said, the majority of restaurants where I eat most of the time, which would be considered upscale casual, bistro level or a nice restaurant but not quite fine dining, by most people I know on HO, would be considered fine dining by most people I know who aren’t foodies. It’s all so relative.
I’ll probably never get around to paying for a Manresa-type experience. I don’t really want to spend more than $200 CAD in Canada on myself in one sitting right now. With inflation going the way it’s going, that might change sooner than later.
I might make an exception to my budget if I was dining somewhere where food is inherently more expensive than it is in Toronto, such as Geneva or Stockholm. I probably would also splurge in NYC, Paris or London. That said, I usually keep my budget in NYC to less than $100 USD per meal, when I choose a fancier meal.
Lucie, a French restaurant that offers fine dining in Toronto, will be changing to a more casual dining approach in May, after the chef who has been working there moves back to France. My friend and I will try their $170 CAD set menu, which is the less expensive and shorter menu offered, in a few weeks. This will be the most expensive set menu I have eaten in Toronto.
Prices have been creeping up with inflation.
My afternoon tea with mediocre service (that is an understatement ) at the Shangri La hotel cost around $108 before tax. The scones and pastries were top notch.
A contemporary Middle Eastern tasting menu in Toronto in January 2026 cost around $120 CAD before tax. The food was delicious. Friendly and fairly informal service, which was pretty rushed. The room was a back room with no windows. The tables were close together. The waiter asked me to push my chair in so he could get by. Crowding me, but whatever- this room is too small for 2 rows of tables. No coat check, so people’s coats were on the back of chairs, and it’s tight for people to squeeze into their seats. I would say what I ordered was more of a 3 course meal, with 3 combo plates, which were delicious, but it wasn’t exactly a fine dining tasting menu or a fine dining service experience. At least for me, since this is relative! I will go back for the food, maybe on a weeknight. My point is, it’s a nice restaurant, with a tasting menu, but it is not Fine Dining.
Harters, what would you consider Rules to be?
I consider it a nice traditional resto with fairly formal service.
I had recommended Rules to a friend, who hadn’t considered dining at Rules because it came across as Fine Dining to him, and he thought he might have to dress up. I assured him that half the clientele on a regular night at Rules would be fellow travelers and tourists, and a shirt with a collar, and khakis, and maybe even nicer jeans, would be okay and not out- of-place.
Obviously, Rules is not at the High Temple Noma level. It’s more of a traditional restaurant with waiters in uniforms.
As you’ll have gathered, I really don’t like the description “fine dining”. It’s far too subjective to have any real meaning, IMO.
As for Rules, I’d entirely agree with your description.
My bad. The nicest kaiseki in Toronto is currently $350 CAD per person before tax .
This is a very long-winded way of saying “boys will be boys.” And I’m not buying it in either form.
Apologism, plain and simple.
I feel like being squeezed in is not fine dining, but when multiple servers simultaneously descend on a table to deliver a course is. As in one plate per server, no stacking them up on their arm or a tray.
It’s a relatively new law in California since 2024, I think. It isn’t yet Federally mandated but will be.
Honestly, do away with the 13+ course tasting menu. They have taken over fine dining and many places no longer offer an à la carte meal option….its all tasting menu, all the time. I think the time has come and gone, and they might be the symbol of excess that drove the past 20 years.
Tasting menus were once special and a way for a chef to show skill and diners to sample many things and it was done occasionally…but they are very labor intensive and how it’s constructed and presented is work for the aggressively anal retentive. It’s the kind of stuff that can make chefs crazier, more uptight, demanding and psychotic. The kind of shit that give chefs a reason to scream, throw a fit or assault someone. Ease up on the 5 hour meal. Don’t crush your staff.
The other thing, perhaps ignore Michelin stars. Find another way to review restaurants that is NOT associated so closely with the French brigade model. Bring some humanity into the equation. If the French kitchen brigade model is one end…the other end is the French military and brutal imperial rule. “Their business is war, and they do their business.”
While I enjoy the occasional tasting menu, the few “fine dining” (i.e. more than $100/person) places we visit always have à la carte options.
Well, that’s a lie, actually. We have a monthly rez for the upcoming season at a fantastic place in the boonz, and all they serve is a set menu that changes every month 
It’s always been great. The chef is creative and — lo and behold — not a total BOD to his staff.
Yes, but…
The only starred place we visit, is a very casual village pub. They still have space where you can just get a drink but most customers are dining. But this is very much a pub setting - just with elevated food. My review of it from last year:-
I do kind of ignore the whole rating system and prefer to discover places that a reviewer or friend that I trust tells me about. Some of our favorite very modest places in Santa Barbara have Michelin bibs and if that helps them economically I’m happy for them.
I agree, completely.
In Toronto, we have so little Fine Dining in 2026.
I think a lot of newer restaurant owners don’t always know the service, space and timing that has traditionally been part of Fine Dining elsewhere, and in Toronto in the past.
