O.M.G. Restaurant & Lounge

After studying at the library, my friend brought me to try this restaurant. Catchy name eh?

Although this restaurant is a chinese owner, they seemed to be going for the traditional western restaurants style. They served vinegar with their bread.

  

I ordered the New Zealand Rack of lamb. ($23 I beleive, standard pricing)

It was really good. I'm surprised they served supreme king mushrooms, that's a bit rare. I really liked the sauce, tasty.

My friend ordered the steak.

It was a bit burnt, but the meat was really tender, not tough at all.

Food: Pretty Good
Service: Alright.
Price: a bit expensive. Their set meals were $26 (with soup, main, drink).

Atmosphere/Decoration: The place is quite small. I would say the setting looks more like a lounge than a place to dine.
Overall: I really think their name is quite creative. The location is a bit hard to find though, probably wouldnt be a restaurant you would normally drive by and see. I would like to return to try their other dishes but their meals are quite expensive. I saw a sign saying they have lunches for $6.99. I suppose I'll return a visit trying their lunch menu.

O.M.G. Restaurant & Lounge

4033 Gordon Baker Rd, Scarborough

Novotel TRIO Restaurant

As always, I went to summerlicious with a few good friends. It was a bit last minute so I didn't plan for going to the top restaurants. I came across this restaurant, the atmosphere seemed decent and so was the food. Dinner was only $25, so decided to give it a try. This was also the first year TRIO has joined summerlicious.

For my appetizer, I ordered the Heriloom Tomato Gazpacho.

I've actually never had this before. Didn't know it was a soup, and didn't expect it to be cold either. It tasted a bit too sour, but it was alright. Kinda felt like drinking tomato paste though.

They had 'goat cheese & nut ball" which I found as an interesting appetizer. If I wasn't allergic to nuts, I would have gave it a try.

For the main, I ordered the Grilled Sirloin Steak.

I ordered for medium rare, but my steak ended up being a bit more cooked than medium. However, I must say the meat was still really tender. The dish came with cajun hash and fava beans. I don't like beans so didn't bother trying it, but the cajun hash was really good.

I took a snapshot of my friend's Pan Seared Seasame Crusted Salmon.

It actually tasted pretty good, at least one of the better fishes I've tasted at western restaurants. The sauce kinda tasted like modified terriyaki sauce.

As for dessert, all four of us ordered the Chocoholic.

This dish was a lava cake served with chocolate icecream. I'm personally not a fan of chocolate icecream so I asked to change my icecream to vanilla instead of chocolate. (Trust me, vanilla icecream goes a lot better with chocolate lava cakes.) The dessert was decent, I've had better though. I thought the cake wasn't warm enough.

Food: Alright
Service: Our waitress was friendly, but she was pretty clumsy...I still remember how she dropped lettuce on the table as she was taking away my dish...
Price: I'm not sure about the normal menu prices, but I would say $25 for 3-course set dinner with decent quality was a good deal.
Atmosphere/Decoration: The atmosphere was nice, but the restaurant was quite small. I didn't like how their entrance was so wide open. From where I was sitting, I was actually facing the entrance and through the open door I could see the hotel's front desk with visitors lining up to checking in; not really the best view.

Overall: The food was a good experience. However, I don' see myself coming back. I suppose because there are better options to choose from for a place with a more romantic atmosphere, better service, and better food.

Novotel TRIO Restaurant

3 Park Home Avenue, North York

www.triorestaurant.ca

Kenzo Japanese Noodle House

I can't remember when's the last time I went to Kenzo. Probably a good year or two? And after so long, my friend suggested going and so we paid a stop for dinner. Just like before, I've never been disappointed eating at this restaurant.
One thing i'd like to comment is, this place has no air conditioning. Probably not a good idea to go there in the summer on a really hot day, considering you're gonna be eating hot noodles too.

Of all the places I've had takoyaki. I must say this place makes the best ones I've had so far, a must try.

The size of each takoyaki is quite big too. The stuffing is pretty filling, theres squid and cheese.

I ordered the basic ramen and gyoza set. ($10.95) Just ordering the basic ramen itself would be $7.95. There are many other ramen selections as well. Their spicy noodles are very spicy, you would probably be dripping sweat as you eat if you go on a hot summer day.

The noodles were freshly prepared and most importantly the soup base is good, very flavourful.  I personally really like their gyoza's as well.

Food: Very good.
Service: Not good. We waited 30 minutes for a table. For some reason, the server had to wipe the table 3 times. The turnover rate is just really slow because the waitresses/waiters take quite a while to clean the tables. Just to add, they don't sound too friendly either.
Price: Average.

Atmosphere/Decoration: Nothing special. The place is quite small, not a lot of seating.

Overall: I do recommend this place, I would prefer having ramen here instead of Ajisen. Their noodles are a lot more traditional than Ajisen with better quality, and also serving more ingredients. 

Kenzo Japanese Noodle House

6180 Yonge St, North York

Wildfire Steakhouse & Wine Bar

Summerlicious time! Knowing my love for food, how could I ever let summerlicious pass by without attending :P

I've always heard good reviews at Wildfire but never been there myself, so decided to give it a try for summerlicious considering their summerlicious menu had quite a variety. I went with my family for lunch, my treat. :)

Appetizers

This was the grilled calamari.

It was soft and not chewy at all. My mom didn't really like it, but I did.

I ordered the escargots.

I thought it was a bit too oily & buttery, but then again that's kinda expected.

Shrimp Martini.

Basically shrimp coctail. Those shrimps were pretty huge, tiger shrimps I believe.

Main Course

My dad ordered the New York Striploin.

I thought the steak was good. I really liked the sauce, tasted a bit sweet and different.

My brother ordered the Baby Back Ribs.

The ribs were not bad, defintely tasted better than the ribs at rib fest. The meat was tender and actually did kind of fall off the bone. I thought they were a bit burnt though.

My mom ordered the 1/2 Nova Scotia lobster.

I must say, the lobster was pretty small. It was actually a bit overcooked too, the meat was a bit chewy.

I ordered the Lobster Fettucine Pasta.

Of all dishes, I actually liked mine the most. There were actually quite a few pieces of lobster. The sauce was really rich and tastey, but really filling. I actually couldn't finish my portion.

Dessert

I must say, their desserts sucked. Presentable, but taste-wise, not good at all.

New York Cheesecake.

You could rarely taste any cheese.

Chocolate Mousse.

I'm normally not a fan of chocolate mousse, but in general, it just didnt taste too great.

Tartufo.

Icecream with caramel inside covered in chocolate. This was the best choice of dessert, but nothing special.

Food: Pretty good.
Service: Not that great.
Price: Summerlicious lunch $25, dinner $45
Atmopshere/Decoration: Really nice, the place pulls off a lounge feeling. I originally thought the place was more casual, something like Fred's Not Here.

Overall: Their food is decent, I wouldn't say amazing though. Then again, I can't really judge because I only tried their Summerlicious menu. I suppose their main menu selections would be much more higher quality. The appetizers weren't anything special, and I definitely wouldn't recommend trying their desserts if you were to go on a normal day. I would go back to this restaurant only for the main courses.

Wildfire Steakhouse & Wine Bar

3438 Yonge St., Toronto

Aoyama Sushi

Time for some sushi again :)

I haven't seen my friend for a while and this dinner was supposed to be a catch up/celebration that he graduated and had his convo. Celebration = Good food. So, my friend and I decided to go to Aoyama for some good sushi.

I really like those signs, look so cute.

Those are more of the cheaper choices. I.e. Spicy Salmon handroll for $2. We both ordered it. It isn't the best ones I've had but still not bad.

 

We ordered the sashimi platter. $53 Yes, pretty expensive but their fish is all really fresh.

Uni wasn't in season so they gave us scallop sashimi instead, really good. Take note that they served real crab meat, not the artificial ones.

The platter comes with sweet shrimp sashimi (my favorite). They can also fry the shrimp head for you upon request for 25 cents each.

I'm not a fan of eating shirmp heads..so I passed...But my friend claimed it being really good.

Yes, very surprisingly, we ordered beef terriyaki.

This beef terriyaki is worth ordering. I must say it's the best I've had so far. The meat was really tender, nothing like those typical thick dry well done beef with terriyaki sauce.

We ordered the mochi. Green tea and read bean.

Dibs on the green tea one! that one is really good. 

Food: Really good.

Service: Good

Price: Expensive
Atmosphere/Decoration: Nothing special, typical a small restaurant. Although I do really like those signs :P
Overall: I would recommend this place, I really like the fact how their sashimi is really fresh. It does however belong more towards the high end sushi restaurants with good quality. This place is really small and gets pretty busy. It would be a good idea to make reservations beforehand.

Aoyama Sushi

2766 Victoria Park Ave