Patris

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888 Danforth Av
(416) 466-1967

Really good, authentic Greek food, traditional decor, slightly kitschy, but reasonable prices, yucky white garlic bread, home cooked flavour, it seems that the owners work there, so it has that “family restaurant” motif. Located right at Danforth and Jones, this large restaurant is on the outskirts of the Danforth, so it may get missed by some. There are many vegetarian items, and prices are between $8.95 – $11.95 for main dishes. There is a 2 for 1 coupon when someone purchases a meal greater than $10.00, then the second meal is free. This is based on the more expensive meal of course. Seating is ample and there are never any crowds. Pleasantly built on two half levels, you can sit upstairs and watch the people downstairs or sit on the bottom level. The kitchen and cooks are in the front and you can see them making some of the food. The Spanakopita is quite good and so are the Domades, and the other appetizers. Most of the appetizers are vegetarian. I would recommend trying it out if you want a more relaxing, less pretentious place, where it’s never crowded, then try Patris.

Red room

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444 Spadina Ave.
(416) 929-9964

Part of the same three restaurants of Green Room, and Java, Red Room was once a tea shop and restaurant that served alcohol, but now it’s a bar that serves food and tea. Inside this gorgeous restaurant at Spadina and College, you will find many tables and booths with gorgeous dim lighting and cherry wood interior, luxurious in design, detailed moldings, and antique woodwork. The whole decor or the Red room distracts the visitor from the low quality food it serves up.

There is a reason the food is so cheap. Although the restaurant appears very high class, it’s actually a bar that serves pub type food. The only different part is that this pub type food is Asian in its influence (the cooks and owners are Asian) and most of the selections are light and healthy Asian dishes from Pad Thai to Singapore Noodles to Vegetable Stir Fry to traditional Hamburger and French Fries to Fish and Chips.

Portions are decent but quality is very low. I’ve gone to Red Room over one hundred times since late 2000 and the tofu is always overfried or stale, the food is bland and lacks any exciting flavours, and you cannot make food requests because the cooks do not understand any English. The atmosphere is funky, with many of
U. of T. students, an array of herbal teas, an impressive bar with a large selection of beers, liquors, wine, and other alcoholic beverages. The key is to only purchase food and avoid alcohol. The waiter may frown at you but four people can eat for $20.00 and that is difficult to achieve in Toronto. Expect a lot of noise and a lot of smoke- afterall it’s a bar. Anyone under 19 is not allowed

Shogun

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154 Cumberland
(416) 964-8665

Believe me, I try to like Sushi places but there is absolutely nothing for a complete vegetarian who is on a low carb diet . I found myself trapped with nothing to eat. My friend, who is vegetarian, but eats rice, had a medley of vegetarian sushi platters like
vegetable tempura (deep fried, battered vegetables) , deep fried tofu, and various vegetarian sushi dishes. I found myself trying out the six pieces of vegetarian sushi with tofu or carrot in the middle of the piece of sushi. I enjoyed the typical pickled ginger or green horseradish garnish but I was more hungry after my meal than before. The complimentary tea is a good element to this dinner. Food is fresh and service is pleasant, and prompt. Platters are $18.95 and portions are large. Entrees are between $6.95 and $8.95 and those portions are small. Be prepared to spend a lot of money if you want to be full.

Nataraj

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394 Bloor W,
(416) 928-2925

Whenever I go to an East-Indian restaurant, I always order the same thing. I look for something memorable, unique, and something I can pinpoint as a place that I’d like to go back and visit. This is not the place. The food is incredibly bland and it did not taste very fresh. The place was crowded so this means that this place must be good, but I was wrong. The experience was not memorable and the food was tasteless. I had a vegetable curry and channa (chick pea curry). The place was not bad and I may visit sometime in the future but there was no flare, no spark, nothing that I could take back with me and talk with my friends about. It was “blah.”
The place is quite large, tables are small and close together, dimly lit, fairly simple ambiance, accepts Interac, and VISA/Mastercard. Located on the corner of Bloor and Brunswick in the trendy Annex neighbourhood

Diners Thai

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395 Danforth Av
(416) 466-9222

What a serious disappointment. The menu is very large but there is nothing vegetarian. There is a list of dishes with vegetables but the waitress and cooks, (who are seen at the back of restaurant with a perpetual smile) do not know if the food is vegetarian or not.) Ignorance is bliss so don’t bother asking if the food is vegetarian, they certainly do not know what their sauce or dishes are made with.
Most items contain oyster sauce and the only item which seemed truly vegetarian was this boring tasteless tofu stir fry with soy sauce. I was not impressed. The ambiance is nothing special, 6-8 tables, no decor, waiting staff who don’t very much about the food they serve. The menu is very extensive with meat, chicken, pork, and seafod dishes, “house specials,” which mean traditional Thai dishes, an extensive wine and digestif menu, and a small dessert and drink menu. I think there is great potential but the menu is too large, too detailed for the carnivore. There is nothing substantial for the vegetarian. There is a small list of “vegetable” dishes but it does not mean vegetarian. For an appetizer I had fresh cold rolls with rice paper, tofu, carrot, cilantro, in peanut sauce. I ordered six slices and it was very fresh and tasty. For dinner I order Tofu Goreng without oyster sauce. The meal consisted of this muddy, beefy, salty looking sauce with strips of wonderful tofu and sauteed vegetables. It came with Basmati rice, but I did not eat it (waste of carbs). In sum I would not recommend this place for a vegetarian because the waitress and cooks were stringing me along with “I don’t knows” and “I think so” and “yes, it’s completely vegetarian- we think.” Come on.

Prices are between $8.95-$12.95 for meals that are medium sized. Menu is fairly small.

Mezes

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456 Danforth Avenue
416-778-5150

Beautiful decor, funky mosaic tiles, waterfalls, but VERY LOUD. Expect mega lineups on the weekend. Mezes is the place to be on the Danforth. If your young, hip, and trendy and you want to be seen, this is the restaurant for you. Mezes has a beautiful summer terrace, and a great selection of mouth watering food. There are large, traditional Greek dishes like Mousaka or if you are like me, you can order three smaller dishes to make a meal. The grilled vegetables are “to die for” and I also order a plate of humus and a spanakopita (spinach pie). Open very late, contains many seats inside and about ten seats on the front terrace. The only thing about Mezes are that tables are close together, packed in like sardines, lineups are long, and it’s noisy, but the food and atmosphere is great.

Fressen

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478 Queen St. W.
(416) 504-5127
64 Oxford Street
(416) 927-1231
web site: www.toronto.com/profile/187540

 

A small restaurant, only opened for lunch 11:00am-3:00pm and then open again for dinner 5:00- late. I went here for my 28th birthday dinner and I really enjoyed my evening.
The restaurant is designed in an Asian and tropical rainforest motif. Very soothing and relaxing and the waitress describes all the entrees as “beautiful” The food is pricy. Entrees are from $15-$20 and the portions are not big. The presentation is tasteful and minimalist. The food is creative and flavourful but more on the blander side (not spicy).

They claim to be a “natural” restaurant thus you cannot order Coke or Pepsi or any soda product. First round of water is not free. The request for tap water is acceptable once a bottle of Evian is ordered at first. The seats are very comfortable and the ambiance is casual to dressy. The overall theme is a calm and soothing retreat from the bustling city. The dishes are uniquely vegetarian. None of the dishes even attempts to emulate a meat dish. For my birthday dinner I ordered the roasted vegetables with tofu and seitan. It was really good and did not taste like your typical tofu stir fry, like in most vegetarian restaurants. Food was fresh and presentation was key.

The only drawback is the wait and the tiny portions. The staff at Fressen believe in taking their time. They believe that their clients should enjoy their whole dining experience. The bread is healthy and freshly cut but the portions are quite skimpy. Nonetheless I would highly recommend this place for a special occasion once a year.

Nevada [Sept 2002]

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1963 Queen E
(416) 691-8462

 

A brunch delight, a large and beautiful terrace and a large menu with some vegetarian options. (mostly pasta dishes and very few brunch items). Located right in the heart of the Beaches on Queen Street east, this two floor large restaurant has a large variety of food for everyone. I went with about five friends and my friend’s dog and we were all very happy with the price and the portions. Brunch is about $7.95-$10.95 and there is a variety of vegetarian dishes. I enjoyed an egg white omelete with a variety of garden vegetables. Other friends had large portions of eggs with bacon sausage and toast (typical brunch fare) and were quite satisfied.

Portions are large, the food is flavourful, colourful, and the presentation is nice. The plates are extra large, decorative, and artsy, and the service was slow and disorganized but it did not bother us on that nice fall day in September 2002. Tables are close together on the terrace so there was a lot of squeezing into small places. For some heavy set people, this could present some problems. The place is funky and cool, a mixture of a pub type ambiance, a large Bistro, and a family restaurant, all wrapped into one. Decor and ambiance is better than mediocre food. Nothing to cry home about. I may go back once per year but will not be main hangout. Would only recommend on first date where mood and setting is more important than food.
Nevada accepts all cards, open late, perfect for summer and early fall dining. Offers weekend brunch.

Myth

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417 Danforth Av
(416) 461-8383

I went with a friend and sat on the lovely outdoor, front terrace in the late autum breeze. The atmosphere is trendy, hip, cool, funky architecture, spacious design, dim lit, many dressed up people, has a bar-like, meat-market kind of appeal. The prices are ridiculous and the portions are ridiculous. They give wonderful slices of bread with olive tapanade but my friend and I had two squares of silken tofu drizzled with stewed tomatoes with a light, refreshing, organic greens salad. The meal cost $15.95 and was a complete ripoff. We were starving afterwards. The portions are tiny but the plates are extra large. There is only vegetarian selection and it sucked.
In sum, the places looks beautiful, in terms of design, ambiance, slightly pretentious, but clients should not go there for food, maybe just for drinks.

Chopan Kabab [Chopan Kebab] [closed March 2005]

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798 Danforth ave
(416) 778-1200

*closed March 2005*

Located right at the edge of the trendy Danforth, east of Pape, this place is known as the only Afghan restaurant in Toronto. Prices are really affordable and dishes resemble Indian cuisine. Appetizers include Bolani (stuffed pastry with potatoes and seasonal vegetables), Mantu (steamed dough filled with ground beef, onions, and spices topped with yogourt and beef gravy), ($1.49-$2.99) as well as many types of vegetable salads and soups. ($2.99)

Mains include a selection of kababs (skewers of beef, tekka (lamb), chicken, lamb kidney, all $9.99-$11.99). Combo dishes include rice, two side vegetables, chatnee sauce, and bread. (all $9.99). Karayees are meat dishes served with Afghan salad, bread, and chatnee sauce. Karayees come in Lamb, Ground Beef, and Chicken, all between $14.99-$15.99. Complete dinners are $9.99 and include meat, rice, bread, and two side vegetables. Some dinners include lamb, ground beef, with rice and vegetables while other dinners include beef and onion dumplings or a lamb or Afghan beef soup with potato and salad.

I remember not having any choice but to have two vegetable side dishes. Both were good but resembled two vegetable curry dishes. One was composed of carrots and peas and the other was composed of other types of vegetables. We sat cross legged on a carpeted platform without a conventional table. The ambiance and decor was interesting and service was nice. The restaurant was empty and we wanted to try it out. The two vegetable side dishes I ordered were indeed good and my friend ordered a lamb dish which came with rice, bread, and two vegetable dishes. He was quite satisfied but I was not. Drinks include a traditional Afghan drink called Dough ( like an Indian lassi- a yogourt drink with mint, cucumber, and salt), as well as a selection of a traditional teas and coffees. Desserts include traditional Afghan ice creams, puddings, rice pudding, and Baklava (I did not know Baklava was Afghan) all $1.49-$5.99.

Unfortunately I do not think I will go back to Chopan Kabab due to the lack of vegetarian options. It seems all I could get were peas, carrots, and potatoes. I was hungry and unhappy. Accepts all cards and takeout.