User Reviews for Lucien
Back to Lucien
I have just finished reading a bunch of negative reviews about Lucien and think they must be describing a different restaurant! I have eaten many times at Lucien - great food, atmosphere, perfect service and the portions more than adequate. Sometimes it is about the attitude you go into a restaurant with - if you behave in a snotty manner to the restaurant staff, then perhaps you do not get the best treatment in return. Just a thought.
Eileen's Rating: Stars |
 |
A very nice (and underrated) spot. Didn't even know it was here. Service was a bit rude, but the food was supurb!
Gail Klar's Rating: 3 Stars |
|
Dropped by last week for a drink at the bar and was enticed into staying for dinner after seeing all the gorgeous plates of food traveling by. I'm so glad I stayed. The service at the bar was flawless and the food was exceptional! The menu was small and well chosen and the owner happily paired wines for each of my courses. I haven't seen such creativity in cooking for a long time. I'll be back again soon.
FoodieGal's Rating: 4 Stars |
|
Recently ate at Lucien and was very impressed. Imaginative use of ingredients and none of the group had issues with the portion size which seems to be a gripe of earlier reviewers.
Service was good but not truly helpful when it came to choosing wine. On that note, the wine list was fine but not great at the bottom end.
Anonymous's Rating: Stars |
|
Dined at Lucien last night - and enjoyed it thoroughly! The great reviews are well-deserved.
Decor is gorgeous, and you feel as if you are tucked inside a light-filled jewel box - the lit bar, the interesting chandeliers...it all felt very sumptuous.
Our table wasn't ready when we arrived, but the host and other servers were graciously apologetic, and made sure we had a round on the house for our troubles.
The food was excellent. I haven't had as interesting or as exciting a meal in years - the plates were a fantastic smorgasbord of spices and textures, leaving myself and the other two I dined with constantly exclaiming with delight!! I had the octopus and the venison, and both were cooked perfectly. Others at the table had the pork belly, the scallops, the hen and the bison. Quality and variety were top notch. For dessert we enjoyd the chocolate sampler plate at the cheese sampler - and our server gave excellent detail on each component.
I plan on returning as soon as budgetarily possible!
Laura Comerford's Rating: 3 Stars |
|
The following is taken from a column I wrote on retro trends especially with reference to the TV show Mad Men. I didn't name the restaurant but it's fair to name it here. It was Lucien. Bad as the food was, the service was appallingly unfriendly. Retro is one thing, rude and bad is another.
"In this awful restaurant, where my girlfriend and I dined, the pork belly tasted like the eight ounces of flavourless slippery white fat it was.
The Arctic char sat in a plate-filling circle of mint gel — a failed Martha Stewart colour wash — a puzzlingly wet aspic that anchored other things, an egg yolk surrounded by albumen, a potato that turned out to be another white foam creation, its bubbles vanishing into the fish, five tiny orange egglets forming a glutinous curve the size of a cocktail ring.
Nothing on the plate was just there; it all gave the impression of having been secreted.
And so pastel, all of it. It is possible to produce slimy food in clear strong colours: You should taste my peaches microwaved with brown sugar. I call it my Pêche à l'Erreur; small children clamour for it.
But you really have to work to produce mucilaginous food the colour of Eastern Airlines upholstery circa 1962. And the restaurant did. But why?
I have never sent back a meal in my life; it's still food even if it's bad. But the single green glass noodle clinging to the char was the end. So we didn't eat and waited to be asked why.
Why, the waitress asked.
She got adjectives. "There's an emulsion theme here throughout the entree," my girlfriend said. She is very sophisticated. Earlier, she had been more brusque. "Heather, we've ordered the pro-life platter," she said.
"It's … viscous," I offered.
"Jellied," my friend said.
"Lubricious."
"Shiny."
And then I broke down. "Mucus. It was like mucus. I'm sorry."
The service was brisk and hostile from then on. The entrees were taken off the bill and the meal still cost $150.
Heather Mallick's Rating: 1 Stars |
|
While the entire experience was superb, out parting experience was terrible. We were given a gift certificate, less than a month old for $500. Our bill came to $420. We wanted to leave the balance as a tip to our server the owner said that gift certificates could not include gratuities. So he was basically pocketing $80 that should have gone to the server. When asked why his policy was what it was, his excuse was that he had been in the restaurant business for 23 years. Apparently that gave him license to steal from his staff.
Marion Chan's Rating: 3 Stars |
|
5 of us went to Lucien for a friend's birthday on a Friday night for a 6.30 pm reservation. We all had appetizers, mains, shared desserts and had plenty of wine so spent close to $125 / person. Right from the start, we were not impressed with the host / person who welcomed us. He was leading us to our seats when we ran into someone we knew seated at the bar, and we stopped to have a quick chat with our friend before sitting. The host was thoroughly unimpressed that we hadn't followed him obediently to our table (keep in mind that the restaurant was not busy and we weren't blocking traffic in the restaurant). Following that, our server was incredibly condescending to at least 2 people in our party who were asking about menu items. The food was delicious, although the beef tataki was a bit too oily. After a mostly uneventful meal (except for the fact that the white wine was not put in a chiller between refills!) we were summarily asked to leave because apparently there was a party waiting for our table. The only problem was there was no one waiting at the bar, or near the entrance and there was an empty table right next to us that could have seated the same amount of people as ours. Overall, the restaurant is nice and the food is mostly delicious, but the service was very unimpressive.
Jill's Rating: 2 Stars |
|
At the end of my meal yesterday, I called the owner, Simon, over to say, "Absolutely every bite was joy". And I meant it. I've eaten at a lot of Toronto restaurants over my past 4 years in the city, and this by far was the best. Service was a wee bit sloppy at times, but staff was apologetic and attentive enough. I would have loved a second bottle of the Alsatian Gewurz that we enjoyed so much, but they were out and didn't have an alternative that we cared for. But those were minor hiccups compared to the exquisite creations that came out of the kitchen. Congratulations - I know I'll be back!
Jessica's Rating: 4 Stars |
|
After reading some decent reviews on this restaurant, I was excited to try out this restaurant. Unfortunately, I was extremely disappointed. The portions were incredibly tiny - I am a small woman but I had to go and eat another dinner afterwards or my stomach would've been growling for the rest of the night. To give you an idea of the portions, I ordered the lamb as the main course. The price was something around the range of $40. Touch the tip of your index finger to the tip of your thumb on one hand. The $40 dish consisted of 2 pieces of lamb of this size (the thickness was approximately 1") and a little bit of tasteless veggies. In addition, the service was terrible and the wait was ridiculous. It took about 30 minutes for us to get our appetizers and another 30-40 minutes to get our main course. Save yourself the money and the sanity, don't go to Lucien!
Jessica's Rating: 1 Stars |
|
Well, I recently visited Lucien and I must say I was immensely unimpressed. The server forgot to mention that the portions at Lucien are "supermodel sized", even after we talked about sharing appetizers. Really! A dish with 3-4 cherry sized tomatoes does not constitute a salad, I mean what was on the plate was good, but the portion was ridiculous! After leaving Lucien, I felt abused and worst of all HUNGRY!! I would think that after spending over $100 per person, and having had an app, main and desert there would be no need to eat a bowl of cereal once I got home.
Sara's Rating: 2 Stars |
|
Voice your opinion! Submit a reader review for Lucien. Click here | |
|
|
|
|
MBO Toronto :: User Reviews