If you strolled unawares into Go - not that easy to do considering the restaurant's nowhere location in the camera store hell that is Queen and Church - you might well assume that it was just another Spring Rolls.
And in a way, you'd be right. "Go" is Spring Roll’s latest new branding weapon (as you may have noticed that the Spring Rolls at Yonge and Bloor has cryptically changed into "Go"). With this new location, a monstrous building-sized billboard announces Go’s place in what was previously the Speakeasy Jazz Club (and Rockit before that), and the view through the expansive plate-glass windows entices diners into a lively, two-level restaurant. It all adds up to a slick, modern, fit-to-be-cloned look.
While Go, to a certain degree, is a dipped-in-amber showcase, it's rather another guise to offer Spring Roll's fare ("East" was Queen Street's version). And when you're done rolling your eyes, do consider that there's no more glorious a way to drop 10 bucks in this town than with Go's hefty Pad Thai, a benchmark dish for Thai restaurants.
Previous Pad Thai attempts at the other Spring-Rolls-turned-Go at Yonge and Bloor were largely lackluster, disappointing and mushy. But the kitchen here churns out a well-seasoned, tasty version of the classic in beef ($8.45), Tiger Shrimp ($9.95) or Seafood ($10.95) modes.
Go's spring rolls ($3.50 – $6.95), weirdly enough, are not at all the ultimate. The roll is fresh enough, crisp but too greasy to be enjoyable. And the fried rice, a mainstay here, makes good use of crispy scallions but needs other vegetables too.