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 iaphanous with attitude and perfectly accessorized like shiny little wind-up toys, the restless locals, Prada-clad scenesters and TIFF revelers alike have already found their way to Yorkville's latest It restaurant. Or more specifically, to its patio.
 One, which takes over much of the ground floor of The Hazelton Hotel (118 Yorkville Ave.), is the latest restaurant by Chef Mark McEwan (Bymark and North 44). Not just the restaurant, but the entire hotel – both of which have been eagerly anticipated - has officially opened, and the pedigree shows.
With a design that borrows heavily from the Windsor Arms' paradigm, the space, designed by Glenn Pushelberg and George Yabu of YabuPushelberg, consists of a 250-seat dining room and a 70-seat, wrap-around patio. The décor employs a pure hotel restaurant aesthetic; velvet upholstered walls, polished woods and tiger-eye onyx. While the dimly-lit lounge and two private dining rooms are understandably hotel-ish, the street-level patio has an irresistible exuberance that explains its instant and well-deserved popularity.
The exuberance links the front of the house with the kitchen, which turns out food without, curiously enough, much pretension (considering its headlining chef). Hotel developers Peter Cohen and Bruce Greenberg had originally considered introducing an international name such as Nobu Matasuhisa or Alain Ducasse to brand the restaurant, but the enterprise was awarded to local Torontonian chef McEwan, with Drew Ellerby as executive chef.
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Hazelton Hotel, 118 Yorkville Avenue, Toronto, ON
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10 Reader Reviews
First, I must note that I am not picky, nor do I have ridiculously high standards when I go out to bars or restaurants. Having said that, I could not believe the lack of professionalism that ONE has.
On service:
1 - Arrived, and though the hostess was extremely nice and super cute, there was some confusion about where we could sit. We've never been here before, not sure what is what, but kind of got the feeling we should seat ourselves?
2 - Ordered a bottle of wine, which they didn't have. The server suggested another bottle, and charged us for the more expensive one. (we are not cheap, just demanding of simple restaurant etiquette in what is supposed to be 'fine dining' - in a restaurant with a lower price point this is not expected)
3 - Our desserts arrived before our wine was opened.
4 - Our desserts arrived before our water was poured (the first thing we ordered)
5 - Our server disappeared, and we were left wondering when he was going to refill our wine glasses (He was was nowhere to be seen for the most part, and would appear at odd times...timing was off)
6 - We asked to move to the lounge. We paid our bill. He made no effort to "show" us where the lounge was, or simply inform us whether or not we could seat ourselves...some sort of instruction would have been nice...we've never been here before.
7 - In the lounge, he brought us our wine with new glasses. We said the old glasses were fine. He insisted. My friend said no, the glass was dirty. He didn't hear her. I repeated it. He didn't hear me. She repeated it. After three times, he still managed to pour the wine into the dirty glass, and when he noticed our 'distress,' he shrugged his shoulders. I finally had to transfer the wine from the dirty glass into her old glass myself. Not only that, he filled our wine glasses too much, to avoid bringing a chiller, AND he spilled the wine while pouring it. All this...was the worst. Everything else could be forgiven but any DECENT server would at least take the time to listen to a VERY simple request.
Atmosphere
1 - Maybe because we arrived late (around 10:30 on a Sun), but it seems like we were in a very 'busy' cafeteria, NOT a dining room. Why? Servers were walking back and forth like madmen, looking very important 'strutting' I suppose...BUT NOBODY SEEMED LIKE THEY WERE GETTING SERVED! At the very least, with all these people in black shirts moving about, our server was nowhere to be seen. And when I tried to get the attention of another server because ours was nowhere to be seen, she thought I was smiling at her (sure, she's SOOO important) not because I perhaps needed something, even though I WAS WAVING???
2 - I could see a server drinking coffee from where I was sitting.
3 - They were carrying garbage through the restaurant
4 - They were taking apart tables even though there were customers still inside
Yes...I get the point... maybe they were closing down, but perhaps you'd want to close the doors to customers before you start taking things apart??? I'm fine when it's in a bar, or when you're paying 10 dollars for a burger somewhere, but come on...with all they claim to be???
Overall, service was horrible, timing was off, and the servers (and manager?) were not even pretentious or "hip," they were just immature.
Here's a tip: If you want fine dining, head over to Opus. The staff are unpretentious, mature, attentive and quiet, they've got a heck of a wine list, and you can expect professionalism every step of the way. Moreover, the crowd's better...They're not trying to be.
If you want good food, good service and good atmosphere, you can probably find more of it in your local pita pit than you could find here.
Beware!
Kitty's Rating: 1 Stars |
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Me and my boyfriend have been here a couple of times. Most recently was on June 4th, for dinner. Amazing meal -
Started with the cured meat plate (various meats with buffalo ricotta and spiced olives), my bf had the burger (which is amazing) and I had the lobster risotto (which I noted was still the 'specialty' dish since the last time we were there).
All the food was amazing as always.
Service was great, a touch slow but my bf always had a full drink.
We sat on the patio which even though it was a bit chilly was beautiful because of the heat lamps. Great atmosphere, great people watching spot.
Margarita R's Rating: 4 Stars |
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Extremely rude waitress actually said 'fuck ' when she brought us our coffees. Complained by email. No action was taken. I do not know how somebody gave this place 5 stars. Perhaps you can buy them?:
):
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Beautiful construction , completely spoiled by a badly run restaurant and a bar that's getting its name high up on the meat market list.
Shakti's Rating: 1 Stars |
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My boyfriend & I dined at One this past Saturday. The staff was friendly & courteous. The ambiance & decor was great. The food though I must say was over salted & oily. I really don't know what the huge hype about this restaurant is.
Appetizer... Organic beet salad for me (too salty I must say I had to drink a lot of water just to wash it down & it was sitting in too much oil) My boyfriend had something that was recommended by the waiter (I believe it had prociutto with a crostini, a bit of greens & a mild soft cheese with dressing... the dressing to him was a bit too sweet but I really enjoyed the soft cheese).
Entree... Sole fish (flown in from Europe somewhere - $60) Ok... now what we were shocked to find was this fish came breaded. I don't know why anyone would want to bread a beautiful tender fish like sole?! Mind you it was lightly breaded but still.... I think it shouldn't be breaded (our waiter didn't tell us it would be breaded). Plus, (thank goodness) we asked our waiter to put the butter caper sauce on the side. I didn't put any on my fish. My bf tried a bit but didn't like it too much. We couldn't imagine if the sauce was on the fish. It would have been so greasy.
Sides..... Jerusalem artichokes were ok but a bit too greasy (it was sitting on a lot of oil) We had fries with some reggiano cheese shavings & an aioli with a bit of truffle oil. This was probably the only dish that we probably liked.
Dessert.... I really didn't want any but my bf insisted. So we had the maple creme brulee with pumpkin ice cream. This was really good! I'm glad we ordered dessert.
Overall... we'll go back for drinks, dessert & the ambiance in the lounge area but not for food.
Gstar's Rating: 2 Stars |
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Okay, I did enjoy the evening - as an opening to this review. The decor was a bit disappointing for the area. It (the decor) was predictable with not a lot of visual enticement or excitement. The service was great, and made you feel 'special'. The food was very tastey, but again very 'traditional' and predictable. For the money I would have expected and enjoyed a lot more delicacey with the meals. There was nothing exceptional, nothing visual to focus on or to remember. The food was very good, but not memorable.
L's Rating: 3 Stars |
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I've read some bad reviews here on the service and felt compelled to write my own experience. I ate at the restaurant on Feb 29, 2008 and felt the service was excellent--attentive, prompt and courteous. The place was hopping but we never felt we were abandoned or having to wait too long. The food was delicious, truly a culinary experience. I couldn't give it a five for value since my bison tartar appetizer was $32 but then you don't go to high end restaurants for good economy. The seating is tight but once the place is filled you get the sense you're in a busy happening locale and the noise blends in. All in all, either people are way too picky (understandable given the glitterati crowd) or perhaps the service has improved since some of these other reviews were submitted. In any event, I had a great meal experience and would highly recommend it to others.
Mario Zeskoski's Rating: 4 Stars |
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nov.17 o7 . non vedo l'ora di mandargli le mie opinioni al suo restorante il primo piatto o ordinato del tuna dove o richiesto di servirlo caldo era freddo il secondo lo dovudo mandarlo perche ere fredissimo alla fine o chiesto un espresso non so come descriverlo era pessimo , la ragazza che serviva era fantastica se non era per lei avrei lassciato il tavolo a metta cena ,il suo nome era emy il suo servizio era perfetto.con questo non voglio dire il mangiare era molto saporito soltanto che alaltezza del suo nome dovrebe fare piu attezione ai piatti che escono dalla cucina .di fare un buon caffe o dovra camiare nome al suo ristante echiamarlo [ owns]mi scusi , ma spero di essere stato di aiuto e spero che il sign mark mcewan lo legga questo e mail .g. gennaro
Giorgio Gennaro's Rating: 2 Stars |
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I would like to start off saying that I quiet enjoy fine dining and had a very high expectation for ONE restaurant. The host is always suppose to make a great first impression. Let me tell you how the hosts at ONE restaurant did not do that at all, especially the only male host there. He was very rude and to my suprise was talking about the guests behind their back after they had been seated. I was walking to the washroom when I over heard him saying very nasty things about one of the guests. Which I feel is very unprofessional. Who knows how many other people this male host talks about. It was very disappointing to know that the employees are that low. This male host should not be working at a fine dining restaurant. I'm sure a lot more other people would agree if they knew he was talking about them behind their backs. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone that enjoys fine dining restaurants.
Jennifer's Rating: 1 Stars |
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Mid September my wife and I were in Toronto on business and decided to try Toronto's newest high end restaurant " One " owned by chef ( I use that term loosely if One is representation of his culinary skills ) Mark McEwan.
Where does one start to review on a restaurant that appears on the surface as a high end culinary establishment and believe me no expense was spared when it comes to the decor of this very contemporary restaurant. When we walked into ONE, it took about 5 minutes for anyone to acknowledge our presence even though it wasn’t busy. Once we were greeted and sat at our table on the patio it took 15 min. for someone to come, provide us with a menu and ask if wished to have anything to drink. After that we didn’t see any one for about 20 minutes and when she returned with my wine, I had to inquire if there were any special offerings that evening. Not a great start to what we had anticipated as a wonderful evening and epicurean experience. Oh by the way did I mention how nicely it was decorated.
After perusing the over the high priced menu, believe me I don’t mine spending the money if you get what you pay for, which was definitely not the case at ONE.
My wife decided to order the they ½ lobster/$36.00 and I ordered the Cesar salad/15.00 halibut with Dungeness crab/32.00 with a side of what I found out later to be perhaps the worst French fries I have ever had.
After about 20 minutes my Cesar salad arrived presented on a small plate with one crouton and totally void of Parmesan cheese. The salad had so much vinegar in the dressing it was painful to eat.
About 20 minutes after the salad arrived our meals arrived. My wife was presented with her ½ lobster in a cup sized, stainless steel serving dish. Inside was one small lobster claw and ½ a lobster tail, the dish in total may have weighed 4oz.
My Halibut and Dungeness crab, which was approx. 2 inches long, 1 inch wide and 1 inch thick and totally devoid of Dungeness crab arrived in a similar serving dish.
My wife attempted to eat her lobster, which was steamed and void of any seasoning and found it to be very over cooked and tough. When I tasted the Halibut, which was prepared by steaming, I found it to be void of any type of seasoning or flavor as well. I started searching my dish for the Dungeness crab and to my amazement found a drop of sauce beneath the Halibut. The sauce may have contained the crab but it was difficult to tell as it too was devoid of flavor. I almost forgot about the 12.00 French fries with Parmesan cheese, actually one small curl of cheese. They were shoe string fries the size of a small fries at A&W which had been reheated and served. They were greasy and over salted.
We sat patiently waiting for our server to come by and do a quality check, she never did until I flagged down another server and requested she ask our server to come the table. When our server arrived I informed her about my wife’s lobster and without asking how my meal was left the table only to return 5 minutes later and advising us that the lobster would be taken off the bill. She left again without asking about my meal.
This was the worst dining experience we have had in a restaurant that portrays itself as being high end, it was definitely the worst food. It was so bad I was going to make a theft report it to the Policeman walking by, because “ONE” had just stolen my $230.00 which was what this experience cost me.
Perhaps owner Mark McEwan should have used some of that money to hire a chef who can cook and serving staff whom can actually provided customer service.
I have been to ONE once and that was too many times….I will never go back.
Take my advice going once to ONE is too much.
Rating: 1 star for the patio
James's Rating: 1 Stars |
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Ladies Who Love to Lunch
Message: One Restaurant - the new baby on Yorkville - perhaps it just needs time to mature and so do the hostessing staff!
Arrived to be seated inside along the window; however, the tables and chairs were so tightly put together that it was near to impossible to get in and out of one's seat... definitely not what one would expect from a Restaurant of this calibre and also where so many of the tables were empty ... that was only the start!
Our waitress was charming - we were served lLitre Water - I enquired about the water... "Oh yes she replied, it is owned by the owner" - wrong I told her in a nice way and corrected the misinformation as I do know know the owner of lLitre Water!
We then took a look at the bedazzling restaurant menu and were advised that perhaps we should order three main courses to share... what the heck is this sharing bit all about. When I go out to lunch or dinner - I decide whether I want to share or not! My friend and I therefore decided that we would each order the lobster salad at the tune of $29.00 - not bad we thought since the lobster was removed out of the shell, and we were informed that it was about 1- 1 1/2 lbs.... when the dish arrived it was beautifully decorated with assorted greens, but I think the kitchen confused the wait staff as there was only perhaps two tiny bits of lobster meat on the plate. We did bring our concern about the lobster portion to the attention of our waitress. When the waitress came back to our table she informed us that our concern was brought it to the attention of the kitchen, and they apologised! Too bad !
Now I understand why everyone was eating hamburgers - probably the most substantial dish on the luncheon menu - very disappointing but rather amusing.
I am not sure what has happened here or is happening here at One, as we love both of the other restaurants and have not had any complaints but I have to admit we are still a little confused and concerned about the miniscule portion of lobster served at lunch- serve it right, price it right or take it off the menu!
Apart from leaving hungry we had an enjoyable lunch with two glasses of chardonnay each.
Ladies Who Love To Lunch's Rating: 2 Stars |
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One |
Hazelton Hotel, 118 Yorkville Avenue, Toronto, ON
416-963-6300
Yorkville
Contemporary
Restaurant
$$$$
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