pend more than a million bucks on what was a former car dealership and you too can have a spot capable of luring the highly desirable King West masses. Indeed, the scaffolding has come down and the heavily anticipated Spice Route opens to the masses tonight. The new Ian Schrager–esque restaurant has been generating much buzz, as this is the latest big-budget effort from Nick Di Donato (Liberty Group) and Charles Khabouth (INK).
The two club kings, who have earned their impressive stripes, surprised the local masses last year by teaming up in order to produce the Tattoo Rock Parlour. With Tattoo, the layout and design was in the hands of Khabouth (Guvernment, Ultra Supper Club and Dragonfly), who cleverly spun out a big-budget, graffiti-drenched residual squalor.
With Spice Route, the design is all Liberty Group. Or more specifically, creative director Nadia Di Donato primed the space into what is destined to be a perennial favourite. When the partners took over the space - which was previously the short-lived Touch Lounge (originally, the building was a Mitsubishi dealership) - in 2007, they quickly went to work turning the 8,000sq space into their definition of a Buddha bar-esque restaurant.
Di Donato knew what it would take to bring the large, square space to life. Her vision was to set all inhibitions aside and outfit the space in pure Japanese, Chinese, Thai and Indian regalia. Fast forward a year, and oversized antique doors now welcome you into a huge, dark and earthy space, tricked out with its bamboo flooring and Douglas MacRae wallpaper (gorgeous photography? Look closer – these are handcrafted paintings).
With dollar sign design and nonchalant Buddha statues in tow - and not a sign in sight - Spice Route boasts a natural physical and attitudinal resemblance to Chicago's Japonais
With dollar sign design and nonchalant Buddha statues in tow - and not a sign in sight - Spice Route boasts a natural physical and attitudinal resemblance to Chicago's Japonais; A hand-carved Buddha icon from the1600's hovers over the host station. Walls are pockmarked with tea light candles.
The dark lounge area is outfitted with cowhide leather ottomans (custom-built by Dragonair) and sultry lounge beats. The bar - a gorgeous wood-crafted monolith – centers the room. A slick 16ft waterfall serves as a semi opaque wall-divider. Dark wood dining tables are on an elevated level, which surrounds the entire main area.
A VIP room dubbed the "Harem Room," is in our opinion, a genius idea. Tucked in a corner – roped off from the plebs – this room is tricked out with banquette seating and a huge cocktail table (an antique bed, in a previous life) filled with rose pedals. "They were soaked in glycerine to keep from withering", says Di Donato.
Although the decor was beautiful, the food was not so good and my chicken was raw on the inside. When I mentioned this to the waiter, he didn't even look at the chicken and immediately started making excuses. First he said that if the juices run clear then it should be fine and then he said that it's supposed to be cooked that way for that cut of meat. Excuse me but it was raw and pink on the inside!!! He finally believed me when he took the dish back into the kitchen. Yes, they replaced my chicken and it was on the house but they took extra long (probably to cook it right the second time) and I wouldn't have been prompted to write this negative review if the waiter didn't argue with me on the uncooked chicken.
1. Anonymous's Review:: August 25, 2008
I had a very bad experience at Spice Route last week. While the food was decent, the service was terrible and when I voiced my concerns with management they belittled me and brushed me aside. They need a course in customer service!!!!!! While this place maybe be chic their attitude is not worth the trouble.
2. Anonymous's Review:: August 15, 2008
Beautiful place, gorgeous washroom, but the head chef must've lost his sense of taste. I should've walked over to the Rodney's for dinner and come back for the drinks. Also the wait staffs could've paid more attention to their tables.
3. Anonymous's Review:: August 05, 2008
After review after review (seemingly written by the same disgruntled employee… who has an exceptionally large amount of time on her hands) I believe she has gotten the point across that she had a bad night at Spice Route. I will just say that the place is one of the more interesting restaurants I've been to in a while. Food could be better, but still all my nights have been quite memorable.
4. Anonymous's Review:: July 17, 2008
Sean C...after reading your review I am grieving for you. Your self centered view is just wrong.
5. Anonymous's Review:: July 17, 2008
This is an email I sent to Liberty Group (I've added a few words not included in the original email). Most horrible customer service I've ever received in my entire life.
My name is Sean and I would just like to inform you on how appalled I am by the customer service at your new restaurant Spice Route. Never in my life had I run into so many problems with the service with one restaurant. The first time I had made reservations for dinner, I waited almost an hour past my reservation time for my party of 3 and finally left out of frustration and hunger. No one at the restaurant working seemed very concerned that we were waiting that long or tried to alleviate the situation. The second time, my girlfriend reserved dinner for a party of 9. Originally, it was for 7:30pm, then she was told several days later that it was switched to 7:00pm. We accepted that. 2 days before the night of our reservations, Sandra (probably still in high school) called my girlfriend and said it had to be switched to 6:30pm. She also told us we only had a 2 hour window to eat. We were told originally that we could eat and drink as long as we wanted into the night. The 2 hour window was quite upsetting as it was for a special occasion. Now we were being told that we had to show up an hour earlier then our originally requested time, and this was done last minute. My girlfriend told her that it was impossible as members of our party could not be there at 6:30pm. She said there was nothing she can do and that if my girlfriend continued to give her attitude, she would have no problems cancelling our reservation. While we were understandably upset at the change of plans, we would hardly categorize it as "giving attitude". I told her I would discuss with the members of our party and call back. After discussing it with them, we concluded that it was impossible to meet the earlier reservations. Then I called and asked for Sandra again. This was maybe 2 minutes later. I was told she was "in a meeting and unavailable". I said that that was quite unlikely as my girlfriend had just spoken to Sandra moments before. They then reluctantly put her on the phone. I told her how this is the second time already that I had a problem with the restaurant and he has yet to sit down and eat. She started yelling that she will not take abuse from me or my girlfriend. At that point, I had not raised my voice. When she started yelling, I raised my voice as well and said this was very bad customer service. She promptly yelled "Your reservation is now cancelled!" and hung up on me, (b*tch). I called the tart back and when she answered, she started shrieking that she's doing the best she can over and over again, peppered by the F word. We were quite taken aback as she seemed to be having some sort of breakdown. We have never experienced anything ilke this with a restaurant, much less a Liberty Group restaurant which is usually held to such high standards. Needless to say, we eventually cancelled our reservation. Today, I tried to make a Summerlicious reservations for a month from today, via Amex front of the line. I was told Spice Route will not take reservations for groups larger then 5, which Im assuming is because management wants to save the larger tables for regular paying customers who will spend more. They also refused to put tables together to accomodate our party and said there was nothing they can do and didn't seem the slightest bit concerned that I was upset over the situation.
I must say I am extremely disappointed as I have had such wonderful experiences with Liberty Group restaurants before. Its very appalling the way customers are treated at this establishment. I have heard identical stories from 8 friends who have gone so far. ok food, great ambience, horrible customer service. Now I understand that there are alwyas wrinkles to iron out with a new restaurant opening and its a trial and error process but the treatment we have received so far has been unconscionable. When you have such a new restaurant, the most memorable and powerful publicity is word of mouth and customer service. As excited as all my friends were after seeing the beautiful decor and the delicious sounding menu, we can safely say that we will never again try to visit this establishment and I can vouch that alot of other people I know will do the same, whether its from their own experience or through word of mouth experiences. What if I was a food critic? Even a bartender I spoke to, who works at Spice Route completely agree with us that management has been completely incompetent whether its due to the staff they hired and trained or just the lack of control they have had overseeing the restaurant. I am very disappointed that it has come to this, after the first and second incidents, I still was willing to give it another chance. I undersand that its a business and they must look out for their best business interest but sometimes when you care so concerned about little issues, you end up missing the big picture. While one can say that no one would really care or miss our one group's presence, I can assure you that if you keep this current group of management and staff in control of the restaurant, over time, customers will cease to return. I dont need to tell you that there is nothing competitive then the restaurant industry and that they are a dime a dozen and that no matter how nice the restaurant looks or how good the food is, people will not come back if they are treated like crap. I wish you guys luck with Spice Route, if you keep this current team, you will need it.
So that's my experiences with this piece of sh*t so called restaurant. In other major cities I NEVER experience this kind of treatment. It is now my mission to spread the word to as many people as possible to make sure no one else experiences what I have from Spice Route.
Need the rest of the story in more detail, just email me, I'd looooove to share it with you. Also, there should be a rating service in the negative.
6. Anonymous's Review:: June 23, 2008
This place has real potential...however bad food, bad service and bad crowd out ways the positives. The crowd ranges for early 20's to creepy people in their late 30..... I wouldnt recommend eating there, my best friends food showed up 30 minutes after my order and she was sick for 3 days from eating their gruel.... Great decor, however they need to get themselves organized in order for this place to survive!!!!
7. Anonymous's Review:: June 16, 2008
Nice decor - weird crowd... was there two weeks ago and met a 19 year old drunk out of his skull college student and a 50 year old drunk out of his skull farmer from Caledon... not impressed with the crowd... although the patio was stunning!
8. Anonymous's Review:: June 07, 2008
Let me begin with the only positive...Sprice Route looks great on the inside. It's a shame the rest of what it offers doesn't measure up.
We too had reservations at 9:30pm. Upon arrival, we were told that our table would be a few minutes. At 10:15pm we were still waiting and were told that there were a few tables that had paid the bill but would not leave and that they had been sat at 8:30. Here's a question...why would you seat tables at 8:30 knowing you have reservations coming in at 9:30?
We were given drinks and the promise that our table would be ready shortly. 10:15 quickly turned into 11:00. We were preparing to leave and were given a table right away. The chef came to our table as well and gave us some appetizers on the house. The waiter apologized profusely and said that they just opened and are still trying to iron out the issues. Here's a few more questions...where was the manager in all of this? Why did the manager AND NOT THE CHEF come to our table? And why, during all of this waiting did the hostesses not keep us updated and check in with us? It might just have diffused the situation.
Seeing as the owners of C Lounge and Ultra own this new restaurant, you would think they would have brought their prior expertise and knowledge to this venture and ironed out some of those issues.
This is not the first time that a new and trendy restaurant has needed to "iron out issues". It seems to be their MO. I wish we could all use that excuse in our own jobs to account for poor performance. These new and trendy restaurants need to realize that sexy interiors are not enough. We need great service and food too as that is what we remember and pass onto others. So I guess then, the morale of this story is that you are better off waiting a bit before you visit these new ventures. The only thing is...it might no longer be the "It" spot!
9. Anonymous's Review:: May 31, 2008
The SATC Night that Finished Upon Arrival. Rushing to get to our 9:30 reservation (and calling beforehand), we were relieved to hear that our table would be ready in a few minutes. Phew! but, When did a few minutes become 90? Alas, 1.5 hours later, we were seated, and ONLY because we made our way back to the door to speak to somebody. How long would it have been after that? I guess we were just too curious (and hungry) to leave. Not much from the hostess, either. (I think I missed the apology in all the noise). "We are busy and waiting for the 8:30 seating to leave". I beg to ask, why accept reservations for 9:30 when you have an 8:30 seating? Do you really expect people to sit, order, dine and pay in one hour, in a high-end resto-lounge???
Oh, and for those of you who still want to go, the suggestion from the waiter was to NOT come thurs, fri or sat, as it will be impossible to eat on time. Come during the day. Doesn't anybody have a day job anymore? Del Boca Vista, anyone?
I didn't forget to mention the food. It's just not worth the space. Eat somewhere else beforehand and go for drinks.
10. Anonymous's Review:: May 31, 2008
Being in the bar industry myself I have to say truly disappointed!!! The service was terrible as was the food. Atmosphere is the only thing going for Spice Route. I would rather eat at Manchu Wok anyday or perhaps McDonalds.
11. Anonymous's Review:: May 17, 2008
does anyone know what the party scene is like After Dinner?
Is it similar to Maro/Century...etc or much more toned down?
12. Anonymous's Review:: May 07, 2008
Just got back from an amazing dining experience.
Small tasty tapas and great flavours.
Friendly and tentative staff.
A great addition to King Street and Toronto.
JG
13. Anonymous's Review:: May 04, 2008
stunning decor, beatifully done and a gorgeous patio.
MBO Vancouver :: Articles
pend more than a million bucks on what was a former car dealership and you too can have a spot capable of luring the highly desirable King West masses. Indeed, the scaffolding has come down and the heavily anticipated Spice Route opens to the masses tonight. The new Ian Schrager–esque restaurant has been generating much buzz, as this is the latest big-budget effort from Nick Di Donato (Liberty Group) and Charles Khabouth (INK).
The two club kings, who have earned their impressive stripes, surprised the local masses last year by teaming up in order to produce the Tattoo Rock Parlour. With Tattoo, the layout and design was in the hands of Khabouth (Guvernment, Ultra Supper Club and Dragonfly), who cleverly spun out a big-budget, graffiti-drenched residual squalor. 
With dollar sign design and nonchalant Buddha statues in tow - and not a sign in sight - Spice Route boasts a natural physical and attitudinal resemblance to Chicago's Japonais
