We had reservations for 10pm and waited for over and hour and a half to be seated. We finally left as it was clear we were NOT going to be seated even though we were promised several times that our table would be up next. A beautiful location - too bad the service is terrible!

Great space... but I see it becoming a nightclub in a very short time (if not already).

I see that they are trying very hard play a very much worrn out shoe , it was ok I was not too , too impressed , how ever good luck , your gonna need it there , It's a club after all.....!!!

Ok...I need to brutally honest here...how do I describe my food. Let me start by saying...beautiful club. And I will never figure out how some drops 3 million dollars to create this 3rd uncle special...and than serve food like we had. If I were in a plane crash, the food would be better. Absolute garbage fusion. G-d help anyone and someone kidnap the chef. We think the chef trained in Prison somewhere near Cuba or Sunnybrook hospital but were not sure. Food that taste like your 93 year grandmother would make after reading a recipe in a seniors digest. Absolute humane society quality, but Im not even sure if we donated our plates to the toronto humane society, that the animals would even eat it. Go there for drinks but dont spend a nickel eating there. We should have picked up on it..when we arrived we even noticed other patrons not finishing their food. One person even dumped the entire plate of food in take doggy bag. Stay clear. If your hungry your better off grabbing a slice of pizza from across the street. Worst food ever eaten. A complete disgrace to the word fusion let alone asian! Im sorry for writing this but the food is that bad. Susur lee was there last night too and I think they would have had to call an ambulance if he tasted or ate anything there last night. Really.
Rating: 1

Well ohhh my God , what the hell guy's what a rip off with the food , and the price don't go together , I would have to agree with the other persons last review,I think I would have had it better if I got a hot dog from the lady accross the street ( Elizabith ) , I should have had food there @ the dog stand and drinks there @ spice route .....but then again there are lot's of spot's to hit on King st. now I can say been there and done that !!! so no more ....PEOPLE SAVE YOUR MONEY AND TIME . I do have to say that they may not last too long with food like that !!!!

Went to the opening and while the decor is nice its not outstanding. In fact, when compared to other venues in the city, it seems a little recycled. Service was fine not offensive. The food is nothing more typical Chinese food; no fusion, no creativity. With that said, I have no interest in ever re-visiting for food of any variation but may venture there for drinks in the summer to enjoy that patio; it is quite nice.

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.

One of the Worst dining experiences I've had in Toronto. The main problems are two fold: a general lack of organization amongst the young staff, and an inability to negotiate the distinction between a club and a restaurant.

We waited for over an hour for a table (we were a couple). The table we received was close to the bar, so invariably we had people leaving their drinks on the table, sitting, walking / standing buy us...etc. The server was nice, but forgot our drinks, some food, and generally had no sense of what was happening.

A really disappointing experience, despite what I thought to be a really interesting menu and great look to the place. I do not recommend eating there--perhaps going for a drink is the best way to enjoy (thought good luck in getting a drink with the attractive bartenders only spending their time with the olders dudes hitting on them).

Come here for drinks but don't waste your time eating here! This has to be the worst run restaurant in town sadly coupled with the most promising atmosphere in town.

I'd been to spice route a couple times for drinks and ejoyed it and decided to come back to try it out for dinner despite the mixed reviews i'd heard about the food. Things were a disaster from the moment we arrived - our group of four had a reservation for 8:30 and didn't get seated until 9:30. We received no apologies from the staff for the 1 hour delay and when one of us mentioned to the hostess that other restaurants tend to offer complimentary drinks or appetizers in such situations we were met with a blank stare and were ignored thereafter. When we finally sat at our table for four we were given only two menus and only one set of cutlery. We ordered our food right away and asked for more place settings at the same time. Of course our food arrived before our place settings and three of us were left unable to eat until well after our food had begun to get cold. Several items of our order arrived via a waitress who could not even identify the dishes to us and who eventually took them back to the kitchen out of concern that maybe they were meant for another table. When we finally did eat, hours after arrival, the food was decent but not much better than late night chinese restaurants on spadina that cost a fraction of the price. The only great thing about the night was the beautiful room and the buzzing vibe - which you don't need to eat there for.

My advice - go eat a truly great meal at Lee's down the street and come to spice route after and enjoy the room without the horrifying service and unspectacular food.

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.

The worse service ever! We had reservation at 8pm. We got there 5 minutes early and had to wait 30 minutes to get seated. Then, we had to wait another 15 minutes before someone came to take our order. We actually had to talk to the manager to have someone at our table. The staff was very snob and incompetent and obviously inexperienced (no manners and the kind who piles all your plates in front of you!). No excuses where given after we complained. No one came over to ask how our meal was. Our empty plates were in front of us for a good 15 minutes. They forgot our drinks and our appetizers came late. The bill, of course had an error on it, they overcharged us for drinks we never had. The food was ok, but everything seems to be fried in the same oil (everything tasted like tempura). The only way I would go back to this place is if it was free and if I would only have drinks on the patio- cause I have to admit, the place/decor is very nice! But everything else, mediodre. Go somewhere else if you have a choice!

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!

After a bad nite there last week , I called the AGCO , and found out that there capacity was only 250 people , WHAT ? ALL THAT SPACE !!!! Well they pack it in on the count that they won't get cought !!! but one day the AGCO will get them with there pant's down !!!!

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.

I read all these reviews (looks like most of the bad ones were written by the same person (disgruntled employee?)) Nonetheless, we arrived without reservations but they were able to seat us right away. I think we were very luck and would recommend reservations. Sleek interior but for me the most impressive part of this restaurant is the jungle like patio area where we were seated.

Sexy, sleek and swank. Not stuffy and no attitude at all. Spice Route, you ARE a gem. This is my kind of place!