Café Mirage Grill & Lounge
Sheppard Centre
4841 Yonge St.
416-250-9422
www.cafe-mirage.com
Rating: *
Dinner for two with drinks: $45
Having three locations, you’d think Café Mirage would’ve figured it all out. Nope.
The website photos illustrate a spacious, light-filled restaurant. That’s not this location. Here, it’s dark and extremely loud with club music playing and the hockey game on. Their website boasts, “Offering a one-of-kind sensuous experience” and “Where Casual Meets Class.” I don’t think so.
It’s forever before we’re served. Then, an order is wrong and our appetizer and sides arrive at once. Then we wait forever for our entrees and drinks and an eternity for our bill.
The Pita & Dip for Two ($9.99) arrives with hard whole-wheat pita wedges and baba ghanouj that tastes like mayonnaise. The accompanying salad is nice, but we barely touch the main components. Tuscan Chicken ($14.99), comprised of dry, boneless chicken breasts, smothered in red pepper cream sauce, and served with broccoli, carrots, zucchini and garlic mashed potatoes is disappointingly drab, but edible.
My companion though, likes her Chicken & Shrimp Souvlaki ($15.99) — a skewer of chicken, one of shrimp and one of veg. Drinks and wine by the glass are super cheap, the portions are huge and parking is free.
The ambience and service, however, ensure we won’t return.
Dining out
Arriba! Arriba! Milagro (three locations) serves up amazing authentic Mexican fare. Now the Mexico City owners, brothers Andres and Arturo Anhalt, have opened up La Perla Bar & Cantina — right above Milagro on Queen (783 Queen St. W.).
Old World Pie Established in 1964, Danforth Pizza House (920 Danforth Ave.) hasn’t really changed with the times. But it’s that history, care and expertise that make their pizzas so extraordinary.
In brief
Cooking with Tots At first glance, Polka Dot Kids (917 Queen St. W.) looks like a kid’s clothing store, but look closely and discover beautifully made and vintage cookware and bakeware just for kids. Call 416-306-2279 for hours.
