“Will never go back here again”
Went here with a bunch of friends. Got here early, table was ready, sat down... could not get any service. Nothing. Left and came back waiting for more people to show up. Same thing... could not get any service.
The place isn't very big. But, the people behind the counter seemed more interested in chatting with each other. Our waiter (I think) was looking at his phone most of the time.
Onto the food - mine was actually very tasty but, I think that's the kejvak talking.
House wine, red for me, white for my friend, was absolutely undrinkable. Beer selection good.
But, nothing was so good to make me want to go back to be treated like garbage by the servers and with only mediocre food and bad wine.
The place isn't very big. But, the people behind the counter seemed more interested in chatting with each other. Our waiter (I think) was looking at his phone most of the time.
Onto the food - mine was actually very tasty but, I think that's the kejvak talking.
House wine, red for me, white for my friend, was absolutely undrinkable. Beer selection good.
But, nothing was so good to make me want to go back to be treated like garbage by the servers and with only mediocre food and bad wine.
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“Bad experience overall - won't be back”
The restaurant is tiny, so there is one long communal table in the middle and deuces along the side. The communal table was full when we arrived, so we sat at one of the deuces. The table is nailed into the wall, and once you sit on the incredibly uncomfortable bar stool the table was shoulder height (I'm 5'5"). My feet didn't even touch the rail of the bar stool, so I had to stand because my legs went numb. Maybe the discomfort wouldn't have been so bad if we hadn't waited so long to be served our appetizer (35 minutes). I planned to order our main courses right away, but did not have the opportunity to do so - the server set it down and dashed off, she never came to check on us until we were finished. When some seats at the communal table opened up we asked to move there but were told it was reserved for a large group. Within 5 minutes they sat a walk-in exactly where we had asked to sit. Even after expressing displeasure at the wait for the appetizer, we ordered our mains, with the server's assurances it wouldn't take as long. It did. The food was over salted and mediocre. The server took nothing off our bill as an apology for all the 'mishaps'. I really wanted to like this place - it's cute, in the neighbourhood, not a chain, interesting concept. It was too dissapointing to even merit a second chance.
Not good at all, but nobody tried the rakia!
Here's the run down of the place all the same.
rakiabar.com, @RakiaBarTO,
647-350-4227
Owner: Dušan Varga, owner of the Leslieville Rakia Bar outpost Chef: Dustin Peck (The Auld Spot, Politica)
The Drinks: Unlike the Leslieville outpost, the west-end Rakia Bar offers an extensive selection of central European beers, mostly in tall cans. A well-curated selection of rakias (fruit brandies distilled from pear, quince, apricot and other fruit) is also on offer. First-time firewater sippers might opt to temper the Balkan brandy burn with a rakia-based cocktail like the Andrić (plum brandy, ginger-honey syrup, Galliano, egg white).
