I am looking for a nice restaurant in Toronto while there on business. We are staying at the Intercontinental Toronto Center (west front street). So I’d like to keep it walking distance or short streetcar ride.

Now I would like a nice local spot…maybe something that represent’s Canadian cuisine?

We always end up at steak places because that’s “safe.” But I’d rather try something more unique or “neighborhoody.” I don’t want the menu to scare my coworkers off…but I also didn’t come to Toronto to eat at Ruth’s Chris or some tourist trap harbor facing spot.

Any ideas are appreciated. Nothing too fancy….but nothing to “bohemian” either. Probably continental cuisine…maybe Italian is ok too.

Someone at work suggested the “beaches” area? Also someone said west queen….but I have been out to West Queen and I think its probably to grimy for these folks (at least based on spots I was in).

You might try Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar on Church south of Front; an easy walk, unique Canadian food, full of locals (he is one of Toronto's most highly regarded chefs) and not too fancy.

Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar

good suggestion. The portions are small and cheap( sort of tapas) so you have toorder more than usual. Make a reservation.

p.s.
J.K. also has a cafe in the Gardiner Museum ( lunch, dinner only one night - think Friday)

He also has 4 Gilead now, too.

But does he serve poutine?

Canoe Restaurant ontop of the TD Towers. Excellent food, superb service (ask to sit in Ben's section, beside the window) and views out of this world!

Trust me on this one.

http://www.oliverbonacini.com/canoemovie.html

Panorama on the 51st floor of the Manulife Centre at Bay and Bloor - the view of downtown and the lake is better than from Canoe. If it's nice enough to sit outside, they'll ask if you want the south or north terrace - both are covered.

Even though it was raining, the view south last week was wonderful - and there were two rainbows.

Here's the website for the Panorama: http://www.eatertainment.com/restaurants/panorama/

Here's Canoe: http://www.oliverbonacini.com/canoemovie.html

Good attempt at asking the question, but missing quantity.

If you want a place for 12 people from work, you'll need a whole different restaurant than one with a table for four.

Does your group want to talk with each othr -- business or social -- or shut up and pay serious attention to the food?

If the latter, forget Canoe and Jamie Kennedy; the food is too attention-grabbing to justify being semi-ignored.

Is your group going to be loud? 12 people often are, 12 sales reps always are.

So you should be in an alcove or a private room.

Do you want everyone ordering from the menu, or do you want to narrow down the choices so a group can be all fed at the same time?

As for nothing to fancy -- that certainly is not Canoe, one of the finest restaurants in the country.

As for "Canadian..." That's always a problem. Once we get past whale blubber and seal flipper pie, all that's left is Beaver Tails (a pastry, not meat), poutine amd Swiss Chalet chicken.

If I was in your group of six or under, I'd head off to either Kit Kat or Club Lucky, both owned by the same man. One (KK) at the corner of King and Jophn, and the other two blocks north of King, on John, between Adelaide and Richmond.

Decent kitchens, Italian food, owner born in Canada, both been there for years, lots of regular customers...

Closer, also Italian-Canadian, with a buffet is joe Badali's, kitty-corner fromt he front door of the hotel. Lively atmosphere, but quiet enough to talk. Same with Kit Kat and Club Lucky.

There's a dozen restaurants on King Street west of John, three blocks from the hotel. You could just walk down the street, read the menus outside, and pick one.

BAK

Swiss Chalet! Of course!!

BAK makes very valid points about quantity of people. And more valid points about blubber. LOL

The Rosewater Supper Club has a private room and is in an historic building. Food was very good and service was not bad.

http://www.toronto.com/restaurants/listing/212809

Again, if your guests are going to 'into' food then I would suggest Rosewater for private room and/or Canoe for smaller groups.

If food isn't going to be appreciated, but you want a 'touristy-good-place-with-a-view' then CN Tower should do the trick (gag me with a spoon). And the more I think about Swiss Chalet...

chow.com is a good source to research your needs.

I almost forgot my most favourite restaurant. Again, under catagory of small groups (under 20) who will appreciate food is Scaramouch. Food is to die for with a pleasant view.

http://www.scaramoucherestaurant.com/

Agree about Scaramouche.

Here's Gina Mallet's review of Canoe:

"National Post Restaurant Review September 6 1008 * CANOE

by Gina Mallet on Sat 06 Sep 2008 08:44 AM EDT

What must be among the first automated restaurants opens this week in London. It’s called Inamo. Using a mousepad in the table top you can order from the menu, get your bill, even order a taxi and find out the nearest bar… human interface is kept to a minimum.

I don’t need to go to London to get that anomic feeling - I can stay here and be processed by Canoe, one of Toronto’s most expensive restaurants, for dinner. Sure the digs are dishy, the view from the 54th floor of the TD Centre is wide-angled and lights twinkle in the twilight. But the service doesn’t twinkle. I think a customer about to pay northwards of $40 for an entrée is entitled to a real welcome and not just given the once over by a young woman with the warmth of a rental car clerk. She turns me over to another expressionless young woman who leads me through the restaurant. I point to a lovely and empty table in the window and ask can’t I sit there? No. Seems to me if Casey Bee at the modest Sidecar with its $22 prix fixe can treat me as a valued customer, surely the downtown flagship of the mighty Oliver Bonacini chain can do no more.

Dream on. I wait for almost fifteen minutes for a waiter to surface. In the meantime, several server-type and unsmiling people fuss with napkins at a neighbouring table, and a couple of men are ushered in and immediately asked if they want a drink. I guess it’s because I am a woman alone – and not Paris Hilton - that I am invisible.

Bon Vivant meanwhile is having his own anomic experience. ‘Ware restos in highrises. The buildings in the TD Centre’s large faceless black block are identified only by number. I wonder what it’s like for tourists to arrive in the sterile empty lobby of Buildings One and Two . Officer take the perps to Building One.

Bon Vivant has trouble just getting into the lobby. The North Side is roped off, he has to jog around to the South side and he complains signage is almost non-existent.

Ok now we’re finally reunited on the 54th floor and scanning a menu loaded with organic brand names like Pingue Niagara Braesole. St-Canut Farms roast organic suckling pig. This is Haute Barnyard billed by executive chef Anthony Walsh as Canadian Regional Cuisine.

Now an expensive restaurant must have a Wow factor – glamorous surroundings, extraordinary food, nonpareil service. Obviously, Canoe’s view is Wow worthy and so is Yabu Pushelberg’s bankers’ dining room and bar. At first glance, the food seems right up there in luxury. We turn down a Coastal Selection at $72 and decide instead on the Canoe Plate, $24, which includes a little foie gras terrine (duck I assume), salmon tartare, and chilled lobster salad. and for $28, the Yarmouth lobster and scallop, sweet mustard and Pelee Island Caviar.

No wow here. The plates are curiously bland. Soulless food says Bon Vivant. Shellfish only tastes wonderful on its own when it’s right out of the ocean. Otherwise, it needs seasoning. There’s plenty of lobster but it’s simply not tasty enough, nor are the piqueless raw scallops and salmon tartare. And what’s all this about calling the anemic white fish roe Caviare. Tad pretentious, no? Like calling sparkling Chardonnay Champagne, raising expectations that can’t be met.

We pause to be insulted by the waiter. He’s so enthusiastic about his choice of wine that we go along with him. But it’s sold out. We find his next choice unacceptable - it’s sharp on our palates. He argues with us- it tastes fine to him. Maybe he’s just been eating peppermints. In any case he has forgotten who’s going to pick up the tab for the wine.

I’m paying $41 for a few slices of Conquest Hill Organic Squab. Perhaps the squab was tender originally but now it’s dry as if it’s been left too long under the hot lights of the service counter. Nor is it properly sliced and when I finish the job, I find it tough. As for the accompaniments, I don’t understand their function. They are dotted around the plate with no reference to the squab. The little shards of mushroom - the Ontario Faerie Ring that kills off golf greens so don’t dine here with Mike Weir - are soggy. Unless the menu had told me I would be hard put to identify the strawberry catsup and Newfoundland screech.

Why is Ted’s Organic Char, $39, the colour of pigskin? Ted, who refuses to give his surname, farms the char without feeding it even organic colouring. I can’t think why except to scare consumers that any colour in farmed fish is bad for you and thus boost his sales. I eat with my eyes and they love rosy char. The accompanying ginger crème fraiche is pleasant enough but doesn’t alleviate the dish’s overall blandness.

The strangest dish of the evening is pine nut and pistachio quebec foie gras tart. Doesn’t taste of anything!

A man with a pile of papers and a large glass of red wine is at a neighbouring table. A lawyer I think. Should I ask whether I can sue Canoe for misrepresenting Canadian food? Don’t waste your time says Bon Vivant “This is a cafeteria for American Express cardholders.” Canoe is a promotion not a philosophy.

* “for the Bar”Canoe 66 Wellington W 416-364-0054 Wheelchair Access. Weird music but conversation OK. Food: dinner for two plus tax: $185."

Don't forget that Scarmouche has both the Pasta Bar & Grill and the restaurant. The PB&G is lovely, the food is delicious and the service is excellent. We were just there on Saturday. See if they'll give you the long table along the front window.

I've never eaten at the restaurant but it's quite a bit more expensive.

Another suggestion, although not Canadian cuisine, is Le Paradis on Bedford just a few doors north of Davenport. Very French bistro-ish, excellent food, good wine list at good prices (or so I'm told). One of my favourite places in Toronto. I'm going to take my D.C. houseguests there next month. And you can walk from the Intercontinental through the lovely Annex neighbourhood.

http://www.leparadis.com/

Another suggestion is Boba on Avenue Road (continental) and Joso's at Avenue and Davenport (seafood; very 'in' at film fest time).

The OP is at Intercontinental way downtown, not the one on Bloor.

Oh. Never mind.
E. Litella
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OK, then for something Canadian I'd suggest Le Papillion on Church, south of Front. Bretonne crepes, tourtiere, etc. Charming place. If you're coming in the fall or early winter, ask for the area in front of the fireplace.

For something more casual, you could go to the International Bier Market on Front. Beer samplers, decent food.

On King West, there are tons of restaurants. My favourite is Fred's Not Here but Kit Kat is good, as are many of the others on that block.

The Hot House Cafe at the corner of Church and Front could probably give you a private area. The menu is large and varied, easily-priced and the food is decent. It would be a bit of a 'safer' choice if that's what you need.

Or you could go to the Pearl at Harbourfront and have dim sum (if they do that for dinner) or whatever they serve in the evening. Ask for a table overlooking the lake.

If you are still looking, what about a crepe restaurant? There's an excellent one within walking distance and you can check for reviews on the web.

It's called Le Papillon (16 Church street at Church & Front), near the St. Lawrence Market. I know it accommodates larger tables with notice, it has a great atmosphere, it is a well known staple for Torontonians and it does excellent food. Crepes are a Quebec specialty, although this restaurant is not Quebecois - but it would give you a taste of something different.

I don't think Papillon gets good reviews now - it's a place that was good, but I haven't heard anything good about it in years. But to be honest, I haven't eaten there in a long time, so I'm just going on what I've read elsewhere. You might want to check on chowhounds - lots of opinions over there.

I suggested that too -- it's 'Canadian' in it's menu.

I've been there several times over the past couple of years (I try not to eat crepes too often -- I like them too much) and I think it's still good.