Restaurants
Edward Levesque's Kitchen
Edward Levesque's Kitchen has a killer menu. The Sun raves about the brunch here, and judging by the regular weekend lineups so does everyone else. Waffles, banana pancakes, latkes, french toast, omelettes and sides like chipotle corn bread dot their menu. They also serve dinner and an all day breakfast.
Discussion
24 Comments
Sort By Oldest First / Newest First
Subscribe
DO NOT EAT HERE!
The owner snapped at me 3 times for asking to substitute homefries for salad. (I even offered to pay more!).
worst service ever. This place will eventually go under due to service. The waitresses seem so sweet for the first while and after a few months they get bitchy like him.
I heard great things about this place, finally decided to give it a try and I found this place to be totally overrated.
The food was 'okay' at best. The place was a sauna in the summer time and I would have to agree with the above poster, the service was HORRIBLE.
For 15-20 a person I could think of many other places in the neighbourhood that would be worth going to, such as OKOK or Stratengers (both up the street from Edward Levesque's)
Food was good - service was terrible. What was worse than an hour's wait for a sandwich was the overwhelming sense of apathy about the wait coming from the staff.
Would not return.
Delightful classy restaurant. Exquisite food, prompt friendly service. The strawberry lemonade is perfectly refreshing and if you linger long enough over the fabulous desserts you can watch the streetcar gliding by.
I agree with the first two posts. I have personal experience with Edward Levesque myself. And have found him to be rude and ignorant and miserable. I have lived in the area for 2 years and have never seen him smile. EVER!!! The staff looks miserable and look like they want to be anywhere but there. I have never eaten there but am afraid too because of the lack of character and personality.
I went to Edward Levesque for the first time yesterday and it will be the last time. We went for brunch and waiting for a table was the best part of the experience. My girlfriend ordered a banana smoothie and when it arrived, it was warm.
We waited for an hour for our food and it was average at best. Another friend had the french toast and there was next to no ricotta filling inside. The fruit salad was warm and inedible. The kitchen forgot to make the side order of bacon even though we reminded our server on 2 occasions.
The table behind us waited an hour and they only ordered soup.
The food was average at best.
I feel sorry for the servers as the kitchen was really slow in getting the orders out and they were taking the brunt of the complaints.
The best brunch in Leslieville?!?!?! I'm not quite sure how this resto gets so much positive hype from the critics. I have to agree with all the naysayers (which seem to out-weigh the lovers... 1 post so far) above. I've been to Edward Levesque's twice. The first time, to see if it lives up to the hype. The second time, to give it another chance. Both visits, the service was terrible (rude, forgetful & painfully slow)& the food wasn't anything special. Definitely wouldn't recommend it. & no plans on going back either when there are so many other fabulous brunch options in Toronto.
I agree with most posters here. The food was VERY average at best. The service was terrible- that Edward was rude. And when we wanted separate bills they just averaged the bill and added waay too much tip - "so that'll be easier for us to pay" - WTF? I'll tip whatever the hell I want and with the crappy food and service - no tip was justified.
this place gave me food poisoning on new years eve....the food seemed decent at the time which is the kicker....you are better off to give up eating completely...do not eat here, your bowels will thank you
Wow. I'm really surprised to see the negative comments. I took my mum here recently and both of us loved it. The menu is way more interesting than most spots, the service was good and the prices are reasonable. We didn't even mind waiting more than 20 minutes to get in. Brunch here on weekends usually means a line-up (as they don't take reservations) and given that people continue to line-up I suspect that, on average, most people really like the place.
Contrary to earlier reviews, Edward Levesque's Kitchen doesn't get the long brunch line-ups it once did. Clearly folks are catching on to the average food and horrible service because the place was empty on a Saturday at 11AM.
My poached eggs were very overcooked, my companion's omelette was fine but unimpressive and the waitstaff ignored us for large portions of the meal. What a waste of weekend brunch.
We had 1 p.m. reservations for Winterlicious last Sunday and arrived on time to be greeted with a lineup out the door and no staff to greet us. Nobody acknowledged us (or anyone else in line) after waiting for at least 10 minutes. We eventually left as the line wasn't moving and we weren't pleased about not being told what was going on.
I went to eat at Edward Levesque's Kitchen last night for the first time and really enjoyed it. The menu features lots of vegetarian choices and organic meats, which pleased both my partner and myself. Food was very good, with fresh off-the-farm veggies. I found the prices to be quite fair for the amount and quality of food that we were served. And contrarily to many comments here, the service was fine, partly done by Edward Levesque himself who DOES smile.
Great brunch. Good service. Yeah the owner's a bit of a crank. who cares?? ever been to Schwartz's in Montreal or ANY restaurant in NYC? Go to Krlsey's if you want some fake love.
I take exception to the remark by poster 'bill' about New York restaurants. I'm a New Yorker and I like NY restaurants. Yes, some mid-price busy places- especially when they cater to the business crowd- can be cranky (however, that is of course, a gross generalization), but will respond when spoken to. Canadians are more reserved and will not fight back and thus, rude hosts, cooks and owners will get away with inexcusable behaviour, but in New York, we bite back. Then the rude host, chef, etc usually laughs and you become their favourite customer. This technique, however, doesn't translate to Toronto, unfortunately, and that makes me miss the banter and the camaraderie in New York.
The worst places are the downtown delis, but it helps if you're a fresh-faced Jewish girl- you just have to suffer getting your face pinched- hard.
Rachel, you completely missed and backed up my point at the same time. Obviously I'm a big fan of the New York attitude, a generalization as it is. It's what can make many dining experiences memorable. That and great food.
Tim,
I was being tongue-in-cheek, too; I liked your review. I just thought I would explain why you felt that rudeness was not a problem. I believe people should stand up against tyranny everywhere.
I went and I liked it. Very friendly staff and good food, slightly on the pricey side. One issue with my Full Monty breakfast. Whenever I get baked beans with my breakfast I prefer it if they are in their own ramekin. The dining room had a nice atmoshpere as well.
The dichotomy at EL's is incredible. I ate dinner there, and would NEVER return. Aside from the usual complaints about the service, staff, and unwillingness of EL to substitute items, the food was expensive and mediocre. That said, I have never eaten brekkie there, and cannot comment - some of our neighbours really like EL's breakfast, while others make the same complaints about service and attitude. The key to a restaurant's success is CONSISTENCY, something Levesque has failed to learn. He may have a following of semi-regulars, but ank anyone who has had a bad experience there if they'd go back: the answer is "no."
I'm beginning to think that someone's on the take at blogto or that the owners voted for themselves multiple times. The ratio of negative to positive reviews for the restos on this "top 10 list" tells the real story.
Frankly, I'd rather go to frigging Golden Griddle than go somewhere where customers are treated like an inconvenience and the food is only just passable. It's times like this that I thank God for the internet. Thanks for the honest reviews, all.
Ok. First of all, this place has a sign outside that says "Steak Chick Peas & Alcohol". Like WTF is that? So during our first visit we ordered the "Steak, Chick Peas & Alcohol" and the staff were'nt impressed. While the breakfast was good, the service was a bit edgy and short. Edward came to our table personally to claim his tab and he was pretty rude.
DO NOT EAT THERE!
I usually don't bother writing bad feedbacks because I don't want to hurt somebody else's business, but I have been working at Edward Levesque's Kitchen and he is the most dishonest and impolite person that i ever worked for... first of all, he takes a big chunk of the tips that we make to himself, he cheats on payrolls, forces us to eat (eggs only) every shift (because if we don't we still get charged for the meal anyway) and he fired me while i was on vacation for saying that i was asking for too much time off (it was my birthday week-end and i asked him a month in advance!) and he almost didn't pay me my tips (200$) when i came back pretending that he sent the money (in cash) via mail...
This guys is mean and inconsiderate and i really do not believe that he deserves to stay in business... also seriously i dont know why the fuss about it because the food isn't even that good...
I had brunch here this past Sunday and thought it was pretty good. I thought my waffle was delish and my boyfriend seemed to like his pancakes and commented on how fresh his OJ tasted.
We didn't have any problems with our server, he was nice and our food came pretty quickly. It was 11pm on Easter Sunday and was almost dead when we walked in. Started to pick up by the time we were done though.
I thought the atmosphere was really cute and would eat there again. I'm surprised at all the bad reviews.
One comment... you cannot choose how you want your eggs cooked, really you are a restaurant and you cannot make an over easy egg.