Nota Bene
180 Queen St. West 
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Phone: 416.977.6400
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Nota Bene is the brainchild of Splendido chef David Lee. The menu features a lot of local and seasonal produce and ingredients with recent options like a Yucutan Hot and Sour soup and a Farm to Fork Charcuterie.
Comments (3)
Avoid this overrated, pretentious and overpriced trap unless you are a masochist or a glutton for punishment! I am mystified by the rave reviews. If this is one of Toronto's best, then there is something seriously wrong with this city. The food is okay, hardly great. Portions are either too little or too much of one thing. (A main course of nothing but chicken, with no vegetables or side dish to break up the monotony!)
The service was spectacularly rude and inept. My friends and I each ordered drinks, an appetizer and a main course. After which, the waitress asked if we had time for dessert, which we did.
We were hardly done with our molten chocolate cakes when the waitress unceremoniously served us the bill, saying she would be glad to move us to the bar. (This was barely two hours from time of arrival.) I informed her that we had no intention of eating our half-consumed molten chocolate cakes ungracefully perched on bar stools, and that we will leave when we are done with our meal. I thought that was the least we could expect at Nota Bene’s prices.
Moments later a manager appeared and profusely apologized for the “misunderstanding.” The "apology" was faker than Pam Anderson's freight.
A misunderstanding indeed. The staff had obviously underestimated discerning consumers who demand value for their money.
The owner did call me personally after I sent two scathing e-mails. A misunderstanding, he said. Unfortunately, his explanation was as limp as the rabbit papardelle. No effort was made to compensate us for a ruined evening. (Not that we would put ourselves through that again.)
My advice, from one foodie to another, is to take your money and give it to a place like Sushi Kaji, where the food is honest and impeccable, and where they don't treat guests like pests.
I could not disagree more with the above comment.
I took my fiancee here for her birthday and was blown away by not only the food, but the service. Seems the previous poster hit them on an "off night".
The appetizers and mains were inventive and perfectly executed. Even to a point that the future wife and I did not speak for 10 minutes as we were soo engrossed with the food. Attentive waiters cleared the plates promptly but after we had devoured everything (not a second sooner) and delivered every dish with a genuine pride.
The mains were priced accurately and in some instances quite lower than most other "haute" resto's in the city. I'd put Nota Bene up against Canoe or any other proverbial Toronto favorite. They could learn a thing or two from David Lee & Geoff O'Connor about what Toronto wants and needs in the dining department.
I'm going to sandwich my opinion between those of the two previous. Yes, this place is pretentious, overated and over priced. Yes, the menu is inventive and the service good but like so many other "best" restaurants, good is not going to cut it.
A Florida soft shell crab was grossly fishy tasting and water logged. A promise of tarter sauce really only meant a smear of it under pieces of lettuce that held the crab. Beef short ribs were tender but dry and stringy. The sauce was so minimal that half way through it ran out and it was either ask for more or stop eating. I stopped. The Cornish Hen was over salted and under done. No one wants to eat or even see birdie blood! Every dish we had was horribly presented. The service was effecient but boring and whoever designed the uniforms needs to go back to school.
It was a Monday and the place was packed but I really don't see why.
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