Restaurants
Torito
A few days ago I had dinner at Torito, a new Spanish tapas restaurant on Augusta in Kensington Market. I had a hunger to go there for a while. I think it was something to do with the big yellow sign that I was staring at through the windows of Rice Bar when I was having lunch there a couple weeks back.
It all started with the name. I was confused. Was it Toritu or Torito? I couldn't really tell as the O looks like a U as it takes the shape of a ring through the bull's nose. Confusion breeds curiosity which in turn breeds the need to consume copius amounts of fish and red wine. So off to the tapas joint I went to see what they were grilling up.
With tapas it pays (figuratively) to order as much as possible in order to get a sampling of a wide range of dishes. Since there were five of us, I managed to get a pretty good taste. The results?
Great! I loved this place. Best of the bunch was the grilled kingfish with Basquaise sauce; fish ceviche with corn and yam; orange, radishes, toasted pepitas, red oak lettuce salad with sherry vinaigrette; the spanish tortilla; and the apple-banana (plantain) gratin for dessert.
Photos by Tanja
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And the place is a RIP-OFF. Their menu says that tapas is about sharing... hard to do, when there are only a few skewers, potatoes, a single bowl of soup, or thinly sliced pieces of bread etc., when you have a five people at the table. A single litre pitcher of sangria cost $35.
Walked away hungry and paid over $30 per person for 'nibbles' and 'tastes' and one drink.
Wanting to give it a second shot (and after reading this review), I recently went back there. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. Never again. I was still hungry. We ordered 4 dishes, plus 2 sangrias. That was $70+ dollars already. Do I keep ordering food because I'm still hungry? Or do I call it quits because the bill is running high?
We (2 of us) ordered:
- The patatas: Could have made that at home.
- The shrimp: Could have made that at home.
- The sardines: Its served as 2 whole fish which you have to pick apart manually.
- The beef flank: A little salty, nothing special. With this money, would have preferred to go to Canyon Creek.
This is what I would expect at a Tapas restaurant:
1. Small dishes, but the lack of quantity is outdone by the rich flavors.
2. Prices might be a little high, but that's OK as long as #1 is true.
3. Satisfaction at the end of the meal. Trust me, I can eat lots of food in one sitting. But with Tapas, the quality is so high that I am actually encouraged to slow down and savor every bite.
Suffice to say, when I got home from Torito, I had a bowl of cereal to satisfy my hunger.
PROS:
- Nice servers
- Sangria: If you want a light-n-fun sangria, this works
It is one of the only kitchens in Toronto where the chef knows exactly where his ingredients come from, is extremely knowledgeable, works very hard with his community and takes pride in everything that he does.
The food is delicious, perfectly cooked and definitely not over-priced. Perhaps it is because the restaurant is in Kensington market that people are looking for low prices, but great ingredients and the staff's time is definitely worth the money I have spent there.
If you are looking for American fast food sizes and tastes, of course, you will be disappointed.
honestly, this not a tapas bar. as the Torito website says, TAPAS are: Any of various small, savory Spanish dishes, often served as a snack or with other tapas as a meal.
if you get tapas in Spain, you get a number of small dishes, depending on the # of people you're with... prices range from 2 to 5 euro, on avg, from my experiences.
FIO Torito