Cool Hand of a Girl

My husband and I decided to go out for lunch. On a Sunday. With a baby. With no reservations. Since we were not in a position to endure long wait times, we decided to head to the Junction where at least there are enough options that surely someone could seat us immediately. Full disclosure: we thought we were going to end up at Honest Weight, and this was the second time that I've gone where they were closed unexpectedly. Hey guys - get it together! I'm craving some okonomiyaki over here! ANYWAYS.

Restaurant: Cool Hand of a Girl
Location: The Junction
Meal: Brunch
Day: Sunday
Son's Age: 19 weeks

I'm not sure how to classify Cool Hand of a Girl. I suppose it's a brunch place but I read somewhere that it's considered Mexican? Anyway, they serve organic healthy food and the menu typically consists of sandwiches, but on weekends they have brunch specials.

Accessibility: ⭐️⭐️
Props where it's due: this place is legitimately wheelchair accessible. There is a ramp to get to the entrance and the washroom is on the main floor. Our timing was excellent because a table for four near the door opened up just as we arrived, so we were able to bring our son in without blocking anyone.

That being said, it's a small restaurant, so we still opted to fold the stroller and place the car seat on a chair. I should probably warn you that the location does not have air conditioning so my son didn't stay in the seat for long since he was getting quite sweaty. They do have fans though, so once he was sitting on daddy's lap he was quite happy. The washrooms are located in the back, but alas there was no change table.

As you can see, there wasn't even counter space, so luckily my son did not require changing but if he did, I would not have been able to change him here (although I suppose at least the toilet has a lid so
that would probably have been my best bet).

Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Our server was pleasant and explained the menu items to us. I have an allergy to tree nuts, and he was particularly helpful in accommodating my request for the French toast of the day, which typically has
walnuts in the bread but he recommended the gluten-free bread so that I could still enjoy the rest of the dish (more on that later).

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
As I mentioned, I ordered the French toast special with peaches, cream, and vanilla ricotta stuffing, served with a side of slaw.

As I mentioned, this was made with gluten free bread. I found all the accompaniments made up for the bread so it was nice and sweet, and the bread itself was light albeit rather tasteless. The slaw was so refreshing and the portion was much bigger than I expected. I split this with my husband, however, and while he liked the peaches and cream, he did not like the bread and insisted he could taste that it was gluten free (I should mention that we have had a very bad experience with gluten free bread in the past so we tend to avoid it in general). To contrast, my husband ordered the chilaquiles.

This was fried egg and cheese over corn chips, served with roasted potatoes and coleslaw. I've never thought to do breakfast on corn chips, but this was actually really interesting and delicious. The roasted potatoes were simple but has a nice crisp to it - my husband didn't even add ketchup, which is uncommon for him. Between the two dishes, I'd say the meal was highly enjoyable.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
The food is great but the accessibility leaves something to be desired. Still, if you time your visit right to get a good seat, the experience is pretty good.

Barque Smokehouse

It was a beautiful sunny day, and when I think of summer food, I think barbecue! Of course, I wasn't about to ask my husband to fire up the grill for just the two of us, so we opted to go to our favourite barbecue place in the city.

Restaurant: Barque Smokehouse

Location: Roncesvalles

Meal: Dinner

Day: Friday

Son's Age: 19 weeks 

I noticed a while ago that Barque seemed to be quite child friendly. There is a TV that more often than not was playing cartoons or kids movies. There is a shelf with random toys, most notably the infamous Sophie the Giraffe (for the record, every baby in the universe is obsessed with Sophie...except for my son, who would rather stick his own feet in his mouth than waste time on that giraffe). Of course, perception changes once you go from being a hypothetical parent to a real one. So how does Barque really stack up?

Accessibility: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I had made a reservation and noted that I was bringing a baby. I had no issue getting my stroller through, I had to fold it up and leave it at the front once I was inside, which I was fine with. They had actually set up a high chair and a plastic cup at the table for my son, but unfortunately he is too young for those so they switched out the high chair with a regular chair for me to put the car seat on.

They left the plastic cup on the table, which came in handy later as I have been giving my son his own (plastic) table setting at home so he can pretend he's eating like the grown-ups. The restaurant also has a family washroom that came in handy when my baby needed a diaper change.

As you can see, there is plenty of space as well as a change table and a stepping stool for younger children to wash their hands. What I didn't get in the photo was that there is also a diaper pail in the washroom, which is nice since it helps mitigate the smell of accumulated dirty diapers throughout the day. As far as baby-accessibility goes, this is the best restaurant I've been to so far. 

Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The staff here were very friendly. The hostess seemed happy to watch our stroller for us, and when we were leaving she even confirmed that it was still there where we left it. The server was quick to switch out the high chair upon learning that it was unnecessary. He was very pleasant throughout the meal and I had no issues breastfeeding my son during dinner. Afterward, the hostess held open the door for us to push the stroller out. Overall, the staff are clearly prepared for babies in the restaurant and are very accommodating.

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Barque allows you to build your own BBQ platter, so we chose the 12 hour brisket, pommery pulled pork, beef rib, and chorizo. We also ordered two sides: pommery slaw with cabbage, carrot, celeriac, pommery dressing, and parsley, and the grilled Cuban corn with feta, lime, and cayenne.

I am in love with the brisket here. It is so juicy and tender and by far the best brisket I've ever had. The pulled pork is nice and succulent, while the beef rib practically falls off the bone. As for the chorizo, well, who doesn't love chorizo? The slaw was a perfectly refreshing complement to the meat, and the corn was delicious albeit quite messy with the sauce on the cob. There are two different sauces that are on the table as well as a meat brush so you can dress your meats up a bit to enhance the flavour. I didn't take a photo, but I love that in lieu of a bread basket, every table gets a bucket of popcorn to start.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is the perfect place to go for a nice meal with your baby. While the restaurant does have a liquor license, it is also very baby friendly and you have to try the food here if you like BBQ. I'm looking forward to coming back here soon!

Golden Shanghai Restaurant

I had a free day so I decided to meet up with my mom and my aunt on the east side for some good Shanghai food.

Restaurant: Golden Shanghai Restaurant
Location: Milliken
Meal: Lunch
Day: Thursday
Son's Age: 19 weeks

It seems like this was the place to go for lunch with baby as there were four other babies in the restaurant.

Accessibility: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I brought my son in his car seat and placed him on the chair next to me, which seemed to be what other moms were doing as well.

I saw that they also provided high chairs for older babies. As for the washroom, as is typical in Chinese restaurants, there was no change table.

I suppose if your baby isn't too heavy that you could hypothetically change the diaper on top of those storage bins. They seemed relatively sturdy, but then again my baby is still young and on the smaller side, weight-wise.

Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Our server was nice and brought our food out quickly, and I felt comfortable breastfeeding during lunch. I was not the only one, as a mom at the next table also breastfed her baby. I suppose the servers are used to it, which I find reassuring.

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
We started with an order of hot and sour soup. We figured the small would be sufficient for the three of us.

The soup itself was decent - a bit more on the spicy side than other places, which I like. We were shocked that the size was so small though. Typically at Shanghai restaurants, they expect the dishes to be shared, so even a small size would be bigger. It ended up being the right amount for is, though, because my mom and aunt don't like their food that spicy. The next thing we had, of course, was xiao long bao and dumplings.

I love xiao long bao, and this hit the spot. The wrapper is a little bit thicker than I'd prefer but it's still pretty good. The dumplings were stuffed with veggies, and they were okay but not my personal favourite, although my aunt really liked them. For our main, we got Shanghai noodles.

Shanghai noodles are just delicious greasy goodness, and this did not disappoint. Finally, the real reason why my mom chose this place is for dessert!

I'm not sure what it's called but it's like a fried dough with red bean paste inside, and you put white sugar on it. I love that they bring the sugar on the side - a lot of places serve it covered in sugar and there is either too much or too little. This is one of the best places in the GTA to get this dessert.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
This is a pretty good place to take your baby if you are having lunch with a group of people. The portions are big for the price and the servers are quite accommodating to breastfeeding mothers. Plus, Shanghai food is usually a winner, and you really need to order dessert here.

Union Social Eatery

I decided to meet up with a former co-worker of mine. She originally tried to convince me to meet her in Newmarket, but I'm a little bit of a Toronto snob (oh don't act like you aren't - if you're from Toronto you're at least a bit of a snob; I bet it annoys you when I blog about restaurants in the GTA) so she agreed to go to North York.

Restaurant: Union Social Eatery
Location: Willowdale
Meal: Lunch
Day: Monday
Son's Age: 19 weeks

There is a Union Social Eatery in Mississauga near my workplace, and it is one of the better options for lunch with co-workers in that area. They have since opened more locations in Toronto. Someone described it to me as a hipster version of Moxie's, which is pretty accurate. They even have a gluten free menu if that tickles your fancy.

Accessibility: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
When it comes to stroller friendliness, this place isn't designed to be accessible as there is a step right at the entrance that I had to maneuver over. Once I arrived, I had no problems putting the stroller me to the table.

Something to note if you are are attempting to keep your baby away from screens for the first two years (which is currently my plan - I'll let you know how well that worked in two years), maybe avoid pubs during the Olympics. See how my son is staring intently at something? That would be tennis. I ended up switching seats so that he was facing away from the TV, so it wasn't that big of a deal, but also something I have not previously had to contend with. As for the washrooms, there is no change table available.

The good news is that there is enough counter space if a diaper change is necessary. Not ideal, but better than nothing.

Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The service here is fantastic. Our server was very helpful in explaining the menu, particularly the killer chicken sandwich of the day, and seemed very knowledgeable. She was also happy to point out where the washroom was, and was just very friendly overall. Most noteworthy, though, was when my son was sucking on his pacifier and it popped out of his mouth onto the floor. The server quickly came over and scooped it up, then offered to wash it in hot water. She brought it back out for me on a plate and it was still warm. To me, that is the perfect example of going above and beyond.

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Like I mentioned earlier, this is pretty much a hipster chain restaurant. The menu items are diverse so it is safe to bring a group of people here with different tastes, which makes it a good choice for work lunches. I ordered the almond crusted chicken tenders with fries, Dijon mustard, and the U.S.E. sauce.

The food is fine. The almond crusting makes them a bit more unique than your run-of-the-mill chicken tenders and the U.S.E. sauce is nice. The fries are just the way I like them, and salted well enough that I didn't need to add ketchup (although I did dip some in the Dijon). We decided to order dessert as well, and I got the cookies with ice cream.

The cookies were warm and soft and paired well with the ice cream, so it was a satisfying way to end the meal.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
Food-wise, it's your typical chain restaurant so it won't disappoint you but it won't blow you away either. The accessibility is not the greatest for bringing a baby, but the service is phenomenal. If you are meeting a group of people and you are taking your baby with you, this isn't a bad spot.

Pizzeria Libretto

I really like stroller fit, but when moms want to go out for lunch together after doing a workout, they typically want something healthy and it is unlikely that you are going to convince anyone to grab a pizza with you. Since I wanted pizza, I took the one date I knew wouldn't judge me for it: my baby.

Restaurant: Pizzeria Libretto

Location: Trinity Bellwoods

Meal: Lunch

Day: Tuesday

Son's Age: 18 weeks

This was my favourite pizza place before my son was born, and it was my first time taking him here, so I was pretty excited. I walked in to find that there were other families eating lunch with their kids, which means I didn't feel out of place bringing my baby. Also, the noise level is good so that a baby won't disturb anyone but you can still hear people, which is pretty much the optimal noise level for taking a baby out. 

Accessibility: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I just want to start out by saying that the internet informed me that this place is wheelchair accessible. I don't know how they think wheelchairs work, because getting into the restaurant involves one really massive step, and it was not easy for me to get the stroller up. Once I was there, I was able to park my stroller next to my table. 

I should point out that while my stroller was not in the way of any of the patrons, it was obviously in the way of any servers that had to go behind the bar, since I watched them all either side step or step over the stroller wheel. More on that later. The washroom was located down a set of stairs also, which again seemed to go against being "wheelchair accessible", so I wasn't very hopeful considering my baby actually needed a diaper change. Lo and behold, there was in fact a change table in the washroom!

There was actually quite a bit of space in the washroom too (albeit not completely necessary given that my stroller wouldn't make it down the stairs anyway). I decided to give the place four stars because, despite the difficulty with the stroller, they do provide a decent change table and high chairs if you need it, and they were able to accommodate my baby without any issues.

Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

As I mentioned, it became painfully obvious that my stroller was not parked in the most convenient location for the servers. I want to commend them because no one said a word about it or gave any indication that they were upset (although I'm sure they were), so kudos to their professionalism. My server was extremely helpful in going through the lunch special with me (more on that later) and did not rush me. In fact, I felt like a valuable customer. He even checked to make sure there was in fact a change table in the washroom before I took my son, as I didn't want to lug my diaper bag and baby downstairs without the stroller if there was no place to actually change him. The only room for improvement is that I would have appreciated a little help entering and exiting the restaurant considering the giant step outside, but other than that, service was great. 

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Apparently on weekdays there is a fantastic lunch special that includes a salad and a dessert with the pizza. It is not even some lunch size pizza - it's a full size pizza. It's completely worth it. Before my food arrived, my server brought me some bread. 

I love that I was offered rosemary focaccia and whole wheat bread despite eating alone. Both are great, although I personally prefer the focaccia. For my starter, I had the caprese salad. 

To be fair, I love caprese salad, and it's so simple that as long as the ingredients are fresh, I'm happy. Libretto did not disappoint. Of course, the star of the show was the pizza, or more specifically, a duck confit pizza with Bosc pear. 

This photo does not do it justice. This is such a fantastic pizza. The pizzas in general are fantastic but this is so unique and scrumptious and fresh out of the wood oven the way a good pizza should be. If you're a fan of spicy food like me, you can add some chilli oil to kick it up a notch too. For dessert, I chose the espresso cinnamon gelato.

When I asked what flavours were available, my server monotonously listed off vanilla and chocolate, then excitedly said they also had espresso cinnamon. I feel that he strongly wanted me to choose this one, and I'm glad I did, because similar to the duck confit pizza, the flavour was so interesting and delightful. It was a perfect end to my insanely large meal.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
The restaurant isn't exactly stroller friendly but if you park nearby, they are very accommodating to babies and small children and the food makes it more than worthwhile. 

Playa Cabana Cantina

It had been a while since I went out to eat with my cousin and she was in the mood for tacos and shockingly agreed to have dinner at a ridiculously early time. Since I wanted to have enough time to catch up and still get home for my baby's bedtime, we decided to pick a restaurant in my neck of the woods.

Restaurant: Playa Cabana Cantina

Location: The Junction

Meal: Dinner

Day: Saturday

Son's Age: 17 weeks

Playa Cabana Cantina is run by the same owners as Playa Cabana and Playa Cabana Hacienda, but each location is a little different in terms of ambiance and menu items. I used to come to Cantina a lot before my son was born, but this was my first time coming with baby in tow. Just in case, I made reservations and indicated in the notes that we had a baby who was too young for a high chair so we would be bringing in the car seat. A good thing to note is that the music is loud enough that a baby crying won't disturb other patrons, but not too loud so you can still have a conversation.

Accessibility: ⭐️⭐️
To be fair, I don't think this place was designed with babies in mind, but as I think I've mentioned before, most restaurants are baby-friendly at 5pm! We were seated at a booth for four so we could put baby on the bench seat beside us.

This looks better than it is. I actually thought the setup was good, but my husband was the one actually sitting next to him, and he said that due to space constraints he was pretty much sitting partially off the seat because there wasn't enough room for him to sit comfortably. There was another table nearby that brought a baby as well and they didn't appear to fare much better. As for diaper changes, the washrooms were located downstairs in the basement. 

As you can see, there was no change table and no counter space. Luckily we were parked on the street nearby so when my son inevitably needed a diaper change, my husband just took him to the car to change. Works fine in a group, but not really practical if you come alone.

Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Our server was very pleasant and patient in explaining the different menu items to us. When we sat down, my cousin and I noticed that the seat on our side of the table felt sticky, and the server immediately wiped it down and checked to make sure it was clean. Our food also arrived surprisingly quickly, and the server also offered to bring another basket of chips for our guacamole when we finished the first batch.

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
If you are into margaritas, this place has three different kinds! (Don't look at me like that - I'm allowed to have one margarita.) We each ordered a different kind. I can't remember what they are called, although as I noted above, the server was nice enough to explain the differences. My cousin had the more traditional margarita, I had one that had a bit of a citrus flavour, and my husband had the third one which was strong and really hit you with tequila. With drinks ordered, we decided to start with some guacamole.

The guacamole is simple and fresh, which is just the way I like it, and it makes for a great starter to share. We all agreed to order tacos, as it is cheaper to get three of the same and there were three of us. We had the braised short rib, the pescado, and the carnita.

If you are looking for a good fish taco, let me tell you, this is so not the place to go. I found it to be extremely basic, boring, and kind of bland. The carnita was much better as the pork was juicy and flavourful. The braised short rib was undoubtedly the star. The meat was succulent and perfectly paired with the crispy taco. After the guac and the tacos, we agreed to split a dessert: specifically, the churros poutine.

This is a dessert made with churros, marshmallow curds, carjeta gravy, and peanuts. I've never had a combination like this before and it is amazing.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
The food is great and we got excellent service, but it is quite a hassle to bring a baby to this location as physical space is very limited.

Emperor Fine Chinese Cuisine

My cousin was visiting from San Francisco with her husband and two sons (spoiler alert - I'm planning on visiting her soon too!), so of course the family got together for dim sum!

Restaurant: Emperor Fine Chinese Cuisine
Location: Richmond Hill
Meal: Brunch
Day: Friday
Son's Age: 17 weeks

This was a pretty exciting reunion because I haven't seen my cousin in four years, and I still think of my nephews as little boys even though the older one is technically a teenager now and is about ten feet tall (I might be exaggerating a little bit but you get the idea). In all the hubbub, I did not end up taking photos of the food, which seems to be an unfortunate pattern for me with family gatherings. On to the review!

Accessibility: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Being located in Richmond Hill outside Toronto gives this restaurant the advantage of a large parking lot, which is nice, since I could just bring the car seat in without the stroller.

I had no problem getting his car seat on a chair. The washroom, unfortunately, lacks a change table, but does have counter space if you're in a pinch.

As far as Chinese restaurants go, I'd say from an accessibility standpoint this was not bad. 

Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
One of the staff (I think he might have been the manager?) clearly liked babies. He was so excited to see my son there and kept coming by to check if everything was okay, constantly commenting on how cute he is. My mother half-jokingly asked if he was cute enough to warrant a discount, and to our surprise, he said yes! Food service was quite quick as well, with dishes regularly coming out so there was always fresh food on the table. I also had no issues breastfeeding my son during the meal, so I can confidently say this place is breastfeeding friendly.

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Like I said, I forgot to take photos of the food. We ordered a lot of standard fare, including siu mai, BBQ pork buns, and sticky rice, as well as chow mein and stir fried ho fun. We actually ordered way too much food and had to take a lot of it home. That being said, I don't really remember the food. It wasn't good or bad enough to leave any sort of impression on me, so I guess I can say this is an okay place to go to for dim sum.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
If you're in the mood for dim sum and you have a baby with you, this is not a bad place to go at all. Accessibility is okay and the service is fantastic, so I would have no qualms about coming back here. 

Da Fu Seafood Cuisine

My mom likes to have dim sum with her siblings on weekdays, and since my son's doctor is on the east side and he was scheduled for his four month checkup, I decided to join her.

Restaurant: Da Fu Seafood Cuisine
Location: Milliken
Meal: Brunch
Day: Thursday
Son's Age: 17 weeks

I feel the need to note that the restaurant is actually called 大福, so technically the phonetic spelling should be "da fuk". Just putting that out there.

Accessibility: ⭐️⭐️
The good news is that this restaurant has a parking lot, so it's not necessary to bring a stroller in. I brought my son in his car seat and put him on a chair.

That is about as far as the good news goes. The washroom does not have a change table, not is there enough counter space to change a baby if necessary.

There are two stalls, one of which is wheelchair accessible, so I was hopeful that there would be a change table in there, but this was not the case. If my son had needed a diaper change, I probably would have had to take him outside.

Service: ⭐️
I admit, I crashed the party late. My mom and uncle had already ordered before I arrived because I was invited last minute and needed time to get there. They had only ordered a handful of dishes, and once I got there, we quickly put an order in for more food. In dim sum restaurants where you order your food (versus the ones with carts), they usually leave a copy of your order at the table and mark off whatever had been served. When we ordered more, the server picked up the paper with the original order and walked away without bringing back another copy. After an inexplicably long wait, we inquired about the next round of dishes and our concerns were dismissed, because obviously the food was on its way. We had to ask a few times before one dish was finally served. The next one didn't come until we were about to cancel it since we were running short on time - I was taking my son to a doctor's appointment afterward. They proceeded to present the final bill, removing any opportunity to order any more dishes - not that we would have, but I would have preferred to have had the option. As far as dim sum restaurants go, the service here was extremely poor.

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Despite the slow service, I must admit I have an unreasonable love for dim sum. The food here was quite tasty - not the best dim sum ever, mind you, but I was happy with the food. As I mentioned earlier, my family had already started without me.

They had ordered Chinese beef balls, beef cheung fun, sticky rice, and egg tarts. Even though the food had been sitting for a bit, everything still tasted good. We then ordered siu mai and pork ribs.

The siu mai came out piping hot. I wouldn't say they were worth the wait but they were delicious. I did not get a picture of the pork ribs since they arrived at the very end and I was getting ready to leave. I'm so glad I got to have some though - they were so good!

Overall: ⭐️⭐️½
As far as dim sum goes, the food meets expectations, but does not outweigh problems with accessibility and service. I have never had such slow service for dim sum, and it's not particularly convenient to bring a baby here.

Arepa Café

I had some errands to run after stroller fit in the Queen West area, so I decided I might as well have lunch there too. I looked up restaurants on Yelp that were marked as good for kids and wheelchair accessible, thinking this combination should indicate that an establishment is stroller friendly. This is how I ended up coming to Arepa Café.

Restaurant: Arepa Café
Location: Queen Street West
Meal: Lunch
Day: Tuesday
Son's Age: 17 weeks

Arepa sandwiches are made with cornmeal buns, and Arepa Café boasts itself as Toronto's first arepera, bringing Venezuelan street food to the city. They are also touted as gluten free, in case that matters to you.

Accessibility: ⭐️⭐️
Considering that I intentionally looked for a restaurant that was good for kids and wheelchair accessible, I definitely thought this would rank higher. I was able to bring my stroller in to sit at a table near the back.

I'm not sure how this restaurant thinks it is wheelchair accessible though. The washrooms are downstairs so taking the stroller down wasn't an option. There is also no change table and no counter space in the washroom, although the area right outside the washroom looks like this:

I guess in theory it wouldn't be too bad to change him in this space on the couch if I had to. The good news is, there is a Loblaws just across the street and my son didn't need a diaper change until I had finished my meal, so I was able to take him there since I knew they had a proper change table.

Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Service was not particularly noteworthy. I was asked if I wanted to be seated closer to the front or the back (there is no air conditioning so they have the front windows open and a fan in the back), and I was led to a nice table where my stroller was out of the way. I was actually able to see all the action in the kitchen where they were making the arepa sandwiches. My food also arrived very quickly, which is nice when a) I am eating alone with a baby and b) I can see all the food. Other than that, the server mostly left me alone.

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The menu has a lot of options so it was difficult for me to decide, but I chose the carne mechada, which had shredded flank steak, tomato, garlic, sweet pepper, and cumin.

It is served with a little side of coleslaw and three sauces - a garlic mayonnaise, a green pepper sauce, and a hot sauce. I tried all the sauces and they are delicious, but I particularly love the hot sauce. The meat in the arepa was juicy and tender, and the bun was fantastic. I normally prefer wheat versions to corn, but it really worked for me here and was a great complement to the beef. I should note that this is the only place where I've ever had an arepa, so I'm not exactly an arepa connoisseur - the first time I ever had pad thai was at Spring Rolls so for the longest time I thought that was the best place ever - but if you want a taste of "Venezuelan urbanity" I would highly recommend coming here.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
The food is worth coming back for sure, but it's not the most convenient place to bring your baby.

Jamie's Italian

My mom and I were trying to figure out where we can have lunch, and since she had never been to Jamie's Italian before, I decided to do a repeat visit!

Restaurant: Jamie's Italian

Location: Yorkdale

Meal: Lunch

Day: Monday

Son's Age: 17 weeks

I know I've already reviewed this place, but since the food ordered was different, I thought I should give this a second go.

Accessibility: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I didn't take photos of the restaurant again since I feel the last post should suffice. Once again, they were able to accommodate the stroller by removing a chair and allowing me to park the stroller next to the table. As I mentioned in my last post, there is an accessible washroom on the first floor with a change table and plenty of room for the stroller. This is one of the best restaurants I've been to in terms of accessibility.

Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
As expected, service was top notch. The staff is well prepared to handle families with babies. In fact, at one point I was breastfeeding my son and a woman at the next table was breastfeeding her daughter. The server also notes when to serve food, so when I had finished my salad and gone to change my son's diaper, she waited for me to return before bringing my pasta instead of letting it get cold at the table.

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The food was as delicious as always. I'm pretty obsessed with the superfood salad at Jamie's, but this time I ordered a full size to share with my mom.

It was just as delicious as I remembered, and my mom acknowledged that it was not like any other salad she had ever had, and she enjoyed it. For my main, I ordered a small portion of the crab spaghetti with garlic, capers, chilli, fennel, parsley, lemon, and anchovies. My mom had the small portion of the famous prawn linguine with fried garlicky prawns, fennel, tomatoes, chilli, saffron, fish broth, and arugula.

We both agreed that the prawn linguine was the winner here (perhaps there's a reason this is labelled as "famous"), but I also liked the crab spaghetti, which I found to be an interesting flavour for pasta. I should warn that my mom was not a fan of the spaghetti, so it might not be everyone's cup of tea, as it was certainly more of a seafood tasting dish than a traditional pasta dish. Nevertheless, we were both thoroughly satisfied with our meals.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Turns out my previous experience was not a fluke - the food and service were as outstanding as I remembered and the restaurant is well equipped for babies. 

Oliver & Bonacini Café Grill

A good friend of mine was visiting from Hong Kong and staying in Thornhill. We decided to get together with another mutual friend living in Scarborough. Since I was coming from York, we agreed that having lunch in North York was a good compromise, and with summerlicious still happening, we chose O&B Café Grill at Bayview Village.

Restaurant: Oliver & Bonacini Café Grill
Location: Bayview Village
Meal: Lunch
Day: Tuesday
Son's Age: 15 weeks

Full disclosure: I know the chef. Man, I always wanted to say that! But seriously, the chef de cuisine here is Miheer Shete, and I should probably mention that he is a phenomenal chef and eating his food is always a great experience for me. I will try to keep my review unbiased though. All right, here goes!

Accessibility: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I had made a reservation and indicated that I was bringing a baby. They removed a chair at a table of four so I could keep my stroller at the table.

I'm not a crazy lady with an empty stroller! My son immediately started getting restless and my friends were cooing over him, so at the time that this photo was taken, he was happily sitting in one of their laps. Anyway, I had no trouble getting my stroller to the table, and there are high chairs available if he was older. I took off one star, though, because the washrooms are down the stairs, so I would not have been able to take the stroller down. This isn't a large setback however, because the restaurant itself is in the Bayview Village mall, which has some nice nursing rooms and change rooms, so bringing a baby here isn't a hassle at all.

Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The staff was very nice and helpful in accommodating the baby. Everything went well, and our server informed the chef that I was there so he could meet my son (did I mention I know the chef?). My slight nitpick is that, while our server was quick to address questions about the menu and bring us food and the bill, it was difficult to get her attention otherwise. I'm not sure if there was an accessible washroom but I wasn't able to ask either, so I ended up waiting until the end of the meal to take my son to use the mall's washroom.

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I said I would keep this review unbiased, but it breaks my heart a little not to give the food five stars. To start, I had the chilled Tuscan melon gazpacho with chilli, mint, and almonds. One friend had the Ontario tomato and peach salad with torn basil, pickled onions, and black pepper. My other friend ordered off the regular menu and got a mushroom soup.

The gazpacho was perfect on a hot summer day, with the mint adding a refreshing flavour while the almonds provided some crunch. My friend was very pleased with the tomato and peach salad, and my other friend loved the mushroom soup. For the main, my friend and I both ordered the simmered Thai beef red curry with coconut rice, ginger mint root vegetable slaw, and crispy onions.

The dish itself was tasty enough, but I really wish it wasn't described as a Thai red curry. It was not sweet enough to be Thai, and both my friend and I had mentally prepared for a Thai red curry so it was a bit disappointing when that wasn't what we got. It actually tasted like it was trying not to be an Indian curry but ended up having a bit of an identity crisis. That said, the rice and slaw were perfect accompaniments. The friend that ordered off the regular menu got the mac and cheese with bacon.

This tasted fine but was nothing special - it seemed like a regular mac and cheese with bacon added, and nothing was done to really elevate it. Moving on to dessert, I got the popcorn ice cream with salted caramel kettle corn, while my friend ordered the wild blueberry and lemon cake with whipped cream cheese and mint.

My other friend opted out of dessert. I found the combination of popcorn and ice cream to be quite odd - I love popcorn and I love ice cream, but I'm still not sure how I feel about them together. I'm not a big fan of chocolate covered pretzels either, by the way, even though I love chocolate and I love pretzels. My friend thought her cake was delicious though, so she ended her meal on a high note.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
As far as the whole experience goes, this was still a great place for good food and good service that was also baby friendly. I would come back - while my main was not what I expected, it was still a good dish, and I can promise from past experience that there are other amazing dishes on the menu.

Golden Duke Chinese Cuisine

Happy 100 Days to my dear son! In Chinese culture, we celebrate a baby's 100 days with red eggs (okay technically we do that at one month, but in Hong Kong people like more time to prepare properly, and let's face it, I was in no condition to plan a big party within the first month given that my son and I spent the first week of his life in the hospital, but I digress). Anyway, it's a big celebration where the entire family gets to meet the new addition, and in all the hoopla I did not take any photos for this blog. I mean, we took tons of photos in general, but I don't like posting photos of other people without their permission and also people are not food, which is what you really care about. So here goes my second review without photos!

Restaurant: Golden Duke Chinese Cuisine
Location: Markham
Meal: Dinner
Day: Saturday
Son's Age: 100 days!!! ...+3, but who celebrates on a Wednesday

Since we were celebrating a special occasion, we called ahead to the restaurant to let them know and they helped us prepare a banquet and reserve three tables with 12 people at each table.

Accessibility: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
As with most Chinese restaurants, this one is not particularly stroller friendly purely due to space restrictions; however, since we were actually in Markham, there is a dedicated parking lot and they brought out a chair for us to put the car seat on, and they also provided a high chair for his one year old godsister. Unfortunately, the washroom has no change table. My husband is a dutiful father who did both diaper changes during the banquet, and he had to change our son on the counter between two sinks and under the soap dispenser. This is preferable to changing him on the floor, of course, but still not an ideal situation.

Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The service during the meal itself was not particularly memorable, but I must give them five stars for successfully hosting such a large party. As I mentioned earlier, they had a seat for my son and a high chair for his godsister. They also set aside three large tables in the back corner and adorn them with red tablecloths. They were very helpful with choosing an appropriate menu, accommodating one vegetarian guest as well as allergies to nuts, eggs, and dairy. The banquet menus that they had are typically for tables of ten people; however they allowed us to seat twelve per table (excluding babies) and increased food quantities accordingly. Considering how difficult it is to accomplish anything with a newborn, let alone plan a party, their help was greatly appreciated.

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Full disclosure - I never know how to rate Chinese food. I eat it so frequently that I can only tell when it's bad. Don't get me wrong - I love Chinese food. I just don't know if it's the best thing ever or par for the course. Since I have no photos, I'm going to break this down into paragraphs to hopefully make it easier to follow.

We started with Peking duck. I have never met a Peking duck I didn't like, and this was no exception. The skin was crispy and there was a good amount of meat, and it was served with all the trimmings: sauce, cucumbers, carrots, and green onions. My friend refers to it as a Chinese taco.

The second course was stir-fried duck meat with lettuce. For all the hipsters that think lettuce wraps are a new thing, Chinese have been using them forever to eat the rest of the duck meat after Peking duck. This is also a course that I've always liked, and here was no exception.

Next was pan-fried shrimp and chicken with crispy vegetables, crab meat with fish maw soup, and braised bok choy with garlic. These were all good dishes - not particularly outstanding but I found them satisfying.

After this was crispy chicken, deep fried fillets of sole fish, and stir-fried lobsters with Maggi sauce. All of these were delicious. The chicken was perfectly crispy. The fish is not what you would typically see in a Chinese banquet, which provided a bit of a refreshing change (although I do love steamed fish usually). The lobster was cooked and seasoned well, although I still am not quite adept at eating lobster with chopsticks.

We then had seafood fried rice and braised e-fu noodles. These were both good, but I think all Chinese restaurants should know how to make these.

Finally, we ended with what the restaurant described in English as "signature dessert" and "fancy pastries". The dessert was red bean soup, which is typically served as good luck due to the red colour. The fancy pastries were Chinese cookies, so not exactly what I would describe as "fancy". I did appreciate the goji berry jellies that they served with the cookies though.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Accessibility is a little problematic, but the food is great and the service in preparing for the celebration was phenomenal and very well appreciated. I am not sure how this place is on a regular day, but based on this experience, I would recommend hosting a special event here.