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.