Oliver & Bonacini Café Grill

I was meeting up with my cousin to discuss planning my son's first birthday (EEK! ALREADY!) and we decided to come to Bayview Village, which is a nice baby friendly place to walk around and also catch up.

Restaurant: Oliver and Bonacini Café Grill
Location: Bayview Village
Meal: Lunch
Day: Monday
Son's Age: 9 months

I have previously reviewed this restaurant but it's been a while. I used to be able to say I knew the chef de cuisine, but he has moved on to Jump (don't worry, future blog post coming up). Of course, while I dropped the "I (used to) know the chef here" line on my cousin, she calmly responded by reminding me that she knows Michael Bonacini, so oops.

Accessibility: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Upon arrival, I was provided a high chair and my stroller was moved out of the way.

On this visit, I actually went to the washroom inside the restaurant, and it was not as accessible as I had expected. For starters, the washroom was located downstairs, so definitely not stroller friendly.

There was also no change table and no counter space, so actually changing a diaper here would be difficult. I still give accessibility 4 stars, however, because there is an accessible washroom with a change table and a nursing room just outside the restaurant in the mall, which I don't consider to be a major inconvenience.

Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The server was very accommodating to the baby, and was happy to provide hot water for me to heat his food.

The server also made sure to keep hot items out of baby's reach, which is always helpful.

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐
In case you didn't know he, I am a sucker for gnocchi and also for lamb, so when I saw lamb gnocchi on the menu, I had to give it a try.

This was delicious, and it was so good I had to let my son have a bite! The gnocchi was light and the lamb was tender, and the flavours complemented each other nicely. My cousin ordered the spinach and ricotta ravioli.

This came with wilted escarole, bacon, and caramelized onions. She said it was delicious. Everything was so good we decided to order dessert. I ordered the vanilla bean crème brûlée.

I have rarely met a crème brûlée that I didn't like, and this was no exception. My cousin ordered the phyllo wrapped cheesecake.

She said she really enjoyed it. Overall it was a very successful lunch.

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
Based on my experience, the food and service were perfect and the restaurant is quite baby friendly. I'd recommend coming with your baby.