Antler

My husband had made reservations to go to Antler for my birthday, but the entire household got really sick so we had to postpone.

Restaurant: Antler
Location: Dufferin Grove
Meal: Dinner
Day: Friday
Son's Age: 10 months

Antler is a restaurant that specializes is game meat. My husband called ahead to let them know we were bringing a baby, and they informed us that they did not have any high chairs but we were welcome to bring our own booster seat. I was already a little concerned to hear that, but hat hasn't stopped me before and I appreciated the heads up.

Accessibility: ⭐
As far as accessibility was concerned, my hunch was correct. The entrance is a bit narrow so bringing a stroller would not have been a good solution. Luckily, I had a booster seat that clips to a regular chair.

I love how this makes my son look like he is just sitting at the table like an adult! As for the washrooms, they were downstairs and cramped with no counter space, so diaper changes are pretty much a no go.

If you are really desperate, there was a table and chairs right outside the washroom, but I wouldn't recommend using them if you don't have to.

I suppose that, given the concept of the restaurant, they did not expect a lot of kids to come, and they designed the restaurant accordingly.

Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Despite the restaurant itself not being baby friendly, the service here was phenomenal. Our server seemed delighted to meet our son and was very warm and helpful. She was able to get us a container of hot water to heat up baby's dinner, too.

She also made sure to put all hot plates on the table as far out of my son's reach as possible, which was very considerate.

Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Since we were celebrating, we started with drinks. I got the rose canseco and my husband ordered the hunter.

The rose canseco was made with elderflower liqueur, mulled pomegranate seeds, lemon juice, egg whites, sumac bitters, and prosecco - and yes, it tasted as good as it sounds, but then again I feel like you can't really go wrong with prosecco. The hunter was bourbon, herring cherry, amaretto, and bitters. I find bourbon to be too strong but my husband enjoyed it. Since there were so many things on the menu that we wanted to try, we decided to split everything. We started with wild boar gyozas.

If you like dumplings then I definitely recommend this. The chillies added a small kick, and the wild boar gave the pan fried dumpling a nice, gamey twist. We followed this up with a Jamaican venison patty.

This was piping hot when it arrived at our table, but once it cooled down it was so delicious. The dipping sauce is also legitimately spicy. My husband preferred to forego the sauce but the patty tastes great either way. Next, we got the pappardelle. 

The pastas are handmade and made with braised rabbit, buttered leeks, apricot preserve, Parmesan, and sautéed greens. The rabbit was tender and my son actually ate some and enjoyed it. I would say this was the least exciting part of our meal, and it was still so good. The best part, on the other hand, was the spiced ash crusted rack of deer. 

This was served with parsnip purée. If you only order one thing and you are a fan of red meat, you have to try this. It was perfectly cooked medium rare, and it made me wish I could eat deer more often. Who needs steak when you can get this?

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐½ 

The food and service make this restaurant worthwhile, and if you come for early dinner, there aren't a lot of customers whose dinner your baby might be disturbing. That said, you need to be prepared with your own booster seat, as this place is clearly not designed with babies in mind.