Isaan Der

A new Thai place opened up in the Junction that looked pretty interesting, so I was excited to finally give it a try.

Restaurant: Isaan Der
Location: The Junction
Meal: Dinner
Day: Sunday
Son's Age: 14 months

We originally showed up with the stroller, but upon assessing the space, I decided to put the stroller back in the car while my husband and son got a table. The hostess seated us in the back of the restaurant, which was nice because there was a little side table that I could put my diaper bag on.

Accessibility: ⭐⭐
In case you didn't get it from my opening, this restaurant is not stroller friendly, which is shocking considering its location in the Junction. There is a step at the entrance, and there is no room to park a stroller, let alone bring it to a table. They did manage to provide a high chair, though.

The washroom is located downstairs and does not have a change table or counter space, but there is a toilet seat lid.

It's not ideal, but better than changing a diaper on the floor. Then again, if you have an older baby, you could also change a diaper while your baby is standing.

Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The servers were nice to us and greeted my son as they walked by, commenting about how impressive it was that he eats Thai food. They also didn't seem to mind when my son decided he wanted to practice walking around after he finished eating. 

Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
They were out of papaya salad but substituted it with a mango salad, so we started with that and the golden bags.

The golden bags are deep fried pastries with water chestnuts, carrots, and mushrooms, served with chilli sauce. The mango salad was pretty much a traditional mango salad, so it was good but not extraordinary. The golden bags, on the other hand, were different and delicious. Next we ordered the pad Thai.

The pad Thai is made with rice noodles, chicken, bean sprouts, tofu, oyster sauce, chives, and lime. My son loves eating this, and I'd say it was quite good too, although similar to the mango salad, there wasn't anything about it that was especially memorable. We also got the guaytiaw gang. 

This was very good and I highly recommend it. It's rice noodles in curry sauce, bean sprouts, tofu, beef, and boiled egg. The curry sauce acted as a soup and was so hearty. My one caution is that I read a review that described this as the Isaan Der version of Khao soi, and I find that description inaccurate, as there isn't really anything that provides a crunch. If you don't go in with that mindset, though, the dish is really tasty. 

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐½

The food is good, and it's not just your typical Thai restaurant. The accessibility isn't ideal, though, especially if you have a younger baby and you are a first time parent. The service is decent, though, so if you have an older baby, this place is probably worth checking out. 

Kub Khao Thai Eatery

We were visiting my mom and sister in Scarborough and decided to go out for lunch. I'm trying to have my son eat whatever I eat instead of bringing food with him, so I was looking for a decent place with baby friendly food (aka not sushi), and my husband suggested we go for Thai.

Restaurant: Kub Khao Thai Eatery
Location: Scarborough
Meal: Lunch
Day: Saturday
Son's Age: 13 months

Heads up: the location is weird. The restaurant is in this small strip mall and there is a gas station right in front of it. The parking lot is small too, although I suppose it's sufficient for the size of the plaza. I probably would have missed it except there were a couple girls standing in front of the restaurant taking selfies (in the middle of an open parking spot, I might add - grrr).

Accessibility: ⭐⭐
Since the place is quite small, they actually only have one high chair. I think I might have hijacked it by accident, because upon arrival, we said we needed a table for four adults and a baby, and they seated us after they seated a larger party with two children (not babies, I should add, but one was a toddler). A server started walking in our direction with the high chair and I immediately stepped forward and said thank you, and directed her to where I wanted it. She paused and clarified that I needed the high chair, and my mom and I both insisted that we did, so she placed it at our table before proceeding to apologize to the other table. In my defence, the adult chairs at my table were stools, whereas the larger party had a long bench seat. Anyway.

The moral of the story is that there is only one high chair. The good news is that they also have plastic plates and cutlery for kids, which my son found very exciting. As expected, the washroom does not have a change table.

There also isn't really any counter space, but the toilets do have lids if you need to change a diaper so that's useful.

Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Service was fine - as I mentioned earlier, there was obviously some confusion regarding the high chair, but once they gave it to me, the server immediately got a cloth and cleaner to clean the chair for me as well (I usually use my wipes to clean high chairs before my son sits down, and when she saw I was about to do this she intervened). She also was nice enough to provide the plastic silverware (is it still called silverware if it's plastic?) for my son, and she answered questions that we had about the menu. Overall the server was pretty hands off, so she doesn't really come back to check how we are doing once the food arrives, but that's fine by me.

Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I love that this restaurant has lunch specials because I like having smaller portions at lunchtime. I ordered the street lunch of grilled pork with sticky rice.

The pork was on skewers and the sticky rice was served in a little basket on the side. The pork had a nice sweetness to it without being overpowering, and the sticky rice was a great complement. My husband ordered a quick lunch, which was served with mango salad.

The mangoes were nice and refreshing and particularly great for my son, who is obsessed with all fruit. I don't know how I feel about the wonton crisps - they add a nice crunch but aren't particularly  special. For his actual lunch, my husband had the pad Thai with chicken.

It was a decent pad Thai that made for a satisfying lunch, made with eggs, tofu, bean sprouts, chives, tamarind sauce, and peanuts. My baby was a bigger fan of the chicken and tofu from here than he was of the grilled pork, but as a mom I was just happy that he was eating. Since we didn't know what my baby would eat, we also ordered a starter of chicken toast for the table. 

It comes with sweet chilli sauce, and let me tell you, this was delicious but totally not what I would order for a baby. The toast is deep fried with chicken on it, which is awesome for me but I would rather not feed my baby deep fried food if I don't have to. As a dish, I fully recommend it - just don't be fooled by the name!

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐½

This is actually a really good find for Thai food in Scarborough! It's not exactly designed to be baby friendly but the food is great so if you go at off-peak times, you might be okay bringing a baby here. 

Oh Geul Boh Geul

For my mother's birthday, my sister took a day off work and I brought my son to meet them for lunch. She decided that she wanted Korean food, so the Yonge & Finch area seemed like the most convenient place to go.

Restaurant: Oh Geul Boh Geul
Location: Willowdale
Meal: Lunch
Day: Monday
Son's Age: 11 months

The restaurant has limited customer parking in the back, where you can enter through the back entrance right by the kitchen. Free parking is definitely a nice bonus along Yonge.

Accessibility: ⭐
The restaurant itself is quite small, so both the front and back entrances are narrow. This is not the place to bring a stroller. They also do not have high chairs, although they did provide a booster seat to secure to the chair.

The washroom is located in the basement down a narrow set of stairs, and there is no change table or counter space.

The good news is that the toilet has a lid, so diaper changes can still be done, but it's not convenient.

Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I have to give the servers credit because they were clearly not prepared for a baby, and they were even less prepared when I asked for hot water to heat up my son's food. They started by bringing a teacup with too much water so that my baby cube would cause it to overflow, then they brought a banchan dish that was much too shallow. After bringing another bowl that was too large, they finally brought me a small bowl of hot water.

They also came back to check that we had everything we needed, and they were quick to refill our banchan. In fact, we discovered that my son really liked the cold tofu, but we had to navigate carefully because there was some chilli soy sauce on it that we wanted to avoid giving the baby. When we asked if we could have another without sauce, explaining that it was for the baby, they quickly brought out a large helping of the tofu with sauce on the side. While they didn't know what the baby needed, they were more than willing to accommodate us, and I really appreciated the effort. 

Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I must say, of all the Korean restaurants in Toronto that I've visited, I think this must have the most banchan. 

What I found particularly unique was that they had a green onion pancake and fresh broccoli, which is a nice change of pace from your typical kimchi, bean sprouts, and japchae. And yes, you can get refills on all of them. For my main, I ordered a bibimbap. 

This was served with some miso soup. The bibimbap was very good. I generally enjoy bibimbap and haven't had a bad version yet, so this is a good example, although it also doesn't stand out in my mind as being especially remarkable or anything. Still, the meal was satisfactory, and the banchan was great. 

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐½
This place itself is not designed to be baby friendly, and given my experience, it would seem that the staff does not see a lot of babies here. That being said, the banchan is great and the servers are so cooperative, really doing their best to make things easier for me. If you are feeling brave and want some good Korean food, this is not a bad place to try. 

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.

Tich

One of my girlfriends recently had a baby, and we decided we should get together for dinner with our next generation. We thought a good meeting point would be Etobicoke, so one of my friends made reservations at Tich.

Restaurant: Tich
Location: Etobicoke
Meal: Dinner
Day: Saturday
Son's Age: 9 months

Tich is a modern Indian restaurant that was also featured on You Gotta Eat Here, so we were pretty excited. My friend had called ahead to let them know that our party would have two babies in tow, and both babies would be arriving in strollers. We ended up having to call and push the reservation back a few minutes because we were running late, which typically occurs when you are going places in big groups and/or with babies.

Accessibility: ⭐⭐
Since we were a group of 5 adults and two babies, the restaurant was prepared for us and seated inside where we had space to park our strollers.

As a warning, there is enough space to push the strollers through as long as other patrons push their chairs in, so we had no trouble getting to the table; however, when we were finished, we pretty much had to interrupt every table on our way out to ask others to make room. Also, there is a step at the entrance. The washrooms are located in the basement, so the stroller definitely isn't going there. I didn't actually use it this time so I can't report on the diaper changing situation, unfortunately. 

Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

As I mentioned, we made reservations ahead of time, so the staff was prepared for our group. The server seemed accustomed to explaining the menu (there aren't a lot of Indian restaurants in the area), but was relieved not to have to explain it to our party. I was able to get cup of hot water for my son's food. 

Overall, our server was quite friendly and helpful. However, when we called to say we would be late, we were informed that there was a reservation after us, so we would still need to be finished within the allotted time. Since two of us had babies that needed to be home for bedtime, we were fine with this, but at the end of our meal when we were paying the bill, the server announced that the next reservation had arrived. He politely asked to remove one of our tables, since it was supposedly just a party of two, and we agreed. He moved the table over and set it up while we finished paying the bill and putting our coats on. When we were leaving, the table he had removed was still empty, and we didn't see anyone at the door. As such, I'm not sure why we were rushed out, but it was one strange hiccup to an otherwise pleasant evening. 

Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
We started with the assorted tandoori platter, which included the tandoori chicken tikka, hara mirch tikka, jumbo prawns, lamb chops, and achari paneer.

This was so good. I really liked the hara mirch tikka, and the achari paneer had a nice amount of heat to it. We then ordered a few mains, and to be honest this visit happened in January so I don't remember everything we ordered, but I know I asked for the Hyderabad lamb shank.

We all ordered mango lassis, and I know there was a lobster and prawn curry and the Bengali fish curry.

There is also a chicken curry and another lamb but I forget exactly which ones we ordered. Everything was delicious though, and not just the same food you get at traditional Indian restaurants. We also weren't sure how many sides to order, so our server brought us some saffron infused basmati rice and a mix of plain naan, butter naan, garlic naan, roti, and lacha paratha. Everything was tasty and it was the perfect amount of sides to go with the food, which was more than enough for the group. I highly recommend coming in a group so you can try different menu items because there was no low point to the meal.

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐½
When it comes to the food, the show didn't lie - you really gotta eat here. It's not the easiest place to bring a baby, though, but if you have a larger party, not only can you try more dishes, but hopefully your dinner companions will take turns entertaining your kid!

Factory Girl

I was headed to the east end of the city to meet a friend, and I must admit I am not too familiar with this part of the city, so obviously I had to try eating at a restaurant in the area. It was raining, so I ducked into one of the first places that caught my eye.

Restaurant: Factory Girl
Location: Riverdale
Meal: Lunch
Day: Tuesday
Son's Age: 9 months

The menu here is Italian but the vibe is clearly rock 'n' roll. There are posters on the walls of all the great rock stars and the music is all classic rock. Did I mention that my son is a Bon Jovi fan? I was a bit apprehensive about how receptive the staff would be to a baby, but thought I'd try my luck anyway.

Accessibility: ⭐
The setup is not designed to be stroller friendly at all. For starters, there is a step at the front or before you enter. At least I was able to get a high chair for my son.

Yes, his shirt says "(future) foodie", in case you were wondering. Since there wasn't enough room for him to sit beside me and keep the stroller at the table, his stroller was moved to the front. 

The washroom is also located downstairs, and there is no change table provided. At best, you could use the counter between the sinks. 

I don't know that the space is wide enough, and your baby cannot be super mobile. One other thing to note if you are trying to avoid exposing your baby to screen time: there are TVs everywhere, and there is really nowhere your baby can sit without being able to see one, whereas every other restaurant I've been to with TV screens still had a space or two without one. 

Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

What the place lacks in accessibility is certainly made up for by the service. When I first arrived, my server helped me navigate into the restaurant and initially parked the stroller beside my table. Once he realized I wanted my son beside me (I can't reach across the table to feed him), he offered to move my stroller for me. It turns out that there is a kids' menu, so I suspect the staff is prepared to work with families. The server also brought hot water for my son's food. 

While the cup looks small, it was just big enough for me to fit my baby cube in. The server offered to find something wider but since this worked fine, I figured it was easier to keep a small cup away from my son's wandering fingers than a large bowl. My server also checked in with me regularly to make sure I had everything I needed, and he nicely interacted with my son as well. 

Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I have to be honest - when I opened the menu, nothing popped out at me and I was worried the food would be dull. I noticed, however, that the mac and cheese appetizer was described as "almost famous", and since it was lunch time I figured an appetizer portion would be substantial enough. 

So we need to talk about this mac and cheese, because oh my God. It's rigatoni, alfredo sauce, mushrooms, diced tomatoes, mozzarella, cheddar, and bread crumbs. I ordered it with the optional house made spicy sausage. As you can see, this is not your traditional mac and cheese, and it was amazing. Everything just worked together, and the sausage added a touch of heat. I was right about the portion being good for lunch but I also wished there was more because I didn't want to stop eating. If you are in the area, I highly recommend you try this. 

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐½

The restaurant itself isn't very accessible or, in my opinion, suitable for babies and strollers, but if you are in the area, the service and the food will make the visit worthwhile. 

Nodo

In case you didn't know, the Junction is actually a really baby friendly (and vegan friendly) neighbourhood, with lots of great restaurants that I frequented before I became a mom. I was taking my baby to the early years centre and thought I would grab some lunch first.

Restaurant: Nodo
Location: The Junction
Meal: Lunch
Day: Friday
Son's Age: 9 months

I remember coming to Nodo for lunch when I was pregnant and noticing a couple mothers with babies, which was surprising because the place is a nice Italian restaurant that seems more hip than baby-friendly. Since then, I had been meaning to review the place, so I was glad that I finally got the chance to come again.

Accessibility: ⭐⭐
While the neighbourhood is now baby friendly, the restaurant was clearly not. Ugly with babies in mind. The good news is, they have high chairs.

The washrooms are downstairs, so definitely not stroller friendly, and there is no change table.

I would say this counter might be your best bet if your baby doesn't roll? But even then it might be a bit precarious. Also, as you can see, the washroom isn't very big.

Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The good news is that I found the service to be phenomenal. To be fair, I came at lunch time on a weekday when it was quiet, so my server was able to put two tables together so I could sit beside my baby and still park my stroller next to me. He also brought me some hot water to heat my baby food.

Everyone was extremely pleasant and the host held the door open for me when I was leaving with the stroller.

Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I'm a sucker for gnocchi, and Nodo does gnocchi two ways. I ordered the old school gnocchi, with lamb ragu, lemon-mint ricotta, and reggiano.

The gnocchi was delicious, and the perfect portion size for lunch. Unfortunately, Nodo doesn't have a separate lunch menu, so I'm not sure this would be as satisfying as a dinner portion, but for me it really hit the spot. The gnocchi was soft and pillowy, and the lamb ragu complemented it so well.

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐½
The food is delicious and the service is impeccable, but the place itself isn't easy to navigate with a baby. Still, I think it's worth checking out, especially for a weekday lunch when the place isn't too busy.

Farmhouse Tavern

Finally made it into the new year! My mom and sister wanted to have brunch together for New Year's, and since I had a good experience at Farmhouse Tavern, we decided to return.

Restaurant: Farmhouse Tavern
Location: The Junction
Meal: Brunch
Day: Sunday
Son's Age: 9 months

Similar to my last experience, it seems that lots of families bring their babies here for brunch, so we felt very comfortable bringing my son.

Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐
Obviously, the accessibility of the restaurant wasn't going to change, although this time I actually put my baby in the high chair.

Washrooms are still not great and even though people bring their strollers in here, it's not exactly stroller friendly.

Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The service was very consistent with our last visit - still prepared to deal with the baby and still very friendly, but I could still have used some more coffee refills.

Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This time I took a photo of my food, which is why I decided to write another blog post despite my last visit being so recent. I ordered the eggs in a nest, which are poached eggs nested in a butternut squash, served with a side of salad.

I also added bacon, which lined the holes in the squash and surrounded the eggs. Conceptually, I love the idea of the bacon nestled in there, as the bacon flavour melts into the squash, which would otherwise be very light for brunch. While overall it was delicious, my only qualm was the distribution of the bacon - the majority of the bacon was under one of the eggs, with only a few pieces under the other. I started eating the egg with less bacon and thought I had been ripped off before realizing halfway through that the rest of the bacon was under the next egg. That aside, the combination makes for a very satisfying brunch, and the salad is very light and fresh and makes the perfect complement.

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐½
While the restaurant itself isn't as baby friendly as other locations, the service and the food balance it out, and it's clearly good enough for me to come back within the month!

Asian Legend

I mentioned in my last post that I was a bit behind in my blog, so I'm going to try to bang out a couple of entries today. And I'm so behind that I am currently about to write about Christmas. It is now February. Again, so sorry!

Restaurant: Asian Legend
Location: Scarborough
Meal: Lunch
Day: Sunday
Son's Age: 8 months

I was having lunch with my in-laws on Christmas day, and while many places are closed, Chinese restaurants are typically still open. Don't worry, we had a big Christmas dinner at my in-laws' house that evening also - I am not one of those miserable people that goes out for Chinese food on Christmas because I have no other options (that's a movie, right? I vaguely recall hearing about this on a Top Chef episode...). Anyway, my in-laws really like Asian Legend, so that's where we ended up.

Accessibility: ⭐⭐
You can find my previous blog post about Asian Legend to read about accessibility, but obviously this has not changed - there is still no space to change a baby. The new development, however, is that I discovered that they have high chairs available!

If you do come here, though,l please double check your high chair. They brought us one where the buckle was broken and we had to request a new one.

Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I found our server to be very attentive - he was quick to bring us a high chair, and upon discovering that it was not functional, he immediately brought out a new one. He also brought us a bowl of hot water to heat my son's food.

I admit the bowl is comically large considering I'm heating up a 2 oz baby cube, but it got the job done. The server checked in with us several times throughout the lunch to make sure we had everything we needed for the baby, as well as extra napkins, which I found to be very thoughtful.

Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
We ended up ordering several dishes, and probably way more than we needed. We started with some fried dumplings and green onion pancake.

You can't go wrong with either of these dishes, in my opinion, as they are both Shanghai classics. We also ordered the rice cakes with shrimp and pork again.

Still delicious, obviously, since we always order this one. This time, we also ordered a ja jeung mein, or as the menu calls it, minced pork with noodles in peking sauce.

In case you're wondering, yes, this is the original dish that inspired the Korean version of jja jang myun, but made with minced pork and shredded cucumber. It was very satisfying, but don't order it thinking of the Korean dish because it's not same. We also got some fried noodles with chicken.

I have to be honest - this one is not my favourite. It's quite bland, it pales in comparison to the other dishes, and given how much we ordered, it was highly unnecessary. I think we decided we needed to offset the saucy noodles, since we also got some dan dan noodles in peanut sauce.

It's funny - I always forget about dan dan noodles and then get very excited when it's put in front of me. It's delicious, and if you like peanuts, you definitely need to try this sometime. Of course, no visit to a Northern Chinese restaurant is complete without xiao long bao!

Classic pork dumplings with soup - always hits the spot!

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐½
It's definitely possible to bring your baby to this restaurant, since there are high chairs and the food is delicious and served family style. The setup and decor of Asian Legend is also more comfortable and less intimidating than other Chinese restaurants, if you are trying Shanghai food for the first time, but the food is still very good. That being said, if your baby needs a diaper change, it is probably more convenient to run out to your car than to use the washroom there.

Farmhouse Tavern

Full disclosure: I'm super behind on my blog posts for a really stupid reason. I thought I had a food photo that I had taken on my husband's phone and was waiting for him to send it back to me. Turns out, I had only taken a blurry photo of the side of the table, which is why he didn't know what I was talking about when I asked him for it. Apologies for the delay, but now, let's get to it!

Restaurant: Farmhouse Tavern
Location: The Junction
Meal: Brunch
Day: Saturday
Son's Age: 8 months

I was meeting a friend for brunch, and with a baby in tow, that means finding a good brunch place that takes reservations. We decided to stay in the neighbourhood and go to Farmhouse Tavern. This restaurant is a great local spot with an ever changing menu. The place has a bit of a rustic feel to it, including mismatched coffee mugs.

Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐
I came here a lot before I had a baby, and I swear I don't remember seeing so many high chairs here before. I actually brought my son in his car seat thinking that I would need to have it perched on a chair. Luckily, high chairs actually flip over to accommodate car seats.

There are steps to get in, so while people did bring in their stroller, it isn't an easy feat. Additionally, there are no change tables in the washroom.

The good news is that the toilet seat has a lid, so you can lower it and change your baby there. And yes, if you have been reading all my posts, I have been getting less picky about my definition of "accessible washrooms" when it comes to change tables, but it's one of the things I'm learning about as a first time mom.

Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The server was definitely prepared to have a baby at the restaurant, which is always helpful. They also brought a bowl of hot water for me to heat up my son's lunch.

I could have used some more frequent coffee refills, but otherwise, the server was happy to explain the menu to us and for the most part left us alone to enjoy good food and conversation.

Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I always rate the food based on the specific experience I have here, so based on this particular visit, I'd give the food four stars. As I explained earlier, I do not have a photo, but I ordered the mother and child reunion for brunch, which in this case, was a breaded duck egg over a duck rillette and a potato hash. Now, I have to emphasize that they are constantly changing their menu, and I hadn't been here in quite some time, so I knocked off a star partially because of expectation - the last time I had come for brunch, the mother and child reunion was two duck eggs and duck prosciutto served with salad. To be fair, this new creation was significantly more filling, and it was still tasty, but I was slightly disappointed because I had expected something different. The server did explain it properly, so I was aware that the description had changed when I ordered, but I suppose I was really hoping to be blown away. That being said, the duck egg is perfect - the yolk is nice and runny, and I think it has been poached first and then fried, which is just lovely and does pair quite nicely with the hash.

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐½
The accessibility of this restaurant makes it slightly inconvenient to bring your baby, but the food and service are good, and the ability to make a reservation for brunch in Toronto is a big bonus. I'd recommend coming here if you want some good local food for brunch but want to avoid the crazy wait times.