Tabule

For those of you who don't know, once your kid starts daycare (or school, if you forego daycare), you will probably end up taking your little one to the doctor a lot. I'm told that after a year, my son wil havethe best immunity system, and I'm seriously banking on that to be true. In any case, I took him to the doctor's office and then realized that I didn't have any lunch plans for him. My mother had decided to accompany me and we tried to find something nearby with food he would eat.

Restaurant: Tabule
Location: Bayview Village
Meal: Lunch
Day: Thursday
Son's Age: 12 months

Tabule is a middle eastern restaurant that has a couple locations in the city and recently opened in Bayview Village. I had been meaning to try it before and figured this was a good opportunity. Despite the fact that it was a Thursday, however, we had to wait. The good news is, you can leave your cell phone number and wander around the mall. The bad news is, other patrons are downright rude. I came back after I was called and I was shown in and an older lady yelled at me, saying that the next table of four should be hers and I don't need a table for four because there were only two of us (excuse me, but my son eats solids now, so yes he needs a spot at the table). I noticed in general that a lot of the clientele seemed very entitled overall, but that isn't really the restaurant's fault.

Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The benefit of going to a restaurant at Bayview Village is that the place is full of mothers and seniors, which means it's very accessible. I was given the option to keep my stroller at the table or park it at the front, and I was promptly provided with a high chair for my son.

As you can see, he was very excited and wouldn't sit still, which is pretty impressive considering he was too sick to attend daycare. The washrooms are individual and have a nice counter top.

 No change table, but you can easily change a smaller baby on the counter. If that makes you a bit nervous, the washroom outside the restaurant has a proper change table, not to mention a nursing room.

Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The other customers might have been a pain, but the service on all counts was excellent. The host was very open about the wait time and took my number to let me know when a table was available. She helped to bring my stroller to the front after I was seated. The server was very friendly too. When he served water, he would pour from a high distance to create a stream, and he intentionally ensured that my son had a good view every time. He even refilled my son's sippy cup when he finished his own water. I mentioned when I sat down that I needed my appetizer to come quickly as I was feeding my son, and he kindly obliged. I especially loved that he interacted with my son and asked him how he was enjoying the food. I suppose the servers are trained to deal with babies, which I really appreciated.

Food: ⭐⭐⭐
We started with a cold mezze sampler platter, and we chose hummus, baba ganoush, and of course, tabbouleh.

This is served with both white and multigrain pita bread. The dish itself was delicious, and my son really enjoyed the pita with hummus and baba ganoush. I also liked that I was giving him chickpeas and eggplant with his bread, so I had covered off three food groups! My one complaint is that the multigrain pita was quite tough, so I didn't feel comfortable giving it to my son. I was so concerned about feeding him that I forgot to take a photo of the mains, but my mother and I ordered the kefta and tawuk to share. Kefta is ground lamb and beef skewers and tawuk is chicken, and both are served with rice and grilled vegetables. I found the mains to be underwhelming, with the meat being a bit dry. The portion size is generous, though, so my mother was able to pack a takeaway box to bring home. The rice and vegetables were pretty tasty too, although they really aren't supposed to outshine the meat, in my opinion.

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
The accessibility and service make this a great spot to bring your baby, and the hummus, baba ganoush, and tabbouleh are fantastic, even if the meat was not impressive. I would recommend this as a good family friendly option.

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.

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.