Category: Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

On Saturday night, before taking Dave out on the town, Wendy and I decided to hit Mel’s Montreal Diner (440 Bloor Street West, just east of Bathurst) in order to give him a taste of Montreal smoked meat and poutine.

Unfortunately, he never got that taste. Despite the fact that the patio had only two or three occupied tables and the interior restaurant was empty, we waited ten minutes for service before walking out, announcing our departure along the way.

Mel’s waitstaff have generally been sub-par (not just my opinion, see these ones). I’ve seen bathroom mould with more ambition. Even at places where it’s screamingly obvious that the waitstaff are actors with notepads, there’s at least an attempt at professionalism and customer service. The staff at Mel’s seem to have been culled from amateur night at a bipolar disorder clinic.

In spite of the bad service, most people usually forgive Mel’s because of the smoked meat and poutine. The stuff is tasty, and the portions are generous.

There’s also the factor of its location in the Annex, a neighbourhood active both day and night (Jane Jacobs chose to live there). Typically, when I go there, it’s usually after last call, when I’m tired, hungry, with a crowd and perhaps a little tipsy, so the slow service isn’t as noticeable. It’s very telling that the place seems to do its best business is on Friday and Saturday nights after 2, when many other people are in the same state. If it weren’t for the uniqueness of their Montreal deli offerings, the local bar-hoppers, dance-clubbers and film-goers would hit the nearby Tim Horton’s, Insomnia and Pita Pit instead.

But not getting any service at all? On Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m., prime time for the resto-bar trade? That’s bad, even for Mel’s.

Yesterday, we took Dave, who’s visiting from Chicago, to his favourite restaurant in our neighbourhood: The Yellow Griffin (2202 Bloor Street West, just east of Runnymede). It looks like a typical High Park/Bloor West Village/Swansea faux-Brit pub, but it distinguishes itself with its menu of burgers. They offer 35 sets of toppings, from the traditional cheddar cheese to Stilton and walnuts to mango chutney and tandoori yogurt sauce to scallions, peanuts and kung pao sauce to peanut butter. If you don’t want beef, you can ask to change your burger to ground lamb or turkey, a chicken burger, pork escalope or veggie. I’ve only had the beef burgers, but they cook them just right. There’s also a good choice of sides, from the expected fries and onion rings to my favourite, the breaded green beans, served with a choice of mayonnaise-based dipping sauces, such as curry, garlic and mango-pineapple.

The Yellow Griffin’s major problem is that the service is erratic. When it’s good, it’s passable, and when it’s bad, it’s rather like restaurants in the “before” state on Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. Last night, it was closer to the latter, with the waitstaff in a state of mild confusion and the kitchen slow to crank out the food (the place doesn’t have more than a dozen tables). When we first took our table, we saw the credit card receipt of the previous patrons, who’d put “0” on the tip line, and based on last night’s service, I understand completely. It’s a shame the service is so bad when the burgers are quite good.

It also has the minor problem of not quite feeling like a local place. I can’t put my finger on it, but the “feel” of the place just doesn’t make any sort of concession to the neighbourhood surrounding it: it might as well be a ground floor pub in an office building downtown or in an industrial park in the ‘burbs. Even the Timothy’s coffee chain just down the street has a more local feel (for starters, they display works by local artists on their walls).

The wide array of burgers, sides and dips are the place’s saving grace; if it weren’t for them, the Griffin would’ve been trounced by the places across the street — Sharkey’s, The Swan and Firkin and especially Dr. Generosity, who in my opinion make a better burger and have great food, great service and feel like they’re part of the neighbourhood. If they could get the place renovated — perhaps an appearance on Restaurant Makeover — and retrain or replace the waitstaff, they’d have a winner on their hands.

For more about the Yellow Griffin, here’s the Toronto Life writeup, and here’s a Now magazine blurb.