Tried the Niagara Culinary Institute restaurant for dinner yesterday when we couldn't get a table elsewhere. A very pleasant surprise. I suspect that food and service can be wildly inconsistent, but our experience was great. Not cheap, but half the price of comparable food elsewhere. Seems it is rarely full.

A 4 course dinner is $35, but this would have been too much food. The house-made white wine was very good, though lacking in complexity and finish. We didn't try the red ("semi-sweet") version.

Hits:
- The bread (an herbed baguette)
- Cavatelli pasta with wild mushrooms & truffled cream sauce
- Boston lettuce salad with sweet peppers
- Pickerel filet with roasted potatoes and tomatoes
- Grilled rib steak

OK:
- An amuse of pickerel escabeche with watermelon had some small bones
- Dessert trio: the sugar cap on lavender cream brule overwhelmed the lovely custard; the brie cheese was fridge cold and not ripe

Misses:
- The steak was served on a bed of chilled vegetables (primarily eggplant) that were weird. The veggies should have been served on the side or should have been served hot.
- The steak had a disk of flavoured butter with a strong English-style curry flavour that did not go with the steak. This butter turned out to be lovely on the pickerel.

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It's a beautiful dining room, with superb food, and the Niagara College Teaching Winery (whose boutique is right next to the dining room) has some truly outstanding, award-winning wines. Their chardonnays (they have two different ones that are both great), pinot noir, riesling, and late harvest vidal are all world-class.

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