eat there Friday night: interesting mixed impressions.

How quiet the old house on Alexander was compared to what I remember of its buzzing heyday ! We arrived without a reservations, and after being left in the hallway for five minutes "while we find you a table" we were seated in the back room - very much like the front room, full of kitsch, darkly lit - despite my friend wearing jeans as "we have to make exceptions." ??? This was said more in a tone of self-deprecation than hostility or grudgingly. We certainly would never have been seated anywhere on a Friday night w/o a res in the old days, except perhaps one of the upper floor overflow rooms which I remember being constantly full on weekends.

Water and a delicious and unusually spicy greek cheese/spinach pastry appeared promptly. We ordered a Costasera Masi Amarone from the "regular" side of the two-page carte which at $50 was only marked up about 50% over its LCBO price if I'm not mistaken. There followed garlic toast which was more grilled and crisped than garlicky - not unpleasant, but not really garlic toast imho. And of course the bowls of olives and so forth arrived along with a dollop of taziki sauce. The menus consisted of pages of old reviews and promotions for "dinners for two" - the actual a la carte page appeared seemingly as an afterthought in quite small type with few explanations: eg, what was a "Torontonian" steak ?

We ordered starters - the restaurant not offering caesar salads and as our waiter said, "no vegetables, either" - of "greek salad" - hmm, great chunks of onion, ribbed lettuce, tomatoes and feta in an oil and vinegar dressing. Pleasant enough if one ignored the size of the onion chunks - distinguished or well composed ? not !

Mains were steak: my friend's Ribeye he said was fatty as expected but good. My filet seemed to be about 10-12 oz (no sizes for any cuts were listed on the menu). It was tender and tasty, unsure whether the marinade and grill tastes predominating over the meat was a plus or a minus - once again, pleasant if not stellar. The only choice of sides was between rice and a baked potato which was anointed with butter and sour cream: no chives available !

Dessert and coffees came quickly (no cappuccino available either btw !) - a chilled chocolate mousse cake and a very ordinary strawberry cheesecake, both about one cut above President's Choice quality.

My friend and I felt the value was there OK (our $48 and $52 steaks included all we ate except the salads) for a good basic steakhouse experience, with some quirky touches, and the atmosphere fine, actually sort of retro fun. The whole experience was a bit weird - can't quite put my finger on why. We'd go back, yes; certainly Carmen's staggers along - but it wouldn't be on the top of my list, either. That said, it avoids the arrogance and mechanicalism of Morton's, the oceans of butter corporatism of Ruth's Chris, the occasionally condescending staff and high prices of Harbour 60 - so full credit for those avoidances !

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