(Photo by John Hritz)
It’s that time of year again, when sniping begins over the dozens of menus featuring new (and often unexciting) ways to prepare house salad, chicken and a trio of sorbet. That’s right: the Winterlicious list is out, and it’s 150 restaurants strong.
Which will be the hot spots? Those with agile redial fingers—and who are willing to eat dinner at 5 or 10:30—might land tables at such popular spots as Canoe, Auberge du Pommier, Bymark and North 44°. But looking at the list, we see that there are plenty of goodies to be found at the inexpensive end of the Winterlicious spectrum. Opting for these can be risky, but the cheaper restaurants ($15–$25) often represent the best value (Seven Numbers, Caju). Notable mid-range restaurants include Mildred’s Temple Kitchen, which usually has a lunch that provides an accurate taste of its menu ($20), as well as The Rosebud, which comes in at $20 to $35 but is being modest about its quality and is worth a visit.
These days, $45 is the new $30—the old Winterlicious maximum price was inflated by $15 last year and is even more common this time around. The pricier ticket may be a fair compromise for higher-end restaurants that want to participate and provide quality without going into the red. But there are certainly restaurants (Oro, Reds, Tundra) where a side-by-side comparison shows that Winterlicious amounts to not much more than a coupon for $5 to $10 off. Quiet and classic Noce is in the upper price bracket but appears to be serving up dishes off its posh regular menu.
Daily Dish will be slowing down for the holidays but will be back in full force in early January, complete with our full list of picks for the best restaurants of Winterlicious. Stay tuned.
• UPDATE: Torontolife.com’s “Best of Winterlicious” list is out. See it here »
Best to read the “Whining and Dining” link in the sidebar of related articles. Too many of these restaurants look down on the Winterlicious customers as the “rabble”, so excuse me if I don’t feel like visiting any of these places. See how they feel when they go bankrupt, then they might get what customer service is about.
December 25, 2009 at 8:52 am | by JRA comment to JR. It has been shown, time and time again that Winterlicious and Summerlicious customers do not generate repeat business. So as for your comment about restaurants going bankrupt, it is unlikely that this will be the result of this event. These customers rarely order wine, and are paying $45 for their three course meal. Let’s say that at an aggressive 8% to the bottom line for these diners, the restaurant will make $3.60 per person. That is hardly worth the effort. Thanks.
December 30, 2009 at 12:12 pm | by NigelI rack up quite a booze bill myself but I have to say I use this list to avoid restaurants during Winterlicious because a ton of people who never eat out and stay at home 6 of 7 nights will start booking all of them and generally strain the kitchen & the service.
And Nigel is correct – they’ll never pay full price as they’re showing up just to tell their friends – yes I dined at Canoe.
January 1, 2010 at 1:29 pm | by LaurenceYepper. Avoid also
January 5, 2010 at 9:20 am | by MoiJR et al.: If Winterlicious is such a hardship, no one is forcing these restaurants to participate.
January 5, 2010 at 4:45 pm | by KateAfter reading a few “comments” on “Winterlicious” I can’t help myself.
First; SARs is over!!
Second; Contrary to popular thinking it was not and was never intended to be FREE ADVERTISING for restaurants that can already afford the luxury !
Can we get it organized to help the little guys/gals who put in 100 hrs. a week in… the kitchen/dining room.
If your establishment is making 500k plus PROFIT a year, do you really need a venue such as this to market your “skillz”?
It’s time to get back to helping out Torontonians who are trying to start a small business and could use some help from the “big boys” in the industry. Winterlicious is not a compition! If the TV shows, local “lifestyle” mags. and movie star like status do not help your operation perhaps you should look at how it is being “Managed”!
Winterlicious can be great for Toronto; as soon as it gets back to helping Toronto!
January 5, 2010 at 6:36 pm | by jpI think Winterlicious is great for Toronto, its another tourist attraction that locals can participate in, not only do we try different restaurants at Winter and summerlicious, the ones we like we return on many occasions. Yes we always buy wine with our food..Isen’t that the whole point go and enjoy good food and good wine.
January 11, 2010 at 7:36 pm | by ShirlWhile visiting Europe this summer it was fantastic to see this sort of deal on in many countries a 3 course lunch with wine for 12 euros… Very relaxed and laid back..Long may Our City continue to add events throughout the year