Strangers in the Night
Will the communal table, now a fixture in the city’s hippest restaurants, loosen up fine dining’s couple-centric geometry? By Rachel Heinrichs
Image credit: Nikki Ormerod
Sharing a table with strangers can be riveting—who can resist eavesdropping on the adjacent couple? If you’re simpatico with your co-diners, such close quarters can even lead to shared desserts and phone numbers. But if the dining gods aren’t smiling (or if the hostess seats you next to some schmuck), you’ll have to endure awkward table talk, vile manners or unsavoury lechery. Here’s how the city’s hottest communal tables stack up.
L’UNITÀ
The mood: Part late-night
trattoria charm, part effortless
East Village cool.
Upside: Cupid-like co-owner David Minicucci often seats diners in chemistry-promoting configurations (say, a group of guys across from a girls’ night out quartet).
Downside: Sitting on a high stool-style chair, with your legs dangling like a toddler’s, it’s hard to take a come-on seriously.
BREAD BAR
The mood: Mod and minimal. It’s chock full of Lawrence Park couples and has the conviviality of a family get-together.
Upside: Bread Bar’s inventive take on Indian street food is served tapas style and tailor-made for sharing.
Downside: Perspiring diners who perhaps shouldn’t have ordered the prawn and crab curry extra-spicy.
BRANT HOUSE
The mood: A cocktail-charged spirit abounds. The converted Victorian warehouse morphs into a sophisticated nightclub on weekends.
Upside: With seven communal tables, the meal offers good sightlines for sussing out after-dinner dance partners.
Downside: Moony-eyed couples eating their pappardelle Lady
and the Tramp style.
PICNIC WINE BAR
The mood: A glossy wine bar with the community-oriented goodwill of a farmers’ market.
Upside: For singles perched
fetchingly on one of the high backless stools, a DIY charcuterie plate with choices listed
on a chalkboard is the perfect conversation starter.
Downside: Leslieville BIA-ers on an anti-Wal-Mart tirade dominate the chit-chat.
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