Foods from Spin Kitchen
Comments
2013 Feb 23
I don't give too much credit to hotel restaurants but I did have a truly delicious burger at Spin at lunch this past week.
SO yummy! Juicy and well seasoned patty. The bun was moist and rich and reminded me of brioche.
The service was really good. I had my water topped up so many times my bladder was bursting! Yikes.
I had dined at Spin once before and hadn't though much of it but this burger experience was really pleasing.
SO yummy! Juicy and well seasoned patty. The bun was moist and rich and reminded me of brioche.
The service was really good. I had my water topped up so many times my bladder was bursting! Yikes.
I had dined at Spin once before and hadn't though much of it but this burger experience was really pleasing.
2012 Mar 30
Tis the end of fiscal, and it is work outing season. Had a wonderful time with my colleagues at Spin kitchen last night, unfortunately, the restaurant had nothing to do with our ‘wonderful time’. I must say I was quite disappointed at the standard of this restaurant – considering that it is in a higher end, downtown hotel.
I’ll give the server the benefit of the doubt (most likely a recent immigrant), but holy maven, he was a bumbling mess. He had trouble with English (was not a francophone either), mumbled/fumbled through their unimpressive and limited list of beers, got very (I mean very) simple orders wrong, and he had a bit of condescending attitude to some of my colleagues when they asked for “drink menu”, his response was, “what do you want”, "a drink menu please",“What part of ‘drink menu’ do you not understand?”
That said, the waiters performance became somewhat of a joke at our table and we thought nothing of it, since we were there for a celebration.
Then came the food.
The afternoon/ Hors d'oeuvre menu is ok at best. The dishes on the menu seem interesting, but I can honestly say – based on yesterday’s experience - “Spin’s” food is no better then a mediocre pub. I ordered the coconut shrimp and the “sugar and spice, charred chicken quasidilla”. Normal prices are close to $15 each (just to put that into perspective, by normal prices, a quesadilla and 4 butterfly shrimp would cost 30+drink, tax tip etc. NUTS! But.. between five and 6, most of the menu drops down to 5 bucks. So my two dishes were 10 bucks combined. I still overpaid. But considering the price and the cause for celebration, I settled my bill. I would not have paid the full price for the quasidilla, let me explain.
Listen to this description: Sugar and Spice charred chicken quesadilla, Ancho & Jalapeno jack cheese, black bean, cilantro tomato salsa, burnt lime cream.
Ok. There was no sugar, no spice; oh, and the chicken wasn’t charred. It wasn’t even “chicken” it was that composite processed crap (subway/sisco chicken as I like to call it, good ol transglutaminase), and trust me, that chicken never saw a hot surface. The tortilla was brown (ugh), bland ass, dry Loblaw’s quality. Served with days old black bean salsa (in a fricken thimble) and an uninspired “burnt lime cream”, right… That said, I took two bites, and left it on my plate. I kindly went to the kitchen window to talk to the ‘chef’ about it, and he was oblivious to my comments. I said the menu was totally misleading as there was no sugar, spice, or carcinogenic goodness in the dish. His comment was that it must have been a mistake or an oversight with my order. Not the case though, my colleague who ordered the same thing, was equally unimpressed. I was a bit surprised that the chef didn’t insist on making me a new one, and; it was still on my bill, but again, this place isn’t very impressive.
The shrimp were just ok, a tad over done. Meh
To top it off, the manager – while professional – wasn’t very hospitable or accommodating either. She made a big deal of us taking a chair from another table even though the restaurant was EMPTY! Stuff like that... there was just an attitude that I didn’t like. It wasn’t “how can we help you”, I felt more like their sentiment was “ugh, we have to work here, so please accept this borderline unsatisfactory service, don’t ask too many questions and eat your food.”
I didn’t complain excessively, I was willing to swallow the 10 bucks for the food (plus more for booze, but that doesn’t count), and I was there with a fantastic group of people, so I let stuff slide – a lot more then I usually would.
At the very least I told the chef that one of his items was poor. I doubt anything will be done to it, but hey I brought it to their attention.
All that said, Spin’s 5 oclock crew and menu might not be indicative of the restaurant and ‘chef’, but I have no desire to give them a second shot.
Disappointing.
I’ll give the server the benefit of the doubt (most likely a recent immigrant), but holy maven, he was a bumbling mess. He had trouble with English (was not a francophone either), mumbled/fumbled through their unimpressive and limited list of beers, got very (I mean very) simple orders wrong, and he had a bit of condescending attitude to some of my colleagues when they asked for “drink menu”, his response was, “what do you want”, "a drink menu please",“What part of ‘drink menu’ do you not understand?”
That said, the waiters performance became somewhat of a joke at our table and we thought nothing of it, since we were there for a celebration.
Then came the food.
The afternoon/ Hors d'oeuvre menu is ok at best. The dishes on the menu seem interesting, but I can honestly say – based on yesterday’s experience - “Spin’s” food is no better then a mediocre pub. I ordered the coconut shrimp and the “sugar and spice, charred chicken quasidilla”. Normal prices are close to $15 each (just to put that into perspective, by normal prices, a quesadilla and 4 butterfly shrimp would cost 30+drink, tax tip etc. NUTS! But.. between five and 6, most of the menu drops down to 5 bucks. So my two dishes were 10 bucks combined. I still overpaid. But considering the price and the cause for celebration, I settled my bill. I would not have paid the full price for the quasidilla, let me explain.
Listen to this description: Sugar and Spice charred chicken quesadilla, Ancho & Jalapeno jack cheese, black bean, cilantro tomato salsa, burnt lime cream.
Ok. There was no sugar, no spice; oh, and the chicken wasn’t charred. It wasn’t even “chicken” it was that composite processed crap (subway/sisco chicken as I like to call it, good ol transglutaminase), and trust me, that chicken never saw a hot surface. The tortilla was brown (ugh), bland ass, dry Loblaw’s quality. Served with days old black bean salsa (in a fricken thimble) and an uninspired “burnt lime cream”, right… That said, I took two bites, and left it on my plate. I kindly went to the kitchen window to talk to the ‘chef’ about it, and he was oblivious to my comments. I said the menu was totally misleading as there was no sugar, spice, or carcinogenic goodness in the dish. His comment was that it must have been a mistake or an oversight with my order. Not the case though, my colleague who ordered the same thing, was equally unimpressed. I was a bit surprised that the chef didn’t insist on making me a new one, and; it was still on my bill, but again, this place isn’t very impressive.
The shrimp were just ok, a tad over done. Meh
To top it off, the manager – while professional – wasn’t very hospitable or accommodating either. She made a big deal of us taking a chair from another table even though the restaurant was EMPTY! Stuff like that... there was just an attitude that I didn’t like. It wasn’t “how can we help you”, I felt more like their sentiment was “ugh, we have to work here, so please accept this borderline unsatisfactory service, don’t ask too many questions and eat your food.”
I didn’t complain excessively, I was willing to swallow the 10 bucks for the food (plus more for booze, but that doesn’t count), and I was there with a fantastic group of people, so I let stuff slide – a lot more then I usually would.
At the very least I told the chef that one of his items was poor. I doubt anything will be done to it, but hey I brought it to their attention.
All that said, Spin’s 5 oclock crew and menu might not be indicative of the restaurant and ‘chef’, but I have no desire to give them a second shot.
Disappointing.
Tree Pug