A place that is not too 'typical' of a wedding banquet hall, yet offers elegance, history and character that is worth checking out is the St. Lawrence Hall by King/Jarvis.

We had our wedding there and the history and decor of the hall, with the high ceiling, old style oil chandeliers were amazing.
http://www.stlawrencemarket.com/st_la...

Don't mistake it for the St. Lawrence market, Most people would never knew there was a nice banquet hall nestled beside the market. Back in the 1800's it served as the first town hall/city hall of Toronto.

Another note, could be good or bad, but you have to bring your own catering service in.

Their whole steamed fish is very good....although really depends what fish you order. They do a very good eel as well, and when they have it in stock their live scallops with garlic/black bean sauce were delicious. Their stir-fried beefs are very good, you already had their beef cubes. When we go, we usually get the jumbo lobster(7+ pounds), and have the lobster tomales be used for a fried rice course, quite interesting. They also have different soups you can pre-order, I think one time we had a wild water duck(?? not sure if that is the english name for it?) with herbs soup. That was pretty good.

A side note regarding fish....If you are a fisherman at all, and you happen to catch some fresh fish(Walleye, Bass) you can bring it to them, and they will cook it for you for a small fee. The owners are very big fisherman's. As you can tell by their wall decorations.

I am not sure about what the price differences is for the big lobsters.

This restaurant is definitely one that I don't go there for the atmosphere. We've had times been there and were given a 1.5 hour limit on eating as they were fully booked for the rest of the night, and even before we finished our dessert, they handed us the bill. But the service has always been acceptable, its just their place is rather small and gets very busy due to their popularity. In the summer months, its a bit better when they have their outdoor patio section open, and they can fit more people/tables.

We've been going to this restaurant for awhile now...the lobsters/crabs done in the 'Typhoon Shelter' style is excellent. You have to return to give it a try. Besides minced garlic and chilies, they also have fried anchovies in there...yummy

My wife and I will be in Rome from Dec 7th to december 13..right now researching on some places for dinner.

- Settembrini
- Colline Emiliane
- All 'Oro
- Trattoria Monti
- Checchino
- La Pergola

We will be staying at the Marriott Grand Flora, how easy is it to get to those restaurants?

Any other good recommendations that is reachable from the Marriott Grand Flora?
I don't mind walking, transit or taking a cab for 15-30 mins?

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Trattoria Monti
Via di San Vito,13a, Roma , IT

Colline Emiliane
Via degli Avignonesi, 22, Rome, Lazio 00187, IT

Settembrini
Via Luigi Settembrini, 25, Rome, Lazio , IT

another thing I forgot to mention...Not sure if they are still doing the Amuse offering....but we were never offered any....

I just had dinner at Acadia last night. The wife and I had couple of drinks each, appetizer, entree, shared 1 dessert, plus coffee/tea, the bill came to roughly $160.

The place is nothing fancy, but thought the food and service was really good.
I had the Halibut Cheeks and Short Ribs, and the wife had the salad wedge and snapper. The food was excellent, but the portions were tiny....I was still hungry after eating my entree....was thinking about ordering another entree, but decided to go with the desert instead.
Had the sweet potato custard...which I found it only meh......not impressed with their desert..I would totally skip that, and hit to another place nearby for desert instead.

couple of comments:
- the wine list is lacking, and they don't offer corkage....hopefully, as they grow and expand their business, they can invest in a larger wine cellar/selections, or otherwise offer corkage
- the cocktails offered were interesting
- the dining room is very loud....I was there around 8pm, and the room was full....and loud...l literally had to shout to my wife across the table to be heard.

How's their wine list? do they offer corkage?

Does Black Hoof take reservations? If not, how busy do they get on a sunday night? I would hate to have to wait 1 hour for dinner...the wifey would not be enthused with that.

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The Black Hoof
928 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON M6J, CA

I am planning my wife's birthday dinner and its scheduled for Sunday Oct.30....It'll be for a table for 4..
My preference would be in the GTA, corkage if possible, otherwise a good/interesting wine list would be nice, budget wise I don't really have a set limit if the place is nice.
We've done Colborne Lane, George, Splendido and Scarmouche within the past 6 months, so lets rule those out.

Originally, I had thought about Nota Bene(haven't been there for over a year now) since they allow corkage, and food is decent with a nice atmosphere...But they are not open on a Sunday night.

The wine(s) that I am planning to open for dinner(if I bring them).
White - Order from the restaurant, probably just 1 glass per person
Red - Some of the candidates I am dying to open:
- 1997 Solaia
- 1997 Dominus
- 1997 Chateau Montelena
(1997 was the year my wife and I started dating, so thought might be nice to open one up, I don't have any of her birth year :( )...

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Splendido
88 Harbord Street, Toronto, ON M5S 1G5, CA

Colborne Lane
45 Colborne Street, Toronto, ON M5E 1P8, CA

Has Scaramouche re-opened? I thought they closed down since their old building is turning into a condo?

I am into bordeaux's...don't need to goto the gov't monopoly(aka LCBO) to buy overpriced bordeaux. I have plenty of bordeuxs in my cellar starting from the late 80's to 2006's...
but there is a reason why I am opening a 2005 bordeaux...
thats our wedding year, and we honeymooned in bordeaux as well....So we kinda have a thing where we would be drinking 2005 bordeaux's for our anniversary dinner.

Yeah...we did Nota Bene for the 3rd...what memory.. :)
And we've been back there quite frequently...so would prefer something different..

I know drinking the 05 Bordeaux's now would be infanticide, but one of the reasons i invested heavy in 05 futures was to have enough supplies to celebrate our anniversaries in the future..

I am considering one of the following wines:
Calon Segur, Leoville Poyfere, Leoville Barton, or Pavie Maquin

then follow up with 05 Sauternes to go with desert. Guiraud or Rieussec

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Nota Bene
180 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON M5V 2A1, CA

Thanks for all the feedback...
Any other suggestions besides the ones on my list? We did Splendido recently for my birthday dinner. So would rather not go back there.

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Splendido
88 Harbord Street, Toronto, ON M5S 1G5, CA

Whats a good restaurant to goto for a 5 year anniversary dinner with my wife in Toronto. Not too overly concerned with a budget, but within reason. $500 for 2 is fine...$1000 for 2 is not...
However, one of the requirements is that the restaurant needs to allow corkage or have a nice wine list. I am a wine collector/drinker, so that is important for us.
Ideally, I would like to be able to bring my own wine for the dinner. I have stockpiled multiple cases of 2005 Bordeaux's for our anniversary dinners. And would like to open them.
Although, 2005 Bordeaux's is still young and needs more aging, the sentimental values is worth it. We did our honeymoon in 2005 in Paris, where a week spend touring and tasting the vineyards in Bordeaux.

Thus far, I am thinking of the following:

- Colborne Lane
- George
- La Marquette (our first date was here)
- Mildred's Temple
- Corner House

any of them allow corkage? any other recommendations?

This is for Oct 8th,2010......am i still able to get reservations?

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Corner House
501 Davenport Avenue, Toronto, ON M3R 4R6, CA

Colborne Lane
45 Colborne Street, Toronto, ON M5E 1P8, CA

I will be in San Fran this weekend, and staying at the JW Marriott with my wife. We are in our early 30's. What are some good restaurants for those 2 nights? Nopa? La Folie?
and should we make reservations for those 2 nights?

How far is it from the JW are they? we will have a car...can taxi, walk, etc...

In general, are good/nice restaurants in san fran busy and hard to get into?

Also, we will be in Napa Valley friday night...any recommendations for dinner in napa?

Does Nota Bene allow corkage? Planning to have dinner there this saturaday night for a birthday with the wife.
Nothing on their list tickles my fancy, not that its a bad list, but i am somewhat of a winehound.
Would like to bring a first or 2nd growth bordeaux for the dinner..