Sen5es Bakery & Restaurant is located on the ground floor of the SoHo Metropolitan Hotel in downtown Toronto. I’ve only ever read glowing reviews of this fine-dining establishment, so I readily accepted an invitation to go for a Summerlicious dinner this past Friday.
Three and a half hours and $60 later, I walked out with only two good things to say about the place: the servers are courteous and the washrooms are clean.
We had a reservation for 7:00 pm but were cooling our heels in the lobby until 8:00 pm. Unacceptable.
It took another 40 minutes for our first course to come. Granted, we had a party of 12, but we were all ordering off the Summerlicious menu, so they could expect the volume ahead of time (and everyone knows its pre-made anyway), so how long does it take to arrange appetizers on 12 plates?
Grilled romaine lettuce heart tasted exactly like what you would expect romaine lettuce hearts to taste like. The portobello tasted bizarre, and not in a good way.
Gazpacho is a cold Spanish tomato-based vegetable soup. Given that it was a vegetable soup, I wasn’t ready for the chill. It tasted fine, nothing to write home about. The half-cherry tomato came with goat cheese, which was not on the menu. Kind of a big deal, I’m surprised they didn’t put that on there given how they like to put every single ingredient on the menu. Lobster medallions tasted like they’d been frozen and then thawed, but what did I expect? I don’t know, maybe something fresh from such a “fine-dining” establishment.
I love duck. When I order duck, it’s hard for me not to enjoy it. But last night, I left half my duck breast on the plate. Why? It was undercooked, the meat was hard, not tender at all, and the breast itself was barely marinaded. There was plenty of fat under the skin, if it had cooked longer, I’m sure the meat could have been juicier. After having made my own orange-infused duck breast in Paris, I now knew what to expect and this was definitely below-par.
The duck leg confit lasagna was very creative, and was quite good – the only thing I ended up finishing that night. The lasagna was made with duck meat, spinach, cream cheese, and Parmesan sprinkled on top.
The halibut filet tasted like nothing, perhaps a hint of salt, but really, nothing. Of the four people that ordered this entree, zero enjoyed it.
Well, it’s a bento box. I mean, it looks cute, but really? This is the “vegetarian option” on your Summerlicious menu? If I were vegetarian, I would be downright offended. Here, have a few string beans, beets, and asparagus. The wasabi mashed potato sounded promising, until we realized it tasted no different from regular mashed potato, but green. Yes, that is exactly what this meal needs to look more appetizing! Green mush!
“Lemon-lavender-blueberry dome with chocolate arts, lemon-grass vanilla sauce” sounds like a mouthful, but it was really a small cake with some decoration. We had a laugh over how specific the menu was, even to go so far as to name the three triangular white-chocolate pieces as “chocolate arts.” The lavendar in the cake made it taste rather strange, although not altogether horrible.
I like crepes. I like crepes flambe even more. This crepe, however, was soggy. And tasted strongly like marmalade. No thanks. The cherry jubilee tasted better with the vanilla ice cream, but wasn’t all that inspired.
I did not get a picture of the third dessert option, “warm peach tart and peach ice cream”, which turned out to be the best one. The peach tart was good, it tasted like a fruit tart with less sugar.
After tax and tip, the meal came out to $60 (not including drinks). Considering there wasn’t a single course I was completely happy with, I was utterly disappointed. I’ve always been told Summerlicious meals are sub-par, but this was just a disgrace.
Rating: 
Wow, sounds like definitely a SHITTY time. Did you complain about the undercooked duck breast meat? Like perhaps get it sent back? That’s just awful, especially for the price that you are paying. You could’ve probably gotten a much better meal with a much less price anywhere else. That’s just horrible! Sorry to hear that!
[Reply]
admin Reply:
July 18th, 2010 at 1:38 am
I considered telling them that I was unsatisfied with the duck breast, but we had already waited so long for our food, how much longer would I have to wait for a replacement? I wouldn’t even want it if they cooked it for me again.
[Reply]
[...] duck confit (shredded duck meat under a layer of mashed potato), which I had had before at Sen5es in Toronto and likened to lasagna. Not my style. The traditional duck confit here was among the [...]