Concession Road

Sunday dinner at the bar. They have buck-​a-​shuck on Sunday so we started with 2 dozen small and tasty New Brunswick oysters. Nice classic cocktail list. A long wine list but mostly ho hum choices. Blame the LCBO for the expensive and boring wine lists you find in Ontario. Had a corpse reviver #2 and an ok glass of french rose with dinner. They serve absinthe but we did not try; not appropriate for Sunday in midtown…
My companion was a little hungover so she had the beet salad and the fries. The beet salad was perfectly executed but, as a beet salad, it can only be so interesting. The fries were pretty great, however.
I had the $ 28 prix fixe. The escargot starter was lovely; nice fat snails in a mushroom sauce. I was absent-​mindedly expecting the standard butter bombs in the shell, but this was much nicer, and we ordered some baguette to mop it all up. Nice tapenade with the baguette.
The fish special was arctic char with fingerling potatoes and some veggie stuff. The fish was skin side up and the skin was perfectly crispy. My favorite fish dish in Japan is the broiled mackerel (saba shioyaki) where the skin is crispy and the oiliness of the fish makes your limbic system light up with famine-​avoiding delight. The skin on the char had that kind of crispy oily wonderfulness.
Desert was an espresso mousse. It had a nice slice of poached pear. I ate all the pear by accident, to the chagrin of my companion. Fine but forgettable; it was late by then so we were not into dessert. We’ll give dessert a do-​over for next time.
I’m rooting for Concession Road because I live in the neighborhood and we need more good restaurants on St Clair that aren’t Italian. Keep the buck-​a-​shuck (if Bar Neon can do it you can too) and add a free corkage night and I’ll be in there all the time…

We feel very lucky to have this incredible restaurant in Hillcrest. The food is refined and delicious. My all time favorite is the Calves Liver and the Chocolate Terrine for Dessert, but their Fix Price Menu (Sun-​Tue) was also an excellent choice, Pumpkim Soup, Steak Frites and Chocolate Mousse, hard to pick a favorite.

Came with some friends for Winterlicious dinner on a weekday. They took our coats and seated us immediately since we had reservations and the wonderful service carried throughout the night. I was facing the bar so it was entertaining to watch them whip up our drinks and see the line of delicious looking dishes wander out from the kitchen. The atmosphere was intimate without being stuffy, and all the tables around us seemed to be having a great time.
I chose the escargot, steak frites, and the panna cotta for my meal. The escargot and the steak frites were well executed but my favorite for the night was definitely the panna cotta, it had a light delicate flavour with a satisfying creaminess. It was the perfect ending to the meal. Between all the people around the table, we pretty much tasted the rest of the menu and all the feedback was positive. Definitely a great winterlicious choice.

I think I will take my friend’s advice next time and check on Instagram what a restaurant’s Winterlicious choices are as I was a little disappointed when I came here after reading the «great reviews». Pics or it ain’t good enough.
I drove here with my friend on a Thursday night hoping for some tasty eats at $ 25 for the prix fixe. The host was friendly, seated us promptly and started our drink orders. I chose the escargot, Japanese Fried Chicken (JFC), and the panna cotta. My friend chose the salad, steak frites, and the pecan tart.
They started us off with a tapenade and crostinis on the house and it was so delicious. Nice and flavourful but had a nice balance: not too acidic and salty. The escargot was so tasty and flavourful. My friend’s salad had orange, avocado, manchego cheese, olives, and a sherry vinaigrette. The salad was pretty good except for how much dressing was used as it had somewhat drenched it.
My JFC was pretty decent but was plated with mostly mashed potatoes. My friend’s steak frites was good but portion was about a six oz steak sliced :(The red wine jus and horseradish herb butter worked well with the steak.
I was really looking forward to the panna cotta but was disappointed as only about 40% of the dessert was the panna cotta and 60% was whipped cream. Still tasty though… My friend’s pecan tart was just the right amount of sweet and was great.
I don’t know what I was expecting or hoping for with a $ 25 prix fixe menu. It was an okay place.

This review is solely based on Winterlicious.
Everything on the menu was delicious. Got to taste a bit of everything from the menu. Vegetarian options are available (risotto).
Service was friendly. Very accommodating.
Best panna cotta I’ve personally ever had so I would recommend getting it. It’s very light and fluffy. For some reason whenever I think of pana cotta, I think of jello and it was definitely not jello.

I was really excited to try out Concession Road after reading so many great reviews. True enough, it did not disappoint. My dinner date and I went on a Tuesday night for Winterlicious. Right off the bat, we were greeted warmly and brought to our seats at the other side of the restaurant. I love their minimalistic and clean décor. It looks like a nice place to hang out with some friends.
Service was great, friendly and sincere with frequent check-​ins. A few minor hiccups, but all rectified immediately upon bringing it to their attention.
On to the food:
I got the escargot, JFC, and panna cotta. My favourite of the entire night is the escargot, sauce is just divine and they don’t skimp on the portion! JFC is good, crispy but still moist and tender inside. I wish it came with some veggies to balance the flavour and texture of the whole dish. Still a good solid dish though. Dessert is perfect, not too sweet and it’s a nice finish to the meal.
My dinner date had the salad, steak frites, and chocolate espresso mousse. I had bits and pieces of his meal. I gotta say the salad is one of the best salads I’ve ever tasted. It was light and refreshing, with some oranges and avocado to balance the tangy vinaigrette. Steak was cooked perfectly, although I’m not a fan of the horseradish butter but that is just personal preference.
We also had some oysters in addition to our meal. It came in a mini casserole dish for each of us. Fresh and briny oysters, can’t complain. I would go back to Concession Road and try out their regular menu. It isn’t cheap as noted by some reviewers, but not too extravagant for some good nomnoms and service.

We came here for dinner over winterlicious. The food and service was excellent. We’ll definitely be coming back here soon.

Very delicious! I thought service was a bit so so but gave a lot of time between courses and gave us our privacy. It’s a nice restaurant with great food! I’m a fan of the escargot :) the butter sauce is divine! I like the baguettes were good with a olive spread. Yum! I would definitely return!

Service & Food was amazing! Especially for Winterlicious there were many choices and food portion was very filling. Had trouble finding the place because the name was written in cursive. Other than that, I would definitely come back again. Nice simple interior décor, comfortable seating.

We loved this place. In fact we have come by twice!
It’s very clean inside with a kind of rustic birch theme-​thing going on.
The food is so good. I’ve had the Mennonite Fried Chicken and it’s some of the best fried chicken I’ve ever had. I’ve also had the Steak Frites which is real good too, but I prefer the chicken. The proportions are just right.
The service is attentive, friendly and helpful, and so far it hasn’t been hard for us to get a seat here. We will be back yet again.

Minimalistic and unpretentious décor, welcoming and knowledgeable staff. Online reservation was an ease, left a note asking for a table by the window for our wedding anniversary celebration. When we arrived we were greeted warmly and brought to our requested table, followed by complimentary champagne and congratulation, what a nice gesture! We ordered Crispy-​fried Calamari, Shrimp Bön Bön, Steak Frites, and Chef’s Daily Fish (Sea Bass) from the simple one-​page menu. The food was delightful, my husband enjoyed the Shrimp Bön Bön and Steak Frites especially. The restaurant got packed quite quickly on a Saturday night, I was glad we had made reservation. We enjoyed our delicious and relaxing meal, would love to come back to try other dishes soon.

Over the past year I have become a semi-​regular patron of Concession Road and sister restaurant a block away, Pukka. Owners Derek and Harsh are always there to greet you and run their restaurant as if you were guests in their home. Attentive service and amazing culinary delights from chef Masayuki will keep me coming back. While there are many great dishes on the menu, one of my personal fav’s is the Steak Frites. After years of The Rushton a few doors down holding first place honours for best Steak Frites, Concession Road has definitely topped them!
The fish specials have always been top notch as is the popular JFC. Great wine selection to pair with your menu options.
Although I’ve heard from a few that it is too expensive, as a foodie who has been to many expensive restaurants, Concession Rd is a great value for what you get, comparable to many MUCH more expensive restaurants where the food is less exceptional.

Concession Road is a delicious addition to the vibrant St. Clair W. neighbourhood. The menu is creative with many Asian and global influences to classic French dishes.
Having been to a media event to sample the dishes, I would recommend the following:
1) Shrimp Bonbon, citrus salad with red pepper gastrique. The sauce brought lightness to the dish.
2) Beef tartare with Asian pear, pickled vegetables, quail’s egg yolk and toast. This was my favourite dish of the evening. The pickled vegetables and Asian pear made the dish extremely appetizing.
3) JFC” Menonite-​farmed fried chicken, buttermilk mash, tomato and preserved lemon mayo. The portions were generous, the chicken was moist and the skin was crispy! If you love fried chicken, this dish is a must!

Fairly recently opened, some of the same owners as the excellent Indian restaurant nearby, called Pukka.
Great wine list, good service and outstanding food. If you like calves liver, this is the best I’ve eaten in Toronto.

One of the best french restaurant yet!
I tried their Yorkshire Pork Chop today, I walked home with a bulging stomach and I felt like I wanted to blow up lol :)
It’s juicy, tender and tasty! I also love the maple sauce which wasn’t too sweet. Other parts that i like the beside the pork itself was the mushroom croquettes. Damn, it’s tiny but it was like a bomb in my mouth!
Nice services, great ambience but not really nice surrounding (old apartment across the street, kinda weird. Some of the tenants were sitting outside and watching us eating)
I need someone to come with me next time to share the food, and i really wanna try their dessert.

Love the atmosphere and the food was amazing. Great service super on par:) would definitely visit again when we are in the area.

Had an excellent 3 course meal here the other night with the fiancé and a group of friends. I had just started reading «The Big Fat Surprise» that day (
) so I was trying not to feel too guilty about the excessive amounts of dairy and meat I was about to indulge in. They do have some vegetarian options though. A few apps and one main. Not sure about vegan, but I’m sure they could make some omissions/​substitutions if requested.
Started the evening off with the cheese platter, which was beyond delicious. One slab of cheese in particular, called «Delice de Bourgogne», was hands down the best cheese I’ve ever eaten in my life. I was temped to order another helping of it for dessert but went with the cheesecake instead, which I ended up not regretting. Tarim and I agreed that it tasted a bit like Uncle Tetsu’s — very light and not too sweet. I also got to try sweetbreads for the first time, which I surprisingly enjoyed. It tasted like chicken! I suppose you really can’t go wrong with anything that’s deep fried though…
Went with the Steak Frites for my main. Steak was cooked to a tee, practically melt-​in-​your-​mouth, and the fries were fresh cut and crispy and came with a yummy mayo dip. The fiancé opted for the Yorkshire pork chop which was honestly the biggest pork chop I’ve ever seen! He’s a big eater and had a hard time finishing it. The sides that came with the chop were also thoroughly enjoyed by him as well.
Admittedly, I’m usually one of those «don’t go north of Bloor street» type folks, but I’m glad I made an exception for this one. It was one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time, and I’ll definitely be back.

This was a very lovely dinner. The food was delicious and the specialty drinks were fabulous and amazing flavour. I had the steak Frits and I asked for medium rare and it came perfect. Nice flavour, and marinated deliciously. I love how they offer a cheese platter For dessert with a lot of different cheese options and apples it was great. The interior is a nice set up and we were lucky to get the big front table by the window. Service was on point and friendly. I like how the owner introduced himself and gave us a tour, it’s a lot bigger than it looks like from the outside. It’s a little pricey for a regular outting but for a special occasion this is a great spot in this neighbs.

I had the oysters, venison and cheesecake, they where all delicious.
The oysters where fresh and really helped awaken my appetite for the main course.
The venison was cooked medium rare and served with peppers an unexpected and pleasant surprise.
The Cheesecake was moist and light not unlike that of uncle tetsus. But served with a waffer of chocolate it was a great way to end the meal.
The quality of the product used is clearly very high and the skill of the chef is self evident in the cuisine.

Great friends and yummy food.
Best New Brunswick oysters I’ve had in Toronto yet. The venison was cooked to a perfect medium rare and I liked the accompanying roasted peppers. The panna cotta was the best one I’ve had in years. My Pimm’s Cup was also one of the best I’ve had in TO.
The atmosphere is great for having an extended meal with friends and relaxing. The only slight detraction was the unenthusiastic service — not sure if our age contributed to her lukewarm attitude. I saw the way she was interacting with other tables and it was far more enthused than the pleasantries we received.
I’d definitely return for a relaxed French meal in an upscale casual setting.