Daily Express Cafe

Not my favorite spot in the St. George/​Bloor corner of the Annex (aka the borderlands of Yorkville). This little café does offer a step above the usual café style menu, nearly broaching bistro territory what with a menu rife with items like baby green salads, salmon, avocado and sprouts. With all that going for it, you would think that nothing could stop this little café from winning hearts and minds.
You’d be mistaken. Every time I step inside this café, a series of events unfold like dominoes to ensure that I don’t want to go back. I’m hoping the last time was truly it, the last time. It’s not that the food is bad (it isn’t). The higher-​tier menu items rate a higher price on your standard lunch items — fair enough. You’ve earned your prices, Daily Express, as much as I begrudge you them. That doesn’t mean I will patronize you again soon.
Having a café in such proximity to the hotel means that this little café is either run by or in partnership with the hotel itself. And it’s open a lot of hours. And as such, no matter when I have gone in, there seems to be little to no people working there. I have had my order taken only to see the server disappear for a bewildering length of time. I have come in and stood, ready to order, only to be told to wait and then have a server walk out of the café never to return (well, not before I lost patience and left again). I have been served my food (which was respectable if not wholly delicious) only to find that some key ingredient was missing, and the server was mysteriously absent from behind the counter. And the only other person in there was a random dude reading a newspaper and muttering to himself, with no food or beverage in sight, or clear intent to ingest such items.
If you really need a poached salmon salad to go, hit up the Daily Express. The ambience leaves something to be desired, as does the bowling alley level of customer service. Still though, the food is half decent, so get it to go and bring it back to your desk/​library cubby/​park bench. And if you choose to eat there, please don’t mutter when you read the paper.