Fring’s

Went there with a few friends last week. First impressions are that the place is small, like extremely small. I was expecting something with a bit more room. The crowd can best be described as «interesting». Half of them looked like the stepped straight out of Yorkville and the other half looked like they stepped out of Jane and Finch.
I ordered the salmon and it was served to me basically raw. I pointed this out to the server and he apologized and said they were really busy and the chef had probably just forgotten to cook it. Really? Food overall could be described as mediocre.
Would I repeat? At current prices, absolutely not. Service was professional, nothing spectacular, but the prices do not mesh with the food or ambiance at all. Cut the prices by 60% — 70% (we all know that won’t happen) and yeah it would be a nice place. However, at current prices I simply can’t recommend it.

For some bizarre reason I had really low expectations for this place — maybe just because it was somehow associated with Drake and Susur Lee that the quality would somehow fall short however, it didn’t at all. After waiting a lengthy period of time and getting a 6:45 reservation on a Tuesday night (I’ll take it!!!) I was pleasantly surprised by how chill the vibe was in this place. The music was perfect… it is a bit dark — especially for my 32 year old eyes that require bifocals like some 72 year old but all in all great great great. I arrived a bit later than the rest of my party due to some heavy traffic so they had already dived into apps and smaller plates. They had the avocado toast, tuna tartare and thought both were great. 3 of us got the braised short ribs and baaaaaaahhhhhhh goodness in my mouth. These things were cooked for 18 hours and just melted in my mouth. They were so tasty that they’ve made me want to return to try every other inviting item on the menu.
Keep in mind, these are more shareable items — which I always love doing with a group of people.
The only thing I found inconvenient was that this place is incapable of splitting a bill. So, get your fingers, toes and handy dandy iPhone calculators out (because everyone knows these numbers aren’t magically being calculated in my head…)

Made a same-​day reservation for 6 pm on a Wednesday night but there looked to be a few tables free, so maybe you don’t need a reservation? So of course, we gotta check out Drake & Susr Lee’s collaborative spot! The restaurant is dark but has a lounge-​y feel. It’s loud with the other diners chatting but the music is also a bit loud as well. I expected only Drake music but there was R&B, hip hop music in the background. I was very impressed with the service. We never had an empty glass of water. The food came out pretty fast and our waiter was easy to flag down.
We ordered the Grilled Octopus, Salmon crudo, maple fried chicken and the truffle fries. We also tried the black berry ginger drink, which wasn’t too sweet. It was refreshing and even came with some flower petals, perhaps inedible but looked pretty. The grilled octopus probably came 5 minutes right after we ordered, so we were very surprised with the fast service. It was a large tentacle with a slice of the body, red pepper relish, tampenade and potato salad. The octopus was tender but a bit too charred. Seasoned okay. I enjoyed each bite with the relish, tampenade and the red sauce (some spice?). I would’ve liked more relish since the octopus serving was bigger than expected. The salmon crudo came with salmon sashimi with green apple, jalepeno, cilantro and gluten-​free ponzu sauce. The chip that came with this dish was a corn chip with sesame. I thought the chip flavour didn’t go with the crudo and salmon flavour so we ate it without it. I liked the combination of the salmon with the fresh green apple (with some ginger?), jalapeño and cilantro. Each bite was well balanced and seasoned well. The truffle fries came in a regular sized bowl in a wax paper folded cone. There were a ton of truffle shavings, which were nice, but definitely not worth the price tag ($ 20). Finally, the maple fried chicken was definitely the best! The maple syrup with whipped butter sauce came separately, which was thoughtful since the fried chicken batter wouldn’t be too soggy when the dish came to our table. There was also a watermelon coleslaw salad, which was fine. This dish (served only 4 medium sized pieces) was smaller than expected, especially since it came off the «large plate» section of the menu. However, each piece was moist, batter was thick and crispy enough for a good bite. We lathered the chicken with the maple syrup sauce along with the hot sauce they provided, mmm prolly the best fried chicken I’ve had in the city, period. This satisfied my Korean tongue, which usually looks for something sweet, sour, spicy and rich flavours. The batter could’ve been lighter but with the maple syrup and hot sauce, perhaps a lighter batter wouldn’t have held up as well.
All in all, I would come back and recommend this place to others. Pricey but it’s a nice atmosphere and good service.

Great food, great service. Like any new project it takes a little time to work out the kinks. Highly recommend the chicken sliders and spicy rigatoni. That’s what I had for dinner Friday with a glass of sangria!

Dim, cozy, candle-​lit, lounge vibe, a restaurant by celeb chef Susur Lee and the Drake. The surrounding music is just loud enough but not over-​bearing so you can still carry a conversation with the group across the table. The place features a bar in the center occupying most of the space with surrounding booths for dinner/​drinks. I would say a scene to impress a date, but note cocktails are $ 16-​$ 19. The service was really attentive, we had reservations 5:45 — 8pm but they didn’t didn’t shoo us out even when there was another reservation after us (maybe because of the $$$$ spent). From trying the menu from top down, expect small embellished overpriced plates that do not quite live up to expectations. Overall I enjoyed the environment and the highlight would be the cocktails and toasts.
Our group had tried quite a few drinks from their cocktail menu. If you’re like me and prefer a milky fruity concoction without tasting so much of the alcohol then I recommend the Proper ting or the Coconut lime mojito. I’ve tried the Sweeter man but the name can be misleading as it’s not as sweet and you can taste more of the alcohol in that drink. Our waiter told us that the dishes in the menu are meant to be shared as they can’t guarantee that they can have every plate come in at once.
Ordered
Toasts (all 3 — $ 10/​each) — Hard to decide which is my favorite as all 3 had a different taste palette and was the highlight of the meal along with the lamb.
— Wild Mushroom and Prosciutto — warm hearty meaty as expected
— Homemade Ricotta — sweet jam paired nicely with the ricotta cheese didn’t expect it to be so good
— Avocado Spread — If you love avocado this is a joy, as it’s loaded with avocado and mix of goodness
Small plates
Organic Salmon Crudo ($ 19)
— The ingredients were fresh and good
Kale Caeser ($ 15)
— Kale salad with parmesan and bits of meat.
Spicy Asian Tuna Tartare ($ 24) — I only remember trying a bit of this but it was okay
Crispy Chicken Sliders ($ 14) — 3 sliders each
Large Plates
Pan Seared Whole Branzino ($ 32) — quite small dish and was nothing special
Grilled lambchops ($ 38) — They can customize to give a bone per person at the table so you can each have one
New York Striploin and Truffle Fries ($ 52) — Perfectly cooked medium rare. Fries were fried in a special way so they remain crisp for longer periods of time. I don’t think the truffle on top was necessary
Mushroom & Winter Truffle Pappardelle ($ 40) — I don’t recall mushroom, the pasta was really good but also very small portion
Sides
Oven Baked Buttered Sweet Potato ($ 8) — I love sweet potatoes but this fell flat for me as it was cooked more al dente than I would like, I prefer my potatoes cooked more on the softer side. The seasoning also didn’t bring out the sweet taste of the sweet potato.
Grilled asparagus ($ 12) — Very tiny portion, asparagus were so thin (less than 0.5cm) and only had 5 – 6 pieces.
Dessert
Tiramisu in a jar — It’s okay but a little too sweet for my palette and I have a sweet tooth too
Lava cake with Ice cream — My favourite as it’s not as sweet and it’s not as sweet as you may think
Crème brûlée — Always good and this is creamy and richer than the normal crème brûlée. I would recommend
Sweet bread dessert with ice cream (don’t remember what it’s called) — I wouldn’t recommend as it had a fried dough but wasn’t as nearly as good as funnel cake.

Overall summary: not saying it’s not a nice ambience and restaurant and the food isn’t good, but if you’re looking to get your bang for your buck, this isn’t the place.
I had the maple fried chicken and Mac and cheese. Definitely original and savoury recipes. The band was playing, the ambience and décor was great. The price tag though is pretty steep, this is a place I would take a significant other to impress.

My favourite Susur Lee restaurant. Made a reservation for 4 easily online. I highly recommend a reservation, the restaurant was full on a Wednesday evening.
Our server was knowledgable, she went through the menu and debriefed us on the daily food and drink specials. I opted to order the drink special which was a rosé sangria with 32(?) ingredients at $ 18 a glass. It was a damn delicious drink but unfortunately it was served to me about 20 minutes after everyone else’s drinks, during our second course– even though we all ordered drinks at the same time. The manager did stop by our table to ensure everything was ok. Overall the service was great, the staff were all courteous.
The 4 of us shared the fresh ricotta, tuna tartare, grilled octopus, the seafood pasta dish, southern spicy maple fried chicken and the Susur burger. It was plenty of food for the four of us. Loved getting to try it all although the burger was a bit difficult to share. I highly recommend the grilled octopus and the spicy maple fried chicken. Very tasty. We shared the monkey bread and lava cake. The lava cake was average but the monkey bread was a delicious light and fluffy cinnamon infused yum bomb.
Although a bit pricey it was a great experience, I will return. Oh ya and Susur was in the house!

I know when that Hotline Fring’s, that can only mean one thing.
Okay, seriously. Drake jokes aside, I really enjoyed my visit to Fring’s. Susur Lee never disappoints, and he doesn’t start here. Food-​wise, I’d definitely try the fried chicken, the rigatoni, and/​or the chicken sliders. Furthermore, our party tried a sizable chunk of the drink menu and the general consensus was that the Sweeterman was the best of the bunch, so try that too!
The place was on the smaller side, but not cramped. It’s dark, moody, ambient, and candle-​lit — the whole nine yards. The music? What do you think? While I was there, I heard a combination of Jay-​Z, The Weeknd, OutKast, and… Drizzy. Of course.
Oh, and for whatever reason, the detail that stands out the most is the fact that on the bathroom doors, it says «6 Gods» and «6 Goddesses» instead of Boys and Girls.
Thought you should know.

If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late.
I don’t mind drinking the Drake kool-​aid once in a while and the cocktails were delicious (and beautiful) indeed. The spicy maple chicken was the yolo dish of the meal.
Décor and tunes are exactly what you’d expect. Apparently every Wednesday night someone performs smooth jazzy renditions of current and classic hip hop and R&B.
There are going to be haters, but why change, Fring’s?
Just do you, you six god *praying emoji*.

Ah the big deal with Drake and Susur…
Ok so this post is late. Came here the first week it opened.
Maybe they had a few stuff to iron out so not sure if it has improved.
I have to say the food is why there are even stars on this post.
From what we had it was delish.
But right from the get-​go — wholly confusing.
Our waiter, though a bit awkward explained to us the whole TAPAS idea.
‘But it wasnt like regular Tapas. It was larger in portions.
So it didnt matter what section you ordered from it was all tapas.
Since there were 3 of us he suggested 4 tapas.‘
He came back and re-​iterated TAPAS. Ok already.
But then said so for 3 of us 5 – 6 dishes would suffice.
Wait. You said 4. No, the dishes are kinda small. Wait. You said larger than regular tapas.
Im confused.
We decided on 3 appys and a main pasta dish.
Sooooooo basically when the sizes came in the apps were app size and the main was a main size all for one.
The waiter looked like he was running around with his head cut off yet we had to keep calling him over because he seemed to be running back and forth with none of our dishes in hand nor water refills.
Got here at 8 was served the main by 10pm.
All this «Tapas» confusion and one of us still pretty hungry and now sleepy at this point.
My friend had to say something to the manager.
Twas a bit riddonkulous.
Final note:
We could have done fine without all the tapas nonsense. Its just a regular menu size. Use it like one.
Yummy dishes. And I know Susurs dishes are delish but 35 $ for the pasta regular size — I duno about that. I guess at that point with all the confusion it didnt seem worth all the effort.
They were nice enough to dock that dish off our tab. So cudos to the manager for trying to manage a frustrating night. Waiter def needs a lot of work — maybe it was a bad night, or maybe he was misinformed himself with the tapas stuff.
Stop with the tapas, please, if I hear that word one more time… Dont pretend you’re something you are’nt.

I would have given this restaurant a much better review had it not been for our waiter. We were a group of 7; the waiter suggested we should order a chef selection, which would start at only $ 65 per person. We told him that we would prefer to order individually. The waiter said that he didn’t recommend that and that he could not promise that we would all get our entrees at once since the kitchen was more set up for a chef selection type meal. Now I have eaten at many restaurants all over the world and that story was a first. We persevered with ordering our meals separately.
One of our party was a little late arriving, so we ordered some appetizers for the table. The waiter kept telling us that we should order our main courses soon because they needed to «turn tables» and as such we only had 2 hours to eat before the next party would arrive. We told him that our late party was arriving any minute, but he still suggested that we order without him (even though all of our appetizers hadn’t arrived yet). We were told 3 times that we had to hurry so that they could accommodate the next table settings.
The meals came, one was about 5 minutes later than the others. A couple of our drinks never came or were incorrect. Other tables drinks were delivered to our table mistakenly. Once our meal was finished the waiter was pretty lethargic offering us desert or coffee.
I will say the food was excellent and the ambiance was great. We ended up leaving just after 9:00 pm and couldn’t help but notice a few empty tables and no one lining up to get at our table.
I am probably inclined to conclude that we just had a poor waiter, but it really left a bad taste (so to speak) with everyone in our group. The only good thing for the waiter was the automatic 18% gratuity levied on our bill because of our huge group of 7 (used to start at groups of 8’s) — he wouldn’t have fared out so well if the tip was at my discretion.

I’d come back here, but not for the food. Definitely not for the food (sorry, Susur :(). We came here hungry for a Tuesday night dinner and ordered, a) the sweet maple fried chicken ($ 28), the Susur burger ($ 20), ricotta toast ($ 10), and a bottle of spring water ($ 8). The chicken batter was really starchy and quite heavy, with the batter tasting actually quite dry (honestly, I’d take Popeyes over this). The ricotta toast could have been better and may potentially have been better if it was served warm. The burger was fine, but nothing to rave about. I’m sure we could have had an infinitely more delicious meal for a quarter of the price at many of the other options a couple steps away. I’m a huge fan of Susur Lee, and I’d stick with his other restaurants for food options, hands down.
However, in terms of environment, Fring’s is definitely a class act. It’s swanky, splashy, but still very charming, with plush couches and luxurious décor — it could definitely be an option for a drinks/​meetup spot after work or dinner. Despite the meal, I was still really glad we went. Service was actually quite pleasant, and while we were told that seating time for dinner is usually around 1.5 hours for the time of evening we were there, we weren’t rushed while we ate at all. Aside from the food, I was pretty pleased with everything else.
Time of day visited: Tuesday evening at 6:30 PM
Amount spent: with tax, tip, for two people, we paid $ 87.58. (Keep in mind that’s without drinks, and for the quality of the food… ouch).

Easily the WORST service in Toronto. I’m giving Fring’s two stars because the food is really good. The service and experience, however, are absolutely terrible.
This was my second time to Fring’s, my first visit was for an early dinner, my most recent visit was for a late dinner at 11:15PM on a Friday. My first visit was fine, service was meh, however the restaurant had only just opened so perhaps they were still working out some kinks… or so I thought.
I made my reservation online, and followed up by calling to confirm that we would be able to order dinner that late in the evening. The girl on the phone told me food is served all night, and when I asked what time they close, she said «very late, when the crowd dies down sometime after 1am». This sounded good to me so I confirmed the reservation. She let me know that since it was a busy Friday, and our reservation would be a booth in the trendy «lounge» section, she would need a credit card and that there would be a $ 55 minimum spend per person. This was okay with me, so I gave her the info. The day of, I received a courtesy call, and was again confirmed that we would be in a booth in the lounge.
Friday we arrived at 11:10 and were told our table wasn’t ready. We were five minutes early, so we understood (despite the fact that the lounge had several empty booths). Around 11:20 they walked us to a table in the dining room, where the crowd was wrapping up and emptying out. I said that we had specifically been told our reservation would be in the lounge, to which the staff very defensively insisted that would never happen, as booths cannot be reserved. Additionally, the kitchen would be closing at 11:30. I explained that when I booked the reservation we were told food is served all night long, to which again, I received a very defensive «there’s no way we told you that, the kitchen always closes at 11:30».
Why would I make that up? I was specifically looking for a dinner reservation. If I asked about food being served and they said they stop serving food at 11:30, I simply would have booked a different restaurant, it’s not like I’m trying to trick them into staying open late for my group.
After some back and forth, they allowed us to place food orders while we waited for a booth in the lounge to open up (again, there were several open booths, but we were told they were reserved… despite also being told no one can reserve booths).
We were seated around midnight, at which time, the lounge and restaurant had almost completely emptied out, with only one other group in the booth section. I asked as a courtesy, if they would waive our $ 55 minimum per person for all the trouble (knowing full well we would end up spending that much anyway), however the answer was no.
When we were seated, we ordered drinks — a couple bottles of wine, and for me, a gin and tonic. The wine arrived quickly, however roughly a half hour later, I flagged down a waitress to ask about the gin and tonic, (no one had checked up on us in quite some time). She said she would look into it. My gin and tonic arrived as we were finishing our food.
For all our trouble, the manager sent a round of lemon drop shots with the waitress when they brought us the bill. Nothing on the bill was comped, including the gin and tonic that I didn’t receive until the end of my meal, on top of which, there was an 18% auto-​gratuity added.

I gave it 3 stars because it’s not really my place. the music was all hip hop with a little drake *teehee* mixed in, not my thing. the food was good, but for the price not that good. Same with the drinks, they weren’t worth over $ 12. all in all was glad I checked it out, but won’t be back for the overpriced comfort food. I can get that elsewhere, like fast food restaurants…
the fried chicken was very tasty, the meatballs were delicious, so I’m not saying the food was BAD, just overpriced for what you get.

You used to call me on my cellphone — late at night when you need some food;
Call me on my cell phone — late at night when you need some food;
And I know when we go to Fring’s —
That can only mean one thing:
Crispy fried chicken, octopus, and lava cake!
So Drake and Susar = genius.
We had such a great time here!
They take reservations at Fring’s but you have to be quick, they fill up faaast.
The fried chicken with maple syrup sauce was amazing.
We drank the sauce. It was sweet, salty and out of this world amazing.
The octopus was tender and one of my favourite share plates.
The lava cake was ooozing with rich chocolate. Topped with hazelnut ice cream, it is one of the best lava cakes I have eaten in the city!
Started really hungry, now we’re herree. :)

Food: ⁸⁄₁₀
Atmosphere: 8.5÷10
Service: ⁸⁄₁₀
Overall experience: ⁸⁄₁₀
Fring’s fits into the King and Spadina scene seamlessly. It’s a dark and trendy restaurant, boasting fancy drinks and upscale décor. Luckily, the restaurant goes beyond its hype and celebrity owner status, with really good food and overall cool experience.
Was greeted by less than friendly hostesses (there are three crammed at the front desk). They didn’t crack a smile (too cool??) but hung my coat and seated me with no negative vibes.
The waiter explained it was a sharing menu, although if you aren’t one who needs an army-​sized portion, you could get away with ordering a main and splitting an app. My friend and I started with the ricotta toast (had pomegranates and plum jam), the kale caesar salad, the spicy beef tartare and the king prawns.
I get the sense that the toasts are really good, if the ricotta one was any indication. Bursting with flavour, the simple dish was a highlight for me. The salad was forgettable but fine. The beef tartare was great and the prawns were enjoyable.
Overall, the food is good but what helps with this kind of place is the atmosphere and the experience as a whole. They played great music (not just Drake, but even jammed to Pop It Like It’s Hot at one point, which is +10 in my books) and the whole scene just had a fun and cool vibe.
THE BOTTOM LINE: the food is good, but the overall experience you’ll have is really fun.

I was in Toronto for Halloween and a friend wanted to come here. We tried making reservations but they said it was booked but when we arrived with a group of five people, there were booths available and had gotten seated after a five minute wait. We ordered the following: kale caesar, crispy chicken sliders, wild mushroom and prosciutto, avocado spread, chicken piccata, grilled lamb chops, N.Y. strip loin, yukon potato rosti and grilled asparagus.
The toasts were pretty good but I recommend the avocado without the pistachios. The mushroom toast was tasty with the prosciutto as the textured was more like bacon. The kale caesar was fresh but the crispy chicken sliders were amazing! The chicken wasn’t over cooked and was tender. I’m glad we had gotten two orders! The lamb chops and strip loin came out perfect (cooked medium-​well, although I would’ve gotten them medium). We had to accommodate for the rest of the group. I wouldn’t recommend the potato rosti which is like a potato pancake with a sour cream-​like sauce on top. The grilled asparagus came out crisp and was a great side to lamb and strip.
I was a little disappointed in the menu options but hopefully they can add more interesting dishes to the menu. I wouldn’t mind coming back but would most likely do it with a group of people on some occasion.

Food 4* (service 2*, space 3*)
We went to Fring’s for a friend’s birthday, shortly after the restaurant opened. I do realize that they still need to work things out, hence 4 stars. Call it a leap of faith.
The space is really nice and cozy. That said, it would work much better as a bar/​lounge than a restaurant. It’s ridiculously dark and loud there. It’s like having dinner at a club. Just to give you an idea, here’s a snippet of our conversation:
Me: «What is this? This brown or… maybe green stuff on the chicken?»
Friend: «Yeah, I’m stuffed too»
And that’s how the entire night went. When I left the restaurant after 2.5 hours (I did mention that the service is 2*-sloooooow), I had a sore throat and partially lost my voice.
If you have to yell to communicate with your friends, and you’re not at a club, and if you are not able to see what’s on the plate in front of you, there’s something seriously wrong. Come on, Fring’s, get it together, pronto.
The service is a disaster. At that price point, it should be impeccable. Yes, they have a lot of staff but they mostly just stand or walk around, not coming up to the tables. It took forever to get our drinks, food and the bill. I could tell that they are aiming to provide a «fancy» service but it looked ridiculous. At times, there were two servers at our table, bringing out dishes and clearing our plates or glasses, resulting in complete chaos. Thank universe, they managed not to spill our $ 18 cocktails. You would think that Fring’s would hire experienced servers. But nope, it’s a disaster.
(Now that I’m typing it all, I’m almost convinced that I should give Fring’s 3 stars, instead of 4)
Now on to the good stuff. The food is really good. Overpriced, but tasty.
They have this thing that they bring dishes as soon as they are ready and encourage people to share the food. It probably just means that their kitchen doesn’t have it together though, but anyway… At one point we had a couple of appetizers, an entrée and a side dish ordered for another entrée at the table. I actually can’t imagine not sharing at this restaurant. Everyone would get their plate at a different time (and we’re not talking within minutes, we’re talking a span of 2 hours).
Since there were 5 of us, we managed to try almost every dish on the menu. I think we only skipped the pasta dish and lamb. We liked all of them, the only thing that we all complained about was frites, which were very salty. It funny how a fancy restaurant can get every dish right but destroys fries…
Highlights:
Appetizers — avocado spread and wild mushroom and prosciutto toasts
Entrees — chicken piccata and pan seared branzino
We will come back if they decide to let people see what’s on their plates (this place begs for additional light, especially in the booths; the bar area seemed sufficiently lit) and turn down the music.

3.5*
I came here with 3 other friends on a Thursday night and I particularly was hyped up for it, because of Drake and it was also my first time dinning at one of Susur’s restaurants. It was basically like a double win, Drake and Susur.
Upon entering the restaurant, the first thing I noticed was how dark it was. I almost tripped, because I couldn’t see (totally could just be me). We quickly got seated in the booth area beside the bar. After being seated I noticed the music — I love Drake and The Weekend, but it was a tad too loud for a restaurant. It some times felt like I was yelling over the table. And as for the décor, I like the exposed brick, the comfy tufted booths and the overall trendy vibe.
Service, this is where I had to take a star off. The good we got water as soon as we sat. The bad we had 3 waiters come to greet us, which was really confusing, because I wasn’t sure which server was the one I had to «flag» down. My friend and I wanted to order an app as we waited for our friends, but that never happened, because our friends eventually came before I could get the attention of our waiter. Normally, I wouldn’t be as harsh, but our waiter was at the table beside us the whole time. I jokingly consider raising and waving my hand.
The food. I shared 2 apps, the steak tartare and the wild mushroom and prosciutto toast. I really enjoyed the steak tartate, although it seemed like a cross between the raw steak tartare and the tartare aller-​retour — only because it looked cooked vs raw, which is why I think it looked like pâté and like the other reviews the ratio of bread to pâté was off. The toast was okay, but for someone who doesn’t like mushrooms I really liked them; you could taste the earthiness of the mushrooms.
I also ordered the Tom Skudra. On paper it sounded delicious, but when I took my first sip, all I could taste was rum — it was overwhelming. The plus side, I guess you get your money’s worth of alcohol. I didn’t touch it after a sip, which was sad, because it costed $ 18. This is where I took off half a star.
As for the entrée, I order the fried chicken. It comes with 3 pieces of chicken — decently sized, with a raisin slaw, few leafy greens (dressing too sour) and a spicy maple glaze. The chicken, I had a drum and a breast. I drum was very moist and the crust was a tad burnt, but I personally like a crunchier crust. The breast was 5 seconds overcooked, but still better than most places and the crust was also very nice. I think the winning part of this dish is glaze. I like the sweet, spicy and salty balance it gave to the dish.
Overall, I did enjoy my experience. I did have a higher expectation, but it only opened 3 days before I went, so it’s forgiveable. As for the our waiter, I did appreciate that he recommended us to share our entrée instead of getting two. I left perfectly full and satisfied — apart from the Tom Skudra that was chillin’ on the table still filled to the brim.

3.5 stars rounded up just for Drake/​Susur
I was super excited for this restaurant to open up because well… Drake and Susur were involved. I made reservations on Tuesday and was able to get a table for 4 at 6:45 pm.
When I arrived at the restaurant, it was quite busy already. Once we were seated, the first thing my friend and I noticed was that it was extremely dark. I love a good ambiance but if I have to consider bringing a flashlight to read the menu, I think that’s a bit too dark.
The waiter was very quick to pour us some water and took my friend’s drink order. We were all starving and we knew exactly what we were getting so we mentioned to him that we were ready to order food. He told us that he’ll be right back but it felt like an eternity before he came back.
When the waiter finally came back, he stressed to us that it was a «sharing menu» which means that the dishes are not going to come out all at once. My friends and I joked that maybe the kitchen has not worked out all the kinks yet so they’re not able to make everything at once (but I feel like there’s some truth to it, I guess I’ll find out if I come back in a couple of months and they still call it a «sharing menu»).
We started with the steak tartare ($ 20) and I thought it was very tasty. It tasted more like pâté than steak tartare. For the amount of tartare they gave us, I thought that there wasn’t enough bread.
Next, was the wild mushroom and prosciutto toast ($ 10). Again, it tasted fine but you really cannot screw up toast especially with those ingredients. I would skip this dish and any of the toast dishes if I come back.
Our last appetizer was the organic salmon crudo ($ 18). I think that this dish was the most unique out of the three appetizers. After we finished the dish, I tasted some of the soy sauce and it’s definitely an elevated and more sophisticated soy sauce. Its description from the menu is «soy yuzu vinaigrette.» I also thought that the thinly sliced jalapeño added a nice subtle kick to the salmon.
I got the southern spicy maple fried chicken ($ 26) for my main dish. The chicken was perfectly fried and the inside was moist. The highlight of the dish was most definitely the side sauce of spicy maple syrup glaze. Personally, I would’ve liked it a bit spicier because the sweetness of the maple syrup really toned down the spiciness. The chicken came on a bed of coleslaw. I think there were raisins and some sort of nuts in the slaw. It was a bit on the sour side but I kinda enjoyed it.
My friend ordered the pan seared whole branzino ($ 32). I tried a piece of it with the squash purée. I really like the almonds with the squash purée. The fish itself was very moist and done well. However, my friend said that there were a lot of scales on the fish still. This is quite unacceptable especially at the price that it is at.
Lastly, I have to mention their cocktails. Starting at $ 16, I expect perfection. My two friends both got the Tom Skudra ($ 18) which took forever to come. I knew it would be very strong but I expected it to taste good. I had two sips and it tasted like cough syrup. None of the fresh lychee cactus pear juice came through.
Before we got the bill, we had to wait (again) for our waiter so that we can check out the dessert menu. There weren’t anything we wanted so we just asked for the bill. Good thing they listed the prices on their website so I was able to do my calculations and leave because I was not about to wait for the waiter again.
Since I didn’t order the drink and the fish, I thought everything I ordered was done very well. They just opened up so I think they really need to work on their service and consider brightening up their restaurant a bit. I swear I spent more than 30 minutes waiting/​looking for the waiter AND the waiter didn’t take the initiative to bring us the dessert menu even though it was clear we were done our meal. However, I want to end this review on a positive note and say that their music choice was on point (they obviously played a lot of Drake and threw in some Weeknd).