Rush Hour

Great food, priced well with exceptional service. A true neighborhood gem. Fresh fish and seafood, quality meat and farm to table vegetables. Amazing outdoor patio in the good weather. Warm indoor atmosphere rest of the time. Really good quality and good fun.

This is a Portuguese restaurant, although it came in under the Italian banner when I did the search.
It has its own parking and is spacious inside, so conversation is easy.
The service is excellent, as with all good restaurants, the owner is on the premises.
The menu is full and interesting.
We had tasty shrimp, (forget the mango salad), and certainly spicy chorizo salad, (good, but a bad choice on our part).
The seafood risotto was honest, having plenty of muscles, shrimp, scallops, salmon, etc, but in our view somewhat bland.
The Australian lamb was ample and cooked exactly how we asked.
The desert list is standard but we didn’t try anything.
Including two bottles of excellent Aberino, the bill came in less than $ 100 per person including everything.
They bring a plate of fish to the table and you can have any one that you select cooked in the manner you choose. Maybe this is the thing to do in this restaurant.

Great service, great food, great place! Highly recommend! Even more great for a date night! Love the atmosphere in the restaurant

The Seafood Penne in Alfredo Sauce seemed to be lacking the strong cheesy flavour that I loved before. The Picanha Steak came slightly over cooked instead of medium. The complimentary bread selection and chickpea hummus were good. The Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake and Pineapple Sorbet (served in half pineapple) were fantastic and refreshing, definitely the highlight of this meal.

My husband and I have come here a handful of times. Everytime we are greeted by the owner and he is just delightful. The food is all made from scratch and the 2 dishes I have tried here really good.
I would recommend this restaurant, it’s cozy and the price is great for the quality of food.

We had an amazing experience at Rush Hour this evening. I brought my boyrfriend for his birthday dinner. From the start we were impressed with the décor, the ambiance, and the friendliness of the staff.
Fernando served us most of the night and was an exquisite host. We went with the specials, the lamb shank and the veal. Both were perfectly cooked. He even brought me another smaller lamb shank since I devoured the entrée so quickly, all free of charge; we definitely felt welcome and well taken care of.
We finished with the chocolate brownie cheesecake and the apple beignets which were exquisite.
We left extremely pleased and will definitely be returning. The food and service was great at this price level especially.

Incredible service and super yummy food. Great atmosphere. Just an overall awesome dining experience. Will be coming back again!

Just a fantastic spot in the least likely of places. Staff was very professional. Little touches and attention to detail in the service. Fantastic bread and hummus on the house plus the best fish I’ve had in the city. Nothing over done. Just let the ingredients speak for themselves. Fried apple dessert was amazing (I’m not even a big fan of dessert).

This place is NEVER open, stroke of luck that it was tonight.
Portions are fairly large.
Mussels to start in a white wine sauce. Everything was properly prepared but we didn’t care for it.
Gnocchi was good. Prepare to bowl over in pleasure from the smell of the dish (doesn’t taste as good as it smells, sadly) but still pretty good. Chicken was super juicy and tender. :)
T bone steak… Disappointing, ordered medium rare and it came out rare. FULL of bone. Tasteless. Inedible. Potatoes on the side were your run boiled potatoes.
Service was fairly good — waiter and the owner (I assume) checked on us fairly frequently.
Ambiance is lovely. It’s a beautiful restaurant!
Buuuuuut between the hours and the food, won’t be back.

Food is simple and very well executed. Service is exceptional and the price is quite reasonable. Nice décor, lovely patio for summer evening dinning. Great wine selection. Will happily come back.

Rush hour is a nice little gem in the neighborhood. My party and I all got different mains and they were all fantastic! The owner here is super friendly and attentive. The rest of the staff also offered great service. I highly recommend this place if you want to impress your date. I will be coming here often.

Went to this little, cozy, restaurant with the wife. Quiet, intimate and romantic resto with attentive owner and unpretentious and capable staff. We had crab croquettes, a Caesar salad, I had the salmon (delicious! Crispy on the outside and perfectly flaky on the inside). Desserts: tiramisu for me and my wife had chocolate brownie with ice cream. A very fine and gorgeously tasty meal.

Nice little spot in the middle of uptown Toronto. Atmosphere is nice and comfortable.
Food was disappointing. I had the «Penne a la vodka» which left me dissatisfied. Bacon was overcooked while the pasta was undercooked. Flavours were bland as well.
Cheesecake is amazing!
Service started off great. We needed a quick accommodation and it was done quickly. About half way through the evening, our waiter seemed to forget about us completely. From that point on, it was a frustrating experience.
Based on reviews, we expected better. Maybe next time.

I was very impressed with the restaurant. It’s not the biggest place but quiet and romantic. The restaurant does take reservations, and it seemed like they were booked the entire night when we got there with reserved signs on the tables.
Service was very attentive and made sure you were well taken care of. It is quite possible this was family-​owned, although I’m not sure (which can make quite a difference).
They gave us a basket of bread with hummus — who doesn’t love bread?!
Ordered the grilled calamari — Delicious!!! Tender and well-​seasoned.
Main — Chicken Parm was HUGE. I could only eat half of it. It was so tender and juicy. Came with a side of veges. Also got the special Steak kabob ft. filet mignon, chorizo sausage and steak. That was also quite filling and delicious.
Price was very reasonable, especially with the portion size. We were quite full and couldn’t even finish it all, so make sure you’re hungry!
Drinks were around $ 5. Pretty cheap as we ordered a fuzzy navel and mill st. beer.
Didn’t order dessert but they had a good variety: apple beignet, cheesecake, sorbet, etc.
Our bill came up to $ 80 for everything. Not bad at all! Would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone with taste.

I have this buddy, and when we decide to go have dinner together, we often just hem and haw and aimlessly paw through our Unilocal apps. You know, before deciding to go to one of the same two or three places.
Well not tonight! Tonight we hit Rush Hour and it was tasty. Oh the pastabilities! My gnocci was a huge bowl of creamy goodness, and my buddy got the chicken parm, sub in a pasta side. It looked awesome. He doesn’t really like cheese, so he left his mozza topping (fool), but if you are a cheese lover, this is definitely the dish for you.
Lovely street-​side patio, cute bright interior covered in wine bottles and really kind servers.

I loved the place. The service was awesome and kind.
Although they didn’t have the Albarinho wine I wanted, they made a good suggestion of a vinho verde.
The food was perfectly cooked and in big portions.
I would suggest to make reservation because gets busy for dinner.
Can’t wait to go back for oysters and wine at the patio.

Probably my favourite place in the city for a great full meal. From the occasional welcome glass of port or the fresh bread while you food is being prepared the Rush Hour is a clinic on how a restaurant should be run.
In summer there is a patio off to the side that is great to spend the afternoon on with a book and beer.
When I used to live on Lansdowne it was definitely a twice a month visit and now out in Oakville I am sad that my visits are less frequent.
They are closed Monday and usually require a reservation Friday /​Saturday but I guarantee it is well worth the visit.

I’ve come here a couple of times with big groups (one of my friends loves this place so he always invites us here when he wants to celebrate something) and have always had amazing service. The food is great: huge portions and good quality ingredients, and though there’s nothing on the menu that’s particularly unique, it’s all executed well. On my most recent visit, I had the mango salad, which is easily big enough for a meal and is served in a tortilla bowl for extra fillingness. Definitely recommended.

This hidden gem is a small intimate fine dining Portuguese restaurant with excellent value and food so tasty you’ll be licking your plate.
We came with a large group, and on a quiet Sunday night, we were one of the few in there, with some one or two other couples. The entire place seems to only fit a handful of diners, so make sure to make a reservation!
If you’re a light eater, I would recommend sharing a plate with your DPs. The portion sizes are large, and be prepared to stuff yourself.
We shared a plate of Mussels ($ 10) and the Pichana Steak (Brazillian seared steak, served with salad, black beans, fried seasoning, and rice). With 2 glasses of wine it was $ 45 including taxes.
Taking advice from other reviews, I knew that there would be 2 steaks. It was so flavourful, and I liked that it was thin. It was perfect to share and still have room for dessert.
Other friends ordered the Risotto. It was a really great portion and very filling. Possibly can share this too.
There was also a steak and risotto plate which I was surprised one of my guy friends couldn’t finish!
We also brought our own bday desserts, and they nicely plated them without a fee! Very rare.
They were also very friendly, although slow to collect our empty plates (altho we weren’t in a rush), and made separate bills upon request.
This is definiately somewehre where we’d come again, for a date or bring our parents. Something more unique than typical ‘canadian’ food, with excellent value. At least, that’s what’s important to me.
I was told that I should rate this badly, so that this place doesn’t get too popular, but can’t help it, I have to share!

The service was fantastic. Our server (possibly the owner?) had the patio table set up for us as we were getting out of the car. We were sat under a huge umbrella, which shielded us nicely in the rain that came afterwards (is there anything more romantic than dining in the rain? IS THERE?)
We began dinner with a complimentary glass of port. Very tasty. I was a bit disappointed by the booze menu. Only Steam Whistle and Flying Monkeys (errggh no thanks) on tap, and only French Cross by the glass. This is the wine I usually buy for cooking, not drinking.
The food was delicious and the portions were huge. The calimari appetizer was fantastic and perfectly cooked. For my main I had the grilled whole seabream, which was the daily special. It was a touch overcooked, but otherwise very good. I had no hope in hell of finishing off my plate. The Hubster had a caesar salad and the chicken parmiagiana, which he really enjoyed.
What really stuck out at this place was the service. You could tell that everyone there really cares about what they’re doing.
The only thing that bugged me a bit was that the patio is pretty loud, as it’s right on Dufferin street.
This spot is pretty close to our house. I’d likely bring the in-​laws here if they were ever looking for a fancy spot to dine.