Spice Route Asian Bistro + Bar

This is just a rating for ambiance and drinks as I did not have the FOOD
First Impression: Ugggh. its a Club…
Second Impression: O good new cover
Third Impression: Shiny Lights, Uni Sex bathrooms
Forth Impression: Still a club with the Shiny People and not my ideal place, but not terrible for what it is.

I have been here more than 4 times and I can’t get enough of the Lychee Martinis!
I never go for food here so I have nothing to say about it.
I also have to say something about the washrooms. They’re great with that light coming from outside, and the wall of glass that makes you feel that someone could see you. No gender tags.
When I discovered that part of the movie «Chloe» was filmed here I got more excited about this place. Haha

My Boyfriend and I came here on a Saturday, we were in town for our Date Night. Great atmosphere, you do not feel like you are in Toronto at all. We ordered drinks, an appetizer and two mains. Since the app took awhile to come in, we mentioned it to our server. He said he would comp it which was very nice. We didn’t look too happy overall so the Manager came over and he served us personally and apologized. Then at the end they brought us dessert (coconut cheesecake, mmmm) and when it was time to pay we just paid for the drinks. They made us feel very special, and when we voiced our concerns they were definitely heard. I think this place is great — I see some complaints on Unilocal but I am questioning — did you folks be honest and let them know? We did and not only got top service, excellent food but our date night was paid for and overall they went beyond our expectations. They definitely care about their customers and I will go back. Thanks gentlemen — you made our night great (young couple by the bar, girl in pink blouse and guy in cream sweater)! :) Merry Christmas!

This restaurant failed to impress anyone in our 13 person party.
First, we called two weeks in advance for a reservation for 13 and when we arrived they had to table set for 10 and told us it was our fault. They then proceeded to tell us the biggest table they had was for 10 and we were SOL unless we wanted to squeeze together (which we ended up doing). The manager was less than accommodating and the only offer he had for us was to split up and some of our party sit at another table. We traveled in from New York for a birthday celebration and felt very unwelcome.
Our service was SLOW beyond all belief and our servers lack of knowledge did not help the cause. 13 people trying to order and ask questions was pretty painful. When it came to paying the bill she handed the machine over to one of our guests and had him perform all the transactions with her not helping at all.
All in all we can all say we wish we spent our money elsewhere and do not recommend this restaurant to ANYONE. Especially if you are visiting from another country/​city and are expecting a phenomenal meal with even better service.

Though the selection is very very slim (and I assume on rotation) spice route has offered some of the best maki sushi I have ever had. And I know sushi. The remaining fusion cuisine items are relatively common place, though. The restaurant setup is also strangely open concept, maybe because it sometimes doubles as a club after hours, but it can make for an odd dining experience.

My boyfriend and I usually come on Thursdays for their $ 1 sushi. The sushi is always extremely fresh and is just as filling as an AYCE restaurant. So you definitely get your money’s worth! The atmosphere is amazing and it’s a beautiful restaurant too. The manager also always remembers us every time we come in. By far, my favourite sushi restaurant in Toronto.

We were trying to find some dinner on a Thursday night last week and finally settled on Spice Route.
The service and atmosphere at Spice Route are excellent. Staff are friendly and always very attentive to your needs like making sure your glass is always filled with sake. ;-)
It was the $ 2 nigiri sushi & maki roll special that night and we were more than happy to hear. The sushi is better than your run-​of-​the-​mill sushi shops and also they seemed like larger portions too. I really liked that they lightly blow-​torched the red and white tuna nigiri so that the fat just ever so slightly melts and makes for a tastier experience. We ordered a plethora of nigiri sushi and maki rolls to fill our tummies.
Settled on a bottle of sake between the two of us and I think that is the best value for money on the drinks menu. They only serve their sake chilled btw.
Overall, a very pleasurable experience. :-)

This restaurant has a great potential but sadly the food is average.
We went there with my boyfriend last summer, we ordered the surf + turf and the vegetarian pad Thai.
The surf + turf had no taste and the bun for the mini burgers tasted like bread that sat outside for too long.
The pad Thai wasn’t exceptional either and barely had taste.
The terrace is really nice, same for the inside of the restaurant and the staff is friendly.
But I won’t be back because in my opinion, the food was not worth the price I paid for.

Spice Route came highly recommended to me, so my family went here for my birthday. Ultimately, I wasn’t impressed. The ambiance was nice, staff seemed a little rushed, food was fine — but no wow factor.
The kimchi fried rice was not good. Their sushi was okay. The lemon chicken was the best dish we had, and that was actually pretty good.
Overall, I don’t get what the hype is about. The food is good, but not worth the price.

This place gets points for the amazing environment especially at night. I went here on a Saturday night with friends to chill. The music is good and there is plenty of comfortable seating area for large groups. The patio is also very nice. I didn’t eat there so I can’t comment on the food but service at the bar was very very slow… it took me about 20 minutes to order a drink and the restaurant was not very busy (relatively).
Tip: great place to go if you are looking for a lounge.

The location is great. It’s always busy apparently. The patio is very stylish and their décor is quite captivating. Have you seen the bathrooms? Holy! You think everyone can see you through the glass windows, but apparently they can’t! I tested it out, but it still makes me feel very uncomfortable to see people pass by in the garden when I’m inside.
Unfortunately, when I tried the Spicy Indian curried tiger prawns claypot, it was not what I expected. The dish was too watery. It looked more like a soup than seafood. I’m not sure about the other menu option, but I’m guessing the chef should investigate more into what’s being served to customers. The service is good. Our refills kept coming faster than most places and they deserved the tip we gave them.

This place is sharing-​style so it’s a good place to come with groups. However, most of the items we ordered were lacking in flavour, which was disappointing based on their descriptions on the menu and their prices. The vegetable pakoras didn’t really taste of anything (how can you make anything Indian that isn’t packed with flavour?) and the dipping sauce that came with them didn’t add much either. The wasabi-​wrapped shrimp was $ 14 for 4 pieces of shrimp, and I couldn’t taste the wasabi at all. Surprisingly, the star of the evening was the plate of garlic bok choy, which actually did taste pleasantly of garlic.
The interior is very large, which is nice – you’re not right on top of the table next to you, and they have a number of booths that look like they could seat 10+ people comfortably. The ambiance is nice as well. If you’re looking for a place to take a large group for drinks it might be a good option, but don’t expect too much of the food.

I have mixed feelings about this place. I came here after dinner with some friends for drinks. The place is so busy so we sat at the bar. The ambiance is lovely. It’s very posh and chic. Even the washrooms are nice with private windows to the garden. The drinks were moderately priced and some were better than the other. The lychee drink and sangria were both delicious. The cosmo was way too strong and had to be watered down (literally). Not a fan at all of their cosmo. Their wedding cake shots are delicious. I didn’t check out their food menu since we went there straight from dinner but I heard mixed reviews. Overall, I’d come here for the ambiance alone.

Celebrating our work after party, Spice Route is one of the most sought after social bars along King Street W. The Asian inspired décor, and overall ambience is quite lovely. With the main bar in the center of it all, the lay out of the place is well played. After our work spring mingle, this was our go-​to place for food and drinks. The service was exceptional, however as the evening went on, it became extremely busy.
For drinks I kept it light with just Gin and tonic, however their food was quite innovative.
With various appetizers; we had their sushi, edamame, asian inspired fajitas (made out of lettuce).

The place has super cool ambiance. That is the main reason people go there.
Their washrooms are very interesting, as other people have mentioned they are pretty dark, but they do have a glass wall (looking to a closed garden).
The prices are pretty steep making it very very classy.
Food: Food comes in small portions, but with lots of artistic thought but behind it.
Cost: 2 beers, 2 wines, 2 appetizers and a desert: 70 $.
I would recommend this place if you want to grab a drink after work. (Fancy cocktails rather than beer).

Came here with to celebrate a friends bachelor’s party for dinner. Never came here before and I was looking forward to trying the the good food. Well… what I thought it was good food… wasn’t really good at all…
This place had alot of mixture of Asian food. There is choices to Japanese, Thai, Chinese and I think Korean? (not too sure about Korean dishes) So when everyone ordered dishes to share, we had got the sweet and sour pork (or chicken), pad thai noodles and a crispy white chicken with a sweet sauce (don’t remember what that was called)
After trying a bit of everything, this place is big let down. The interior of the restaurant really gives the place a nice vibe. The interior resembles a loungy young professional atmosphere. It’s pretty dark inside as well which I personally don’t really like because you can’t see where your stepping sometimes and the tables are pretty close together and I can see people getting angry with you and if your not watching out for their personal space… That being said the interior tricks you thinking that this place is really good. Maybe this place is good for having drinks more? But definitely it’s not a good place for food.
I find that the sweet and sour pork/​chicken and pad thai there is no difference than if I had just gone to eat at Man Chu Wok or Thai Express at the Eaton Centre… It’s the same thing. and the price for the food will cost you an arm and a leg for the same taste and dissatisfying expectations. I personally wouldn’t come back here for the food, I may come here for drinks with friends or for work but will not spend any extra money on their food. For Christ sakes, I would go to the friggin, hot dog stand and get a hot dog instead of paying for overpriced food that taste exactly like food court.
Food sucks, good place for drinks maybe. Overpriced restaurant not worth my hard earn money.

We came to celebrate Valentine’s Day with our friends.
The place is very nicely decorated, modern and sleek. It was a little dark and too noisy for me. The service was great. Victoria, our server, was extremely helpful.
The food was delicious, I especially liked green dragon roll — one of the best I tried.
We had tried lobster plate, which was pretty good, vegetable tempura, shrimps as appetizers.
Hot stone appetizer is pretty cool — you cool thinly sliced beef on a hot stone. However this wouldn’t be my first choice, I cook too much at home so when I go to the restaurant I prefer to be served
But guess what — guys liked it!
The restrooms are weird, some people had trouble figuring out how to get in and lock the door. But I understand they are part of the experience
There was staff helping people to get in to cut learning curve
All-​in-​all it was a great experience and if music wasn’t so loud it would be almost perfect

Review is for Winterlicious only.
Came here for the $ 25 Winterlicious dinner: Picked this place mainly because the ambience and outdoor décor seemed quite cool when my friends and I had walked by the other day. And the interior did not disappoint, great place for drinks and seems like a good place in the summer on their patio.
Food was quite disappointing though. Idk if it’s just cause it’s Winterlicious or what.
APPETIZER — i got the spicy salmon maki. There were 4 pieces. Just your regular roll, nothing outstanding. Thought there’d be more to the dish though.
MAIN — tbh, nothing reallly appealed to me from the selection. Maybe it’s cause i’m Chinese and the mains were just regular Chinese food. I ended up getting the Miso cod noodles. I expected more to the dish as well. It honestly just tasted like something I could cook up easily at home. Like tilapia and udon stirfry. Not really restaurant quality.
DESSERT –i got the pot de crème which essentially is 3 mini desserts: chocolate mousse, crème brûlée with a lemongrass flavour, and a star anise tinted flan. I thought this was unique and I quite enjoyed it.
Overall, I wasn’t that impressed with the food, and didn’t see any other dishes at other tables that would interest me in coming back. They also dont split bills… Boo. MAYBE I’d come back for drinks due to the nice environment. But MAYBE.

This review is for the late night bar, not for the food or restaurant part.
Service at the bar was non existent, the place wasn’t even that full but the bartenders didn’t even look up for requests. The place was half empty with a very large room full of empty tables (so it was nice that we could sit any where) but there were absolutely no servers. The drinks were actually pretty good, but it was just a bit of a weird feel, like i was hanging out in somebody’s loft. We could have just walked in and sat at a table for hours and not even ordered anything and nobody would have even noticed (we sat at the bar for 10 min before we were able to force somebody to take or drink order). So if you’re looking for a place just to chill with friends and be able to talk but have to work hard to order a drink, this place isn’t so bad. They have some nice fruity drinks.

Do not be fooled by the exquisite interior décor! Was excited to tryout the food, but was extremely disappointed! First off, service was terrible! The server forgot about our appetizer and we had to ask him about it three times, and it eventually came out after we finished our main course. And I had to ask for my drink twice, and I asked for hot sauce, and he never brought me some. When we asked about items on the menu, he wasn’t sure about them either…
Had the pad Thai and it was so salty and noodles weren’t cooked. Also, tried the fried rice and that was even saltier… Had the crispy duck and my friends seemed to like it. The green beans that came with it were drenched in soy sauce. Whatever you do, do not get the dim sum appetizer! The dumplings/​shumai were not cooked at all… Can I just say me steaming frozen dumplings would’ve tasted better. We complained about them too and they didn’t offer to cook them some more or anything… Won’t be going back…