Susur

My overall rating

First, a short background to put this in perspective. My husband and I don't really have "hobbies" together -- what we do is eat out. Then, we like to talk about our experiences eating out. Then, we like to get excited together talking about where...   +

First, a short background to put this in perspective. My husband and I don't really have "hobbies" together -- what we do is eat out. Then, we like to talk about our experiences eating out. Then, we like to get excited together talking about where we might eat out next. It's amazing we're not morbidly obese! We've even started writing little reviews for ourselves in Word (not always agreeing, but that's the fun part of he said/she said, right?). We've been everywhere that's anywhere in this city, and for the past 2 years or so, we've been pretty good about keeping up on all the "high end" eateries out there. We joke that we should somehow find a way to get paid for eating out (especially at the fancier places), because we do it so often it would really help with the budget! :) That being said, I have to agree with misschickie. Susur was a disappointment. Our appraisal of an eating establishment is based on the entire experience, and Susur fell short in various areas. We got the full out tasting menu, but the server seemed completely confused when we asked for wine pairings (a standard request for tasting menus). After futilely trying to explain what we meant by wine pairings, we finally asked that the server just bring us 2 half bottles of wine, one white and one red, and we'll take it from there. Needless to say, at that price tag, you don't want to have to do a DIY pairing! But, we were at Susur, so we persevered, waiting for the food we've heard so much about. Well, in the end, he brought us the same bottle twice. He switched the bottle while we weren't paying attention, so by the time we noticed it was too late. Again, for that price tag, he should have done something to make up for it when we (politely) pointed it out, but nada. Then, there is the food. While certainly good, it wasn't mind blowing. There are a couple chefs that come to mind in the city that consistently blow my mind, so I know it's possible. The food was too much daikon for my taste, and the "originality" that I had expected just wasn't there. Essentially, it seemed like Susur might have been resting on his laurels a bit too much. I can go into the review at greater length (see above comment about personal reviews in Word), but I'm sure I'm running out of space and have already made my point. Plus, I'm well aware that not everyone might care as much about this stuff as I do. :) We've also been to Lee, and it is better (good atmosphere too), but in my opinion there are still better, more affordable places than Lee in Toronto for that type of menu as well. Normally I agree with Toronto Life about these things, but I think that ChickAdvisor is great because there are other opinions out there! :) We are completely in love with other restaurants running the spectrum of price ranges that I would highly recommend, so it's not as if we're invariably fussy. We just believe in value, and unfortunately it just wasn't there at Susur.    -