Coco Lezzone Grill & Porto Bar
7 February 2005, late evening
My second outing for Winterlicious was with Steph and Serena. We went to Coco Lezzone, an Itallian restaurant in Little Italy. I’m a fan of the area around College and Bathurst, it has plenty of cool little bars, bistros and restaurants.
I arrived a bit after Steph and Serena, who had both already ordered drinks. My original plan was to not get anything to drink, as it ruins the deal you’re getting on the meal. However, I couldn’t resist, and ordered a white wine with my meal. We were given bread, humus, olive oil and balsamic vinegar to munch on while deciding what to eat. I love bread.
I started with a butternut squash soup; this one was better then the one I got at Monsoon earlier in the week. The girls got goat cheese on greens, which just didn’t sound interesting enough to get. My main was pan seared arctic char. I thought it was a bit too cold; it tasted like it had been made well before I ordered it. It was nice enough dish, just nothing exceptional. The same can be said of the desert, which was a slice of chocolate cake. It was nice, but you could probably get a similar cake at Loblaws. Compared to the cake at Monsoon or Bloom it was rather boring. All the food was good, just not really good.
Coco Lezzone is a nice looking place, but again falls in this arean short when compared to some of the other restaurants in the area. Butt’r, which is down the road, has a much cooler interior. I thought the place was nice, but just somewhat lacking. The restaurant is quite huge, and dimly lit, so I would imagine it’d be a nice place to go get drinks. I don’t think I would go eat there again.
I feel that way about every resto-bar I’ve been to in Little Italy.
by rishi on February 8 2005, 12:42 pm #
Nice places to get drinks, not nice places to eat? This was actually the first time I’ve ate in the area I have been told Brasserie Aix serves nice food, but again, I’ve only had drinks there. I think I’ve enjoyed getting drinks at every place I’ve been in the area, since drinks are about the same everywhere you go, and the interiors are usually quite snazzy at the bars in Little Italy.
by ramanan on February 8 2005, 1:02 pm #
I’ve eaten at Brasserie Aix. The food was mediocre, and the lamb made me sick. Even the food at Kalendar is pretty lame, and it’s solely a restaurant. Despite having lackluster food offerings, I do think Little Italy is one of the best areas for bar-hopping or summertime patio action.
by rishi on February 8 2005, 3:22 pm #