The Red Martini

Great food, makes up for the service!

I was definitely seeing a lot of red at the Red Martini! I usually have a 3 strikes and you’re out policy… If this were a baseball game, the Red Martini’s winning streak would be in the negatives!
It was my high school English teacher’s birthday and because she lives I’m the Durham Region we usually dine somewhere in Pickering or Ajax. It gets me out of Toronto once in awhile. So I had made reservations for 7pm. When we arrived there were 2 occupied tables in the downstairs bar lounge. We stood there for 5 minutes with no sign of any hostess or staff. After what seemed like an eternal wait, the waitress appeared and she told us we could choose a table either upstairs or downstairs. We opted for the upper level.
The Red Martini is a house-​converted restaurant, similar to 22 Church Street Bistro across the street. A co-​worker told me that the 2 restaurant are owned by the same owner, however this is unconfirmed. However I did spot a lot of similarities.
Once we chose our table, again we were left unattended and ignored for awhile. We quickly realized that the waitress who «greeted» us downstairs was the only staff in the front end for the entire restaurant. Strike 1 — understaffed.
My high school English teacher loves her white wine and she usually orders the house white. Strike 2 — they were out of their house white. This is a clear indication of poor restaurant management. So we had no other choice than to order the next available white wine which was twice the cost.
We waited for our appetizer — no bread basket appeared — Strike 3 and you’re out!
We ordered and shared the Stuffed Portobello Mushroom Salad to start. This could’ve easily been THE best tasting salad I’ve ever had in my life. However, the minor neglect in detail made it second best. The salad was a deconstructed-​style salad. The grilled portobello mushrooms were delicious. The «stuffing» was made from imitation crab meat and eggs… So essentially it tasted like an egg salad. It was also served with COLD naan bread… It would’ve been the perfect salad if they grilled the naan. We had requested that the appetizer come first and then our mains… However the server showed up 2 minutes into us digging into our salads, so we had to send her back to the kitchen and requested the food be kept warm.
My Coconut Tilapia was served with a spicy plum sauce, Bok Choy, red and yellow bell peppers and jasmine rice. When I first bit into the tilapia I was excited that the fish skin was so crisp… But I quickly realized that the crisp was not due to skillful culinary execution, but rather to a burnt fish… Parts of it were so burnt I started tasting charcoal! Also, the «coconut» component of the dish was M.I.A. This dish had so much potential. *sigh*
I didn’t try my teacher’s Veggie Stir-​Fry with Chicken but the feedback I got from her wad that the vegetables were cooked to a mush, and that the chicken was dry. In their defense, the mush factor may have been a result of the dish being kept on a warming plate.
To finish we ordered a cappuccino, tea and marbled cheesecake. The server came back up to inform me that they don’t offer cappuccino… How do you not know that? Its like she was a temp hired to tide over a quiet Sunday restaurant service. So I settled for a coffee.
The cheesecake was average, nothing spectacular.
At the end of the day, the bill came to $ 105. I will say that the portion sizes are generous and the food does have potential… However, the service aspect is going to need a complete facelift. I had such high hopes for you Red Martini… I thought you’d be sizzling… But unfortunately the only thing that was red and sizzling about my experience at the Red Martini was my dress and the afterburn in my mouth from the spicy plum sauce!