La Carinta :: Birthday Dinner with Fontaine & Carson

I have been wanting to try La Carinta for quite sometime and finally had a chance to go on my birthday! Dinner service doesn't start until 5pm so my friends and I had to wait outside until they let us in, despite it being cold outside. The atmosphere and service staff were quite relaxed and "hipster". Since we had an early dinner since I had classes afterwards, we were one of three tables. 

Assortment of Tacos

Tostada de Ceviche ($6.25)

swordfish, guacamole, coconut milk, habanero tomato, cucumber served on a hard taco

After eating the Tuna Ceviche from Grand Electric with Mike, I was super excited when I saw the Tostada de Ceviche on La Carinta's menu. Since the Tostada de Ceviche was $3.25 more than the tacos at Grand Electric, I was expecting something of similar quality. While the Tostada de Ceviche was good, the waitress informed us that La Carinta only had one hard shell taco featured on the menu - which was on the daily specials - so the Tostada de Ceviche's hard taco surprised us. Despite being pretty filled up on top, the hard taco made it difficult to eat the Tostada de Ceviche. Additionally, the ratio of toppings on top of the hard taco had an imbalance of swordfish. Both Fontaine and I noted that we could barely taste the presence of the swordfish, and for $6.25, we expected more fish meat opposed to onions. The Tostada de Ceviche had a slow burn to it as well. Overall, the Tostada de Ceviche was good, but the tuna ceviche & the guac combination at Grand Electric was tastier and cheaper. 

Pollo Frito($4.75)

peanut mole sauce, pickled green cabbage & salsa fresca

Carson had the Pollo Frito.

Tortilla Chips 

with ancho chili powder & one side ($6.50) or all 3 ($13). sides include: guacamole, corn salsa, and cashew hummus

The way the menu was formatted I didn't think it was clearly marked that having all 3 sides would cost an additional $6.50. When I ordered the tortilla chips, the waitress didn't even warn me. She just asked "Do you want the guac, corn salsa, cashew, or all three?". The way she said it made it sound like there was no price difference between the four "choices". I was also quite disappointed with the fact for the additional $6.50 no extra chips were provided - since the side to chip ratio was obviously unbalanced. However, of the three sides, everyone agreed that the guacamole was the best. It was refreshing with a touch of lemon. My second favourite was the corn salsa. All three of us agreed that the cashew was only decent. The consensus was that the chips and all the sides were also quite spicy. Just like the tacos, the Tortilla Chips were good, but not as good as Grand Electric's (or as good of a price).

Overall, La Carnita was decent. The food was good, though it did not meet my expectations after visiting Grand Electric. However, where La Carnita failed was in their service and I also felt their food was a little pricey. Perhaps it was the waitress we had, but she seemed very uneducated about the menu (as she failed to recognize that there were more than one hard shelled taco) and failed to warn us about the price differences of ordering one side to three sides despite us telling her it was our first time visiting La Carnita. What La Carnita has over Grand Electric is that it is much closer to Eatons, Ryerson, and University of Toronto.

La Carnita

501 College Street

Toronto, ON

416.964.155

website 

Templeton's :: Third & Final Stop

Carson and I stumbled into Templeton's out of the moon. We were actually headed to Bar Isabel which was yet to be open for the day and our second choice, Torito Tapas Bar, was not yet open for dinner. Templeton's was quite empty and we were hesitant to try, but having a 77% rating on Urbanspoon pushed us to walk in. Templeton's has a "hobo-hipster" vibe - I don't know how else to describe it - only one waiter was present managing the whole restaurant, the lighting is dim, and  furniture was mismatched. All in all, if you are looking for a decent food at a decent price (ie: students), Templeton's your place.

Japanese Salad (small $4)

dried onions, seaweed, lotus root, avocado served with homemade Japanese dressing

{ The larger version of this salad rings in at $7 - but when I asked the waiter what the size difference was I was mislead to believe that the small was actually larger than it is. However, given the fact that I already had other snacks on the way here, the small salad was the perfect size. As such, this is a great appetizer size, but if you are looking for a light dinner, I'd recommend going for a large (but at $4 for a small you can try the Pear & Feta Salad and the Japanese Salad for a $1 more! - I would like to try the Pear & Feta Salad next time). The fried lotus root tasted great with gingery Japanese dressing and the avocado slices presented a refreshing aspect of the salad. The seaweed was a welcomed texture change providing some cruchiness amongst the soft leafy greens. All in all, the salad was good. }

Moroccan Style Paella ($9)

{ I didn't eat the Moroccan Style Paella, though looking at it I definitely wanted to try it. However, Carson told me it was quite spicy and I decided against it (since I don't care for spicy foods). Carson's brief comments on the paella was that it wasn't worth the $9. He claimed that the clams were sandy, it had too much spice, the rice was undercooked, and the shrimps were not properly de-shelled. Check out Carson's Instagram here. }

Templeton's

19 Augusta Avenue

Toronto, ON