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Dinner at Baton Rouge, a trendy(?) place at the Eaton's Centre, by Queen and Yonge. From the outside, it appears to be a restaurant catered to the well-to-do 40 somethings, in their Mercedes Benz S coupes or BMW 5 series. Peering insides, it shouts money!

The place is all cherry wood and dark leather with little naked women lamps at every table. Once settled, the first thing I noticed was the noise. It had a constant hub-bub that should only be saved for Chinese dim-sum restaurants. I mean, high class White food dining should be quiet and proper, with violins and matre-d's sporting moustaches. Instead, the hostesses wore casual slacks with t-shirts tucked in, and it had a party atmosphere.

Our waitress came over and asked us for drinks. Ms. Toxin ordered a strawberry daiquiri, while I had a dry vodka martini, with a lemon twist. Her drink looked like the sort they'd serve at a holiday resort, while mine had a lemon zest floating inside a slightly wet martini. Well, I'm no James Bond.... but I've certainly had better.

Appetizers contained a $12 shrimp cocktail shared between the two of us, and her side order of Caesar salad with a wedge of garlic bread topped with cheddar. The bread wasn't toasted enough, but at least the cheddar wasn't processed. The Caesar was decent, but did not contain bacon bits. It's just a salad right? No. Go to Marche downtown and have one. Now that's a Caesar salad done fairly correct (it occasionally gets a little too sour tasting, but I'm being picky.)

The $12 shrimp cocktail had five jumble sized prawns, spread atop a bed of ice, centered by the dipping sauce. Now points must be awarded for the size of the shrimp, as those were the biggest I've seen for cocktails. The meat was firm and crisp, and the sauce was good. However, the shrimp had that frozen taste so it appeared to not being fresh from the ocean. I know I'm being pretty critical, but a $12 shrimp cocktail better be swimming five minutes before being served! On top of that, while Ms. Toxin was still working at her last shrimp, the waitress took away the whole plate and dipping sauce, without asking if we were done. Maybe she didn't see her still eating, but I was slightly miffed.

For the entree, Ms. Toxin ordered one of the specials of the day, chicken something and pasta. It was good, the pasta was not overly soft, and definitely not starchy. The chicken was average, nice tender moresel but a little on the dry side. However, this dish had a complimentary splosh of some type of goat cheese, and it definitely did NOT blend in with the rest of the tomato based pasta. It wasn't awful, but the flavor of the cheese overpowered everything else, and I wish Ms. Toxin hadn't mixed it all together. I think goat cheese is a good idea, but they needed something milder.

I ordered the baby back ribs, as recommended by Fido Dido. The rib was decent, better than stuff you'd get at Outback of Jack Astor's, but for $20, it didn't justify the cost. The outside edges were a little burnt, but overall it was palatable. It came with a side of mash potato, no gravy. I ask you, how wrong is that?! Surpisingly though, the mash was really good. Buttery, with a hint of garlic, nice creamy consistency, no lumps.

During the whole dinner, we only noticed how noisy it had become. It wasn't a family restaurant per se, but there were a lot of kids around our area. Maybe because we looked young? I don't know, but Ms. Toxin got carded when she ordered her daiquiri. Maybe we got stuck at the kiddie section.

We skipped out on dessert, at this point, we were no longer interested in trying anything else from them. The dinner bill came out to $80 tax/tip in. Overly noisy and being seated directly opposite of the entrance, and the food was barely mediocre, it was definitely overpriced, considering.

I'm not spoiled, I just know what's good and this wasn't it.

....Thumbs down. 6 out of 10. If you're downtown looking for a good meal, skip this place.









posted by losir at 12:53 AM