JOY BISTRO BAR
LOCATION:
884 Queen St E
Toronto, ON
M4M1J3
RATINGS:
Service: 2 . 5
Ambiance: 3
Food: 2 . 5
Price: $$
Last week I went out for dinner with two of my favourite foodie friends. We didn't really have a destination in mind, so we decided to walk along Queen Street East to find a menu that called out to us. We love going to restaurants where we can share a few plates, so Joy Bistro seemed like a great option. The simple menu provides many 'in' foods such as fish tacos and grilled flat breads. The service is very friendly, but they fell flat on one of my biggest pet peeves: our water glasses always ran empty. A minor issue, in light of the great night. The decor is relaxed with a beautiful large patio, hanging lights and an out-door fire place.
Price: $$
Last week I went out for dinner with two of my favourite foodie friends. We didn't really have a destination in mind, so we decided to walk along Queen Street East to find a menu that called out to us. We love going to restaurants where we can share a few plates, so Joy Bistro seemed like a great option. The simple menu provides many 'in' foods such as fish tacos and grilled flat breads. The service is very friendly, but they fell flat on one of my biggest pet peeves: our water glasses always ran empty. A minor issue, in light of the great night. The decor is relaxed with a beautiful large patio, hanging lights and an out-door fire place.
We started off with the LOBSTER QUESADILLA. The quesadilla was packed with lobster, charred corn, chorizo chutney, and lime cilantro sour cream. We were pleased with the large chunks of lobster that were evenly placed throughout the quesadilla, and the cilantro sour cream, which added a nice fresh, cool flavour to balance the chorizo chutney.
Next, came the THAI GREEN CURRY PEI MUSSELS. We were still busy eating our quesadillas, so they sat on the table for a few moments. When we got to them, they were quite cold, so we asked our waiter to heat them a bit. We were a little nervous about his reaction - we hate doing that - but he complied without a problem. The Thai green curry sauce ( one of the three options available for the mussels) was vibrant, flavourful, and packed a little heat. We made sure to soak up all the leftover sauce with the lightly toasted French loaf.
THE FISH TACOS came with grilled pineapple, jicama slaw, avocado and spicy sauce. The jicama slaw was what really drew us in. The fish was crispy - which is not always easy to achieve - and not too battered, which we liked, but DF found that the corn tortilla was an overwhelming flavour and thus the toppings got lost in the thickness of the shell.
We also ordered the WILLOW GROVE FARM'S PULLED PORK SANDWICH (or 'sango') a term for sandwiches which DF and VF have adopted and which, by the end of the night, they had the waiter was saying it too. The slow-cooked pulled pork was coated in a sweet tequila BBQ sauce. We all found the sauce to be a bit to sweet and a little tangy, but we used some sauces from the other dishes to make this a little more our taste. The slaw and fries, on the other hand, were really nice and saved the dish for us.
Would we come back? Yes. But only for a beer and shareable plates. No sangos.
STANDOUT DISH OF THE NIGHT:
The Lobster Quesadilla
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