Bar Isabel

One of the best dinners I have had in Toronto. Hands down. We ordered the tasting menu. The staff was super friendly, asked how hungry we are, then asked what we needed to have from the menu. We where all blown away. The food was fresh, delicious and creative. The service was perfectly paced, friendly and helpful. We sat at the bar and the bar tender was attentive to everything and answered questions we had. Cocktails where on another level. Fantastic. Definitely deserves its place in the top 100. You have to eat here!

We went here for a nightcap and didn’t order any entrees. The service was exceptional! We were greeted warmly and we’re supported by many of their staff members! We ordered a tomato bread appetizer, which wasn’t great and curry potato dish that was excellent! The dessert was great too, though on the greasy side. Their bartender is a master of his craft and our Aperol spritz and espressos Martinis were excellent! They add 20% to your bill for service - something I find extremely tacky. Though, I’d have likely tipped that much anyway, I never feel that tips should be mandatory. For 5 drinks, 2 apps and a dessert, our bill was $160 - quite high for what we had.

Bar Isabel blew me away, and is definitely worth the hype. I got the tasting menu here and our server was kind enough to adapt the menu based on how much my friend and I could eat. (e.g., They asked what was a ‘must-have’ for us and our general preferences. Then throughout the dinner, he’d come back to check on us to see how much more food he should bring out) My favourite dish was the croquettes—something off the a la carte menu. There were also these mussels in a sour / savoury vinaigrette that were delicious. I would also highly recommend the bone marrow if you’re comfortable with a ‘fattier’ dish

Delicious drinks and food. Loved the atmosphere as well. My only complaint is that I felt super rushed. We got kicked out after two hours (on the dot). Servers were hovering the entire time. We wanted to order dessert, but we were basically told that we couldn’t because someone else needed our table. So upsetting. I’ll never understand why it’s worth ruining a customer relationship just to turn another table.

Good place to go for tapas. I had a non alcoholic cocktail which was enjoyable and refreshing. The shishito peppers were good, nicely seasoned with coarse salt and a hint of lemon juice. I really liked the 2 meat 2 cheese charcuterie board. I was just a bit disappointed there were none of the Jamon serrano or jamon iberrico that were offered on the meat boards. You also have to pay for house bread to enjoy with the meat and cheese. The bread was very good, served a bit warm and made upstairs in their in house bakery. We got the quarter octopus, which was delicious and nicely grilled. It was nice and tender, not too chewy like octopus can be. The patatas bravas were very good and crispy. The house salad was really nice. We also got the 8oz Picanha Steak which was tender and has a nice grill flavour. The onions on the side were delicious. The Basque Cake with Hot Sherry Cream was very good. I was happy to see they offered this as it’s not that common to find in Toronto. It was warm and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I feel like it would be enough on it’s own without the sauce but the sauce was nice too. It’s also made in house. Overall, a really good experience even though it’s on the pricier side and there is mandatory 20% service fee.

Ambience is truly magical, the service is excellent, and the food is to die for. — We chose to participate in the tasting menu and we allowed the waiter to choose our dishes for us, and I’m so glad we did. We were overwhelmed with the incredible textures and flavours of each meal. Our waiter was highly trained and very knowledgeable about each dish and how it was prepared. The sommelier chose a wonderful bottle of wine based on our personal tastes and pairings for the meal, one that we never would have chosen. Overall, this experience left us dazzled. We will be back soon.