Chez Laurent Restaurant

Love this place… always get the caesar salad, escargots and a veal dish. I just read that it is now closed. I am very P. O’d.

This was one of my favourite places to go to in the past and found out theis place has been closed for a while now. Louise and Leanne were great and they do offer cooking classes where you can learn how to make some of their amazing dishes. Her lamb shank was one of my favourite dishes here.

Sh*t i just was going to order and now its permanently closed there was so much love made with there food i will miss them i always ordered when i wanted home cooked excellent food now yonge and sheppard is screwed cause there was nothing comparable now

So sad that this place has now closed. The food was always excellent. It also had a feel of eating with a big family. There were so many regulars who came in to eat, you just felt like you knew most people.
We will miss Louise and Leanne very much. We may have to take their cooking classes to make their amazing lasagna.

We’ve always wanted to try this place since we live in the neighbourhood. Almonst all the high rises, this restaurant is in a little house along Yonge St. It’s a very cozy restaurant with one wait staff and the owner who takes your order. Apparently they’ve been in business for 27 years. We ordered some apps (mussels, escargot, onion soup and soup of the day), pasta for our mains and skipped dessert. The thought the food was average but my husband enjoyed all his dishes. Would I go again? Maybe.

The place was dirty and run down. The waitress was like Casper the Ghost, can’t even remember her.
As we walked in Louise screamed «You need a reservation,» which we had but I think she was intimidated because we looked too upscale for the place.
The food was awful. A menu item called «the best Lasagna» was horrible. Our dishes arrived separately and they threw our salad forks back to be used for our main meal.
Water was scarce as we had to beg for a refill and Louise seemed irritated the whole time. Worst dinning experience in my whole life.

Chez Laurent is a nice little Italian restaurant in an old house on Yonge Street. There is street parking on many of the side roads nearby and Green P parking lots as well.
The hostess and waitress were very welcoming and we did not need our reservation (weekday around 8pm), though with fairly limited seating you would want to play it safe and call ahead.
We were given ample time to order, talk, and eat, without being left unattended or pestered — a talent not had by many in the restaurant industry.
I had the escargot and the fettuccine carbonera, both of which were average or better. The ambiance and hospitality made the visit well worthwhile.

hot bread was served before real food, very soft inside and crusty outside. We loved it. We ordered mussels as appetizers, which were in tomato sauce and were good. Then we had a fettuccine in cream sauce and with peas, also a chicken with tomato pasta. Both pastas were fantastic, we especially loved the fettuccine, couldn’t help clearing out all food at once! Very good food, you cannot miss this if you simply want good food in nice environment.
cozy little family house style, very friendly owner and server. We felt so welcome for every single request that we made, even it was just asking for water! Perfect for families and also couples for dinner :)

Nice place with great food
The food here is great everything freshly made with love and tender care. I started off with the Tomato e Bocceoncini and a nice Italian salad. The tomatoes were nice and juicy and the cheese was very tasty, the salad was perfect with just the right amount of sauce to salad ratio. For my main I ordered the Zurichioise Fettucine. The dinner was wonderful, nice creamy sauce with delicious chicken. The people here really know how to cook and I can’t wait to try the rest of the menu.
The place is a really small area but the food makes up for it. It has a very homey feel to it, mostly because it looks like the place was just a regular house before, but it adds character to the place. The seating seems very cramped and you can hear other peoples conversations across the room but it didn’t really bother me. Other then that the place had an ok atmosphere to it.
The service was really good always checking in on you and always showing a nice smile on their faces. The environment doesn’t really stand out too much the food definitely makes up for it.

A cute little family-​run restaurant (a renovated house) with a super friendly owner and delicious food.
I went here with my brother on a weeknight, and had no problem getting a table without reservations. But the place was pretty full, so if you have a larger group, then it may be difficult to just walk-​in.
We ordered the mussels as appetizers, and they were really good. The tomato-​based sauce was perfect. I wish I had saved some of the fresh bread to soak up some of that sauce, but, alas, I had already inhaled it.
And then we ended up ordering a couple of the daily specials — braised veal with fettuccine and giant pasta shells baked with ricotta cheese and asparagus. Both were excellent. My brother especially enjoyed the bone marrow from the veal.
The only downside to this place is the service was a little slow (At one point, I think the owner forgot about us — she said she would be right with us and then just never returned), but I wasn’t in any hurry, so it didn’t really bother me.
Overall, I really enjoyed the meal and the prices were reasonable. I’ll definitely be coming back to try out some more daily specials and dishes from the menu!

Very good bread and food. Very different atmosphere because it’s an old house. Good service.

It feels like walking into a good friend’s house for dinner.
Atmosphere is warm and inviting, with old hardwood floors and wood trim around the windows.
Service is gracious, kind, friendly and helpful. It’s a family-​run operation, and they are all nice and inviting. We lingered after paying our bill, and they still checked on us to ask if we wanted water or anything.
Food tastes like mom’s home cooking. Even the flatware and china are what you would find in a family kitchen. The staff seem to enjoy chatting about the items on the menu. I had veal milanese with veg, and shared escargot for an appetizer. Both were delicious.
An absolutely wonderful dining experience. I will be back again soon.

If you want to talk about a family-​run business that has stood the test of time, Chez Laurent is one of the first places that come to mind. In fact, the quaint little house that it occupies must be some kind of historical landmark because all of the buildings around it are being demolished for brand new condo developments.
The head chef opens her house on some Saturday mornings for a cooking school of which I have attended a few classes. I think their familiarity with me lends to a welcome feeling everything I go their restaurant. I can say that when I am seated, I can see that they share the same level of warmth with the other restaurant patrons.
They have quite an extensive menu but what impresses me most is that most of their pasta dishes are around $ 11 – 13. The portions are not huge but they measure up to other Italian eateries that would charge up to $ 20 for a similar plate. And of course, the taste and authenticity is there to match.
I highly recommend this place and it is worth checking out. Just make sure that if you plan to go at a peak time, make a reservation.

Best Veal Milanese in the city. Period. End of story. It’s my «go to» place for comfort food, yet I can’t get myself to try anything else on the menu as a main (except for the appetizers, of course).
Based on what my wife and kids (21 & 16) order, it’s obvious that their dishes are prepared with the same love and attention as my VM.
The whole experience is like eating at your favourite aunt’s home. The aunt who knew how to cook better than your mom, but you would never tell your mom that.
Oh! The price is very fair for the quality and service you receive.
Chez Laurent is a definite keeper!!!

Since this is so close to home and was highly rated, I was ecstatic to try this little French-​Italian eatery on my Dad’s birthday dinner… and guess I should have tuned down my excitement. We went on a week-​night, and contrary to the massive warnings about «having to reserve a table», we had no problem getting a table on the day of, and there were an ample amount of seatings.
—– Food: Moderate —–
Bread — Gotta give credit for the bread, it was nicely done; crusty, thick and warm.
Mussels — Had to double check if we ordered the right thing, this being tasteless and lean. Surprisingly, the sauce was good though.
Onion Soup — Was sweet? Is that how the French do it? Whatever happened to the ionic bowl?
Carbonara — Butter overload. Period.
Lasagna — They lied. It definitely wasn’t «North American» best.
Veal — Can be compared to a morning minute steak or the steak on a HK sizzling plate.
Crème Brulee — Now this is FINALLY something to brag about! This is seriously recommended.
Crème Caramel — Meh. No surprises here.
—– Service: Mediocre —–
— Louise wasn’t as helpful as expected
— food came out real slow for a casual-​family restaurant
— limited water refills (Almost felt like we were experiencing a water famine)
— male waiter tossed a fork at us (Sorry, didn’t know we were disturbing your blooming juggling career.)
—– Atmosphere: Mediocre — –
— very warm (Don’t get me wrong, there were indivudal AC units in every room, but they didn’t bother turning it on, probably because they were huge eco supporters. But I gotta give them credit for opening the main doors wide open to let a little of the city breeze in…)
— plates (shaky, granny floral plates)
— dim
— cracked vinyl chairs
Food: ³⁄₅
Service: ²⁄₅
Atmosphere: ²⁄₅

Although welcoming, there’s a certain oddness to Chez Laurent. Still, it is a place you can take both a 4-​year-​old and a 90-​year-​old at the same time (which we did).
3 adults ordered French Onion Soup. I like it salty, which meant my wife loved this seemingly low-​sodium soup. It was served in a regular soup bowl with grated mozzarella and some chunks of bread. It was alright. I then had the Carbonara ($ 12.99), which was delicious. Wife had Canelloni ($ 13.99) and daughter had Lasagna ($ 13.99). Also really good. Grandma had Salmon ($ 17.99) and was in love with it. Boy, did she clean her plate! The servers were nice. For dessert, Crème Brûlée, Raspberry Tartuffo and Raspberry Pie (or something like that) were also very good. Not great, but good.
I think the price/​value give this a solid 3.5 but it isn’t sure whether to be French or Italian so marks are deducted for style. But I’d still return.

As buildings get bulldozed for condo towers around it, one wonders how long Chez Laurent will keep it’s precious corner of coziness in North York.
The food is simple and lovely. I love the understated vibe of both the food and the décor.
The crusty bread they service was fresh and warm. We ordered the mussels as an appetizer upon the suggestion of the spunky brit gal who hosts and serves. The sauce was a perfect complement to the bread, and the mussels were very fresh as promised by our server.
The pasta was al-​dente and not overly sauced (something I hate about most North American Italian restaurants). Those who ordered veal at the table were also very pleased with their selection.
Of course, I couldn’t leave without getting dessert, in this case Tartufo, which was a nice end to the meal.
Make sure you call ahead to make reservations — it can be difficult to get a seat sometimes.

I went to this place for my birthday dinner with my boyfriend. We had never been before but based on general reviews online, it seemed decent. How cute was this place?! It’s right at Yonge & Sheppard but is in an old house seemingly surrounded by new condos. It had a very home-​y feel to it and the owner clearly puts a lot of love into her restaurant. We started out with beers and mussels in garlic and tomato sauce to start. I may just be biased to seafood but we devoured the mussels and dipped all our bread in the tomato garlic sauce. I got the house lasanga as my main and it was pure cheesy and creamy goodness. It was also moderately priced under $ 15. My boyfriend got the steak dinner which was good although the sides were sub-​par.
Cute spot for dinner with lots of soul going into the food!

This is an odd little house with some great food.
Kind of a hodge podge of different rooms– everything will taste and look home cooked but with some expertise and extra deliciousness.
This is a great alternative to the restos on the strip with no character.
If you come here you are GUARANTEED a ton of character.
This is a nice place to come with friends pre-​theatre or just if you have friends that live (lord forbid…) uptown… (I realize this is midtown but when you’re a s.o.b. (south of bloor) creature it REALLY is quite the trek :)
I almost want to give you NO description of the food and the rest of the experience because it’s such a nice quaint discovery… it would ruin the experience.

When friends mentioned that they wanted to meet us for dinner in North York, we struggled to find an excuse not to go.
With so few Saturday nights in our lives, we dreaded spending one of them splurging on chain-​resto vomit amongst the suburban condo-​dweller set.
But they were good friends… and we hadn’t seen them in almost a year… so we trekked up to North York and prepared for the worst.
It never came.
What a wonderful surprise they’d found.
As we were waiting to get in, we were alongside someone who left North York for the west coast 15 years ago… it’s still his favorite restaurant and he comes every single time he’s in town.
A beautifully small and intimate space. Outstandingly prepared food and warm personalized service.
I had something involving veal. It was extraordinary.
We’re already planning on coming back.