Toula Restaurant & Bar

My fiancé took me here for Valentine’s day and the menu was prix fixe of $ 85 per person with 18% gratuity. He ended up picking Toula as the CN Tower was fully booked over a month in advance… I guess there was a reason why this restaurant had availability!
Aside from the view, I have nothing much to boast about this place. We paid $ 15 for parking across the street and scrambled over here in the freezing cold. We had a view facing the east side along the lake. I would imagine the view be quite nice if you face the city at night (as there are more lights).
The menu came with 2 appetizers, a main, dessert and two shots (as palette cleansers?).
The food choice was was not bad, I had the halibut with risotto and he had the steak; large portions. My main was slightly overcooked but the flavours were good.
The dessert was a complete joke, there was a small shot glass of pureed fruits, a chocolate pudding-​type thing that was melting… and a tiny square of cheesecake which looked like something from the frozen section at No Frills!
Overall, I don’t know if I would come back for the price…$ 250 for two is pretty steep for a mediocre set dinner. The interior décor is quite dated and I noticed that they have a mixture of old chairs and plastic ones. does not look visually pleasing as they seem to be randomly dispersed across the restaurant.

Went during Winterlicious for a Saturday lunch for a table of 5.
For $ 23, I had the Toula amore salad, salmon, and gelato.
–PROS–
The view! Can see Dash 8s and 172s land at CYTZ.
And ships at the ferry harbour.
The décor of the place was nice. As expected of a restaurant by the harbour.
Place was spacious and not crowded like my experience at another Winterlicious restaurant.
Portions of the food were filling enough given the price. Honestly a first given all my ‘licious experience.
–MEH–
Taste of the food was good, but nothing to get too excited about. I’m assuming most of the revenue goes to the rent of the place instead of the food. Owell, at least my tummy was satisfied.
HOT! No idea why, but they seemed to have set the heat at like 25C. That and the sun and amount of people meant I had to strip down to my t-​shirt after the salad.
The service itself was good, but finding someone to serve can be a problem.
–CONS–
Because we were hot, I needed cold water. They seemed to be understaffed whenever we needed water.
Getting the bill took awhile too. Not too long where we’re annoyed yet, but long enough where we’re left wondering why it’s taking so long.
==OVERALL==
Overall, I’m fairly satisfied with my experience here.
I’d say Toula is more for the view rather than the food. The service I had was acceptable, not outstanding, but acceptable.
For $ 23 Winterlicious lunch, I’d go again if I’m with friends that havent been. Else, I’d prefer trying a different restaurant. But I’d definitely prefer Toula over my other recent Winterlicious experience.

Giving this review two stars for the amazing view from our table and the tiramisu at the end, can’t go wrong with dessert.
Despite being forewarned about Toula, my party of four decided to come here anyway for Winterlicious on February 6^th. We arrived early for our 6pm reservation and were promptly seated; our area had a great view of the city. I have no complaints about our server as she was very timely with her service and polite. Unfortunately, we had the unpleasant presence of another server who had terrible hygiene (body odour) taking our plates from the table. I do apologize for mentioning this, but I feel it is important to have proper hygiene to be working for a highend restaurant.
The choice of food wasn’t the greatest. I played it safe by choosing the beef fillet, medium rare, although I’ve had better (I.e. The Keg). My partner’s lamb pasta was not appetizing at all, with expectations that there would be more lamb meat. He wasn’t even offered for more cheese on top.
Let me talk about the bathrooms; they’re crappy. Aesthetically. You’d think for an upscale place like Toula, every other area would flow; the bathrooms are so outdated and just not something you’d expect for Toula. The malls have prettier bathrooms!
After getting a few group photos taken by someone from management, she had asked us to leave our table for other guests since we were done paying. Um, we were gonna leave after the photos but there was no need to say it to our faces. Rude.
Overall, the $ 35 plus $ 11 martini was not worth the trip and $ 20 parking for Toula. Save your time and money and spend it elsewhere. We left Toula still unsatisfied and decided to take our rather empty bellies to your local Wild Wing! We really went ham on those wings!
I would not come back here unless someone paid me to or pays for my tab.
At least our photos turned out amazing!