Four - 187 Bay St. (Commerce Court South)
416-368-1444
A few weeks ago, my friends and I went to try out Four. It's a new restaurant in the heart of corporate Toronto and it boasts healthy dishes only: all dishes are less than 650 calories.
I wasn't going to write about it because it was a huge disappointment. But after I read this article in the Globe & Mail, I decided that some truth needed to be shared.
I deliberately waited three weeks after opening to go. Although my dinner at Two Rosehill (this was many years ago; it's now called Rosehill Venue Lounge) on opening night was spectacular, I don't expect every restaurant to be like that. Some places have a lot of glitches to work out. Unfortunately, even after three weeks, Four still had several.
The reason everything is less than 650 calories is because it's just expensive, oversized tapas. The dishes are too big to be considered tapas, but too small to be considered full-sized main courses. Just because something is all natural and fresh doesn't mean that it's automatically good. If I took a fresh orange and squeezed it on a piece of fresh chicken, rolled it in organic cocoa powder and then steamed it, I doubt it'll taste fantastic. It might not taste horrible (though I suspect it will), but it certainly won't be the epitome of "yum."
The other thing I couldn't stand was the fact that the wait staff didn't know anything about the dishes. A fish dish was served up and there was a large pitcher with some sort of broth in it. When I said, "Wow. This is an elaborate set up. How do we eat this?" The response was, "I don't know." Oh great. So if the staff doesn't know, how the heck are customers supposed to know. Sheesh.
The desserts, though not special, were probably the best thing we got. The four of us (yes, four of us went to dinner at Four) all agreed that in future we'd come back just to have drinks and dessert, but the food was definitely overrated.
