Soup Alternatives

[Colin McGregor]

On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 4:11 PM, Christopher Browne <cbbrowne-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> We were puzzling over possibilities that might be preferable to Salad King
> for pre-meeting dining, and, as the set of possibilities seemed not quite
> sufficient, it seemed like a good idea to draw ideas from a somewhat broader
> audience.
>
> The difficulty that was observed was that the room was rather noisy, but it
> wouldn't do to jump to something else and leap from bad to worse, hence
> here's a set of constraints that seem needful:
>
> a) Needs to be "near enough" to the meeting, basically within a 15 minute
> walk.  (Think about how far Pho88 was from the U(T) engineering building...)
>
> b) Not too expensive (Barberian's is doubtless good, but they haven't got an
> entree below $25!)
>
> c) Quiet enough
>
> d) Open until 7:30 (it appears there are restaurants targeting lunch crowd
> that will be closed for dinner)
>
> e) Reasonable range of food that notably has offerings to vegetarians better
> than "oh, there's a slice of tomato on the burger"
>
> f) Can cope with 20 people arriving in a bit of a disorganized flurry,
> without massive formal reservation
>
> The only thing leaping to mind was the Pickle Barrel @ Atrium, which wasn't
> exciting the group too much.

This afternoon I attended a downtown talk by Oracle about their new T
and M series SPARC computers (not a good talk but for reasons outside
Oracle's control, two fire alarms during the talk). After I had a walk
around Yonge & Dundas looking at possible "Salad King"
alternatives.... I would add a point to the above list:

g) Must be "family" friendly.

With the above in mind here are the places I looked at briefly this
evening and my take on them:

Discards:

- Milestones - N/E corner Yonge & Dundas 4th floor - very limited
number of under $15 menu items.
- Jack Astor's - N/E corner Yonge & Dundas 4th floor - very limited
number of under $15 menu items.
- Johnny Rockets - N/E corner Yonge & Dundas off Dundas, Ground floor
- Very little for the vegetarians
- Five Guys Burgers - N/E corner Yonge & Dundas, off Yonge, Ground
floor - Vegetarian hostile
- Chipotle Mexican Grill - N/E corner Yonge & Dundas, off Yonge,
Ground floor - Very limited menu
- Zanzibar - Yonge just north of Gould east side - Has "Adult"
entertainment, enough said.
- Made in China - Yonge just north of Gould east side - Dining room
seemed too small
- Korean Grill House - Yonge just north of Gould east side - Dining
room seemed too small
- St. Louis Bar and Grill - Atrium on Bay N/W corner Yonge & Dundas -
Sporting event on and place was PACKED.

Worth further review:

- Tim Hortons - N/E corner Yonge & Dundas Ground floor (entrance off
Victoria) - Basic, reliable
- Food court - N/E corner Yonge & Dundas 3rd floor - Good range of
inexpensive food, didn't seem that crowded about 7 PM
- Panera Bread - N/W corner Yonge & Edward. - Sandwiches, soup, &
pasta. Has 2nd floor eating area
- Pickle Barrel - Atrium on Bay - N/W corner Yonge & Dundas - Good all
round spot
- Hard Rock Cafe - On Yonge, just south of Dundas Square - Touristy
but otherwise has possibilities
- Swiss Chalet - Yonge just north of Gould west side - Basic, reliable
- Spring Sushi - N/E corner Yonge & Dundas 5th floor - Didn't see
dining room, but menu looks interesting
- Spring Roll - Atrium on Bay N/W corner Yonge & Dundas - Seemed a bit
busy but has possibilities.

Based on what I saw the most tempting three seemed to be Pickle
Barrel, Swiss Chalet and Panera Bread. Other thoughts?


Colin McGregor

> --
> When confronted by a difficult problem, solve it by reducing it to the
> question, "How would the Lone Ranger handle this?"
--
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