Nota Bene

Tonight we had a chance to go out and celebrate your truly’s birthday with a dinner over at Nota Bene.  This somewhat higher class restaurant is located in downtown Toronto located near City Hall and many of Toronto’s best hotels. 

We had reservations for four and when we got in, we were quickly led to our tables.  The waiter gave us bread and we proceeded to order an appetizer and a few main dishes for dinner.  We decided to go with the Hamachi Ceviche as an appetizer and with the Grilled “Rare” Hangar Steak, 2 plates of Lobster Alla Chitarra and Charred Wild Digby Sea Scallops amongst the four of us as entrees.

The Hamachi arrived first and it was a rather small dish.  There were 5 small pieces of hamachi and it was mixed with corn, jalapeno peppers and lime sauce.  The raw fish was very soft and the sauce was quite tingy.  It complimented the fish very well and actually provided the fish with a very good taste to it. 

Soon afterwards our entrees arrived.  Again although the plates were quite big, the first thing we noticed was that the portion sizes were quite small relative to the plate.  My wife went with the lobster and I had the rare steak.  

Hamachi Ceviche

Grilled “Rare” Hangar Steak

 

The rare steak was definitely rare.  There were 2 pieces and the meal looked good.  It came with an onion type sauce.  When I first started cutting the steak, I can tell it was quite tough.  I double checked the steak and it was definitely rare.  Upon eating the steak, I can tell you that it was a very chewy.  I have eaten a lot of steaks in my days and I can tell you that this was definitely one of the hardest steaks I have ever had to chew on. 

The lobster alla chitarra was quite a tasty pasta that had a few pieces of lobster mixed with spaghetti and tomato sauce.  The lobster tasted already and was relatively fresh.  It blended with the pasta well.  The overall taste was very similar to a shrimp linguine in tomato sauce. 

The scallops dish was done in a way where there were about 3 or 4 pieces of scallops mixed in with some small potatoes.  There were also small pieces of bacon and shaved black truffles sprinkled on top of the scallops.  The scallops were soft and nicely done and complimented the sauce very well.  Again the only complain I had of this dish was the amount of food served which really wasn’t all that much considering the price and size of the plate. 

Charred Wild Digby Sea Scallops

Lobster Alla Chitarra

Overall the meal was a little disappointing for me.  The hamachi was very tasty and highly recommended. I would never order the steak again.  The scallops were good but simply not enough.  The pasta was probably the best out of the 3 dishes but again the portions were quite small.  The total price was $150.00 for 4 people not including taxes or any drinks.  Averaging it out, that is about $35/dish.  Personally one can certainly get a lot more for that price in both quantity and quality.  The other thing that we were disappointed in was that the waiter after taking our order never really returned to our table again except to give us our bill.  He never once asked how our meal us or even offered the complimentary black pepper.  Being my first time there, I guess I was probably expecting a little more.  Unfortunately it certainly did meet my expectations.  Tonight I would give this a 3.25 out of 5. 

Nota Bene

180 Queen Street West
Toronto, ON M5V 3X3
(416) 977-6400