Posted by Sheryl Kirby in restaurant news, restaurant openings on December 8, 2007 at 8:01 am
Satori Supper Club
735 Queen Street West
416-860-1551
Anyone strolling along Queen Street west of Bathurst about a month ago, undoubtedly stopped in their tracks and wondered aloud, “Hey, where’s Habitat?” The restaurant/lounge that had occupied the former Future Bakery space for years was quite suddenly papered up. A week or so later, the paper remained but a sign appeared; “Coming Soon – Satori Supper Club”.
Previous owners Tony Mutch and Marcus Boekelman are gone, along with chef Martin Warnick. New owner Richard Bailey takes over management while Scott McDonough (both formerly of The Fifth), is in charge of the kitchen. However, the websites for both restaurants is almost exactly the same, with basic information updated to reflect the new management. The Satori site still sports a photo of the Habitat dining room and the beige booth and benches. Up until a week or so ago, even the menus were similar.
What is updated is the décor, with a complete redesign by Red Heron Essentials, based on the Buddhist theory of enlightenment or “satori”. Not sure what the Dalai Lama would think of the leather chairs, Moroccan hammered metal tables and zebra-striped seating, but the space, lined with round mirrors and featuring some spectacular lighting fixtures is definitely pretty. Although we did overheard one patron at the media opening complaining that it was too dark to read the printed menu.
But with the intent for Satori to be a “full service entertainment option”, perhaps customers who can’t read the menu in the dusky lighting need to look for somewhere a bit less cool to be hanging out. As was the case with its predecessor, Satori appears to be designed to see and be seen first and foremost.
When it comes to the menu, Satori’s selection of “world cuisine” actually looks pretty traditional. Based on their online menu offering carpaccio, beef tenderloin, braised lamb shanks and confit of chicken, it appears that Chef McDonough is following the trend towards heartier, mid-20th century comfort food that seems to be rising in popularity. “Season flavours” are stressed in both the press release and on the Satori website, but this wording is also pulled from the old Habitat site, so it’s hard to say exactly which direction McDonough will actually take his menu once Satori finds its groove.
Whether Satori will follow in Habitat’s footsteps as a career builder for some of the city’s most noted chefs remains to be seen. But with Habitat’s CV of names like Greg Couillard, David Ng’Ang’a and Scot Woods, Torontonians will be watching to see exactly what Bailey and McDonough do with their restaurant and where it will end up on the city’s culinary map.
SHITORI SUPPERCLUB
The first time I went there it was awfull so I decided to give it another chance. Fist of all, there is absolutely no parking anywhere(get there a 5pm or get ready to walk 8 blocks).
Second This place has the worst service of all time. It took about 20 minutes for every round of drinks to arrive and the place wasn't even busy.
The menu is very small yet everytime I came to order something the waitress said that they didn't have it. I mean c'mon it was Saturday night, you think they would stock up.
There were more bouncers there than actual people so that made us feel safe but then again who's going to do me harm if there isn't anybody there. The place was dead.
45 minutes after ordering our meal they finally arrived, only one problem, the main course arrived before the appetizers. When I brought this to the attention of the waitress she said rudely " don't worry about it, it's coming". WOW!!!
So we tried to eat our main course since by that time we were sooo hungry that we swallowed the cold meals without even chewing.
Discusted after the meal, we brought all this to the attention of the manager. This guy had no clue about customer care and simply shrugged his shoulders. Unbelievable!
By the time we concluded are meals, we realized it was to late to go anywhere else so there was only one thing left to do ...Get drunk . So we ordered a bottle of grey goose and realized later that they charged us for all the redbull's (like $5 bucks a pop) ...what a joke.
Well... we got the bill, and on the way out the manager that had been avoiding us all night came by and had the nerve to say " I apologize...I will take care of you the next time you come in" ...
Trust me budy, there won't be a next time.
I merely write this to warn my fellow restaurant goers about this shit hole of a wannabe supperclub. There are wayyyy to many great old places and new up and coming bars and restaurants in this great city to waste your social time and money SHITORI SUPPERCLUB.
Good luck and Happy Dinning
I don't know what Brent is talking about?! First of all there is parking one block west of Satori (going west turn left onto Niagara and its 803 Richmond St W) with 50 spaces...open your eyes buddy! Second of all I went in there asking for a red bull and they serve Rockstar...and obviously it's more than juice, common sense--it is everywhere you go for bottle service.
Give this place a chance, it's a great atmosphere, SUPER food, and waiters come and go...
Try Satori Supper Club...trust me!