cafe belong

cafe belong has a great menu, not too overwhelming and comes with a lot of character. each dish showed thought and care and they use all organic ontario grown ingredients – they even make their own bacon! they have homemade syrups for their sodas/teas, which are very yummy. i ordered a mix of lavender and lime soda – fantastic! i stopped in for a quick dinner; this place is very relaxing. my main was so incredible and so unique – i had the seafood stew – this was very healthy and surprisingly filled with kale. they have a “farm to table” approach and i loved it! i would gobackagain and again – and i will! www.cafebelong.ca seafood stew  

cafe belong has a great menu, not too overwhelming and comes with a lot of character. each dish showed thought and care and they use all organic ontario grown ingredients – they even make their own bacon! they have homemade syrups for their sodas/teas, which are very yummy.

i ordered a mix of lavender and lime soda – fantastic!

i stopped in for a quick dinner; this place is very relaxing. my main was so incredible and so unique – i had the seafood stew – this was very healthy and surprisingly filled with kale. they have a “farm to table” approach and i loved it! i would gobackagain and again – and i will!

the brunch was excellent. the server was very friendly and polite. the food was very very good. nice relaxed atmosphere. decor is casual and tasteful. we will gobackfor sure.

nestled within the evergreen brickworks, café belong benefits from its proximity to the year round farmer’s market. perhaps perusing the fresh food stalls beforehand influenced my meal choice, but their vegetarian dishes sounded fantastic and i didn’t miss an ounce of meat!

replacing ham, the sautéed kale and mushrooms eggs benedict ($23) incorporated plump mushrooms that provided a meaty bite. as the poached egg oozed over everything, the molten yolk was captured into the not overly done kale’s crevices, making for a cleaner dish. a layer of sweet caramelized onions sat on top of the doughy soft buttermilk biscuit; it was a bit sugary for my taste, but thankfully the buttery hollandaise helped to addbacka savoury element.

although the frittata ($19) is listed under the “cold kitchen” section of the menu, it still arrives warm. the cubes of roasted butternut squash at the bottom makes

went for a birthday dinner. food took a while to come out (30-35 minutes) after ordering the entrees. entree selections were small -maybe 7 or 8- ordered the fish and chips. for the price i paid for this dish i expected a little more. came with 3 small pieces of fish that didn't taste like anything but the fries were decent though. my date had the pork dish, presentation was nice but again small portions for the higher price tag and it was overcooked.
will not be goingbackanytime soon although the brunch menu may be worth a trip.
also, its in the middle of no where (weird stretch of road by the highway) and you need to pau for parking.

worst customer service!. worst customer service! after a great visit to this restaurant for brunch, i chose to have my birthday celebration here. i ordered the hangar steak and found it extremely tough. i also did not enjoy seeing their staff eat in thebackkitchen. i e-mailed cafe belong the next day to give them feedback. here is their offensive response:

the steak you ordered was a hanger steak (our menu changes a lot, more than most, and now we have a striploing and a ribeye) and while definitely not a tender cut, it is extremely flavourful (which is my priority as most guests have teeth and bland but tender meat is readily available all over town) and i'm sorry for two things there - one that the waiter didn't underline the cut of meat for you and explain the cut better and that (i suspect) the kitchen cut it the wrong way after cookiing - it's like a diamond and if you cut it one way vs. another it will be more tender. as for staff eating, well let me say that i would prefer that the staff actually like our food, that they don't waste perfectly good food given them and that they are keen to eat the food we make. not sure where in the restaurant this staff memeber was eating but if it was in thebackof the house, well then, not sure what your concern could possibly be? if this person was walking around the dining room drinking out of a pot, then i believe i'm on your side. bon appetite

needless to say, a repeat visit is not on the menu!

mixed. after all the hype and recommendations, i was eager to try this place. overall, the feelings are mixed as much as the delivery in the meal. the service was attentive and friendly - top marks. the food was ok, delicious and disappointing. ok in the fact that it was just that... ok. nothing to really write home about. there were elements that were delicious. and then there were elements such as the poorly cooked eggs which were disappointing. you would hope the chef knew how to cook an egg! and it is with something as simple as eggs which disappointed my overall visit here. i would comebackagain for a second try, but not for a while.

horrible service. our group of 8 had brunch at cafe belong, and while we found the food to be generally quite good, the service was horrible.

we ordered our drinks and meals together, but half the cocktails arrived with the mains (which took over half hour), and half after the plates had been cleared. one frittata was very undercooked, and they took itbackto the kitchen with no apology, so that guest had to wait another 20 minutes, while the rest of us finished, to have her meal. then we ordered coffees; the people to order theirs first received them after the person who ordered belatedly, and the espressos were cold. we were told by our frazzled waitress that because there had been such a delay for our drinks, etc. that our desserts would be comped. so half of us ordered dessert (which we wouldn't normally), only to be told later that only one dessert would be complimentary. very aggravating.

after we complained, the manager did take the additional desserts off the bill, which was appreciated. this is an 8-10 table restaurant, with 4 waitstaff, 2 bartenders and a hostess working, i'm not sure what the delay was. we love the brickworks, but we won't be goingbackto cafe belong, at least not the seated portion.

review. i like to start off with telling you all that i'm such a foodie i go to all the new restaurants and try them out and almost 85% of time i am fully satisfied with the food/service/ambiance.

brand long, the chef of belong cafe has a fairly good reputation in toronto, so i gave belong cafe a shot, here is how it went:

went for lunch, the prices were ridiculously high for a cafe specially for lunch, no variety no panini no sandwiches... nothing... all very expensive dishes that are just really big plates and just little tiny bit of food! ($30 for half a chicken...or $28 for a tiny slice of fish with 3 pieces of gnocchi and i'm not kidding). the service was okay everyone seemed a bit confused and sketchy to be perfectly honest.

after tasting two different dishes and $85 later, i concluded never to gobackever again!

on the waybackto the office i actually had to stop at mcweans super market to grab a sandwich to go because i did not eat at cafe belong only cause the food was so disappointing, forget the price!

here is a list of really great restaurants that will satisfy all your taste buds and get you to leave the restaurant with a big smile on your face (even if you pay a little more you get what you pay for, you will never get jibbed at any of these restaurants i promise you that;

1.george-www.georgeonqueen.com
2. by mark- www.bymark.ca/
3. fabrica- www.fabbrica.ca/
4. north 44- www.north44restaurant.com

5. grazie- www.grazie.ca/ - i love grazie!!! there is reason why they have been in business for 30 years!!-

6. lindas- www.lindarestaurant.com/
7. beer bistro - www.beerbistro.com/
8. any of oliver bonacini restaurants- www.oliverbonacini.com
9. origin - www.origintoronto.com
10. spledndido- www.splendido.ca/

sorry to say will never gobackand will never try anything that has brand long's name attached to it.

i want my money back!!