Quetzal (*), Toronto – Tasting Menu at the Chef’s Counter

I was in Toronto over the weekend and wanted to try a good tasting menu. After some research, I settled on Quetzal, which focuses on fire-roasted Mexican cuisine. I sat at the chef’s counter. That was great as a solo diner, as I could sit back and watch the team work over the open fires during the meal. I’ll just say that it gets pretty toasty, so don’t dress too warm, and be prepared to come away with smoky clothes.

Overall I loved this meal! Everything was delicious and well-executed, but it was also a lot of fun, and the price was very reasonable. Pretty much the platonic ideal of a one-star restaurant. I should add that I’m a vegetarian, which they were happy to accommodate, but it looked like they had plenty of meat and seafood options as well. Here’s a rundown of the courses:

I started off with a bite of tomato, cactus, and cotija cheese in endive, which was tasty and refreshing. Next up was mushrooms, tomatoes, and cheese on a blue corn tortilla. I liked this as well (I’m always a sucker for dishes that use blue masa), but it was just a tad over-salted.

The third course was my favorite! This is the mushroom and shishito pepper dish that’s also on the a la carte menu. They’re served with a poblano crema and tortillas. The veggies were roasted to perfection and the amount of flavor packed into this with the savory mushrooms, peppers, and crema was fantastic.

The last savory course was a vegetarian version of the lamb empanada oaxaquena, filled with zucchini, other veggies, and cheese, accompanied by the cucumber and tomato salad. The empanada and accompanying sauce was delicious, although I don’t think the zucchini added all that much to it. The tomato salad was actually also a highlight of the meal for me, it was super fresh and flavorful.

Finally, I had two dessert courses: a coconut and sweet corn cream dish with roasted pineapple and a spiced chocolate mousse. I’m not a huge pineapple fan (though the coconut cream was delightful), so the spiced chocolate was a bit more up my alley. It actually had some real heat to it, which I thought was great.

For a drink, I decided to opt for something fun and get a tasty michelada verde.

Overall, this was a great meal!

One of my favorite meals of all time

Been going since they opened, my favourite spot in the city. I go as often as my toddler allows.

This is one I don’t get. I’ve tried most of the stars in Ontario and Quetzal is the biggest miss for me. We only had 5 courses and one was a huge miss. The service/hospitality was way below that of Alo, Akin, 20 Vic. The tasting menu seemed improvised which is fine but it was not super cohesive and seemed different for every group… for example, the duo next to us were getting different dishes and we couldn’t help but be envious that they got the signature bone marrow while we got essentially a cheese quesadilla. The drink pairing was also wildly disappointing for us. It all felt random and less curated than I would expect at this price point. My friends that have tried at are so divided… some love it and some think it’s wildly overrated. Definitely a polarizing one.