Death by Salt

Eats: Union Restaurant, Toronto, ON

Kitchen

Union restaurant interior

That nearly happened to me when my friends and I went to try Union restaurant along Ossington but I’m jumping ahead of the story.

The restaurant’s interior is very subdued with soft lights illuminating the wall painting on one side and a huge mirror on the other. The ambience aroused my curiosity of what’s in store ahead so while waiting for the rest of the entourage to arrive, we decided to order the Elk Sliders and the Charcuterie Plate as starters. Albeit elk meat tasted no different from beef, the meat was cooked enough to retain its juicy flavor and was immediately devoured, maybe because of our growing hunger pangs or maybe it tasted really good. I like the way the bread was toasted as it perfectly complemented the taste of the pâté and the stretched pork. Everything looked promising until I ordered my main course of pesto pasta as the Plat du Jour then everything went downhill from there. My entrée was so salty as if someone dumped a pile of salt from the Dead Sea. I checked with my other friend who ordered the similar dish and she confirmed that her pasta was too salty as well. It didn’t help that the server explained that the parmesan made my dish salty – NOT! Pesto pasta is one of my favorite dish and I definitely know how it tastes so please don’t give me that BS. They were nice enough though to replace it with the similar dish but this one was totally devoid of flavor so I gave up. I asked around how their food was: Sticky Ribs – nice presentation but tastes nothing out of the ordinary and so was the chicken confit.

Housemade Charcuterie

Duck Confit

I forgot to take a picture of the Elk Sliders before we devour it but managed to save a piece.

Pesto Pasta

Sticky Ribs

My dining experience at Union was a huge disappointment considering that I needed a boost on a cold and rainy night. Service is quite good and the staff were genuinely helpful. One last thing – the place sounded like a busy market like everyone’s haggling for a cheaper price because there was nothing to absorb the deafening chatters. Seriously, it actually dampens the mood when you’re trying to make conversations with a few good friends and putting a strain on your vocal chords at the same time. My saving grace happened after dinner where my team won from that cut-throat game of Taboo by a margin of one card! And that’s how you end a great Saturday night - good friends, nice hosts, great game sans the resto experience.

Score Card:

Food - Needs Improvement

Ambience - Fair

Price - Not worth the wait

Overall Dining Experience - Sad