Looking to satisfy that bourgeois bone on the east side, but not willing to pass Leslie Street? That’s how I felt recently; with the cold moving in I just wanted to pamper myself with a nice meal. From the outside Joy Bistro looks unaffordable to the average twenty something, but on closer examination their lunch and brunch menu are within the weekly budget, and even their dinnertime prix fixe won’t hurt your wallet too badly. However, after my experience there I would recommend Brunching at Joy and nothing else.
Their dinner prix fixe is typically priced around 30 and changes daily. For a special night out 30 is manageable, but be wary– straying from the prix fixe and adding on extras, like wine and water, can lead you to a painful bill.
There are four elements that combine to make a memorable dining experience: service, ambience, presentation, and taste. Joy is lacking in all four categories. The ambience is warm, but nothing special, the service was slow and condescending, and the food was lacking.
The waiter was standoffish, to the point of being rude. He was simultaneously able to ignore our table and pressure us into tacking on extras that were outside the fixe. We ordered water and were presented with a bottle of sparkling without consultation. That may be practice in Europe; however, I find backdoor upsells like that distasteful.
At our server’s recommendation we strayed from the daily prix fixe. The seared wild fish with tempura shrimp, buttered savoy cabbage, and house made bacon was a disappointment. While the slow cooked lamb shank with celeriac crushed potatoes, cellar vegetables and mint jus was simply mediocre. The fish was over done and the tempura was heavy, greasy, and cold. The accent of bacon added nothing, other than more grease, to the already too complicated dish. The lamb did not fall from the bone as a good lamb shank should, and worst of all it was over salted.
Perhaps this was a one-time flop—maybe Joy delivers for dinner on other nights, but I have not been inclined to find out. As for the budget? It went out the window. I ended up paying about 60 dollars for my mediocre meal.
SERVICE 2/5
AMBIANCE 3/5
PRESENTATION 3/5
TASTE 2/5
PRICE $$$$
HOURS Open seven days a week from 11:30am on. Dinner service begins at 5pm. Brunch is served from 8am-4pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
andapinch 