INSOMNIA

My friend had a great Groupon for Insomnia, which included a cheese plate, entree, dessert and a drink along with each course. The cafe’s located right on the south east corner of Bathurst and Bloor and was very easy to find.

Atmosphere: We made reservations for a Friday night and they were ready with the table. The seating areas were varied with a bar area, traditional tables at the front, a lounge area with couches in the back and where we sat, two armchairs set up with a small round table in between. The table was really small, it would’ve been sufficient if we were just having drinks, but for a full meal, the room was tight. The armchair were also far away from the table and we had lean forward to eat as well as hold a conversation. It was a Friday night, so the noise level was loud and the restaurant was full capacity. The lighting was dim, and would’ve very romantic with the isolated tables. I also liked the art on the walls, there was a lot of variety and themes.

Service: The service was attentive, there wasn’t any wait time between courses and our drinks were brought right away. For the cheese plate appetizer, each different cheese was introduced. The server patiently listed our drink options several times while we decided.

Food: Overall the food was pretty good, the entrees were pretty normal. We ordered the steak, medium rare, which turned out nicely pink. The salmon flaked easily and wasn’t overcooked. The grilled vegetable skewer that came with the salmon was kind of a write off, not very much vegetables, and it also came with a huge dollop of garlic butter. We actually used the garlic butter to eat the mashed potatoes with that otherwise, would’ve been a bit too dry.

I did really enjoy the flat bread and cheese platter. The flat bread was warm and toasted, and I loved that they served a selection of fruit with the cheese. There was a soft cheese, a mild hard cheese and one that was more aged. I don’t know my cheeses very well and don’t usually like it, however the choices were all mild enough, especially accompanied by the fruit that we polished off the plate.

For dessert, we finished with a creme brulee and chocolate cake. The creme brulee was delicious, perfect burnt top, the chocolate was a little much. It was a lot of chocolate and very sweet. We also enjoyed a lovely glass of sparkling champagne, on top of the two glasses of white wine I had already enjoyed.

I liked the restaurant and the atmosphere was fun. I would love to re-visit to check out their promising brunch and extensive drink menu.