Black Ox Bistro

Businesses take note — If you are unusually busy and we have to wait a bit longer to get served, I don’t mind in the least, however, if somebody comes after me and gets their food when you are only taking my order, be sure that i will be very dissatisfied (even angry sometimes), and I am pretty sure other people share my sentiments.
And this is what happened to us this weekend in Black ox — though in all fairness, i called the manager to take our order, and indicated to him that we have not been looked after, he took off the cesar salad from our bill at the end, a nice gesture from him.
However, because i have been here many times, i can conclude that service is inconsistent.
The food was as good as always and the taste i’d say is consistent. The ambianc/​environment is the same and is good, i like it the way it is.
I would be going there again because my friends love the food and i would update my review if their service improves.

I dont have time to write big reviews, this place is a hit or a miss, from the service I got.
The customer service is great, wait staff is really good, they kept checking on us, but not hovering over us. Everything was brought in timely manner.
We were party of 6 adults, and 4 kids, ordered five kids meals, 7 entrees 2 appetizers, bottle of bubbly, 5 specialty drinks, 2 sodas. Kids meal really are for under 5, piece of meat they got was 40% fat. I am not going to say whats not good, since its a steak place, so it depends on how u like your steak, must try ribs, salmon, and rib eye. Kids burger did have a slight meat smell to that my son didn’t care for, all in all, bill including tip was around $ 420. CAD

I made a reservation on line, was greeted by the manager and he was unable to find reservation for few minutes (restaurant was nearly empty so reservation was not necessary). Was seated as close to restrooms as possible. Waitress was not properly trained she could not answer any questions we asked about menu (5 questions out of 5) and needed to walk away five times to secure information (this was not inspiring any faith in the service). We ordered two scallop apps both where under seasoned and steamed instead of seared so the texture was not pleasant and the flavour was bland. Ordered two stakes both cooked reasonably competently, but under seasoned again, we had to request salt be brought to table. this was a trend in the dining room as I overheard a table say their food was also «bland» and another table ask for salt to be brought to them. I also ordered the five dollar addition of mushrooms they came in the corner of my plate and the amount and quality where not worth the price. My wife had a seven ounce steak and was mostly fat (imo a small steak should be trimmed so as to give people the opportunity to have all of it) and her choice of side was the vegetables and this ended up being a plate full of carrots and a bit of zucchini. So was the service and food worth the 100 dollar tab? No, not at all, and the overall four star rating is a mystery to me, Unilocal you have let me down on this one.

delicious restaurant :) I’m super happy it’s halal and definitely will come for my birthday
btw
we had a meat platter for 40 $ which was perfect since we got to try all the meet, my husband and I ordered a mint lemonade which wasn’t too sweet and p. s we got for FREE for checking in on Unilocal and my husband got a crème brûlée (I was trying to be healthy) and he said was soo good and tasted like a marshmallow
update:
my husband and I had a quick dinner there today and were once again very satisfied:) we weren’t too hungry and wanted something quick so we decided on sandwiches. They were DELICIOUS to say the least. Definitely give the juicy Lucy burger a try its like nothing you have ever had before. You will not regret it. Oh and get spicy mayo on the side. It makes an amazing dip.

Yesterday me and my wife decided to celebrate her birthday at this restaurant. we made reservation around 5pm and once we arrived we were welcomed by the manager, he was very helpful at the beginning
Food:
I ordered Juicy Lucy burger (17 $)
my wife ordered GRILLED CHICKEN FETTUCCINE and chose steak instead of chicken (27 $ dish)
Kids ordered kids menu burger and chicken nuggets
My burger had a huge slap of fried mash potatoes, it was messy and falling apart, I couldn’t even hold it without being completely melting down on the plate, so it was a mess… The mash potatoes didn’t go well with that burger, I had 10 times better burger which costed me 5 $, it was tasteless and a mess, I guess only looked good in the picture (don’t ever order that burger). My kid burger tasted better…
My wife dish also was tasteless, the steak was good but for sure it wasn’t worth the 27 $, we had better Italian dishes
Service:
As mentioned above service started amazing but after they got busy with more customers we were completely left alone, my wife mentioned at the beginning that we wanted to order dessert but the manager seems ignored us (they were not short on staff but their staff seems running around doing nothing, they act like they all managers…) we waited over 20 minutes and then with no help so my wife and kids left, I waited another 10 minutes by my self just to get the bill, I asked some one (not our server) to get me the bill and finally got it
we felt like they didn’t want us there, it was weird
anyway first time and last time for us, we drove from Mississauga for tasteless expensive food with good service at beginning and very bad service at the end
maybe they have better other dishes that we didn’t try, but avoid the ones we mentioned above

Had a great time here at black ox with my husband. They have a romantic and modern ambiance. Beef brisket poutine and lamb ribs were the best! Service was top notch.
We came here on a Sunday evening, our reservations were made by a 3^rd party vendor who invited us here to sample the meal. The place was conveniently located. The plaza was not too busy, had lots of parking. Storefront was easy to find with a bright lit open sign outside. Upon entering we were instantly greeted by the hostess. For some reason our reservation was not in the system but the manager John quickly came over and was still able to accommodate us. The restaurant was indeed packed and they had many reservations even on a Sunday night.
We got seated in a booth. The booth was a bit small and tight in terms of spacing but it was sufficient for just 2 adults. They seem to have lots of seating and came accommodate large parties. Around 15 – 20 tables.
We got acquainted with our server Chris and he was very friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. He recommended the mango lychee mocktail to me. And it was amazing! We also got to try the raspberry mojito, it lacked flavour to me. My husband enjoyed his piña colada (pineapple juice, coconut cream, nutmeg). The presentation of these drinks were professional!
We started with the buffalo wing apps, they were really really flavourful. If you enjoy tangy flavours you’d enjoy the wings here.
Next was the beef brisket poutine which I enjoyed the most! It’s quite unique! The fries were really good! Had amazing and very filling cheese curds. Gravy was excellent. The beef brisket was shredded and was good, but some parts a bit chewy if it was a larger piece. Id recommend the beef brisket to be shredded more for the poutine.
We then tried their lamb ribs which came in a large wooden block. Presentation amazing again! It came with mash potatoes and steamed vegetables. Both were excellent sides. The lamb was very very good! Fall off the bone! I’d definitely recommend this.
Lastly we ordered a crème brûlée to share. It came also In a very nice presentation block with dessert decoration. The crème brûlée was good but very thin custard layer.
In between courses the manager and server always checked in on us to ensure we had everything we needed. They were extra attentive and had cleaned the tables between courses and had even refreshed our side plates.
We noticed that the servers and hostesses were also very friendly to other tables. Some talked to their server for a long time sharing names etc. The hostesses who seated guests were also very attentive and friendly too asking if it’s their first time at the resto, and ensuring guests know where the washrooms are located etc. As well they mention to all guests while they are seated that the restaurant serves non-​alcoholic drinks only. They provide great drink suggestions.
Their washrooms are fairly clean and quite modern. There are 2 stalls with doors. 1 larger and has a baby changing table.
Overall, we had a stellar experience and will definitely come back again!

OK for food and price ratio. Not bad for a halal bistro, given the choices of halal bistro places are very limited in the Scarborough area.
We went there for a work lunch to accommodate a halal food critic co-​worker :)
Service (food) was slooow !!
Would I personally go back? Nope.

@BLACKOXBISTRO #PREMIUMHALAL #GOURMETHALAL # UnilocalGTA
I am glad I gave this place another shot. I was asked to come back to this restaurant for a meal and as an incentive, their PR team threw in a complimentary sampler palette. My friend and I got to Black Ox Bistro super hungry and left super full. Truth be told, I probably got some special treatment, but the service was top notch!
I ordered the Pina Colada mocktail as soon as I was seated. My friend ordered himself a Raspberry Mojito. I’ll tell you this. The Pina Colada is WAY better. Although, he did love his drink. The Black Ox menu looks really impressive and I was surprised to see some very reasonable prices. Steaks were about $ 30-​$ 40 for 10−12oz.
Now, I wish I had ordered a meal right away. But instead, we wanted to try the sampler first. We got 3 mini tacos — chicken, lamb and fish, mac and cheese bites, and a deep dish personal vegetarian pizza to try. The fish taco was unreal in a good way! The lamb had some heat to it and the chicken taco was pretty good. The mac and cheese bites were much better this time around — a lot more flavour! Very tasty with the chipotle aioli.
I wasn’t a fan of the deep dish vegetarian pizza due to personal preferences; don’t like vegetarian pizza. My friend enjoyed it. I really enjoyed the crust. It’s made from scratch in the kitchen!
Anyway, the above filled us up. Like we had no more appetite. I suspect it was the Pina Colada for me, and the entire deep dish pizza for my friend. I felt bad that we couldn’t order a proper meal. So I offered to pay for the sampler. And the staff obliged and charged me a heavily discounted rate. Woohoo!
I did order myself a dessert. I got a crème brûlée. And as a part of an off-​menu sample, the chef brought out a piña colada ice cream that was the most exquisite thing I’ve had! The crème brûlée was perfect too!
All in all, this was a much more positive experience than the last. It’s missing a star because I haven’t yet ordered anything off the menu. But I’ll be back. My friend and I are both looking forward to be back because the menu was really exciting. Also, the people in the adjacent booth to us ordered some crazy meat deliciousness that we HAVE to try!
PS: A+ for presentation!

Finally got to check out this place. Came down here with family, party of 6 + 3 kids. We were greeted promptly and our table was setup fairly quickly. Menus and water were set right away as well. We went with the week day special 2 can dine for $ 39 which is a very good deal. We got an appetizer to share between 2, 2 main course dishes and a dessert to share. For appetizer we got the beef sliders. These were the perfect size and the sliders were cooked just right. We also got the beef brisket poutine — hands down one of the best poutine’s we’ve had!!! For the main course we got to try beef lasagna and lamb papadalla. The lasagna was good and loaded with cheese. Loved the lamb dish as well, never had a lamb pasta dish before so this was real good. To end it all we got the crème brulé, loved the crème brûlé!!! All in all we’ll definitely be coming back here for another visit.

Full disclosure: I was invited here for a media night. Unfortunately, I was unable to go, but the organizer later treated me to lunch. For my lunch, I got to sample a 5 course meal, some of which are going to be implemented into the existing menu soon. I am in no way being sponsored for this review. But I would like you to know that I was invited to try this place out.
Okay, so started off with some mocktails (non-​alcoholic drinks only in this establishment) and Mac and Cheese bites that came with a sriracha mayo. SO isn’t big on Mac and Cheese. I love it, esp when they come in bite size. This one I found to be okay, but I’ve definitely had better. And I found that the sauce was not spicy at all. I really hope they kick up the spice for the sauce. This dish isn’t on the menu just yet.
Then we had the Bacon wrapped Scallops. So if you read my reviews, I never eat pork (for religious reasons). This restaurant serves halal meat. Which is excellent, because I’m always looking for places to take my parents to. Anyway, the bacon here? It’s veal bacon, so not pork. This dish, was hands down, our favourite of the entire meal. It was SO FREAKING GOOD. The mushroom salad that went with it was delicious too! If you go here, I definitely suggest getting this.
Next course was their Black Ox Brisket Poutine. It’s made with real cheese curds. I loved the beef brisket, but found the poutine to be too large. Of course, we’d already had 2 courses, but still. Maybe if it had more meat to it, I would have pushed myself to eat more of it. I have to say, this place puts emphasis on their meat, and I enjoyed the cook of the meat very much.
We had vegetarian personal pan pizzas after that. This is another item not on their current menu. The GM came out to tell us that they were really excited to add this as there are not as menu vegetarian friendly dishes on the current menu. The dough was made in house. The presentation was fun, and I liked that the pizzas reminded me of making pizza at home with my family. I will say, the pizzas need more pineapples (they had a couple scattered about) and that the toppings need to be more evenly distributed. I found that most of my toppings were close to the crust. It is a fairly thin pizza and could be a good vegetarian entrée if those changes are made.
Lastly, we got to taste two dessert dishes. We had the Crème Brûlée which was absolutely delicious. Loved it. We literally cleaned the dish. The other one, I don’t believe is on the current menu. It was a Chocolate Torte cake. HOLY COW. SO MUCH CHOCOLATE. I could only have two slivers of it. My SO tried to eat more, but we could not finish more than half. It’s really too rich and decadent. Literally was like eating solid chocolate. The taste was good, but the amount was way too much.
It was really empty when we went for lunch on Friday. We did go for a late lunch time though, so that could be it. The service was beyond excellent, but I should remind you, I was being hosted for lunch. I cannot tell if the service will be excellent all the time. I really loved the décor, the fact that they have created an upscale dining experience while keeping the locals in mind and serving halal meat. I think that’s really important because I don’t have a lot of fancier restaurant options when taking family out. The location is a bit far, if you don’t live in Scarborough or drive, but I think this place is worth checking out. It’s a lovely place for date night or girls night.
I will definitely be visiting again though! I’m interested in trying more of their meat entrees hehe =)

yay a place i can finally share a HALAL meat filled meal with my bestieee. which is exactly what we did :)
we started with the brisket poutine-​it was perfect. the gravy was rich and tasty-​not so much a poutine type gravy. it was more like a gourmet gravy. the meat was also tender. i would go back just for that
the bestie got the ribs-​which she liked. had an impressive presentation too. i got the 7 oz steak with peppercorn sauce and ordered it medium. this place loses one star with me because the steak came out medium rare… and in some spots straight up rare. but i ate it anyway i was so hungry i didnt wanna wait for a re-​order.
the server was super nice and attentive. although my steak was cooked exactly to my liking everything was still delicious.
ps-​maybe having some background music would be nice. when i was there it was eerily quiet and made us feel weird about having girl chat since everyone could probably hear us. AWKS

Full Disclosure: I attended a media event, but I did tell the organisers that I would be providing an honest review, so here it is…
Coles Notes version: Service/​Ambiance was much better than the food itself.
Service was not perfect, we had to ask for basic stuff like cutlery, condiments, & water, but never did I see the waiters unable to handle our requests or get frustrated. So that was pretty impressive to me!
Restaurant itself is new, so it’s nice, re: medium/​dark wood tones, dim lighting, nice light fixtures, etc. Strip mall that it’s located in appears to be new as well, so there is plenty of parking.
I’m not going to itemize each and every course, but I think the main problem lies within preparing food for a large group, approx. ~30ppl. Most, if not all, the food was probably left out too long before being served as everything was just lukewarm, re: soup, Mac & Cheese/​Poutine/​Sliders, & Risotto.
In conjunction with the temperature issue, there was also an overall lack of any flavour, re: Soup (bland, needed good old fashioned s’np, nutmeg), I really wanted to like the Mac & Cheese, but that was completely bland, needed a sharper cheese, & Wild Mushroom Risotto was also very, very bland, and rice was undercooked (had hard bits), I couldn’t eat this. Stuffed mushroom itself was good, but the entire dish was a beige colour which was not particularly appealing. Basil foam as a garnish was not a good idea. I think some fresh chopped chives would’ve been a better idea, adding some colour to the plate.
The only dishes that had any notable flavour were the chicken wings (had a nice kick to it!) and the Chicken Ballotine (chicken was nicely seasoned), but carrot purée needed some salt.
I must note that the meat, re: sliders (served with no condiments), beef brisket (room temp & bland), chicken was cooked well. However, the temperature & lack of seasoning on most things really detracted from the quality/​cook of the meat.
The Pavlova part of the dessert was just meh. Tasted just like baked, fluffed egg whites. White chocolate sauce was nice though. Again, presentation was not a strong suit.
While I was making a call, I walked around and took a look at what the other diners were eating and honestly, their dishes looked better, more colour, nice cuts of meat, better presentation. So perhaps there was just an issue of preparing good food for a large group.
I do feel bad for providing a less-​than-​stellar review, but I did *warn* the organisers that I was going to be completely honest, free or not.

Excellent service, décor and food was amazing! We had The rack of ribs and steak! All halal! Must go

I went to this place during Ramadan. They offered free drinks… One of the most tastiest lemonade I ever had!
There were 8 of us and they brought our food fairly quick except my friends salad took forever and came when we were ready to pay but that was because she ordered it late however it still took a lot of time for a salad… I believe they forgot about it.
I had asked for veal bacon bits on my steak which they did not add however the manager did apologize.
The steak was good… I had filet mignon… I enjoyed it however I felt like they could have given more veggies. They were very hard… Could have steamed them properly. Mashed potatoes were yummy.
Set up was good
It was a clean place
They need to put some light in the washroom because I had to keep my stall door slightly open which was really annoying and unacceptable. So hopefully they can add some light to the restroom… ATLEAST the ladies not sure about the men
Might go back one day.

Black Ox Bistro is a restaurant in Scarborough offering modern halal cuisine with an elevated flair. The restaurant caters to serving halal-​certified meat that are from HMA (Halal Monitoring Association) certified sources. Given the long lines at the Toronto’s Halal Food Festival 2015, one could tell the restaurant has gained popularity for their take on mainstream style dining.
Upon entering the establishment, it was clear that the management of Black Ox Bistro wanted to create a more upscale and relaxed environment. The dining room was spacious with a bar located at the front of the house where they make in-​house mocktails. The reason for the sale of mocktails is because alcohol is not permitted in hahal establishments.
I started the night off with an order of their most popular mocktails, the Pina Colada ($ 6) — pineapple juice, coconut cream, and crushed ice. It was a very refreshing drink with a strong hint of coconut, which I enjoyed. I decided to opt for the bacon wrapped scallops after seeing pictures of it on my Instagram feed earlier that week. The bacon wrapped scallops ($ 14) were absolutely delicious, and flavored really well. Normally, I am not a huge bacon fan, but I really liked that the texture of the veal bacon was slightly less crispy than pork bacon.
As for my entrée, I got the filet mignon (6 oz) ($ 24). The steaks are Canadian Angus beef that are aged for 28 day, and HMA certified hahal. Each steak entrée was served with the customer’s choice of two sides from the following list; seasonal vegetables, house cut fries, or roasted garlic mash. I opted for the seasonal vegetables, and roasted garlic mash. I also added an extra order of lobster tail with lemon herb butter ($ 12) to make it into my own version of surf & turf. The juicy steak was cooked exactly to my order, which was medium. The sauce that I selected was the Café de Paris butter. A good Café de Paris butter needs to have the perfect balance of butter, and the fragrant herbs and spices used. The texture of the one from Black Ox Bistro was slightly thicker than I would have liked, but it did add flavor to the steak. The lobster tail also added the extra touch to what was a very tasty and filling meal.
Black Ox Bistro prides themselves on serving a variety of items that are made in-​house from fresh local ingredients. Similarly to their food items, the desserts were all made in-​house by their chefs. I was happy to see that one of the options was crème brûlée; my favorite dessert of all time. I ordered the crème brûlée ($ 7), which was well plated. Overall, the dessert was indeed excellent, and it was a generous portion compared to the ones at similarly priced restaurants.
I was pleasantly surprised that all of the staff provided both friendly, and attentive service to all diners. They all worked cohesively as a well-​unified team, and that resulted in providing great and consistent service. Overall, I had a fine dining experience at Black Ox Bistro, as I enjoyed both the food and ambiance.

The staff is friendly and give good recommendation and there food taste good and there desert was great. The service of food and service is great.

I managed to snare a reservation for dinner last weekend at the Black Ox Bistro. A beautiful new downtown style restaurant located in Scarborough. The restaurant was full when we arrived at 7.30 and full when we left at 9. Nothing frozen here. Everything fresh and cooked to order. We were served by Ellie who was passionate about the menu, kind and not overbearing. She advised us the meat is halal and the restaurant doesn’t serve alcohol but quickly assured us the mocktails would make up for that. She wasn’t wrong — our table ordered two rounds of drinks and we tried everything from the pina coloda to the Antioxidant. The antioxidant was fresh and healthy and would be an excellent lunchtime drink. I had a steak with Café de Paris butter that was done to perfection and the king of ribs were succulent and fell of the bone easily. A great new neighbourhood bistro — a perfect combination of excellent food, excellent service and very reasonably priced as well. We will be returning soon with friends.

Had a very pleasant experience at the restaurant.
The staff was quick to seat us. They were extremely polite and professional. The appetizer came within 15 minutes of ordering. The main course came within 10 minutes after finishing the appetizer. The bill came promptly after the meal. These guys are not out to waste your time!
Now onto the food. It was delicious! The scallops with chicken bacon as an absolute must try. It was properly cooked and very aromatic. My chicken breast sandwich was well seasoned and prepared. The chicken breast stuffed with vegetable was also quite tasty!
The décor is extravagant! Very edgy and modern. The atmosphere is quite pleasant… did I mention the servers were amazing? LOL!
All in all, this place is a definite hit so far. I only hope they can keep up with the demand of their growing clientelle. Keep up the good work people!