Fred’s Not Here

Earls was recommended to us by a coworker… who’s opinion I’ll no longer take!
We walked in to an almost empty dining area that dark and pretty small. We waited… and waited… and waited. I kind of got the impression with the lights on bright it would have looked very dingy. We were finally seated, the menu looked like it’s printed out in the back. All dog eared and hard to read. We ordered the crab cakes for an appetizer and some drinks. App came out… and it was one crab cake. For 3 people. Great. Ordered another, and our entrees… except they were out of the scallops. By this point we thought about leaving.
Our entrees came out, and we never saw our waitress again except when she was talking to her other two tables. The spinach was the saltiest thing I’ve ever eaten. Ever. The steaks were decent, as was my paella. We asked another waiter for a dessert menu, and then… waited. And waited, and waited and waited. We finally had to flag him down again, ask to order dessert to go and for the check. And we waited. The last time we saw our waitress was when she FINALLY brought our check so we could get the heck out of there.
Such a disappointment for food that while decent, was really expensive for what it was. Such lame service.

This was a walk in place that my wife and I came across. The food we ordered was very delicious. Atmosphere is very nice and comfortable. Layout is odd but the seats we sat in were good and placed appropriately. Waitress was a little awkward.

I’ve been here multiple times. I can’t remember any of the mains I’ve had here, which is telling, but I always get the lobster and crab soup and it’s always amazing. The mix of the rich soup and puff pastry makes it stand out for me. And the baked banana chocolate bread pudding with warm caramel rum sauce is also very good. The aforementioned soup alone is worth trying out. Go for Summerlicious or Winterlicious.

Came here for winterlicious with a group of 8. I’ve heard good things about this place from friends and man oh man I don’t know what happened. The service from start to end was poor. I looked at every server and cooks in the back and everyone looked miserable. Our server seemed like they had a rough day.
Got the crab and lobster soup and it was salty. The main course surf and turf with fries was decent. You get what you pay for I guess for winterlicious. Maybe things will be different the next time I come by.

Came here again for winterlicious and after my first experience so I know what to order.
Service was spot on and friendly, the ambiance was relaxing and casual. Price was more than fair for the menu. The company and the food made it a great night, can’t wait to come back again! I would say there is a bit of everything for everyone here. The food was delicious even down to their bread basket. Our waiter was super accomodating and attentive. Left the table feeling full and satisfied. They changed up their menu and we got to try some new dishes they added, the surf and turf pasta, the chicken, and their different desserts. The best banana chocolate bread pudding I’ve ever had hands down.

Decided to come here as a group for Winterlicious 2016. We chose this place because the Winterlicious menu was so extensive. You can decide between 6 appetizers, 8 entrees and 4 desserts. I got the lobster and crab soup, streak and banana chocolate bread.
The app was fantastic, given it was the first thing they served. The flavour of the soup was plentiful, however, I couldn’t really taste lobster in it because the spice covered up most of it. This not to say that it was bad because it was still good. Some people might not like it so peppery. There I thought the rest of the food should be good or better. Turned out it was only ok because the entrée and dessert just didn’t cut it. I ordered the steak medium rare, but I got it close to medium. I wasn’t exactly happy about that and this happens to me quite often. The dessert… While it was good, it wasn’t superb. I was hoping it be softer, but turned out harder than I thought.
The worst part of the night was not actually the food, but the asian guy working there. I’m not sure if he’s the owner or just the man in charge that night. His attitude was just poor, not very friendly. Hopefully his name isn’t Fred, cuz if it is. Well, he really shouldn’t be there.
The best part of the night was our waitress. She was so polite and always came over to help us. Just a kind and warm person, not to mention absolutely stunning! Thank you so much for the night, mystery waitress! If I were to rate the person serving our table, I’d give her 5 stars straight up! So, Fred, you better give her a damn raise! Since I’m reviewing the food and my overall experience, then 3 is the best I can give.

First time here, very ambient atmosphere as it is good for dates and social gatherings. I bought my friend here to experience the infamous soup as it was recommended by my friend. I would say it was very delicious even with the puff pastry on top made it yummy. I had the steak, it is very yummy and for dessert the almond cheesecake was divine. Very yummy tasting food. Hope to try their regular menu soon.

I came here for a Saturday lunch for Winterlicious with a friend, and we were pretty pleased with the meal and experience! To start, we were a little early for our reservation, yet they still were able to accommodate (it wasn’t too busy — around 70% full) which was great.
We both ordered the lobster soup for the appetizer which was delicious! I really enjoyed the puff pastry on top with the flavorful soup — it was also the perfect amount to start off the meal, not too heavy but enough to satisfy. Highly recommend! For the entrée, I had the steak and angel hair pasta with marinara sauce which was cooked to my perfect medium and was super filling. My friend had the blue cheese burger which she also enjoyed as well. For dessert, the portions are a little smaller than the usual slice of cake, but it was a perfect amount for us since we really really stuffed by then. I had the chocolate almond torte which was more of a chocolate cake with caramel filling (which was still delicious — but just a heads up if anyone doesn’t like caramel in their cakes) and my friend had the apple crumble cheesecake which was yummy as well, not too sweet or heavy.
Overall, I had a great experience here and would definitely recommend to try for Winterlicious. The restaurant itself was clean and the staff were attentive (wouldn’t really say friendly, but I mean they did their job and refilled water twice and were pleasant so nothing to complain about here). A 3-​course meal lunch for $ 23 that has so many options is a yes in my books!

Came here for winterlicious menu. The tablecloth had brown stains on it but overall had a romantic, dimmed-​light ambiance.
Unfortunately we were not offered bread for the table although every other table did. We both ordered the baked lobster soup, I ordered the featured cocktail as well to start. The soup was quite good, the dough was flaky and was very warm but the soup was had a lot of white pepper taste and a thin consistency.
For entrees we had the steak and fries as well as the mushroom agnolotti. Both entrees were satisfying but the steak was quite small, which might be understandable since it was winterlicious.
For desserts, we had the apple crumble cheesecake and the sorbet which were both very tasty, all in all, a good experience, but would only return for winterlicious prices.

Came here for Winterlicious, and the restaurant was completely full.
Jump up Vegetable Soup: very spicy curried vegetable soup. This was awesome.
Seafood Linguine: This was terrible. The spaghetti tasted like it was mixed with watered-​down cheap tomato sauce from a can. It was watery and bland. Some of the mussels were mushy and tasted fishy in a bad way, which means they are far from fresh. The grilled king cod was very dry, and the blackened top made it taste bitter. So, it was basically dry bitter fish.
My dining partner had the blue label burger and he enjoyed it. We both enjoyed the fries that came with his entrée.

I can’t tell if Fred’s Not Here or there is simply an absence of a head chef and customer service.
Upon sitting down with our large party, we were rushed the whole time. We were told it was going to be a busy night since its Winterlicious and they were having two dinner time slots. Reasonable explanation had the restaurant been not half empty.
First course was the famous Baked crab and lobster bisque. It contained no meat. My puff pastry was deflated like Pamela Anderson’s implants. The bisque was completely overpowered with hot sauce and continues to burn my stomach as I write this scathing review.
The steak frites had been over cooked well done steak as did every person at my table. I am going to speculate they pre-​cooked every steak up to a certain point and reheat the steaks. My sides included exactly 4 green beans and 3 sliced mushrooms.
They re-​cooked my steak that I ordered Medium Rare and this time instead of well done was Medium Well. I let this slide.
The whole 2 hours, water was never refilled once. At about 8pm we were told that we needed to go and that other diners have been waiting 10 minutes.
As we were walking out, we did not see a single soul in sight. I guess the people waiting were all named Fred. The restaurant was 30% full at this point, on a Saturday night. I guess our waiter got his 18% gratuity for a large party and really didn’t care if he provided excellent service or not.
Do not come here. Do not recommend.
Service ¹⁄₁₀
Food ²⁄₁₀
Restaurant Name ¹⁰⁄₁₀

I’ve dined here several times, but on this particular visit, 4 of us popped in for a Winterliscious lunch.
Food portion size was gigantic… all four of left us stuffed !
Appetizers:
One person ordered the Arugula Salad, with radicchio, apples. She loved it.
I had the Caesar. The dressing was garlicky. No croutons or bacon, but plenty of shaven Parmesan.
2 people ordered the lobster/​crab soup, with puff pastry on top. They both were expecting it to be a hearty soup, with meat pieces in it, but it was just a broth. They both really loved it though and were not disappointed.
Lunch:
Two ppl had the burger… a huge angus/​Kobe burger that was very filling. It came with duck fat fried fries. Burger was very moist and delicious. I had no idea I could open my mouth that wide, the burger was so big… but I persevered.
One person ordered the blackened salmon on a bed of lentils. She said the salmon was cooked perfectly and was very spicy. She loved it.
One person ordered the steak. It was cooked perfectly and she ate every piece of it (it was a fairly lean cut)
Dessert
Chocolate almond cake. OMG… so good !
Our male server was excellent. He continually dropped by during our meal… super attentive.
Lunch with app, main course and dessert was $ 23. Worth every penny.
I’ll definitely go back

Friends in Toronto recommended Fred’s and we were happy they did. The food was straight-​ahead fresh, well-​prepared and delicious. I started with the simple arugula salad which is how it sounds — light and green and tasty; my husband enjoyed a caesar. The trout, not normally a personal fave, was prepared perfectly, a light dish, punctuated with a tiger shrimp. My husband was not as happy with the surf and turf: the surf (lobster) was dry and tasteless, although the turf (steak) was well prepared. In an unusual move, we ordered dessert: crème brûlée, which was a good finale.
Enjoyed the Canadian wine as well! Service was fine, ambience quiet, tables nicely spaced. Note: don’t go before the theatre crowd finishes up. Our 7:30 reservations were perfect. Only wrinkle was discovering an extra glass of wine on the bill, and not what we were drinking, which seemed strange; the waiter reimbursed us with cash.

idk man, it was really f-​ing expensive and I didn’t enjoy a single dish we ordered.
We had the «well known/​famous» gnocchi dish. the rainbow trout. and the fried calamari. all of which were mediocre at best.
It was a pretty painfully slow process to get this food too. from the ordering wait time, to the time it took to actually get the dishes, to the time it took to pay the bill and get out.
bad experience man, and felt like a huge waste of 100 bucks. maybe I just ordered all the wrong things. anyway. I wouldn’t come back and gamble another 100+ after today.

Where to begin… another day in Toronto, another food experience, sat outside on a brisk afternoon and looked at the menu. Our waiter, tall guy, nice with a strange affect, kinda like is he high or hungover, his speech and lack of speed… yea. so we started with the lobster bisque which was presented with the croissant like bread baked over ontop of it (cute) bisque was hot and thick. We ordered two entrees, the shrimp pasta dish and asked for scallops on the side, we were craving seafood. It took 45 minutes to get a dish that takes 12 minutes to cook. We looked for our waiter who was now overwhelmed. We were the first table in the restaurant. We watched as orders hot the table out of sequence and to wrong tables. My gf and I agreed that if the plates didn’t come out in 2 minutes we were done. Lucky for Fred and company our meals finally came out. It was good, but not worth waiting for. I would never come back here based on service. it was a weekday and we were the first table. The free glass of wine didn’t help… well maybe a little. We still tipped our waiter.

Great location on Kings entertainment district.
Food was decent.
I ordered the salmon and I didn’t realize that it would be deep fried. Or so it seemed that it was. Had I known I would not have ordered it. As this does not agree with my tummy.
The sauce on it was delicious.
My partner had the pene chicken pasta. If you love olives you will like this plate.
Portions were decent.
Desert was ok but lacked more flavour and richness. Presentation was nice.
Atmosphere inside was very dark and had an older feel to it.
Service was normal nothing extra special. They take your order and get your food done. They seemed to be pretty busy throughout our dining experience.
Hostess did not thank us or say by as we left.
Since there are several door to door restaurants competing for guests, I would probably give all the others a try first before coming back.

I went here for Summerlicious and I heard mixed reviews for this place but decided to give it a go. It was 23 dollars for lunch.
I had their crab and lobster bisque. I am a fan of puff pastry and this was the highlight of the meal. It was a good portion and delicious. The Puff pastry certainly added to the dish.
On their menu on the Summerlicious site, they had their wood grilled flat iron steak and frites with mushroom butter. When we went to the restaurant, this item was changed into a streak salad. We asked the server about this, and the chef agreed to change it to what was seen on the site, which was nice of them. But, when we got the dish, it was literally the steak that they would serve on the salad with a couple of green beans and fries on the side. I would say that the fries were the best part. The steak was dry and was not the greatest.
For dessert, I opted for the fresh fruit ice which was decent.
The décor of the place was outdated and I did not enjoy my experience that much.
2 stars is a bit harsh for this place, but it just wasn’t there for me!

Again… 3 stars is harsh for this place. I absolutely enjoyed their lobster crab bisque and their price fix menu is good! There is better steak out there but I like coming here for a $ 45 3 course steak dinner.
What I didn’t like is the staff. They’re quite rude when I called in for a reservation. Their tone sounded like they didn’t care to accommodate.

I love Fred’s Not Here and I usually get the Steak and Lobster & Crab soup. The Lobster and Crab soup is more of a bisque with a puff pastry on top. It’s peppery, creamy, smooth and just delicious. I always get this as an appetizer, no matter how appealing the other ones sound because I’m sure I’ll regret it.
This winterlicious my friend and I tried two entrees offered on the menu: the slow roasted duck confit and the 2 way pork.
The slow roast duck confit was served over pesto gnocchi. It was tender and was preferred over the 2 way pork, but I only wish it was served with fries and veggies as the pesto gnocchi slightly overpowered the duck confit.
The 2 way pork was… meh. The ribs were pretty standard, fall off the bone with a sweet and spicy sauce. The pork belly was very odd. My friend and I are used to chinese roasted pork, which is exactly what the pork belly looked like. You immediately knew the difference once you put it in your mouth as pork belly is EXTREMELY sticky. So sticky I had to use my fork to pry it off my teeth while chewing and the skin was more hard than crispy. My favourite part the 2 way pork were the duck fat frites, but that may just be my obsession with fries.
For dessert we got the white chocolate lemon cheesecake and the chocolate almond torte, of which both have misleading names. The cheesecake was more of a tart lemon cake as the lemon overpowered the cheesiness of the cake and was served on a raspberry sauce. The chocolate almond torte was just a chocolate cake as opposed to a moussey torte. But we enjoyed mixing the raspberry sauce and the chocolate cake to create a black forest cake.
Make sure to make reservations! We came when they opened and it quickly filled up.

Quite romantic place in the Entertainment District with great meal options to choose from. The restaurant has a $ 29.99 2 course meal special which I think it quite a great deal. There are a number of appetizers and main courses to choose from, so there is something for everyone. I recommend getting their lobster and crab soup as the appetizer and looks like it is the go to choice amongst Unilocalers as well. The puff like pastry on the top of the bowl is my favourite part of the soup and definitely one of the best I have had in town! For the main course I had their Black Pepper Salmon and my friend had the steak with frites. Both were great dishes and the portion for the steak entrée was especially generous as well as we had lots of frites left over.
The server brought over a basket of bread right from the start which was great since we were both very hungry. One thing I thought they could improve on was keeping the bread and butter warm, as it was quite cold and hard. Service was great and the food came quite quickly which was a plus.
Overall, I would recommend this restaurant for a date night out.