Mata Petisco Bar

I really appreciate a restaurant in Toronto that serves Brunch and takes reservations! A rarity. There was no wait, the food was served promptly and very fresh. Delicious!
I’m excited to hear they also have a food truck.

Delicious South American food. I tried Coxinhas, Picanha and Carne Seca Poutine, and the quality of all dishes was very high. Cashew and passion fruit juice are just amazing too. Great costumer experience too. For sure I am coming back with more friends!
Totally recommended!

This place is really good if you are hanging out with friends and not looking to eat heavy meals. Price is a little on the high side but def worth it.

We partook in the Winterlicious menu which was delicious. I had the Cheese Bread (Pao De Queijo), the Quinoa Risotto and the seasonal (passion fruit) panacotta. All delicious. Our server was friendly, knowledgeable & helped guide our vegetarian palettes with a wink.

Fantastic food and genuinely friendly service. Had the Mahi Mahi Ceviche, Cod Escondidinho, and Smoked Pork Poutine. All were excellent and good for sharing. Would definitely return.

While doing some antique shopping on Queen West my friend and I decided we needed a bite to eat to re-​fuel. We saw this place and decided to check it out.
It’s a cute place that offers Brazilian food. The lunch menu is a bit limited but for a person like me that gets overwhelmed by too many choices that was just fine for me. The servers were all very pleasant and extremely polite — I was impressed.
I ordered the bean soup (forgot the name but it comes in a glass and not a bowl) and the cod croquettes. My friend ordered the french toast. My cod were extremely salty… so much so I couldn’t finish it. The soup was ok but a tiny bit bland. It had black beans in it with some steamed kale and you are given an orange slice to eat afterwards as a palate cleanser. However my friend raved about her french toast which more looked like croissant toast with some chocolate drizzled on — she licked the plate clean!
They seem to serve traditional Brazilian food here so I am curious to try some of their other offerings (dinner menu).

Came here for a friend’s birthday to do the $ 50 tasting menu– long story short, I would come back, but not for the tasting menu.
The tasting menu is a great sampler of what they have to offer, but most of us left feeling pretty hungry. The regular menu has decent prices and presumably larger portions. The Mushroom Quinoa Risotto and Spicy Shrimp were my favourite!
Staff are super friendly, and the Brazilian friendship bracelets they give you at the end of the meal (tie and make a wish) are a nice touch! Corkage fee is $ 20 a bottle.

Very helpful and knowledgable staff, and AMAZING food! Yes the portions are small … Because it’s Brazilian tapas. They are meant to be small shared plates, so if that’s not your thing keep it in mind before you plan on going. Honestly I loved my experience here, can’t wait to go back!

I went there to eat the famous «coxinha», but there I realized that it was only one of the several delicious foods. The chef Felipe came to our table asking about the food, which was awesome. Thanks Mata! I’ll be back.

I went to Mata last weekend and was so happy to have found this place! I was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, therefore I am very acquainted with South American street food, and I’ll tell you: they nail it!
We had cheese bread, which is a traditional dish from Minas Gerais, and was absolutely perfect, caipirinhas — if you never had them, Mata is the place to get you started! — plus an assortment of petiscos. I loved the ceviche and the salmon tartare!
It’s not cheap, but it’s guaranteed excellent food and awesome service. We were served by Felipe, who is the owner, and he treated us like we were best friends — and no, we had never met before. Makes a guest feel special, you know?
Will certainly come back — very soon. I loved it.

I was excited to try a new Brazilian resto in Toronto, as ex-​pat Brazilians here tell me there aren’t any good ones in the entire GTA, you have to have home cooking. After trying Mata, I have to say that the situation has NOT improved…
Mata fits in perfectly with a lot of the Parkdale scene: stylish hipster hangout with overpriced everything (especially considering the portions)… But tapas-​style Brazilian food? Is that an oxymoron? Brazilians like BIG portions! As another reviewer mentioned feijoada in a ramekin-​sized container, I should’ve known better than to expect value for money, nevermind authentic cuisine. Reading the brunch menu, there isn’t even any meat in the feijoada! For $ 15? Pretentious and presumptuous. If that’s your vegetarian version, drop the price and put some meat in a regular one. The best feijoada I’ve had in recent times was at a place called Muqueca, in Cambridge, MA of all places, and while it was more expensive ($ 22 USD) it was legit in every way – slow cooked with pork, beef, sausage, etc., served as a complete meal with plantain, collards, farofa, etc…
Entering the dining room, the décor is great – hip, with that «recovered antique/​faded dumpster finds» look that some people find «homey» and «down to earth». There’s lots of space to move around, not too cluttered with tables slammed into each other – great for being able to hear your date/​friends!
On to the food:
I had a classic caipirinha cocktail to start, which came after quite a while and had a decent presentation, with sugar cane «swizzler». In taste, it should be balanced between the cachaca, sugar and lime, but all I could taste was the sugar. Pity. Maybe some of their other caipirinha selections are tastier, but I’m not sure I would give them another chance if they mess up the classic!
On to the swordfish ceviche, which was sadly lacking in almost any flavour. A ceviche should POP in your mouth with citrus, but I couldn’t even taste any in this – how how is that possible??? Portion size was okay.
I had grilled salmon with pepper glaze, coriander potato purée, and crispy parsnips… Again, portion size was smaller, but at this point I was expecting that. Plating was a bit sloppy, but this isn’t fine dining. The purée, parsnips and glaze were savoury but again lacking in flavour. As well, somehow the grill cook had overcooked both small pieces of salmon. Everyone knows grilled salmon should be soft, velvety, pink and warm in the centre. This salmon was overdone and dry – were it not for the purée and glaze (and the Nicklebrook IPA I’d ordered with the «main» to wash it down), it would’ve been hard to finish.
Luckily the server had presented us with their pickled peppers, which had three degrees of heat. I liberally used all three to punch up the two dishes I had, which shouldn’t have needed to happen – they should’ve been able to stand on their own. If I wasn’t averse to extra salt, I probably would’ve asked for that as well…
The best thing about the meal was the dessert, a tasty sorbet with acai and other berries. Some people don’t like the taste of acai, but I do, so this was a pleasant surprise after so little flavour in the preceding plates and cocktail. It had a very satisfyingly creamy mouth feel, as well.
Service: We unfortunately had a new server, who admitted that she was new, and made several mistakes. In the end, a more experienced server came to her rescue and wound up doing a lot of the service. I wondered to my friends if this was entirely her fault – if a new server isn’t up to snuff, the restaurant shouldn’t have hired him/​her, or should’ve properly trained him/​her to begin with. I was just glad the vet stepped in to make things better.
In the end, I can’t justify giving this place more than ²⁄₅ – it probably would’ve been a ¹⁄₅ based on most of the food and price (although drinks were decently priced), but the décor and dessert bumps it up a bit.
Like many other places in Parkdale, Mata looks good but doesn’t deliver the goods, hyped up by people who don’t know any better. For me, the Unilocal definition of 2 stars, «Meh, I’ve experienced better» fits this place to a T.

I guess I should update my review because the restaurant has «apologized.» I don’t really see their message as positive, but maybe I am reading into it. So I will give them the benefit of the doubt and take it as positive and kind gesture.
Since posting my review I have received the following message:
From Mata Petisco Bar Thursday, July 30, 2015 — 09:42 AM
Hi Itanni, sorry to hear that you didnt enjoy your experiencs at Mata. We were warned by some friends of your review on Unilocal,Bookenda and your blog. Yesterday a food writer contacted us saying that he posted a coment on your blog. We tried to find but looks like it wasnt published. We unsderstand the «beer situation» you mentioned. One more time, sorry for your experience.
From me:
Warned? Yes, I reviewed «my experience.» Unfortunately I did not have a good experience, and I shared my perspective. That said, these review sites will show you the statistics on my reviews and tha I give very few negative reviews. I do not attack restaurants — only share my personal experience — which is the point. As for the «food writer» that messaged me — well, I don’t address messages that attack me personally. I have NEVER attacked another person. These responses reinforce my experience.

I recently tried this place. Not only was the food amazing but so was the service.
Tried the tuna, the ceviche and the octopus. All amazing dishes and my favourite one was the tuna

What a gem of a place! From the house made sauces and accompaniment s to the quiet lively background music, this place sets a cozy feel with fresh vibrant thought filled flavors. The Staff is friendly and helpful and add to the experience and the wish bracelets just add the cherry. Highly recommend stopping in and trying the swordfish ceviche and the bacalau!

At night they’re a tapas restaurant, during the day they offer a delicious and plentiful brunch. Portion sizes are great and the food it awesome.

Hands down, must try this place! My supper club, which consists of 6 people, tried every dish on the menu. Everything was fantastic! The ambiance is very relaxed and we sat under a screen that was playing Vice episodes from YouTube. And not to ignore the cocktails, the capriniah is a must try. I definitely will go back.

I was so bummed that I couldn’t make it to the Media event to Mata Bar (@MataBarTO) back in July last year and couldn’t find time to go until recently. Largely influence by South American flavors and the concept of shared plates, I was super excited to finally try them.
Love how the change the place by just adding to the basic of the previous Keriwa Café (compare to here) just by changing the color of the bar and light fixtures.
Love the old crates used as the bar shelves, love it with the lighting.
We decided to go ahead with their 8 course tasting menu plus a Caipirinha cocktail at $ 45pp, but there wasn’t a menu for it and the chef will serve you what he felt like (on and off menu).
Caipirinha
~ Cachaca, Lime, Simple Syrup, Sugar Cane
~ We got the classic lime and passion fruit flavors, I usually like anything passion fruit flavor but this was obviously not the real fruit so it was rather sweet and we both prefer the classic lime version a lot better.
~ Also love how it came with an actual piece of sugar cane that you get to chew on.
Cheese Bread (Pao De Queijo)
~ Requejao Cheese Sauce
~ Love Brazilian cheese bread, I can probably munch on this all day long.
Croquettes
~ Cumari Pepper Aioli
Ceviche
~ Crispy Leeks, Sweet Corn, Taro Chips
House Green Salad
~ Pomegranate, Coalho Cheese, Molasses
~ Love the freid cheese, the pomegranate and even the dressing but wish there was a little bit less of it since it was a tad too sweet but love the use of molasses here which goes so well with the cheese.
Espumante Coconut Caiparinha $ 12
~ Cachaca, Egg White, Coconut Water, Simple Syrup, Lime, Muddled Malaguetta Pepper, Toasted Coconut Flakes
~ This was the only item we added to the tasting menu, this is a fancier version of our first cocktail and love every part of it. Love the texture and flavor from the added toasted coconuts and the spice from the Malaguetta pepper was just the perfect balance.
Tapioca Cubes
~ Love love love love this, I can much on these everyday. I have a love for grilled/​fried rice (like the Yakionigiri here) and this one was even better with it’s chewy texture which was almost like a fried mochi.
Beef Pastel
~ Love the flakiness of the pastry and it was perfect with the hot sauces
Quinoa Risotto
~ Wild Mushrooms, White Truffle Oil
~ OMG, this is probably the dish that everyone keeps talking about after eating here and it was amazing given that there’s not even cream in it.
~ Love the intense mushroom flavors and the creamy «no-​cream» goodness. Being a big fan of quinoa and mushroom, I couldn’t have ask for more and this dish definitely made my day.
Picanha Sliders
~ Malagueta Aioli, Catupiry Cheese, Caramelized Onion
~ Thought the beef was slightly too well done for my taste but the aioli, onion and cheese made up for everything.
~ By now, we were really full and was glad that it was a slider so that we have room for dessert,.
Tapioca Crème Caramel
~ The Tapioca Crème Caramel was so good with the shredded coconut on top.
Avocado Crème Brulée
~ While I was excited about the avocado crème brulée, it was a bit weird tasting to me.
~ There was too much lemon in the avocado which didn’t really go well with the sweet caramel top crust, but that’s really my personal opinion.
Cumari, Bode and Malgueta Hot Sauces
~ Love the first 2 a lot, spicy goodness that goes with most of their dishes.
Verdict :
~ Love everything we had and would love to go back to try the rest of the menu, maybe for brunch too.
~ The décor and service is just as amazing.
~ If you haven’t been, I highly recommend you to try the tasting menu which is an amazing deal
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Mata is a nice little spot in Parkdale. Specializing in Brazilian fare, Mata has an interesting menu of food and cocktails. I enjoyed my evening there…
…and then I got the bill. The prices are outrageous for the offering. I ordered feijoada, which was quite tasty but very tiny. I’m talking about ramekin-​sized serving for $ 13. I was expecting a meal, but got, essentially, an appetizer. I also ordered a pisco sour (cocktail). Again, quite tasty, but $ 12 for a tumbler-​sized drink is a rip off. But maybe I’m just not used to the downtown-​cocktail-​scene.
Yes, the quality is good, but not unavailable at other places. Would I go there again? Certainly not. Maybe I’m a cheapskate – or just don’t like getting taken for a ride.

I was invited by my wife’s gfs to enjoy this place, i was told it would be a Brazilian restaurant. I thought it would be something traditional, to which I wasn’t expecting much.
When we got to there, the environment got us on the first, cozy and great staff, all owners of this little boutique restaurant, they explain every detail you ask, it shows they care for their reputation and experience for the customer. You feel the Brazilian culture, but something more is there…
The food is a fusion of brazilian traditional food, some other latin favorites, all with a special touch. We tried the beef chick poutine, with fried casaba. After we went for the lomito sandwich, that was unexpected, and delicious, imagine pork, with guava bbq, avocado sauce, on a potato bread, and on the side plantain chips! You might think where are the traditional Brazilian choices? They have feijoada, cheese bread, pasteis and others, but we’re glad we went on the other side of the menu.
Options of beer and wines, i went for the beers, which are no traditional brands, but good drafts.
The downside would will be a bit pricy for the portions, but add the flavour and ambient, and the place is totally worthy. Opinion of a Brazilian that enjoys food with unique taste!

Really delicious food! A bit on the expensive side, but worth it. Our server was SO nice and helpful. In fact, all the staff was great. It was a romantic «date night.»
I loved the touch of the ‘wish bracelets’ given at the end of the meal, but I pulled mine off a few days later.