Tati

I can’t comment on the food, because we left after a 20 min wait due to incompetent waiters. I blame the owner for not staffing and setting a standard for hospitality. C’est minable…

Tati has hit a roadblock. Taken its best items off the menu. Reduced portions to ridiculous levels. Decimated its wine list. Made good service impossible by only having one waitperson for the entire room, with inept help from the owner. The cassoulet, which used to be one of the best offerings, is simply put unedible (mealy beans, large slabs of uncooked fat on the duck, tasteless sausage – nothing else). I’ve been a regular for many years, but I won’t be going back.

One wants to like Tati for being a French bistro in a great location but the food and the service make that hard.
Having been several times, there is a noticeable difference between the size and quality of the courses served as part of the prix fixe menu and those ordered off the a la carte menu: experience has taught me that you can either go for a great deal and really kind of awful food, or a more expensive meal that, while not awful, is just kind of OK.
The beet salad is good as a starter, as are the mussels. But it is the entrees that truly disappoint. The cassoulet is some of the worst I’ve ever eaten: salty and flavourless, served so hot it was almost certainly microwaved. Past experiences with the trout and the lamb shank left me unimpressed. Given the quality of the cooked food, much as I love steak tartare, I’m not brave enough to try it at Tati.
Great ambiance, regrettable service, and food that, if you’re a foodie, you can easily do better cooking at home.

I came here a while ago with my parents for dinner.
I had the soup of the day (spinach), braised lamb shank and the crème brûlée. Delicious food, great ambiance. Prices were rather high for the kind of food being served, but that’s to be expected from a French restaurant.
My main complaint is the service. The waiter didn’t seem very friendly (which normally I wouldn’t care about) except that it made his responses to our questions curt and uninformative. For example, we asked him what «Amandine» meant in one of the items on the menu, and he merely replied «It’s a style of cooking.» We waited for a moment to see if he would elaborate on that, but he seemed to think that his response was sufficient (or perhaps he didn’t know the details either). In any case, while the food was good, the overall dining experience left more to be desired.

Great value for money with the prix fixe menu and the service was excellent.
I would like to give this place four stars but there are so many other restaurants where the food really stands out for the same price.
Nice atmosphere and solid dishes but nothing spectacular.
3.5 overall

Restaurant français proche de Spadina et College, le Tati Bistro s’inscrit dans la lignée des bars français de Toronto offrant une atmosphère de petit resto français de quartier. Ambiance maison familiale, le plus ici c’est le bar à l’étage avec un patio tip top. A retenir pour le retour des beaux jours.
/​/​French restaurant close to Spadina and College, the Tati Bistro is one of the french bars in TO that you could find in a small town in France. Friendly atmosphere the best thing here is the bar upstairs with an awesome patio. To be tried with the return of the spring.

This place is great! I’ve gone here a few times with friends for Brunch, and it was delicious and ended up at about $ 20/​pp with mimosas. The service was fine, but the food and the ambience were great. The first time I had the french toast with caramel banana compote and the second time the eggs benny, and both were great.
I’ve only ever sat on the rooftop patio, so I can’t speak for the interior, but the patio is one of the best I’ve been to. There is shade provided by beautiful old trees, and you can’t hear any street noise.
It was pretty crowded both times, but Sunday morning at 11 is prime brunch time, so that’s understandable.
A great brunch choice in the Spring/​Summer.

I do not understand past reviews or they improved the service and food. Waiter and waitresses were fast and courteous enough. If you stick to the typical French meals (baguette, frog legs, home-​made blood sausage for example), you can only give a ⁵⁄₅!

My wife and I came in for a late dinner and the service was slow and hands-​off as many others have described. The space is super quaint.
The food was solid. Nothing remarkable, but nothing off-​putting. My only beef is the price! I ordered the vegetarian pasta special, which was penne with red peppers, zuccinni, onions in a garlic, EVOO sauce. I was charged $ 23!!! Really? $ 23 for a vegetarian pasta. Seems ridiculous to me.

An excellent reminder of why I adore French cuisine: the pace is deliberate and enjoyable, the consumption of wine is almost obligatory and the fare is rich, buttery and to borrow a phrase from Tony F, «omnomeriffic». It’s yummy.
Tati Bistro is located near Spadina and Harbord Aves. This is kind of an unsung stretch as far as restaurants are concerned, so it was a nice surprise that French cuisine is represented here. It’s rather intimate and snug inside (it’s small) which makes it an excellent spot for a date, but a lousy spot to meet an informant. It’s candle lit, full of conversations and charming.
The service here is a bit aloof, and perhaps that is just a French thing. Except for ordering wine and our meals, our waiter was a ghost. As it happens this wasn’t a bother to us, but could have been if we had a problem or say, needed more wine. Speaking of wine, prices range from $ 9 — $ 14 per glass with most options coming from France.
My date and I both selected from a $ 55 prix fixe for dinner. To start we could select from fresh oysters, tiger shrimps or fois gras. I obviously chose the latter (I’m no fool) and it was served with some fig compote, sea salt and crostini. The fois gras was really nice and buttery, but not too soft as it sometimes is. The entrée options were seared black cod with roasted garlic or filet mignon with porcini mushrooms and truffles. The filet mignon was perfectly grilled and really savoury. I even enjoyed the butter soaked veggies on the side. My only bite of the cod was an impressive one, smoky and flavourful. We finished off the meal with a plate of brie and greens, and a «chocolate trio» consisting of a truffle, some chocolate mousse and a crumbly browniesque thing that I didn’t really like. The only thing I didn’t enjoy about the meal really. It was otherwise quite delicious and satisfying, and made for an excellent evening.
A bientôt!
Obligatory Title Pun: Drop in and say HULOT.
Menu Readability: Times. All caps. Kind of careless for a place like this.
Need to mention: I believe they get their cheeses from Chabichou down the street.
What this place teaches me about myself: I really need to check Unilocal before meeting my informants.

VIBE
Tati was the perfect antidote to a snowy and slushy January day. I was immediately struck by their signage, which displays a part of its charm. Inside, it’s all of the European bistro cliches you can think of: quaint, cozy, and warm. Because it’s a small place, we were seated in the middle of the restaurant. I wouldn’t normally like this but it worked. A note that it was a bit drafty inside. Bring a sweater! I really like the bar area as well. It’s minimalism works.
WE ATE
I’m a sucker for French onion soup and Tati’s didn’t disappoint. It was all of the onion-​y, salty flavour you could ask for. And they put plenty of cheese on top. I had the steak frites for my main. The steak was medium-​well, juicy and tender. It was sizeable and I couldn’t finish it. The accompanying fries were plentiful and a good mi of salty and savoury. At $ 31, I thought it was a bit pricey for its value. A Syrah was a good accompaniment.
My dining companion had the beet salad and the sweetbreads. The salad was a very large portion and looked delicious. I had a taste of the sweetbreads and they were a bit meaty for my taste but she seemed to enjoy them.
OBLIGATORY CATCHY REMARK
Tati’s unassuming nature and solid menu makes it a refreshing place to have a meal. It’s a great date place but I feel like there was something missing in the food to make me a super fan. Nonetheless, I’ll be back.

The menu is definitely French bistro, but the execution falls a bit short. The service has all the stereotypical qualities of bad French waiters — slow and detached. The place was half empty, but it still took ages to get service. I can’t imagine how it might be on a busy night. And to be clear, I do enjoy an unrushed dining experience.
The food was, for the most part, good but not great. No complaints about the soup and salad offerings, but the mains all left something to be desired. I know there are issues of personal taste, but I found my bavette frites to be too salty — both the steak and the frites. Although cooked to my liking, it’s onion and wine sauce smothered rather than complemented the steak. My wife’s trout almandine was under cooked for her liking. The desserts were uninspiring.
As I write on, I’m tempted to drop the rating to two stars, but the overall experience was not unpleasant. We all had the prix fixe at $ 25, so that with wine (I thought the list was ok), Perrier, a couple of very good espressos and tip, it cost us about $ 200 for four. Not bad in terms of quality/​price.

There are those restaurants out there that when the evening is young and hungry, with friends, pop up immediately around the circle as we decide where to take our stomachs. Tati is not one of them. It’s bistro charm and cute signage does not for me reflect in its food or its service. Even with three different visits, and a desperate (even pleading) mindset to like it.
My first visit was a few years ago when I had just moved into the area. Since then service, as always, did not change. Slow, indifferent and almost unnervingly so. Simple water & wine top ups is not practiced here and neither are smiles unfortunately. Looking for your waiter will take some effort.
On a second visit service had not changed, and the food had suddenly become simple facsimiles of the real thing, put together with no care and no idea for balance. The bouillabaisse packed with so much fennel and Pernod it tasted of a bad a Halloween candy. The bavette amazingly overcooked beyond our request for having it medium drenched in sauce. The fish and our blood sausage was good, were the only highlights and so were our escargot to begin. Which everyone agreed was the favorite.
I returned once more. This time to experience their prix-​fixe. I sat down joining a friend and waited. Even with a friend who was already eating, and being served across from me it appeared no one noticed me. I got up and got my own menu.
I just don’t get it. It’s bistro fare in a casual setting yet indifference marks it in every way.

I’m a big fan of Tati! It was also first recommended to us by the bartender at the Harbord Room when we wanted to sit on a patio and HR was full. Tati has the best patio I’ve been to yet in Toronto. It is upstairs off the back and has quaint lighting and a fabulous old tree growing right through it. The main floor dining room is also quaint, but if it is warm enough I highly recommend making a reservation for the back deck.
Tati has a great wine selection, and I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve had to eat, — the beet salad, some soups, a few fish dishes, the mussels and frites. It has a wonderfully Eurpoean charm and as such, the service can be slow so be prepared for that. Every encounter I’ve had with the staff has been more than friendly. The owners also own Chabichou, a fantastic cheese shop down the street on Harbord, with the same Eurpoean charm.

Hidden on harbord street by uoft, this is a neat little french restuarant. A few years ago, it was rated the number one french restaurant. This place replaced one of my favourite spots in Toronto and so i was kinda pissed to walk in to begin with.
But the food is exceptionally good, though i have found that with time it has declined in quality. But it’s still a nice different eat out. Their patio is also really romantic with it’s woven tree running through.
The food is good, and the best mussels i have ever had in town were here about 3 years ago. But that experience has not been replicated since. Thing’s i’ve had and enjoyed are the foie, tartare, steak, escargot and cheese.

Like many others here I had high-​hopes for this place. The location and atmosphere are excellent and the décor gives you the impression you are in a legitimate French Bistro.
The service, as others have indicated, leaves much to be desired. In our case it was not that our waitress was rude or overly inattentive, she was just cold and not overly inviting or cheerful as you would expect from a place like this, that is, compared to all of the other excellent restaurants in the area that have much better service. In addition to being cold it was also slow and she often forgot to bring things.
The beef bourguignon was bland, but the potatoes were excellent. She had the crape which had so much cheese in it she could barely eat it, it was loaded, I mean completely loaded, with cheese. The highlight of the evening was the chicken liver mousse. I highly recommend this for an app. Charing for bread stick and oil and vinger was a bit of a surprise but at only $ 1.25 we splurged.
Wine list left much to be desired.
I’m really torn on this place. It’s more of a 2.5 star place and I could see myself returning on a warmer day to eat on the patio and perhaps try something new, but would definitely order that chicken liver moose again. If anything, stop in for a glass of wine and this on a summer’s afternoon.

We found the food decent but to be honest we won’t be going back.
Every glass they brought my wife was dirty. (Maybe they’re not used to people drinking beer instead of red wine and feel they don’t need to clean those glasses).
Our waiter disappeared 10 minutes after our arrival and never returned. They left our glasses empty and it took forever to place our order. When the bill finally arrived the price for 4 people was somewhere around a small mortgage payment.
Considering the service and food, the price was far beyond what the experience was worth.
I value my time and money far to much to ever go back again.
In a word «NO»

Underwhelming…
What more can I say, I have read a lot of the reviews on Unilocal and tend to agree with most.
We went for a friends B-​day and it was a first for me. Found the place to be cute inside maybe a bit cramped on this Saturday evening. Felt a little close to my neighbours.
Our server came to take drink orders fine, I ordered a beer the others at the table ordered wine. The drinks came, I had to ask for a glass, why is it everywhere I go these days I have to ask for a glass??? shouldn’t it just be brought??? Okay, she comes with my glass, it’s dirty! I can see lip prints from the last patron! So I ask for another glass… guess what… same thing again. Wouldn’t you think you would check the next glass since the other one was so dirty!!! NOPE
I than decided to use my water glass instead of sending back a second glass, much easier this way!
As for the food I had the lamb shank and it was quite good, not great but quite good. I really don’t feel that for 30.00 $ this meal was worth it. I definitely do not think the service was up to par with the prices they are charging. Might I also add the original server disappeared after the glass incident and another person had to step in to serve us. The others I was with were not offered anything else when their glass of wine was finished.
Tati is charging Hi-​Fi prices for Low-​Fi service. :)

The place itself is pretty nice, pretty chill but posh enough that you don’t feel like you’re slumming it. Walking in though you’ll get hit pretty hard with the sweet stank of cheese (feet), which can be pretty overbearing for some, but after a while you get used to it.
Save for the escargot and the anitpasto platter the food here was really disappointing. The platter was full and lively with countless pieces of deliciousness that everyone just dove right into. The escargot had such an amazingly rich broth-​y sauce we kept asking for more bread to dip.
My carpaccio was drenched in truffle oil and that’s all I could taste. The frog legs were very rubbery and tasted like pieces of gum floating around a lemon garlic hand wash. harsh? Too bad, it sucked.
The rest of our meals were ho hum, and not even worth mentioning.
Oh wait, yeah, don’t bother getting the froie add-​on, it had a horrible texture and added nothing to the dish except $$$
The only saving grace was the reasonably priced wine list and the friendly wait staff. They have an upstairs patio as well as one the street, but you can’t bring your glasses out after 11pm =/​
Do not go — there are better places on Harbord.

***3.5 Stars***
Had a great meal here. It looks by their chalkboard that they get their cheese selection from nearby Chabichou.
EDIT — 03÷22÷10 — I learned that Tati & Chabichou have the same owners.
Ordered beef carpaccio — a little over-​olive-​oiled, but it was good. Parmesan shavings the size of dollar bills. Roasted beet salad was lovely. Beets were chopped in large chunks and accompanying salad was well dressed. Bouillabaisse was excellent — large shrimp were abundant and the hint of anise was wonderful… we had to ask for bread for dipping.
The Cassoulet was really good and rustic. The white beans were a little firmer than I’m used to, but it didn’t take away from the dish. The sausage was well put together and although both the ham and duck lacked their definitive flavours, overall it was a nice dish.
The (not really) Bad — I know wines come and go in restaurants, but the listing on the website showed a few choices for rosés, but none were available when we visited. Either pull it from the site altogether, or update the site more often. We enjoyed a nice white instead.
Service was great — friendly staff were prompt, starters and mains arrived in perfect time and plates were cleared once EVERYONE was done. This place gets a little tight for room as the evening progresses, but early reservations solved that issue.
Sidenote: I was somewhat confused by the soundtrack for the evening. If I wasn’t mistaken, it was the Very Best of ‘The Band’. But the French liked Jerry Lewis too, right?
For a group, there is a large 6-​seater table near the back, fairly secluded from the rest of the place. May have to book that on the next visit. With a bottle of wine, taxes and tip — $ 90 a person. A tad pricey for a bistro.

We went to Tati with friends for dinner. In a nutshell:
Service was friendly but overworked. It took forever to get drinks and water, then even longer for us to order. This wasn’t because they weren’t trying, there was simply not enough staff on the floor.
The wine list is good, and decently priced if a little light on the low end, with an emphasis on French wines. They obviously know and cater to their local, well heeled, market.
The food. This is where it gets difficult.
Our meal was perfectly fine, until the bill arrived. For the amount of money we paid the food simply wasn’t good enough. Now, don’t get me wrong, dinner was just fine in a French bistro neighbourhood restaurant kind of way. What it wasn’t, was fine dining, which is what we were being charged for.
My steak tartare starter was too cold. Now I know that there’s a fine line between food poisoning and flavour, but this was fridge cold, with caused the meat flavours to disappear completely. The steak was served with croutons, as I had requested, but that was it. No cornichons, no quail egg to mash into the shaved meat. I am all for purism, but this just struck me as a lack of imagination from the kitchen.
One of our friends ordered the snails, which arrived with a mushroom stew. Like with the steak tartare this gave the impression of having been left standing in the kitchen for too long, with the juices having seeped out of the mushrooms and drowning the snails. The restaurant was very busy and I can understand that the kitchen had been pre-​preparing dishes but this was beginning to affect the quality.
My main course, black cod, was excellent and the truffled mashed potatoes complemented the dish well. My friend’s sweetbread on the other hand was heavy and oily, a sign of the pan not being hot enough when they were being fried. My wife’s steak was good but unremarkable, the cassoulet was good but not great.
In fact, I suspect that the cassoulet had been microwaved, judging from the fact that the sausage (handmade and very good) was so hot that it was impossible to eat until it had cooled down considerably.
Dinner came to $ 100.00 a person. For that kind of money in Toronto I can get food that is considerably more sophisticated than what Tati offers.
Tati is a cute little place with decent food, but the staff was very much overworked and the food was overpriced. I don’t think we’ll be back again.