Don't judge a resto by its cover: One Restaurant in Toronto's Yorkville district is a disapointing dining experience. - Photography by DigitalJournal.com image:33745:0::0

The latest newcomer to Toronto's trendy Yorkville district is a five-star hotel housing a restaurant known as the city’s latest celeb hub. But don't believe the buzz, because this foodie destination is all glitz and no glory.

I’m tapping my toe impatiently as I look around at the many empty seats in One Restaurant, which just opened at Hazelton Hotel on Yorkville Avenue. At 10 a.m., the 80-seat room is dotted with just a few customers, and our table is waiting more than 25 minutes for anyone to approach us, to even offer coffee. When we order our food, it takes an additional 25 minutes to arrive.

Then again, this is no mom-and-pop greasy spoon. Spread across the bottom floor of the five-star Hazelton Hotel, designed by Yabu Pushelberg, One is decorated as glamorously as you’d expect from a destination appealing to Toronto glitterati. Gold and silver décor runs all the walls, and outside on the café 90 seats hug Yorkville Avenue, perfect for people watching. And there’s not just well-dressed executives eating duck confit hash to ogle; on both occasions that Digital Journal visited One, former Toronto Maple Leafs favourite Tie Domi dined casually with friends and ex-teammates. During last week’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), One became the primary spot for Hollywood celebs and industry insiders.

But it’s easy to be swayed by the hype swirling around this glitzy joint. The hotel’s president Klaus Tenter is well-known to hoteliers as former general manager of Four Seasons Toronto. Chef extraordinaire Mark McEwan, co-owner of classic Toronto dining hubs North 44 and Bymark, has his face plastered all over the hotel’s marketing material and billboards. But the actual executive chef is Andrew Ellerby. Add a massive wallop of publicity for attracting film stars for TIFF, and One enjoyed the kind of pre-launch attention every restaurant desires.

After a couple visits to One, though, it’s apparent that the pricey resto prioritized its image over the actual dining experience. Service was pathetically slow, both at breakfast and dinner hours. Whether ordering eggs Benedict or braised rabbit ravioli, we waited a ridiculously long time for the arrival of small portions sitting atop small plates. Much to our surprise, all mains were served without side dishes, so the hungry diner would have to spend $25 on braised short ribs, for instance, and pay an additional $12 for roasted carrots or $9 for soggy frites. One crosses the line between elegance and arrogance, preferring to give you the least amount of food possible for the highest price tag they can get away with.

One Restaurant at Toronto's Hazelton Hotel is designed with a gold
and silver decor, by Yabu Pushelberg.- Photography by DigitalJournal.com
It’s worth noting that when Tie Domi supped at One, his portions were far larger than our individual offerings. And he was served almost immediately. Elitism rules at this trendy restaurant attempting to curry favour from the city’s movers and shakers. Regular folk, tourists, media? Screw ‘em.

For $29, you would expect the “ultimate street burger” to come with all the fixin’s. In reality, as a Digital Journal colleague found out, the One burger arrives with just a bun and mayonnaise cup — no lettuce, tomato, pickle, or exotic topping. That’s the wrong way to impress first-time visitors, even if the celeb factor lured them there in the first place.

The creative dishes have all the markings of winners, despite the wallet-pain associated with ordering them. Oven roasted Alaskan black cod was sweet and enjoyable, and roasted king mushrooms won over our taste buds with light spices atop the fungi. The breakfast mains deserve kudos, including the ham omelette (but the side veal sausage costing $6 was much too salty for most palates). And the size of the waffles, comparable to thin beer coasters, will disappoint diners with any breakfast appetite. A big misstep was the danishes, costing $5 for two dry and unremarkable pastries that would fit nicely on a bakery’s day-old shelf.

Early days at any new restaurant are bound to be pockmarked by mistakes and mishandlings. After a disastrous breakfast experience, we gave One another shot with a Thursday night dinner, which also ended up being painful. Servers at One, for instance, messed up our table’s orders and gave us entrées we didn’t request. Also, when the lady at our table was served last, we looked at each other in confusion, wondering if dining chivalry was dead at One. Call it first-month jitters, so let’s hope the service quality improves as the staff find their groove.

Restaurant insiders in the area are already noticing the spotty quality bruising One. They are even bad-mouthing the Yorkville newbie by calling it “Once,” as in you’ll dine there once and never want to return. Perhaps that name-calling stems from the competitive market dominating Toronto’s hospitality scene, but there’s good reasons to avoid regularly eating at Hazelton’s restaurant: it’s expensive, the food is inconsistent, and the slow service was unbearably aggravating.

The most disappointing aspect of the One experience was that all these miscues happened under the watchful eye of head honcho McEwan. Beginner errors under such a talented chef reinforce our idea that One’s execs are more concerned about the star power coming to their restaurant than the actual food quality and customer service.

And what about dessert? Let’s just say we were so unimpressed with One’s main dining experience, we didn’t look forward to staying there any longer than we had to.