Avoca Restaurant & Bar

This place is really not interesting, and I would recommend going somewhere else for dinner...

We found their dinner menu to be really confused and lacking any innovation. The decor and service are the same.

Nothing special here. BEST AVOIDED.

We visited this restaurant shortly after it opened a few years ago. We had a terrible experience. We waited for an hour and a half for our food. Our portions were small and the food was tasteless.
We decided to revisit this restaurant on Sept. 20, 2008. Again we waited for service. The salad consisted of three pieces of iceburg lettuce with tiny, but heritage tomatoes. The soup was such a tiny portion that the bowl had to be tipped in order to attain a spoonful. The lamb shoulder was served absolutely raw as was the chicken. The trout, which was served as a main course was hardly large enough to make appetizer status. The meat and the fish had no flavour or taste of herbs.
The waitstaff were confused, slow and indifferent. They could not answer our questions and they were not interested in rectifying the problems.
A table of six people from New York state were sitting nearby and they had a similar experience. A table of two were also sitting nearby and they were not served any bread or vegetables. This makes 14 unhappy diners. We will never return to this restaurant but we will certainly tell our friends to avoid it at all costs.

Avoca had been highly recommended to us but it was a huge mistake. There were six of us and we all agreed we have never paid so much for so little food in our lives.
First, in the nearly empty restaurant we had to argue with the server to have 3 bills, one for each couple. This is how we always do it and have not had a problem in many, many times of eating together.
Then the beet soup arrived. There was barely 4 tablespoons, I couldn't really say if it was good or not since there was so little of it.
The duck came next, there was enough duck, about 4 tablespoon size pieces and it was cooked perfectly but there was almost nothing with it. The pumpkin mousse was a smear on the plate, the 2 little tiny pieces of mushrooms were too small to taste and the thumb sized piece of rappini, I think it was rappini, was so over-cooked and tasteless that it was laughable - and our friends did laugh when we showed it to them!
The deconstructed apple pie was a bad joke to play on a still very hungry person.
None of us expected or wanted huge meals we don't complain about the size of servings. But this just went too far. All six of us agreed we will never go back to this restaurant.

We arrived at Avoca, with much anticipation; however, our excitement soon changed as we began to consume our meal. Our salads- the BLT--what lay on my plate was three small pieces of bib lettuce, three small chunks of heirloom tomatoes, three pieces of burned bacon with mayo and salt. The flavors were not inspiring and left me wondering if the rest of my meal would be as disappointing as my salad.

My disappointment continued with the main course-- the roasted chicken with bib lettuce, and fingerling potatoes. The chicken was overcooked -- as I cut the meat, it shredded and the colour of the meat was grey and unappealing. The flavors of the dish left much to be desired. The chicken was bland and cold. The three pieces on bib lettuce that served economically as both a garnish and vegetable, was both small and over-seasoned. The only saving grace was the two fingerling potatoes. Unfortunately, there was too little of the only part of the meal that was palatable to make the dish even remotely satisfying.

My husband’s meal of roasted root vegetables with lentils was both small and tasteless. The quantity of the entree suited an appetizer rather than a main. My husband had to order a dish of pomme puree to round out his disappointing meal.

For dessert—we ordered the panna cotta and the chocolate mouse. We ordered dessert more out of hunger than any real desire to consume any more food. However, we were off to a show and had no time to go to another establishment. The panna cotta was inedible. It lacked flavor and resembled a tasteless lump of light brown goop. The chocolate mousse was fine--then again it is hard to mess up a chocolate mousse. My husband tried the panna cotta and called the waiter over and informed him that he could not stomach the dish and the waiter agree to change it to the Ontario Apple "Pie". We learned that the "pie" was a deconstructed traditional apple pie. When it arrived at the table, the plate consisted of a small (seemed to be the theme of the evening) apple that had been roasted, a fancy cookie typed pastry-- which was supposed to be traditional pie dough. I laughed at the attempt by the chef to be avant-garde.

I saw three tables of angry diners. One table decided to leave after their disappointing appetizers rather than spend any more money in the restaurant. When asked they said they would rather find a place to get a quick bit before the show they were scheduled to watch. Two other tables were in an argument with the waiter. Upon investigation, the diners felt that the amount of food and the quality they received did not warrant the amount that the bill had come to and were in a heated argument to get a bill that reflected a fair accounting of what they had received. I had to agree with the tables, yet we opted to pay the full fare. I left the waitress with a note for the chef and owner informing them of my disappointment with the meal and informing them that we would not be returning to the restaurant.

We very much enjoyed and was impressed with our dining experience at AVOCA. We would highly recommend it to anyone with a discriminating palate. The staff was wonderful, the atmosphere was sophisticated. The food was delicious and different. I also had the pleasure of meeting the two chefs. They are both talented and well trained and have star quality . I honestly cannot understand what the previous reviewer was talking about with their negative comments. I will dine there again and recommend it to my friends and family.

We are from Toronto and have dined a lot, both in Stratford and Toronto. Friends had actually dined at Avoca and demanded we go there, specifically for the service, and yes, we were impressed. There doesn't seem to be a defined role for any staff there, everyone from bartender, to busser, to host to waiter all seem to be taking care of you at any point of the night. If someone saw something needed to be done, it was done, and we never felt intruded upon. Our order was not too daring, they do good food at reasonable prices compared to the prices you can pay at many other Stratford restaurants (ie Church, Old Prune). The Pork was done with a great orzo and a pablano pepper that added some zing, and it also had an aged balsamic over the chop which flavoured what can sometimes be a drier meat. My date had a nice vegetable salad to start (they had 3 salads to choose from out of about 8 appetizers, I had the caesar salad). The hen was good too she said, not as large a serving as my Pork but it was perfect for her. We split the creme brulee for dessert and it was very smooth and a nice way to finish dinner, pleasantly happy before a play. They did all this on a Saturday night in a packed house, and it all seemed incredibly smooth. We will be back routinely, and will be telling more friends to go too.

wilted salad, cold main courses, insipid desserts. When we inquire who the chef was, our server pointed to a seemingly beaten man drinking at the bar...hmmmm.

We made reservations for 7:00pm on a Saturday evening and although we arrived a few minutes early, the staff was able to seat us. Although they were busy serving the final courses for many tables, we waited almost 20 minutes to be acknowledged. The person who initially greeted us at the door noticed that we did not have any drinks at our table and profusely apologized. Service was great after that. In terms of the food offerings, we were intrigued by the "raw" vegetable interpretation special (an heirloom tomato tart with a pistachio crust) and ordered it as an appetizer, along with the mussels and lobster salad. The presentation and taste of the vegetable special was unbelievable - we wished we had a camera. We never had anything like it. The mussels were very tasty. The lobster salad was good but for $14 we found the portion to be very small. Our entrees was a hit and miss. The NY striploin was excellent - well seasoned, and the accompaniment of stacked root vegetables were delicious. Since they were out of striped bass, they offered red snapper. Unfortunately, when the server presented it, we were surprised with the strong odor that came with it. The fish itself was bland and didn't taste fresh. The desserts overall were good. The classic pavlova (meringue) was airy, light and tasty. The creme brulee was nice, although we could not taste the ginger and peach flavours and at $10, the portion was extremly tiny. Overall, we enjoyed our dining experience. We still talk about the "raw" vegetable interpretation to our friends. Had we been served sooner and if the fish was better, we would have given our overall rating an 8 or 9 out of 10.

The service was outstanding, not seen often in restaurants.
The food taste was very good.
Portion were small.

We highly anticipated our visit to this restaurant having seen so many highly rated reviews. It is a relative newcomer to the Stratford fine dining scene having been open about 2 years. Alas, this turned out to be a very disappointing experience. Our first clue should have been the number of dishes pulled from the menu. It escapes me how a restaurant can be out of so many menu items for the first sinner seating on a Saturday night. The food was hit and miss.

Appetizers - Actually, we mostly loved the appetizers. The venison carpaccio was well spiced and served with a small medley of organic greens. It was accompanied by three herbed crostini that were far too salty. The mussels were served with a slightly dill-flavoured cream sauce. Quite nice.

Mains - Extremely disappointing. First, had to send the dish back because the potato hash was ice cold. The pork chop had very little flavour, not even basic seasoning. Very bland though served with a balsalmic vinegar reduction that overpowered the pork. Grilled endive? not quite sold on that though the sweet potato hash, when served hot, was actually quite good. The striped bass was quite good but the portion would barely be considered an appetizer. The accompaniments were a mix of vegetables basically thrown into a soup bowl. Both dishes lacked artistic flair, presentation was quite poor.

Dessert: The creme brulee was extremely disappointing. I tasted not even a hint of peach or ginger. The egg flavour overpowered the creminess. It tasted like something one might buy from Fortino's fast food counter. At $10 it was highway robbery.

Service: This is where the restaurant really failed. It was incredibly bad. We ordered a couple of pre-dinner cocktails. The waitress asked if we were going to have wine and should she leave the wine list. We said yes then she inexplicably removed the wine glasses. Surprise - the bottle of wine came, she opened it, then noticed no glasses. After the appetizers, our cutlery was not replaced nor was the table cleared of bread crumbs. Mains are delivered and I have no fork or knife. Not only did the server not notice, I had to ask someone waiting at another table to provide them. Wine glasses were not filled attentively. Similarly, dessert and tea were served without spoons. Once again had to ask for them.

I'm sorry but at $180 for two, I expect a much higher standard of service. Service was incredibly bad and the food was uninspiring. For this price, I've had much better dinners at The Old Prune, Carters on Downie or even Pazzo.