Author: Mandy37

Honestly I have been dying to try Hawksworth after experiencing an inflight meal onboard Air Canada, which features Canadian Chef's dishes on its business class cabin. Therefore the first thing when I planned this Canada trip is to book a dinner here. The decor of...the restaurant was fun and modern, which was the theme of hip restaurants around the world. The service was mostly good. The menu was innovative and most of the dishes that we ended up were good, but it just missed the "wow" factor. The most annoying part of the dinner was the constant "upselling" by our server. You could add so and so to your dish for this additional price. I don't mind paying more for a main because we know what kind of restaurants we are stepping into. However, this kind of upselling is annoying, and when you are hosting, you don't want your guests to feel pressured in accepting or not accepting the upselling. Honestly, just put the damn scallops to that dish and charge it accordingly. Or you just list the add-on items to the menu so the guests can order what he or she wants, and if she or he wants that lobster tail. There is always this upselling aspect for each course. I am sure the server just follows the instruction of the restaurant, but it "cheapens" the whole experience. I hope the restaurant will take note of my review, which is shared by my guests during dinner too. The only good advice that the server offers is that the main course is a bit on the small side. Gosh she is not wrong about it. Even as someone who is from Hong Kong and used to small portions, you really need to order some side dishes. Compared to the dinner at Le Crocodile, the portion is almost pathetic small. If you don't want side dishes, you need to order at least two appetizers - maybe both a starter and a soup. The dinner itself was good. We ordered two seafood platters to share and everything was delicious. Thankfully there was nothing more that the server can upsell here again. My cousin ordered the summer corn chowder which she loved. For main course, both the halibut and the crispy pork belly & scallop were good too. I slightly prefer the halibut prepared by Le Crocodile the night before but this dish is good. For dessert (I am not much a dessert eater but need that course to fill me up), I ordered the dark chocolate cremeux, which was really good. Overall, it was a nice dinner but for me, it just fell slightly short of that "wow" factor and I was turned off by the "upselling" sales pitch by the restaurant. Will I come back? I am really not sure.