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The story of Michel’s Baguette begins in the Eaton Centre exactly 20 years ago. The bakery became well known for its homemade baked goods as croissants and breads would pop out of the oven at regular intervals during the day. With the sweet aroma of success, owner Bob Bregman took the concept all over town.
Today Michel’s Baguette is still a thriving chain with 11 Toronto locations, with one in B.C. and two in Alberta. And with the exception of two express grab-and-gos, all have followed the simple self-serve bakery café concept. That is, until 1996, when ownership shifted from Toronto to a Dallas-based corporation. This year, two new full-service Michel’s Baguette opened in tony Toronto locales: one in an old bank building at Yonge and Wellington, the other at Ave. and Dav.
In order to get a fair sampling of the chain’s cuisine, we fared at both. The Avenue Rd. site has mega-eye appeal. A charming bakery bistro spills onto the street while a spacious three-tiered dining room awaits within. The Yonge St. building is no slouch, either. Marble floors, pillars, high ceilings. Too bad about the windows festooned with lit ads instead of other obvious decor options like palm trees, perhaps.
Oh yes, the food. Well, it’s one thing to bake bread. It's quite another to offer a full-service restaurant. The upside of this tale begins at Yonge St. A reasonably busy lunch bunch is expected, considering its location. Now nine-to-fivers, used to waiting for a table at Movenpick, have an alternative to the madding crowds and queues in the BCE building. Or do they, cuz Movenpick this ain't.
Service is friendly and casual. As for the bill of fare, a plethora of salads, pizza and panini will have to do. A niçoise ($10.95) salad with grilled Caribbean swordfish, although slightly overcooked, is superbly fresh and tender, with just a hint of sweetness. The accompanying baby potato salad is fine except for a flavourless Dijon dressing. After asking for more Dijon to help augment the taste, the bland culprit is revealed -- cheap supermarket-brand mustard. However, the accompanying French beans, olives, sweet peppers and eggs do help with damage control.
Not discouraged, we dig into the steak frites ($10.95). A thinnish, but adequate and flavourful, grilled sirloin steak arrives overcooked with Yukon Gold frites and green-peppercorn-roasted red-pepper butter. Serviceable to say the most. Paninis are a specialty of this house -- eight of them, ranging in choice from grilled veggie options and smoked chicken to salami and a variety of cheeses. Filled with fresh ingredients, the sandwiches are grilled to create a crisp crust and served warm or at room temperature. The Genoa salami and provolone cheese ($5.95) features thinly-sliced meat and cheese with olive oil, lettuce and grilled tomatoes on focaccia. This hits the spot.
Five pizzas are served on a very thin, crackly, almost pita-like crust that may have its fans -- but we're not among them. The quattro stagione with prosciutto, grilled marinated zucchini, eggplant and peppers, olives and parmigiano cheese ($9.95), has all the right ingredients for any successful pizza, but the handle-with-care crust makes it difficult to eat. Don't bother.
Desserts are a serious let-down. Over-chilled, they have a firm, slightly waxy exterior -- not appealing. Ironic for a business that began with baking as its bread and butter. But all the problems present at this downtown locale pale in comparison with those at a Sunday brunch at Michel's uptown.
The only positive thing about the Avenue Rd. experience was the glorious Indian summer the day of the review. And, of course, the honesty of the second-day-on-the-job waiter was refreshing; he admitted they were understaffed. Evidentally so: wrong dishes started showing up all over the place. Meanwhile, a woman at the nearby table waited way too long for her maple syrup to accompany her now-cold breakfast. Water never arrived, nor did any dressing for an undressed salad. Neither was there any sign of bread for a mediocre and small Mediterranean omelette ($6.95). A prosciutto ham and mozzarella panini sandwich ($5.95) is ordered from the menu; a ham sandwich ($5.50) (not on the menu) shows up instead.
But it gets worse. Singing the praises of the swordfish at the other location doesn't guarantee a similar taste sensation here. As the dish, served in wide shallow bowl, approaches the table, a pungent fishy odour is detected. One regurgitated bite later says this fish has seen better days. Our waiter approaches. I explain the fish has turned and ask for anything that’s quick like an omelette. Acting swiftly, our concerned waiter says he will take care of it.
Not three minutes pass when the manager appears, demanding to know what's wrong, all the while sticking the offensive dish in my face.
"It’s fishy."
"I know it’s fishy, it’s fish," he says. "What else is wrong?"
Keeping our cool, we explain that fresh fish doesn't have an acrid taste and shouldn't chew like shoe leather. Admitting defeat, he begrudgingly asks what we want in its place. Well, after a confrontation on this scale, appetites vanish. It's also discouraging to see our waiter, who tried to do the right thing, being eaten out in public by an inept manager.
"Well if you don’t order anything else, we’ll have to charge you for the fish," he says.
Courageously and with much trepidation, we order eggs, any style. Within 10 minutes, two dishes arrive. The first brought by our now dejected waiter, the other by the manager. To top things off, with the bill arrive items we didn’t even order. Our waiter comes to the rescue -- thankfully without manager assistance.
This will go down as the worst dining experience ever. If we were to rate the Avenue Rd. location on its own merits, it wouldn't even register. But with redeeming factors at the other location, it does get some marks -- although a failing grade. Hopefully, corporate upper management will read this and make changes -- stat. No operation has a hope in hell of staying alive with this level of appalling service and cuisine. Wake up and smell the coffee, folks.
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