alo is a French restaurant in Toronto that is notoriously hard to make reservations for – they take reservations 2 months out at midnight via opentable (you can try to call but I believe most of the spots get nabbed up via opentable shortly after midnight). I tried at least 5x at the stroke of midnight and was unable to secure a reservation. My husband used our AMEX Platinum concierge, who was able to secure a next-day reservation for us due to a cancellation (we were told that we had good luck!). We also each got a free glass of champagne as alo is a partner, so definitely try to get a reservation this way if possible.
alo’s main dining room is tasting menu only (~8 courses total), and there is a chef’s table with more courses at a slightly elevated price. If you don’t want to wait 2 months or go through the hassle of making a reservation, I believe it’s fairly easy to walk in and dine a la carte at the bar. While not every dish is served a la carte, a fair amount of them are.
The entrance is very nondescript and you really have to look for their sign as the building looks like an office building. You take the elevator upstairs and they greet you by name as there is a server below who confirms your name before sending you up on the elevator. Our reservation was for 9:45 PM on a Thursday evening, and the restaurant was packed.
Gruyere puff w/nori butter (amuse bouche) – The puff itself was okay but the nori butter was amazing – so much seaweed flavor! Wish they would have also served this with the pain au lait. 3/5.
The hamachi was wrapped in cucumber, which was also okay – I felt like it could have had more flavor. The foie gras bite was delicious and super creamy. I prefer foie gras hot but this was still a win. 4/5.
Trio of appetizers:
Toro, coconut, coriander – The coconut was delicious and the toro was super fatty but it was a bit fishy. 3/5
Hokkaido sea urchin, corn, yellow plum – The corn sauce was extremely delicious – it was simultaneously subtle while packed with corn flavor. To be honest, I could hardly taste the uni and didn’t even know that it was on the dish until I looked on the menu. 4/5 (mostly for the sauce).
Baby white shrimp, basil, cherry tomatoes – The shrimp was super fresh and sweet but this dish wasn’t too memorable.
Nothing was bad in this trio, but nothing really stood out either other than the corn sauce. 3/5.
This dish was beautifully presented, and there was a nice distribution of squid ink tempura on top which provided excellent texture to an otherwise soft/mushy dish. Some citrus would have been nice. It was good but didn’t stand out for me. 4/5.
Pain au lait – This bread was amazing, I would put it as one of the top 5 breads that I’ve had at restaurants. It was quite dense but served hot (and on a hot plate) with specially churned butter. The butter was at an ideal temperature (I hate it when restaurants serve butter straight from the fridge). It was so good that the server overheard us talking about it and brought us a second piece. Extra points there! 5/5.
Chanterelle mushrooms, German butter potatoes, chicken skin, chives – This dish was amazing! I loved every single ingredient and felt that everything complemented each other perfectly. I love how much crispy chicken skin they included as it provided a great crispy element while infusing so much flavor into the potatoes. The only thing that I would have done to improve the dish was maybe to add a deep-fried herb or something to incorporate some freshness. The portion on this dish was great since it was quite heavy (although I would have happily eaten more). 5/5.
Agnolotti, ricotta, field tomatoes, parmesan – I’m actually not a huge fan of ricotta but the filling was extremely well done and creamy. The pasta itself could have been a tad thinner. The parmesan crisps were delicious, and the heirloom tomatoes had the skin removed which really showed their attention to detail. 4/5.
Ora king salmon, buttermilk, meyer kosho, Cincinatti radish – We were told that they use a special oven to cook this salmon (since it is baked at such a low temperature). The salmon was perfectly cooked, but I would have preferred the meyer kosho to lean more citrus-y rather than dairy. 4/5.
60 day aged beef ribeye, black trumpet mushrooms, black garlic, spring onion – I was really excited about this dish as I love ribeye – unfortunately, I found the meat a bit tough, especially the exterior. The black garlic sauce was sweet and full of flavor, and the mushrooms were perfectly cooked. I think this is one of the rare times where the accoutrements actually outshine the steak itself. 3.5/5.
Cucumber sorbet (palate cleanser) – I LOVED the sugar chip on this! The cucumber sorbet kind of tastes like if you made a sorbet out of green juice. 4/5.
Strawberry, chamomile and orange blossom – I love desserts that incorporate many elements and texture so this was right up my alley. The strawberry chips were just dehydrated strawberries (which were delicous), and I really enjoyed the chamomile tea “chip” in the middle as well. I’m not sure what it was but it had a crumbly texture. The orange blossom cream was a bit too sweet for my liking and I didn’t get too much of an orange flavor in it. 3.5/5.
Peach, verjus, olive oil – I’ve never had olive oil ice cream before and I really liked it. While I’d be hard pressed to discern the olive oil flavor in it if I wasn’t informed, it tasted different from all other ice creams that I’ve had before. The peach was tiny (I’ve seriously never seen a peach this small before) and perfectly plump and sweet. 5/5.
Bonus – It was my birthday so they brought out a chocolate cake dessert. I didn’t find this cake too sweet like most chocolate cakes so it was a welcome way to finish off the meal.
The service at alo was great – definitely comparable to what I’ve experienced at other 1-2 michelin star restaurants. They were always there to help if we had any questions, promptly folded napkins when we went to the bathroom and constantly kept our water refilled.
We walked out there stuffed so you definitely do get a sufficient amount of food unless you have an enormous appetite! The meal took about 2.5 hours in total, and cost $115/person.
Overall, I really enjoyed the meal at alo and would definitely consider going back to try the chef’s table. I tend to eat at fancier restaurants when I travel rather than when I am in Toronto, but alo is definitely the “best” restaurant that I have had the pleasure of dining at in Toronto so far and I am glad that the Toronto food scene is improving!
Taste – 8.5
Service – 9
Ambiance – 9
Value – 8
Overall – 8.5
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