Vela Toronto Review

Vela Restaurant

August 7 2021

We had dinner for two on the patio.

The good:

The Vela Caesar salad. They grilled the Romaine lettuce and had chickpeas and sunflower seeds with a light dressing. It was delicious.

A cleverly circular arranged salad with sunflower seeds and pieces of chorizo and a tasty dressing. I can't remember what the name of it was. Perhaps the "Wedge salad".

The Buratta. Bocconcini cheese in the middle surrounded by mint, pesto, olive oil, and pearl onions. Perfect!

The Maitake mushrooms. Pecorino and egg yolk with a vinagrette! Who would have thought this combo with mushrooms could be so addictive?

The not so good:

The scallop dish was very bland. After having such stellar salads, the scallops fell flat. The corn puree surrounding the scallops didn't help much visually either.

The cocktails. The two cocktails we had were not memorable and way too tart (we fixed them with added simple sugar that we asked for and received). Thereafter, we settled for a couple of rum and cokes instead.

Bad:

The 24oz 35 day aged medium-rare ribeye was a colossal disappointment. The outside edges where the fat resided was tasty, but the middle of the steak not cooked at the right temperature to have it be medium-rare. The steak was more rare than medium-rare. It was also inconsistent in taste and flavor (35 day aged?). I'm not sure a blow torch could have fixed it. This was a $150.00 mistake.
I took it home and had steak and eggs the next morning.

Go to Vela if you are a vegetarian, or crave elevated salads.