We headed out to the restaurant a bit later this week, around 8:30pm.
When we walked in the main dining room was full, and it was a bit too cold to sit outside, so we were seated in the second dining area at the back of the restaurant, near to the kitchen. Liz snuck a photo of the main dining area from our little room.
We ordered the house red wine, and the "Crispy Cornmeal Crusted Calamari" to start. Try to say that 5 times fast.
The calamari arrived fairly quickly, and had a very creative presentation. I could definitely taste the cornmeal in the batter. The squid itself was a little chewy, but had a nice flavour, especially with the lemon and red pepper sauce that was drizzled on top. We quickly polished off the appetizer, and ordered our main meals.
While we were waiting for our meals to arrive, the restaurant continued to fill up. Even our little room at the back became quite full, and the two waitresses were running off their feet. Some of the tables in our room were given bread, while others (such as ours) were not. After about 45 minutes of waiting, the waitress came over and told us that our meals would be out in "two more minutes". Fifteen minutes later our food arrived.
Liz ordered the pizza special, which was pepperoni, old cheddar, mushrooms, tomatoes, and chili flakes. Liz doesn't like spicy food, so she asked the waitress to "hold the chills", to which the waitress replied "hold the cheese, ok." Luckily for us that she repeated it back so we could catch her error immediately, or we probably would have had another half an hour waiting for them to correct the mistake.
This pizza (along with the one we had the previous week) was excellent. I ate two pieces, and the only thing I think was missing was the chili flakes. We probably should have asked for them "on the side", which also might have saved us 50 cents (more on that later).
I ordered the "Grilled Frenched Veal Chop". I'm not sure what the verb "frenched" means exactly. I was interested to see what a 30$ piece of meat tastes like.
I discovered a 30$ chop tastes much like a 10$ chop. It was tasty, but nothing special. The best part about this dish were the sweet potato french fries that the chop was served on top of. I've never had them before, the salty/sweet flavour is surprisingly good. I think we'll try to make them at home some day (and save ourselves 30$).
We completely cleared the table of food. We barely saw our server the whole meal. I drank my water and Liz's, and could have used a refill.
Eventually, the bill arrived, and it contained a little surprise:
If you click on the photo for a larger view, you'll notice that we were charged 50 cents to hold the chili flakes off the pizza. What's the deal with that? Is it a "chef inconvenience" fee? If anything we saved him some inventory and work. I just don't get it.
I now have really mixed feelings about Politica. Overall, the food ranges from fair to excellent, but some menu items are very pricey for what you actually get. The service seems to be variable, probably depending on what time you arrive at the restaurant. I do think we'll probably return to Politica in the future, making sure to arrive early and probably sticking to the pasta and pizza portions of the menu. They also serve weekend brunch which we might decide to try out sometime.
Summary
Politica
127 Strachan Avenue
(416) 366-0990
Price: 90$ dinner for 2 people
Rating: 3/5
