Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House

Finishing up some shopping, I really wanted to try the new barbecue joint downtown, Buckstop. However, somehow on the way there we decided to try Joe Fortes. Steak at 4:00pm? Meh, why not. Joe Fortes is conveniently located downtown in the prime area for shopping. Also, JF is considered as a "place to be seen" or for their patio imo. When we arrived, the hostess asked if we are here for happy hours or dinner. Happy hour diners are seated at the bar or high tables and the restaurant offers 50% off selected appetizers. We asked for the dinner menu since booth seats or half, are more appealing and comfortable for us me.

However, apparently the restaurant needs to fill the corner of the first floor before seating diners elsewhere since this was our table. I hate small tables, I mean… come on. There is only enough room for one appetizer in the middle and two personal appetizers (salad or soup). Of course I took my purse off the table but can you imagine fitting two to three appetizers to share (plus side plates and table bread)? This was a disappointment since we wanted to order a few appetizers but had to stick with a bowl of chowder each to prevent table issues. Side note, I have a problem distinguishing whether a restaurant is fine dining or not, since most of the time, the food or service may not be fine dining quality. According to Urbanspoon's "$$$$", Joe Fortes is considered fine dining due to the higher prices, so, I would not expect a dirty menu, but there was.

COMPLIMENTARY BREAD, LOBSTER OIL AND BALSAMIC VINEGAR. 

The slices of bread taste a bit hard, and does not have that nice fresh bread taste which may have been prevented from proper storage. The balsamic vinegar tastes sweet and I did not taste much of the lobster oil, however, BF says the taste is there.

NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER, CREAM, BACON, THYME (9.95).

 The new england clam chowder has a nice creamy rich taste and a good amount of clams, although there is not much of a bacon taste. The chowder comes with oyster crackers which tastes generic and there are no preservatives.

8OZ FILET MIGNON, CENTER CUT FILET, CAFE DE PARIS BUTTER, SCALLOPED POTATOES, MARKET VEGETABLES ($47.95). 

The filet is tastefully seasoned and cooked perfectly to a medium rare as requested. However, the steak tastes dry and is not tender enough or easy to cut, especially for a filet. For a few dollars more, I rather go to Gotham or Hy's for steak. Next, the side of carrot is undercooked and tastes hard. Keep in mind this is coming from someone who prefers undercooked vegetables too!

The entree comes with a side of scalloped potatoes, however, the potatoes are raw. Our server was nice and grabbed a new order for me. While I waited, he brought over some mashed potato so I was not left without a side. The mashed potato is a simpler version of BFs, basically minus the bacon.

As I was leaving for the washroom, our server offered to re-plate my entree with the new scalloped potatoes. Although unfortunately, the new order of scalloped potatoes are raw again! I did not care to mention the issue again (until we finished the entrees in case it happens to another table during dinner) but my Chinese thoughts are "wait, technically the side is included in the entree's price!". So here comes my vent… COOKING 101 - cooking potato is like cooking instant noodles. A chef at any restaurant is more than qualified to cook potatoes and should not mess up twice especially at a "fine dining" restaurant. If I were to make these at home, I would boil, slice and bake to order. For those who say that boiling will take away some of the potato taste, well… the cream pretty much takes some of the potato taste away anyways right? I only mention this since our server said that the restaurant steams and bakes the potato to order. Also, that he watched the cooks for ten minutes straight . If the restaurant does steam and bake to order, it will definitely take more than ten minutes, is that why they were still raw?

18oz BONE IN RIB STEAK, BACON HORSE RADISH MASHED POTATOES, MARKET VEGETABLES ($49.95).

 The rib steak is also cooked to a perfect medium rare as requested, tastes juicer than the filet and is tastefully seasoned as well. However, again, the steak does not taste tender enough. Joe Fortes pretty much serves the most chewy steaks downtown (excluding Hawksworth), despite having a flavourful seasoning.

DESSERT TRIO, TAHITIAN VANILLA CREME BRULEE, TIRAMISU, MOLTEN CENTER CHOCOLATE CAKE, BRANDIED CHERRIES, BISCOTTI, VANILLA GELATO ($15.95). 

Starting with the vanilla gelato, the gelato has a nice creamy and not overly sweet vanilla bean taste, despite having a few ice crystals. Moving clockwise, although the creme brûlée is burnt on the top and has a bitter burnt taste, tastes creamy as well as smooth and has a nice settled sweetness. For the biscotti, it tastes overly crunchy and a bit rock hard compared to the usual nice biscotti crunch. Continuing to the tiramisu, there is too much sprinkled cocoa powder which tastes too bitter and dries up in the throat (bitter part is selective). And last, the lava cake.

CAFE CREME ST. REMY A LA CREME BRANDY COFFEE ($7.75).

BF, "hurry up and take a photo, I'll cut it". There was no need to rush since the melted chocolate does not ooze out. The lava cake is served warm, has a triple chocolate taste and tastes spongy as well as moist. If anything, more melted chocolate would have been nice. And the brandied cherries are quite good.  

POSITIVES

- Friendly service despite not being genuine in the beginning (which does not matter since it is just a job)

NEGATIVES

- Would have liked to order more appetizers if it was not for the small table

- Steaks do not taste tender

- Scalloped potato issue should not have happened, especially twice

LITTLE THINGS

- Valet parking $11.00

- Forgot to make a reservation for OpenTable points LOL:(

- Dessert trio was on the house since the scalloped potatoes were served raw, twice

- Server was more genuine and sincere after the second scalloped potato issue, despite forgetting and not asking if we needed drink refills

- Usually once a customer's drink is removed, another one should be offered to be replaced

- Nothing more than a restaurant for the patio or happy hours

Food: 2.5/5
Service: 4/5