La Taquizza

Chalupitas: fried beans, cheese, lettuce and sour cream on corn tortillas (front); salsa from the salsa bar (back). (J) I liked the corn taste of the tortillas. (S) I liked the thick beans.

Tacos: tinga (chicken), served with rice. (J) Same corn taste from the tortillas that I liked. (S) Too spicy for me. I couldn't finish my share.

Burrito: large steak, served with guacamole and veggies. (J) Very large, satisfying and juicy. It had the nice soft rice inside as served with the tacos. (S) The burrito was so nice. It was huge and juicy and the filling was stuffed in there.

Location: 3175 Rutherford Rd Unit 28, Vaughan ON L4K 5Y6
Phone: (905) 669-2277
Website: http://www.lataquizza.com

Cho Won

Side Dishes: (clockwise from top left) radish, bean sprouts, beans, cucumber (zucchini?), seaweed and kimchi. (J) Not as flavourful as other Korean restaurants.

Dolsot Bibimbap: (S) This was OK, tasted pretty standard.

Gamja Tang: (J) Wow I had a lot of pork bones! Lots of meat too! Too bad it wasn't spicy at all. I also liked the yogurt drinks we got with the bill.

Location: 17 Drewry Ave, Toronto, ON M2M 1C9
Phone: (416) 250-7422

Bamiyan Kabob

Choppan Kabob: "Lamb chops mildly marinated in different spices". (J) I like the taste of lamb now. (S) This was a really big meal. I really liked the lamb and especially the rice.

Chicken Breast Kabob: "Boneless chicken breast marinated in our seasoning". (J) The chicken was awesomely moist. The hot sauce was like a mild salsa. (S) Nice portions, and moist chicken.

Naan: (J) Stiff and not as fluffy as Indian naan. (S) Yea, it was pretty stiff.

Location: 62 Overlea Blvd. Unit 3A, East York, ON M4H 1C4
Phone: (416) 429-7514
Website: http://www.bamiyankabob.com

Furusato

Love Boat: SS1; Boat A (16pcs sashimi, 12pcs sushi, 12pcs maki). Served with salad and miso soup.

(J) This is a good place to swing by after coming home from snowboarding on the 400. We were pleasantly surprised when we first tried it a couple of years ago. Everything hit the spot, but unfortunately they didn't do the tempura rolls like last time. (S) The boat was huge, made the portion seem bigger than it really was. The quality of the fish was pretty good, but the rolls weren't as big as last time.

Location: 10 Fairview Road, Barrie, ON L4N 4P3
Phone: (705) 792-1435
Website: http://www.furusato.ca

Hero Certified Burgers

Signature Burger Combos: burgers came standard with cheese, tomato and Hero sauce. Upgraded one fries to poutine.

(J) WagJag coupons gave us 50% off signature combos. I liked that they had unlimited fountain drinks. Burger bun had a nice chew to it, and the environmentally friendly wrapper was neat. (S) I was so hungry so I scarfed down the burger. I didn't really get to taste it because I ate it so quickly. It was that good...but no, really. I liked the buns and the sauce was good.

Location: 1480 Major Mackenzie Drive, Richmond Hill, ON L4S 0A1
Phone: (905) 770-9909
Website: http://www.heroburgers.com

Swiss Chalet

Soup of the Day: minestrone. (J) I wanted a vegetable soup, but this had chicken pieces in it as well. (S) Yummy soup on a cold day! I didn't mind the chicken.


Quarter Chicken Dinners: (J) BOGO thanks to the festive special coupon offered in December. The dinner rolls were pretty hard. (S) Besides the hard roll, the chicken, sides and sauce were delicious.

Pecan Pie: (J) Usually this comes with powdered sugar and sauce drizzled on top, but this one didn't. I still liked the chewy pie. (S) The crust tasted kinda stale...or freezer burned. Other than that, the rest of the pie was nice.

Location: 900 Don Mills Rd., Toronto, ON M3C 1V6
Phone: (416) 439-0439
Website: http://www.swisschalet.ca

The Old Spaghetti Factory

Clam Chowder: (J) It could have been warmer. (S) Soup was good on a cold day.

Salad: green salad with French dressing. (S) There was ample dressing. Veggies were pretty fresh and crisp.

Spaghetti with Meatballs: (J) Big peppery meatballs. (S) The meatballs were big and peppery all right.

The Manager's Favourite: half rich meat and half mushroom terragon sauce. (J) I liked the mushroom side better. (S) It was hard to eat without mixing the sides. I wanted to try both before turning it into a huge mixture, so I cut the noodles down the middle. I liked the mushroom side better too, but the meat sauce was pretty good.

Spumoni Ice Cream: chocolate, pistachio and vanilla. (J) There used to be strawberry instead of vanilla before, but still good. (S) I thought they used to serve real pistachio, this one tasted too much like candy. Not as big of a fan.

Location: #54 The Esplanade, Toronto, ON M5E 1A6
Phone: (416) 864-9761
Website: http://oldspaghettifactory.ca