Alice: The Summerlicious Experience 2024

2024, Jul 18    

Italian Food
Modern American? This should be interesting.

Summerlicious’ blurb about Alice is short and sweet saying the following:

Located in Little Italy, Alice is an upscale, casual restaurant and bar offering modern American dishes with a leafy patio ambiance.

$45 Dinner (Plus taxes and gratuity)

Appetizer

  • Caesar Salad (chef’s anchovy dressing, crumbled crouton, parm)
  • Salmon Tartare (avocado crema, chives, sesame seeds, shallots, capers, topped with crispy wonton and served with tortilla chips)
  • Beet Salad (pistachio, red wine vinaigrette, whipped goat cheese)
  • Corn Ribs (sweet corn, parm, spicy aioli, tajin, chives)

Main Dish

  • Steak Frites
  • Spicy Spaghetti Bolognese (spicy arrabbiata meat sauce (100% ground beef), made with italian san marzano tomato and family recipe)
  • Salmon Dinner (with house salad, dill sauce, broccolini)
  • Vegan Tacos (made with all-natural potato & and veggies mix, hand made tortilla)
  • 4-Cheese Gnocchi (house made gnocchi with four cheese gorgonzola, gouda, asiago, parmesan)

Dessert

  • Cheesecake
  • Molten Chocolate Cake
  • Chocolate Cheesecake

I ordered the following:

  • Caesar Salad (chef’s anchovy dressing, crumbled crouton, parm)
  • Salmon Dinner (with house salad, dill sauce, broccolini)
  • Chocolate Cheesecake

My guest ordered:

  • Beet Salad (pistachio, red wine vinaigrette, whipped goat cheese)
  • Steak Frites
  • Molten Chocolate Cake

Located at Bathurst and College this is a relatively small spot but does have a patio if you’re in the mood for dining outdoors.

This restaurant is small as originally stated and narrow. We decided to dine inside right in front of the main window looking out on to College street for a nice view of the hustle and bustle of people walking, cycling and driving by.

A generic boom of a 4/4 house music beat was on constant rotation and turned up a little too loud. Perhaps that was on purpose but in the end a little grating for a dining experience. This isn’t the best for a conversation if you ask me.

The restaurant was not busy at all while a few people showed up looking for the patio.

The portion sizing seemed a little out of whack but this could be a Summerlicious thing.

Appetizers were exceptionally huge and filled me up a little too quickly. They were nothing to write home about and felt like generic bar food. Honestly, I should have eaten about half of it.

The main dishes seemed to be hit or miss.

The salmon and broccolini were cooked properly although a little too much pepper was added into the mix for my tastes. The steak frites on the other hand were about 80% frites to 20% steak. I was surprised how little steak was on that dish.

The deserts were surprisingly good. The chocolate cheesecake was very tasty and I heard that molten chocolate cake was indeed molten!

A glass of the house white accompanied the meal and that wasn’t anything great at all.

Overall, a mediocre experience with a price point that I believe should have been lower. I could see this spot being decent for drinks but I’d skip on the food.

PS. I find it odd that most of their photos on the website are out of focus and are clearly taken on a phone. Hire a photographer to get some decent shots of your establishment.