The essence of Lemon Bistro. Everything from the fresh garden selections, specialty ingredients, hand made sweet selections and uplifting contemporary ambience. It's the core idea behind chef Livio Veroni's attitude on life, art and the creative culinary processes that bring them all together.
We chose the Lemon Bistro based on the past reviews and a recommendation from someone who has been there. The best part of the dinner was the bottle of wine. We both started off with a Caesar Salad. The menu said "freshly made" which means it was FRESHLY MADE with substandard ingredients. What was served to us sadly lacked in flavour. The dressing was disgusting and the lettuce tasted like it was soaking in water for days. Even a grind of fresh pepper would have helped but we couldn't get the attenion of the server. Speaking of which, the attire of the wait staff at this restaurant is very casual. I would have assumed upscale/casual but found that's not the case - particularly with one server (or may even be a manager) who was dressed in a ratty t-shirt, exposed tats running down his arm, casual shorts and sandals. Attire suitable for sitting on a dock and slugging back a beer. For our entree we both ordered Tagliatelle with Tiger Shrimp. The pasta was topped with about 5 shrimp, chunks of italian parsley, a small portion of diced tomatoe and some sort of unrecognizable broth which again was greatly lacking in flavour. This time I was quick on the draw as I asked for some pepper. There was no garlic, no flavour, etc. Very bland and uneventful as I was picking the chunks of flatleaf parsley from between my teeth. I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone. I'm amazed that they're still in business after 6 years. If they were situated any other place but Main Street Markham, they would've had to close their doors after 6 months. Al dente is even a step up from this place. If you read their reviews you'll understand.
My boyfriend and I went to the Lemon Bistro last night as our belated Valentines dinner. We really wanted to love this restaurant; it had a special meaning to us both because it's where he wanted to take me for our first date.
We went to the Lemon Bistro around 7. It was busy and we hadn't made a reservation, and so the first waitress we were approached by (let's call her Waitress 1), after consulting with another (Waitress 2), informed us that there would be an hour wait. Now we noticed an empty table for two right in front of us, but didn't think anything of it as someone else might have reserved it. Not a problem.
We left, but because we were a bit short of time we decided to call the restaurant not 10 minutes later and see if perhaps they could do us a favor of some sort. We called and asked if there were any immediate reservations available, to which the waitress replied 'yes, there are'. This was interesting news to myself and my boyfriend. We went back to the restaurant, where after waiting for a few minutes, Waitress 1 sent over another waiter to speak to us.
"I know you were here a few minutes ago, but we still don't have a table for you."
"Oh, no. We made a reservation."
"Oh. Okay. That's probably why."
And then the waiter proceeded to seat us at that table we had seen during out first visit. The empty one. I find it highly unlikely that someone decided to cancel their reservation in that time-span.
Once we were seated, Waitress 1 brought us our plates. In an extremely rude tone that didn't sit well with myself or my partner, she mumbled, "Good thing you didn't have to wait an hour." And then she left. Waitress 2 was our waitress for the rest of the evening. She wasn't the best server in the world. We found her to be inattentive and not very friendly.
In terms of the food, the appetizer we had (a cesar salad) was great. It was fresh and the dressing tasted very good. However, our main meal (a vegetable pasta) was a different story. The meal was bland. There was literally no taste and no sauce. It was boiled pasta with a bed of vegetables on top. I was extremely unimpressed.
My boyfriend and I did not feel welcome at the Lemon Bistro, and will not be going back any time soon.
This little resturant surely would be three times the size in Downtown Toronto because everyone would be there. I specifically make the drive out to Markham atleast once a month. I feel comfortable to bring anyone with me no matter how far away. This true family owned/operated resturant should be receiving raving reviews by all. My suggestion to go when you can truly enjoy the menu and the wine to the fullest. Its a non-rush enjoy your meal type of place.
