When Michele and I were in Toronto last week, Krissy and Paul took us to Kubo Radio. Kubo is an Asian restaurant on Queen Street in Leslieville.
The decor was Asian-influenced but still modern. It looked nice, but not so fancy that you wouldn’t feel uncomfortable in shorts and t-shirt. The prices of entrees range from about $9 to $15, with a typical noodle dish being around $12. It had enough vegetarian entrees to provide all of us with a selection.
They had a good selection of different beers including some local brews from the Mill Street Brewery, but I went for the Asahi Black.
Paul and Krissy had been there before and recommended the Sweet Potato Dumplings for appetizers. These were really good, nice and crispy and sweet; you could taste the maple syrup in them. Yummy!
For an entree I had the Panang Curry. It was a good flavourful Thai curry with enough spice to make it interesting. The portions were on the large side, and there was plenty of liquid in the bowl to sop up with the rice. Paul had ordered this last time he was there and found it a little spicy, so be warned. I would definitely consider getting this again if we ever come back.
The rest of the table had the Kubo Noodles (without the chicken), Funga Noodles and Tofu You. I tried a bit of Michele’s Tofu You and it was good. It reminded me a little of Pad Thai. Since Pad Thai is my favorite dish of all time, I’d have to say that I would prefer a good Pad Thai over the Tofu You. Everyone was very happy with their meals. Krissy and Paul even took home the leftovers for the next day.
Unfortunately, we were all too full for dessert.
The service was pretty good too. The busboy (who’s first day of work was that night) forgot to bring us the condiments plate, but the manager came by and noticed this and brought us some. The waiter was prompt with everything he did.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 8/10
Service: 8/10
Food: 9/10
Kubo Radio
894 Queen Street
Toronto, On
Nearly seven years on since its inception, Kubo Radio presented the worst dining experience I can remember in Toronto in recent years. Pretentious, upsold, overpriced dishes were deposited on your table: a total of four were scarcely enough to suffice as starters for the three of us. A bottle of red, outrageously marked up to $42, was served at a foul temperature, well above 25 c.
No special cupcakes were tasted here. The kind of packaging Kubo sells them in is thoroughly irresponsible given the waste and the minute size of the cake. Even the seemingly substantial fresh salad we ordered was tasteless spinach well beyond its harvest date. The chicken, quite frankly, was inedible.
How much is your ‘corkage’ fee!?
Why doesn’t Kubo take a leaf out of Dr. Generosity’s book? Bloor west village’s local baby (’Dr. G’s’) has introduced bring-your-own-bottle nights on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The prices listed respectively are: $1, $2 and $3. When I asked out server at Kubo’s what their corkage fee was for the b.y.o.b. option they so proudly advertise, the answer of $20 sent us hurling toward the exit, crawling down the street, starving!, in search of some real food at some real prices.