880 Ellesmere Rd
Toronto, Ontario
Cuisine(s): Sri Lankan, Indian
Date visited: February 2011
So after much nagging to try some of his soul food, I convinced the bf to go to Hopper Hut for dinner. We thought it was take out only but turns out there's a dining area tucked in the back!
Food: 3.5/5
Staring at the menu was a challenge. Everything was new to me and all I could do was point to the pictures and ask "what's that? Is it good?" I wanted to try something I've never had, so no biryani. We started off with mango lassi, ulunthu vadai (a mini donut flour-y thing), cutlet (a veggie blob that tastes kind of fried?), patties (mini meat dumpling things) and a milk hopper. The hopper was quite good, and I really enjoyed the cutlet. We ordered one pittu with mutton curry and another with shrimp curry. The mutton curry was good (spicy!!!) but the shrimp not so much (the shrimp was barely warm). The pittu was an interesting new concept to me. Good but it was kind of hard to eat! Wasn't very soft. I ate with my hands the entire time! Me so proud .. :). Overall I thought the food was ok .. wasn't great (but the appetizers were yummy!). The bf on the other hand, thought the food was sub-par and did not want to return.
Service: 2.75/5
Although the people who came by our table were nice enough, their visits were infrequent and we always had to flag them down. Bf ordered in Tamil so I have no idea what was said lol.
Atmosphere: 3.5/5
The dining area was hidden away but it's actually bigger than I thought. There were maybe 10 tables, some big and some small. Our table was quite luxurious that could seat 4. Didn't use the washroom but there's a small sink area where you could just wash your hands. I thought the cutlery was quite nice.
Price/Value: 4/5
You get a pretty good bang for your buck here I guess. With all the appetizers, mango lassi's (they only charged us one but gave us two), and the 2 main pittu dishes, we paid $30. I was beyond stuffed and the 2nd pittu dish was really pushing us to the edge. If we ordered more appetizers then just the one pittu would have sufficed.
Overall dining experience: 3.25/5
So I have to give bf the upper hand here. He did not enjoy the food here. I, meanwhile, thought it was ok and wouldn't mind trying it again but I don't think that will be happening. The only problem is that we can't find other Sri Lankan restaurants that have dine in and not just take out. I guess we'll have to keep looking or else I'll just have to come get my appetizers to go.
