Massimo Capra at Rainbow Room - Crowne Plaza Niagara Falls...

[ylsf]

Saw a write up in the Toronto Star about this the other day:

http://www.thestar.com/living/food/ar...

I don't know for how long they have been serving or if was just an opening party the other night but would be interested in hearing people's feedback once they get a chance to try it as there are such slim pickings in Niagara itself. I enjoyed a dinner at Mistura, and it sounds like this place is on a totally different scale (article says they would serve 1400 people a day in peak season!) but I still have hope it might be decent !

-----
Mistura
265 Davenport Rd, Toronto, ON M5R1J9, CA

[jenhammy]

Once again, Niagara Falls disappoints.
Why is it that this city does so poorly in the hospitality department? Why is it that the locals NEVER will eat at the majority of restaurants here and instead travel outside of the city to get a restaurant fix? Ate here last night for a girlfriend's birthday. Was trying to find something different than all of the chains nearby. The menu was okay, nothing overly inventive, but certainly had potential on paper. Our reso was at 8:15 and it wasn't overly busy, but perhaps because it was a long weekend it seemed they were doing a decent Saturday night. Our server was terrible....didn't clear our appetizer plates, didn't refill our wine/water glasses. Got our water and bottle of wine after 9:00....Sitting there close to 11pm and our dirty dinner plates still in front of us...which I bussed myself and put on the empty table beside us...REALLY? for 34-47 dollars a plate?

We had also told the host when we arrived that it was said friends bday. Nothing was done, mentioned about this during the meal. Not even when the dessert menus were "presented" to us at after 11pm....no thanks. just the cheque please.

As far as the food, it was okay, although the serving sizes were monstrous (maybe to make up for mediocrity?). I had the trout, which was bland (wrapped in proscuitto) served on relatively well cooked store bought linguine and 3 clams. Nothing special or memorable about the dish except the piece of trout was huge. Way too much.

As we left and indicated our dissatisfaction via a less than 10% tip, we told the manager on duty and the waiter came up to us and was very defensive...Totally unprofessional. The manager made a half-assed attempt to appease us, but it was just unacceptable.
Positives: Nice view, some decent Niagara wines for a reasonable price. I would not recommend or go back.
Massimo, you need to go and kick some ass in front of house...and shake up the kitchen a bit too.

-----
Rainbow Fallsview Dining Room
5685 Falls, Niagara Falls, ON L2G3K7, CA

[Googs]

This attitude from Sheraton on the Falls staff does not bode well for their next, now 4 months overdue project, Windows by Jamie Kennedy. Book early before JK closes again.
http://windowsbyjamiekennedy.com/

[caviartothegeneral]

This is a review of a restaurant in the Crowne Plaza ... not sure what this has to do with the Sheraton or Jamie Kennedy?

[jenhammy]

because they are co-located, share some services and staff, and JK is opening a resto in the Sheraton in the next few weeks.

[Googs]

They're both at Sheraton on the Falls, are they not? jenhammy's review sounds like Sheraton may want to work on customer service.

http://www.sheratononthefalls.com/din...?

FWIW I hope that Sheraton raises the bar in Niagara Falls. I think it's a burn to both residents and tourists that there are so few choices for fine dining in a city that otherwise has so many reasons to visit it.

[caviartothegeneral]

I get it now -- the Sheraton website is confusing. Capra's Rainbow Room is physically located in the Crowne Plaza, while Kennedy's Windows is opening in the Sheraton, two separate but connected hotels that are part of the vaster "Falls Avenue Resort" complex. http://fallsavenueresort.com/

That said, I share your hope....Suffice it to say that I am tired of the Keg in the Embassy Suites being the default 'fine dining' choice in town.

[Food Tourist]

I thought AG cuisine at Sterling Hotel was the default fine dining go-to in town? They are consistently good and not a default at all.

[Whats_For_Dinner]

Soft opening tonight, apparently. A couple weeks behind schedule. Interested to see how they make out.

[caviartothegeneral]

Now open according to Kennedy's Twitter feed.

[eller]

I treated some friends to dinner here last November and my experience nearly mirrors yours. I had dined at Mitsura previously and was expecting so much more from the Rainbow Room. It was just ho-hum passable hotel food in a tourist trap.

[abigllama]

Went here over the weekend during a stay at Crowne Plaza and had the $40 deal off dinner. We'd eaten here several years ago when it was the Brock, and the room and entire have been given a nice polish with the Crowne Plaza rebranding.

We had a fantastic view of the American Falls which was nice. To start I had the warm peaches with proscuitto, cheese and endive which was amazing. Partner had roasted garlic artichoke and mushroom salad which was also excellent. Really interesting flavour combinations with cool presentation.

For mains I got the pasta pomodoro which was good but not much wow factor. The pasta was excellent, the sauce very fresh but a bit flat. Partner got the snapper filet which was also good but not great. Our mains were actually a bit of a let down after the really fantastic starters.

The wine list was good and we were actually shocked at the reasonable prices on bottles. The sommelier mentiond that there was just a $15 mark up on each bottle. (!!) This was a great suprise especially given the location. I suspect that's a newer policy since Taste Traveller visited, as the Jackson Triggs was going for somewhere in the mid $20s. We opted for a bottle of McManis that was $36. Have seen it at a couple of places in Toronto but usually around the $60 - $70 range.

It's a nice addition to the area that is limited for solid dining options. Despite being a bit underwhelmed by the mains we'd return to check out the rest of the menu. The service was very good, friendly and excited about the food.

[Taste Traveller]

I went there 3 nights ago, and being the off season, there were hardly 30 people there at 8pm. While I haven't been to Mistura, I was not impressed by the menu: standard meat and potatoes fare. However, the meat and potatoes were very well executed and I was pleased to see that the term "aioli" was being used to refer to an actual aioli, not just a mayonnaise. My disappointment was that they mixed up our orders and th BF got his filet medium-rare, while I got my skirt steak medium. Other than that, the service, and the food was great. However, it's still not the same as NOTL.

-----
Mistura
265 Davenport Rd, Toronto, ON M5R1J9, CA

[LTL]

Taste Traveller - Can you please advise how much your steak dishes were? I found the menu online but of course no prices were listed. Thanks in advance!

[Taste Traveller]

Between 36 - 42 CAD. Bottle of local red wine (Jackson Triggs) for 40. If you stay at either the Sheraton or the Crown, they have a special offer on now: all guests get 2 $40 gift certificates, one for each restaurant. I think the offer runs until the end of the year; it certainly made our visit a little more palatable.

[LTL]

I do have one of those $40 credits to use at Rainbow room (valid with order of two dinner entrees) so it works out almost to BOGO for the entrees at least. Thanks for the speedy response :)