Rock Lobster has two locations in Toronto – one on Ossington, and the second on Queen Street West. We tried the Queen West location because it was much closer to downtown.
Their seafood is flown in from Nova Scotia fresh every day. The menus for both locations differ, and the Queen West location isn’t even on the main website. The restaurant doesn’t seem to need to advertise because with word of mouth they are busy enough.
The restaurant was much smaller than I expected! It could only seat 70 inside, and this outpost is actually larger than the restaurant on Ossington. They do not take reservations, and although we were told to expect a 45 minute wait at 8:00pm, we only ended up waiting 15 minutes.
We started with a round of drinks, and their cocktails included a slushie with tequila, and a drink named Breakfast of Champions with Fruit Loop infused vodka.
We ordered a round of oysters ($2.25 each which is thought was a good price) which were fresh – as expected! We also ordered Lobster devilled eggs ($7) which tasted great, and had little chunks of lobster in them. The egg itself actually looked pink.
I had the Lobster Poutine ($14) which came out in a skillet pulled high with cheese, gravy and lobster. It was a strange combination with the fries and gravy hot and the lobster cold, but it tasted amazing. It was a huge portion, and I couldn’t finish it. I also tried the Lobster Taco ($5 for one) and it came on a fresh tortilla with fresh lobster and a sauce that had a kick to it.
I would say the restaurant is not kid friendly for dinner. I’m not sure about lunch time, but at dinner the music was so loud it was hard to hear the person next to you! The tables were very close together and I couldn’t imagine fitting a stroller or high chair into the restaurant. Lunch may be a different story when it comes to the music volume, but space-wise and menu-wise I wouldn’t call it kid friendly.
www.rocklobsterfood.com
538 Queen Street West, Toronto
416-203-6623
Photo Credit: #1 Toronto Life Magazine