Reviews for Borrel in Toronto, ON
I came here once for genever, once for rijsttafel, and finally here just for dinner. I really wish it was better. The flavours... just don't cut it for Indonesian food. We had a lot of indo food in Amsterdam, including rijsttafel a bunch of times at variousplaces. This was as good as the worst place we tried there. I do recall (pre-COVID) the rijsttafel here being disappointing butthis city is incredibly limited for this food so I was just grateful to have it at all. This time... as nice as the staff are,they can't make up for the poorly flavoured food. The satays were edible, but not good. Tasteless. Just some overcooked chickenskewers. The nasi goreng was bitter and bland, and the plate was just ugly and brown. Not even a cucumber for colour. And wherewas the egg?! The bitterballen were actually perfect. I don't know why I ordered them though because I didn't really get thehype about them in Netherlands, so I don't know why I thought that would change. I'll say Borrel's are almost identical to theones we had in The Hague. So, they do succeed there. Very authentic. The fries were just terrible. They tasted and felt likethey had been fried, cooled, and refried about 10 times and then sat out all night under the headlamp. Rock hard and full ofgrease. And didn't even taste good. We had loads of Dutch fries in our visits and to say these are anything like the ones thereis not even reasonable. I don't really know what to make of it if they can't make good fries... It's hard to find goodIndo/Malay food in Toronto, so I appreciate Borrel trying by doing not only the white Dutch food but also the Netherlands greatIndonesian cuisine culture. I just think there are other restaurants in Toronto that do Indo flavours so much better. Also, ifyou haven't had genever... do it when you're here. It is almost impossible to find in Ontario, and it's not available in anyLCBO or any other Toronto bar as far as I know. I have to give kudos to Borrel for going through al Read more
One of my friends wanted me to taste Dutch food. We were in big group and order many different things to try as many dishes as... possible. They were all delicious, specially the deep fried ones. Read more
Lovely rijsttafel dinner. Great service and food. We will be back!
My girlfriend brought me out here for my birthday as we are both second generation Dutch. It was well worth the drive from... Courtice/Oshawa! Even though no staff were there to help them that night, Alison and Justin nailed it. We had about 4 or 5things from the menu and each was delicious and left us wanting for more until we were too full to eat anything more. Alison wascharming and attentive and we were happy to have a chance to speak with her about their backgrounds and the history of theirrestaurant. Highly recommended!! Read more
Lovely local place. I have never had dutch food before so was eager to try. Favourite dish was the split pea soup. May be... dangerous to say, but better than Canadian split pea soup. Staff were engaging and friendly. Place is really cozy. Read more
This was my first time trying Dutch food and it was quite good. Came here on a Saturday morning for brunch with a friend. Menu... is simple and not too much items. It was good that we were also able to order from their snack menu too. Bitterballen was asurprise for me and it was delicious. Frittata was good and even better with the sausage. My friend also enjoyed her frikmuffinbut was surprised with how tiny her portion sandwich was. Service was great and staff was attentive. Overall, it's a great placeto introduce yourself to Dutch food. Delicious and my friend says is authentic. I just wished they opened for lunch duringweekdays too. Read more
What a great place! Dutch food... At first I thought it'd be bread and meat and bland... I was so wrong. The menu is a fun, easy... introduction to many dishes I've never heard of before. We tried the Genever ( traditional Dutch spirit similar to Gin). Weordered two dishes from the Indonesian part of the menu as well. Mmmmmmmm. Peanut sauce. Read more
Absolutely delicious food, great drinks and cocktails, and wonderful friendly service. Great atmosphere and can?t recommend this... place nearly enough! Read more