Barrie Restaurants

This is a new restaurant in Barrie, only opened 3 months. The chef/owner is Portuguese, with experience in many top restaurants in Toronto. The hostess, Yvonna, was formerly the owner of Miss Cindy's in the Blake Street plaza of Barrie.
The location, right downtown, is good and bad. The parking can be difficult to find, and the traffic on Dunlop Street right now is extremely heavy because of road construction in the area. However, it is easy enough to get into. There is a table by the door that is completely accessible to disabled, but the washroom requires going up a couple of steps.
It is a lovely restaurant, once you're inside, with tasteful decor, and soft music playing - just loud enoug.
The food was exquisite - 2 of the 3 of us had steak, and the other had lamb and it was all very tender. The prices are higher but then the quality and quantity was excellent. It was a fair price for the quality of the ingredients. Compared to one of the other high-end restaurants nearby, I would say that they are ahead of the game in what they serve, and for the price they charge.

Favorite Dish: I had the beef tenderloin, which was cooked to perfection, and was almost tender enough to cut with the fork alone. It was served on a long narrow plate - a treat for the eye. There was a lovely compote of grilled veggies, the steak was in the centre with roasted peppers and crispy fried onion threads, and then there was a potato with gorgonzola cheese mound, covered with slices of portobello mushrooms. The sauces were divine. The taste buds got a real workout.
The strip loin steak was equally tender, served with wilted greens, the crispy onions, and yam fries, and a tomato salsa. My mother has severe arthritis in her hands, and she was concerned that she wouldn't be able to manage the steak, but it was easy for her to cut up on her own.
The lamb was served as lamb cutlets and I think they called it an osso bucco of lamb - my father said it was excellent - and also very tender. I didn't see what all it was served with, besides fingerling potatoes.

My parents have been frequently to Shirley's for lunch and for dinner. They have always raved about the food and the service. I was there for dinner for the first time, and I can certainly understand their praise for the place. It doesn't look like much from the street, but it is much larger and more impressive inside. Quite the Martini selection, it appears, too.
The food servings were amazing - you definitely get your money's worth... and it is quality food too. They don't have wide range of sides, but you know, sometimes too many means that they don't do them well.

Favorite Dish: We had the bruschetta with goat cheese to start. Huge helpings - 4 slices.
I had the striploin steak with Ceasar salad and roast potatoes, and it was all wonderful. One of the best ceasar salads I've had in ages - the proper oil and vinegar and garlic dressing, not that creamy crap! The steak was huge and cooked to perfection.
I would highly recommend it.
My mother just had the appetiser smoked salmon which was plenty big - lots of toast triangles, with lots of smoked salmon, onion and goat cheese.
My father had the roast beef with a huge yorkshire pudding, and vegetables and roast potato. It was a huge hunka beef!

This was my first visit, but my parents and their friends have been there frequently. I was more than pleasantly surprised by the food, the quality, quantity, variety and the prices. There were some interesting combinations of food, and the service was excellent. We were looked after by Christian, the owner, and he made us feel welcome and had a great sense of humour.

My father is using a walker, and it was easily accessible for him.

Favorite Dish: There was a lovely bread basket served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. One of the other ladies and I had the chicken which was lovely, properly cooked, with a marvellous sauce, and good flavours. It came with lovely lemon flavoured rice, and a nice selection of vegetables - carrots, green beans and broccoli. My parents both had the maple brushed salmon along with "forbidden rice", which apparently was excellent, and the other gentleman had the veal chops which he enjoyed. My father had the lemon blueberry cheesecake which looked delicious, and the ladies and I had the creme brule with "dragon berries" - and it was absolutely wonderful.

Scotty's is one of those plaza restaurants that you'd probably overlook unless you wanted a coffee, and then you'd find yourself pleasantly surprised.
Nothing pretentious, nothing screaming great tourist trap, nothing incredibly outstanding, but when you want just a nice simple meal - homestyle cooking - then you'd be quite happy at Scotty's. You'll notice that many of the patrons know one another, and the serving staff know them too by name. It's just that kind of place.
I could be in a lot of trouble with the regulars for spilling the secret of this little place to tourists, but like all good things, its great to share, and I'm sure the management won't mind!

Favorite Dish: They serve some wonderful comfort food at Scotty's. On a cold winter's day, they have some terrific homemade soups to warm your innards!
They have a nice soup & sandwich combo for lunchtime, and salads.
Their turkey dinners are just the thing to fill you up, and they also make some nice pasta dishes.
I've never left disapointed with the meal.
Just had lunch there today and had a great montreal smoked meat sandwich (kinda like corned-beef), with a huge side salad for $6.99 CDN. Could've had french fries instead of the salad.
Then... my dining companions and I split a lovely light Lemon Chiffon Dessert. It was very palate cleansing, and the slice was sufficient to give us all a good taste.

great atmosphere....the best panini I've ever had...the mediterranean with eggplant roasted red pepper and feta...yummy...the buffulo chicken was really good too...

coffee selection was fabulous

Favorite Dish: paninis

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A few weeks ago I was introduced to a great little restaurant for sandwiches and coffee. You know the little gem that can be so easily overlooked, and is right there under your nose just waiting to be discovered? It was under another name then, having been fairly recently purchased by Marty, and now is in the process of recreating itself under Marty's own name. What hasn't changed is a decent selection of sandwiches - wraps, traditional sliced bread sandwiches, and panini sandwiches, plus soup and a few new salads. He has a good selection of coffees, and the best sized mugs to sit by the fire, or just at one of the other tables in the spacious restaurant. Marty himself is very personable, and very willing to make your sandwich to suit your taste. His daughter was assisting him today when I was there, and his wife came in a bit later. It was that kind of place, where you are glad to meet the family. One of the things that I like about the restaurant, is its location - just on Cundles East, by Zehr's grocery store, in a plaza with lots of parking.

Favorite Dish: The last time I was at Marty's I had the Tuna Sandwich, and that was excellent - lots of filling, fresh, with a flavourful tomato slice and lettuce leaf. Today, I tried the Chicken Ceasar Wrap, and it was marvellous - lots of slices of "REAL" chicken, not that mock/processed imitation, with a ceasar salad, wrapped up in a fresh tortilla, and then heated through. Great flavour, real bacon, and parmasan cheese - and the price was extremely reasonable - I was thoroughly impressed. Ohhhh and then there was the coffee. The flavour of the day was Jamaica Me Crazee - and that was so true. It just tasted like a warm hug - if that makes sense. Just so tasty and just the right strength. I hope it'll be around for a while.

Webers (they seem to drop the apostrophe) is a good general restaurant with a diverse menu of soups, salads, and sandwiches, with a specialty in thick juicy burgers. I came here on the excellent recommendation of VT-er Cdn Jane, who certainly steered me in the right direction. Another appealing thing about the restaurant is its location, on Victoria Street right across from a town park and beach.

Garraway's is one of the really fine dining experiences in Barrie, if not THE top restaurant. Prices reflect that, but the quality of the food, its presentation, and the calibre of the staff explain why Garraway's is fine dining.
The music, and decor both add to the ambiance of the restaurant. The blinds keep the vehicular lights from glaring into the restaurant, and the pedestrian traffic from intruding. Perhaps the negative things are the location - right on a high traffic intersection, downtown, without a lot of parking, and a pretty narrow stairway and entrance (of only a couple of steps, but still dangerous in the winter).

Favorite Dish: The breads and spread are lovely - on my visit it was an apple bread, and a spinach/cream cheese spread.
My father had a ceasar salad, but it was presented like no salad I'd ever seen before - it was the lettuce leaves standing on end, wrapped around with a thin strip of, I think, parmesan cheese, and a bit of dressing drizzled over it. It took a little work to figure out how to best get into it.
I had the steak, and it was so tender that it could've been cut with a fork. I had it cooked medium and it was on the rare side, but still delicious. Served with delicious carmelized onions, crispy green beans, and lovely scalloped potatoes that had been compressed in a mold. Absolutely delicious. The sauces were a delight to the taste-buds.
The tenderloin beef looked equally good - perhaps medium rare was a little too rare for my liking. The pork chops were huge and served with a sweet potato puree.
I had the green apple creme brulee for dessert, served with 2 small cheddar cheese shortbreads. The Creme Brulee was served in a fairly shallow star shaped dish, and that made it a little too shallow, and overpowered by the sugar. Just did not get enough apple flavour out of it. The shortbreads were lovely.