Eating out with baby | Drake One Fifty

It’s a very rare occasion that would see us eating out with baby at a brand spankin’ new restaurant but that’s just what happened with the newly opened Drake One Fifty. I had a date with some lovely ladies I had met through the ever so changing social media world and they were generous enough to even accept the fact that the Little Monkey would be joining us (yes despite my recent whining about the onset of the terrible twos). Everyone knows the popular Drake Hotel in the Queen West neighbourhood and quite a few of us were surprised by the opening of a stand alone restaurant in the downtown core by the same folks, so ofcourse we had to check it out!

I knew there were no high chairs on offer but the lady who took our reservations suggested a nice corner booth would be saved for us and I was pleased that they were so accommodating.Given that I’m sure their priority are the business folks and not families. I liked the attention to detail from that initial conversation with the hostess. On arrival it was getting busy with the afterwork crowds in for their check-ins and I secretly reveled that the place was quite loud (no one will hear the tantrums!! yay.. what am I doing here with a crazy toddler who’s in the midst of being potty trained?). You can’t miss the 60 foot oval marble bar and  the many tiles and artwork that pull in some much needed character to the financial and entertainment core, a fancy diner-esque vibe was in place.

Well what do you know… the Little Monkey was an absolute angel (I know!! WHAT?) and was quite content drawing on her book (and her face), noshing on the pizza (her favest)  and minus a few occasional 2 second fits, it was a great meal. Us girls got to catch up and enjoy the menu and the staff were very friendly towards the Little Monkey, I believe the manager has a two year old at home himself! We were pleasantly surprised by not only the reasonable pricing and the variety on offer (enough but not over the top) but also the calibre of the dishes that came out of the kitchen.

I’d definitely be back for snacks and drinks since the cocktail menu looked FAB and the snacks we sampled were delicious! I liked that they had a mocktail menu and the Elderflower Sour was enjoyed by the Little Monkey (high class lady!).

Dishes we ordered included the Ricotta Gnocchi that is based on a recipe handed down to executive chef Ted Corrado from his grandmother. We loved the texture of  the broccoli pesto and florets, pine nuts and preserved chili in the dish. I also enjoyed the Blistered Shishito Peppers with Cherry Tomatoes, Sea Salt and Crispy Garlic. Our Margarita pizza was a classic with a big dollop of buffalo mozzarella and some delicious delicious little red peppers (Peruvian sweet drops I was informed via twitter by the chef!). I heard good reviews of the Grilled Octopus dish as well.

The Little Monkey and I thoroughly enjoyed our Mint and Chocolate dessert which was cocao nibs with mint ice cream, a swirl of burnt marshmallow, brittle and a macaron. Any guesses who ate the marshmallow and macron? Yup… she did!

I knew there was a small outpost of the Drake Store (which is perfect for finding cute RANDOM gifts for the quirky people in your life) as well as a photo booth but I had time for none since we had a poopy diaper to deal with and I wasn’t ready to battle the washrooms by myself as there wasn’t much place to do a full clean. We speed walked home!