[Canadian] Lisa Marie

Restaurant: Lisa Marie
Location: 638 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M6J 1E4
Price Range: $$

[wp-review]

I apologize in advance if this post is shorter than usual, that night my friends and I only ordered two dishes and a few drinks since we weren’t too hungry. I must first mention that I have been here three times and always had great experiences with this place 🙂

This place get crowded very fast so either come early for pre-drink or after for late night snacks and drinks ;). The only complaint I have at Lisa Marie is the seating. The stools aren’t comfortable and there is no space to store your bags (hooks under the table would be nice!). They do have a coat rack at the back though, so you can store your jacket there, although I wouldn’t suggest putting your bags there for obvious reasons :). In addition, the restaurant is really dark so it can be quite difficult to read the menu (please turn the lights on!) and I had to enhance my pictures so you can see the food/interior of the restaurant.

My friends ordered drinks and they really enjoyed it! Sadly I can’t drink due to medical reasons (except for wine) so sorry, you won’t see me order any alcohol drinks soon :(.

From the menu: “Seoul Fried Chicken – Half Crispy Fried Chicken tossed in Korean pepper sauce served with house made kimchi and sweet potato noodle stir fry.” The fried chicken doesn’t have that typical super crispy skin that you would normally get from KFC or Popeyes, instead these had a super thin and ultra-crisp crust like the normal Korean Fried Chicken (which is what I prefer). These were cooked perfectly, super moist, flavourful and coated with a delicious spicy gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste) sauce. The sauce was light, just a bit sweet, and right level of spiciness. Although the chicken was delicious, the sides disappointed me. The kimchi didn’t ferment long enough, it tasted like the kimchi is in the in-between stages of being raw and ripe lol. Also, the kimchi was bland as it didn’t have that salty and slightly sour taste I expected of kimchi :(. Same problem with the sweet potato noodle stir fry, bland and didn’t taste like anything

Everytime I go to Lisa Marie, I always get the Sugo. IT. IS. THAT.GOOD. OK. The sugo is an Italian meat sauce, with the brisket braised for 8 hours in a hearty tomato sauce and served with steaming hot home-made breads. Now follow me. Imagine taking a piece of bread, dip it into the red sauce, find chunks of meat (hurray), and eat it. What do you see? Do you see heaven? Do you see that light at the end of the tunnel? It’s good right? RIGHT? Yea sorry I don’t think I’m making sense here… but seriously I can just bath myself in this sauce LOL. I mean, the dish is so simple, yet it is so delicious………….Light, flavorful, right level of saltiness, what else can you ask for?

As you can see, I had great experience with Lisa Marie. I strongly encourage you to check them out when you are in the area, and definitely get the Sugo (then thank me later :p)! The servers were incredibly friendly and tentative, despite how busy the restaurant was. If I remember correctly they have a little market at the back, which sells different sauces and jams (?). Sadly I didn’t pay attention and the restaurant was too dark to browse around. Next time I will try coming back during the day and check what they offer!