Restaurant: Smash Kitchen & Bar
Location: 4621 Highway 7 East, Markham, ON L3R 1L5
Price Range: $$
[wp-review]
I have heard of Smash Kitchen & Bar for quite some time now as T had a friend who used to work as a chef there, and he constantly raved about how good the food was. Smash Kitchen & Bar was a bit hidden in a plaza corner where you wouldn’t expect there to be a restaurant, and I was quite surprised of how big the space was. Inside the restaurant there were large seating areas with bright lights, private room for parties, a nice bar area and a patio outside for warmer days.
I arrived with some friends on a Friday night and the restaurant was packed except for the bar, and since the weather was still warm we decided to sit at the patio. Thinking back, I should have asked to sit inside because it got dark so quickly = no nice picture!! Sighs..
The restaurant had a relax and casual atmosphere, and it can get quite noisy on Friday and weekends. The staffs were extremely friendly, tentative and professional.
C and R ordered the BBQ ribs and decided to eat while I was in the washroom. Rude. With that said, they left me two pieces of the ribs… so I forgive.
I thought the meat was tender but not fall off the bone tender. The BBQ sauce was sweet and very flavorful, though I would have liked it a bit more if there was some spicy kick to the sauce.
C ordered the smash burger and he mentioned how it was just your average and nothing special. R said his surf and turf was good but it was tough to eat in one bite. I must mention how the bottom bun of these two burgers were extremely thin, hence they soaked up all the juices from the patties and resulted into this huge mess when you try to eat.
Despite the tiny lobster pieces, for $23 there were a decent amount of lobster incorporated within the pasta. Although the pasta wasn’t freshly made in-house and despite being overcooked by a few seconds, I was surprised at how tasty the pasta was! The sauce had a nice kick and acidity to it with some nice small chunks of tomato, and fresh arugula to lighten up the dish. With that said, I didn’t find any pico de gallo nor the basil pesto, and I find it strange to have those two with the arrabiantta sauce?
Judging from my order, I would love to come back to Smash again to try other items on the menu, but I suggest skip the burgers as my friends didn’t enjoy it. In my opinion Smash Kitchen and Bar is a nice change from the usual Chinese restaurants in the area, and the price was pretty much comparable to other similar restaurants such as Boston Pizza.