Cheap Eats Toronto restaurant guide blog

Romance CheapEats Style

Keith asked: Is it really possible to have a quality or romantic experience inexpensively?

Certainly!  

There are plenty of romantic and interesting spots where with a little planning or attention to ordering, you can have a great romantic experience with good service and ambiance without breaking the bank. 

Some Quick Tips?

• Cocktails at home - markups are big on booze, so keep your restaurant drinking to a minimum.  Have a cocktail or a glass of wine at home before heading out.  Even better, setup an intimate corner at home to have your dessert & liqueurs and let the evening progress from there. 
• Share your food - appetizers and desserts are perfect sharing courses and sharing is always a great way to get close and isn't getting close the main objective of romance. 
• Show some flair – know a quiet but not so fancy spot with great food… bring your own candles and linen. Hey, the restaurant might even let you set it up in advance if you are really going all out. I have a friend who proposed in a burger joint.
• Get into the mood – cluttered chic and twinkle lights may not be your idea of classy, but boho  spots can be a lot of fun if you relax and embrace the environment. Cuddle in to avoid that spring poking out of the couch and enjoy your calamari.

I polled the rest of the CheapEats team for more tips on how they do romance on the cheap...

Notes From A Bay Street CheapEater

In response to some very pointed, and accurate, comments from our friends and readers, we are introducing a semi-regular feature to the CETOblog - Notes From A Bay Street CheapEater.

As you know, the CheapEats Toronto team is constantly collecting recommendations and checking out restaurants across the city.  However, we've realized (with a little help) that between publications we are being a little stingy with that information and Notes From A Bay Street CheapEater is our first step in addressing this.

Gerry, or GT as he is known in your handy-dandy CETO guide, is going to start sharing his lunch explorations through the Financial District.  GT works off Bay Street and he is always trolling the food courts and back streets looking for for good and cheap eats to distract him from his day job. 

In addition to being a regular contributor to CheapEats Toronto, GT is the owner of Plethora Press and co-publisher of the CheapEats Restaurant Guides. He also takes on the daunting task of visiting almost 400 restaurants to ensure consistency in the style and cleanliness ratings before a new edition of CheapEats goes to print.  GT is one busy CheapEater.

Look for GT's first installment in Notes From A Bay Street CheapEater  in the next couple of days.

FAQ: Can restaurants buy their way into CheapEats?

The next most comment question is usually a varient of: 

"Can restaurants PAY to get into CheapEats?"

Short Answer: NO!

Longer Answer: Hell, NO!!!!!!!

NO gratuities, favours or free food are accepted in exchange for being included in CheapEats, recommended by CheapEats, or for a good profile.

Restaurants get considered for the book by being recommended by a customer. Restaurants make the book by being good, inexpensive and fitting the CheapEats criteria.   

FAQ - Have You Eaten At All The Restaurants?

A number of people have been emailing me about how a restaurant can make it into the book, what criteria we use to evaluate the restaurants, and other questions that seem to pop up regularly.  So, instead of pointing you to some webpage, we're going to start answering them here and let everyone in on how things work.

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The number one, most frequently asked question, is

"Have you eaten at all these restaurants?"

Short Answer: Yes, of course we have. 

Longer Answer: Every restaurant that makes it into CheapEats has been eaten at by at least one member of the CheapEats team.

Personally, I have eaten at approximately 70% of the CheapEats Toronto restaurants.

In fact, many of the restaurants in the book are frequented regularly by members of the CheapEats team.  After all, we are writing profiles about places we know, not reviews of meals we've eaten once or twice.

If a good recommendation* comes in for a restaurant we don't already know about, and haven't already tried, we're all eager to check it out.  But even if we already know it, we'll check out what is being recommended to make sure everything meets the CheapEats criteria. 

We are sure to check all the restaurants out a couple of times before they are seriously considered for inclusion in cheapeats. Because, while restaurants won't even be considered for CheapEats unless they've been recommended we're always out there looking for good food, good deals and CheapEats.