Introducing: Rock Lobster, the new Ossington incarnation of the popular pop-up restaurant

12 thoughts on “Introducing: Rock Lobster, the new Ossington incarnation of the popular pop-up restaurant”

1. By far the worst meal I’ve had in over a year. We honestly felt like we were at a Red Lobster, only the food tasted dreadful. This restaurant has completely missed the mark as to what it takes to be ‘hip’ on Ossington. It is trying far too hard and anyone from the neighborhood will be immediately put off by the contrived, suburban feel emanating from this food joint. The food itself was bland, predominately deep fried and tasteless. The service of the dishes in baskets with checkered paper would have been great if we were at KFC or Dairy Queen. We are residents of the neighborhood, but we will certainly not be back. Hopefully this is not a trend for Ossington, because if it is, we all might as well move to Woodbridge.

2. who would expect anything else from the smirnoff vodka of seafood restaurants. ‘good seafood is not cheap, cheap seafood is not good’

3. You guys are harsh! Had their lobster roll at the GFWE and it was to die for!!!!

4. For anyone of the posters that have been to a TUM event, you must have been the ones who didn’t want to wait in line for the busiest vendor in the place. So much so, they had to have their position moved to accomodate the massive line. When you try something new, you need to ask yourself “was this good enough to want to come back and try again…maybe bringing some new friends along”. This is the case for Rock Lobster. A pop-up turned restaurant, spurned on by the demand of the loyal twitter followers, TUM patrons, corporate companies using them for catering. Last time I checked, I didn’t see a chain restaurant boasting the same following. Far from being “a suburban resto”…we can leave those to the Baton Rouges, Red Lobster, or one of the thousand new burrito or burger joints. Anyone who has been to the East Coast would know that this is how seafood is meant to be…fresh, clean, and not convoluted with atypical pretentious ingredients. Fun, lively, friendly, entertaining is what I remember from my trip to Rock Lobster. A breath of fresh air in my opinion. Well done. Can’t wait to go back…ps try the snow crab.

5. Basically diner food , they are better off calling it a diner , these pop up places are like pop tarts

6. UGH. I hate Toronto Food Snobs! you should all make a blog and complain there.
   I say congrats to Rock Lobster.
   Merry Holiday! :)

7. Moi, they already did. Its called chowhound!. (haha). I’m so glad I’m not picky with my food, because I can’t wait to go here and try the lobster rolls, because I’m sure I’ll love it. Good luck to them.

8. Gotta love those lobster rolls, can’t be beat!

   Also @Ozzie, did you just say Red Lobster’s food is good? Kinda invalidates your whole argument. Enjoy your endless bowl of greasy garlic butter shrimps.

9. @notyouraverage – how many bland tasteless rolls/bags of chips does RL pay you a week to be their PR person? Cause your posting REEKS of an employee, if not the actual PR person for their resto. “A pop-up turned restaurant, spurned on by the demand of the loyal twitter followers, TUM patrons, corporate companies using them for catering” – ??!REALY??!?! That’s a wikipedia entry not a rebuttal to someone saying their food stinks. Oh and by the way their food stinks. I don’t like Red Lobster, and I’m not going to move to Woodbridge over this place, but I am from the east coast and anyone who knows a thing or two about authentic lobster rolls knows this is one sad attempt at $14 bucks.

10. congrats from a former TUM vendor that supports independent restaurants. I don’t think there is anything wrong with Woodbridge either, there is actually some great food to be found there.

11. Honest review here…. Im not a hipster from Queen st West so I wont go into the “vibe” and “image” of the place and what not…but I agree with the previous comment on it being more of a diner with bar food. Im not calling lobster and steak ‘bar food’, but the portions and the “high + low” combo sure does fit the bill. HOWEVER, the overall environment was nice and the drinks were really good. I recommend it as a nice place to try something different… thats all..

12. From Boston Ma, Went up to Toronto this week with my Girlfriend for two days. The Bartender at our hotel recommended this place…. It was fantastic. We stayed at the Drake, a very trendy hipster hotel in a similar neighborhood and the restaurant was only a few blocks away. Small, great vibe immediately, (not intimidatingly trendy like the drake) we got a seat at the bar and immediately the bartender was excited to talk to us and give us a rundown of what they do there. Cocktail Shrimp on the Raw bar were perfect, wish we got 12 instead of 6, and the cocktail sauce was on point. – It was our first time seeing the who Potini thing that they do there and we got the Lobster Potini via recommendation Being from New England we have great sea food and eat lobster a lot so we were a little concerned at first, but it was great. Really recommend this place. The owner came buy and talked to us, young guy great attitude, very happy that we added this place to our trip. Only negative is we got a parking ticket on the street. Go – Definite recomendation Thanks guys!!

Comments are closed.