My first dining experience at Fusion Grill was great! It was back when locally sourced regional cuisine was still a new if not niche area. But today, so many restaurants have latched onto the whole locally sourced program so there are many establishments that offer locally raised bison and arctic char amongst other local goodies.
After that nice visit, I returned for another meal soon after but the service I received can be summed up as "condescending." I mean, I've eaten at my fair share of restaurants but this one takes the cake as being the most snooty. We ordered a bison rib dish, which was about $38-$40. The bison dish came out very cool (NOT room temperature), while my dish was piping hot. So we told our server about the bison dish, he then passed us onto the manager. Well, the manager didn't seem too happy to talk to us even though we were polite and just asked that the dish be warmed up. The manager leaned in close to my bf and said in a very condescending voice "well, if we heat it up, it won't be medium rare anymore." In a tone that was like "the meat will be warmed up but don't complain when the bison comes back well done instead of how you asked for it." The bison came back a little over medium. But at this point, the dish was so far gone cause I was nearly done with my entree by the time my bf got his and really, who pays nearly $40 for reheated food with some attitude on the side. We never demanded anything or even asked to be comped, we just wanted the dish served the way it's suppose to be. Isn't that fair when you're paying $40 for a main?
I think it was the tone that bothered me the most because he just didn't care. To me, service is as important as the food in a restaurant - both have to be great! No, we don't live in River Heights and are not his "regulars" but you should treat everyone with respect especially when we were polite. I doubt he would ever treat his other diners like that. I eat out a lot in restaurants of all levels and have never been treated like that before. So I vowed never to return because of the terrible service especially since this city is full of great restaurants!
But I am not one to hold onto grudges so I decided to return here recently after several years of boycott. I am opinionated but I strive to be balanced in my reviews and that's how I approached the dinner. And to be honest, I really wanted to like it cause I don't have money to burn so why would I want to have a bad meal?
But my first annoyance came early. My bf called to make a reservation at a specific time but the man on the other line told him that it couldn't be done at that time and made him take a much earlier sitting. When we arrived, it was dead. Literally, there was one table of diners and they were finishing up their meals. So we thought, maybe more people will arrive at the time we wanted. NOPE! Diners came in sporadically (most were walk ins) and the place was barely half full by the time we left. I understand if they only had seatings at certain hours like Tre Visi (on the weekends) but the person on the phone didn't mention that. It just seemed like he wanted us to eat earlier in case he had more late walk-ins.
Their website seems to be well maintained yet the online menu is very different from the actual menu (on the SAME DAY). Once again, this is annoying because I decided to try this place after seeing some specific dishes that piqued my interest. But that's fine, I can roll with the punches and try something else.
We asked to look at the 4x4 menu but the server had to check with the chef to see if the kitchen even had all the ingredients. Kinda odd but whatever. The ingredients were available so we opted for the tasting menu since it was $45 for 4 courses. Many of the tasting menu dishes are the same as the a la carte menu.
First
Panko crusted pickerel cheeks - a nice starter with 2 small crispy pickerel cheeks, creme fraiche and pickled fiddleheads. The flavours were balanced and really, who doesn't like pickerel cheeks?
The other course was the crispy grass-fed beef dumplings with noodles. The dumpling was fried well and piping hot inside. But it tasted like an average Asian dumpling with a sweet soy sauce.
Second
White truffle perogie with duck sausage with a walnut cream sauce. As you can see in the picture, it was a very thick cream sauce. Actually, I thought the walnut cream sauce overpowered the entire dish. The truffle oil is a nice touch but should be used sparingly.
The tomato and arugula parmesan salad was fairly pedestrian. The unfortunate part was that the kitchen used tomatoes right out of the fridge - the tomatoes were tooth numbingly cold! That really killed the taste of the salad with such a shocking temperature difference! And, keeping tomatoes in the fridge kills their flavour. So that dish was a huge disappointment.
Third
For the main, I had the duo of beef. A three ounce or so tenderloin sits on top of a heaping pile of mashed potatoes which is then set on a small pile of braised beef served with carrots and asparagus. I love beef duos but this one didn't do it for me. I hate to sound foo-foo but this was a muddled dish of flavours. It's one of those dishes where there are different components but everything ends up tasting the same (I had a similar experience at Mise). The beef was cooked correctly but the sauce didn't taste appropriate for the dish. The potatoes fluffy and deliciously well seasoned and a delight to eat.
The other main was the northern pike à la Forestière with fresh herb potato hash in white truffle vinaigrette, spinach and wild mushroom demi-glace. Once again, I like truffles but it shouldn't be added to any dish just cause it's trendy to do so, but because it complements and enhances the flavours of the dish. The scent of truffles is very earthy and overpowering especially in this pike dish.
Dessert
For the last course, I had the mascarpone cheesecake with Saskatoon berry topping; it was a rich and dense cheesecake - always a plus in my books! I've never been a fan of Saskatoon berries and could have done without the topping but overall, a good cheesecake. The warm apple crumble with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream was warm and yummy. A great summer dessert!
Service
Our server was great. She was very friendly and warm. The only improvement I'd like to suggest is for the server to describe the dish to the diner. Any tasting menu I've ever had, the servers always describe the dish to you because who can remember all the courses that one gets in a tasting menu! We had to prompt her to tell us but that should not be the case.
Pricing
Starters are $10-$15 with mains averaging around $30, the vegetarian pasta at $22 and the highest price item is the bison at $43. Consequently, the 4x4 tasting menu is a good deal at $45. All the wines are from Canadian wineries.Overall, the ambiance in this place is a very casual neighbourhood sort of place. So one can be dressy and somewhat casual without feeling too out of place. It's a bright but small space, feels like one is dining in NYC as you are spaced very closely to your fellow diners. It's very loud when it's full and when it's not, you can clearly hear your neighbour's conversation. The restaurant is definitely starting to show its age as the ceiling is cracked and there's a very bad patch job. The restaurant feels like it's trying to be casual yet their prices are nearly identical to meals I've had at Mirlycourtois (before it closed), Velvet Glove, and Sydney's (5 course at $51). These are fine dining establishments where service, ambiance and food are highly correlated to the price they charge. Hence my disappointment with Fusion Grill as they charge big prices for "quality" ingredients but yet there are so many glaring mis-steps. I wish them well and I know they have a big following but with so many great restaurants in the city that provide a far superior experience, I won't be dining here anytime soon.
Fusion Grill
550 Academy Road
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Tel 204.489.6963
Tuesday through Saturday
Lunch 11:30 am - 2 pm
Dinner starts at 5:30 pm
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