Top 5 Fine Dining Restaurants in Mississauga
Published June 19, 2015 at 7:15 pm
Fine dining is a fine art that takes a combined effort of both the front of house and the back of house where service, food and atmosphere have to come together to create the overall fine dining experience.
The wait staff should be highly trained and knowledgeable on the menu, offer outstanding service, and the menu dedicated to fine cuisine using high quality ingredients in a pleasurable atmosphere. White linen tables and wait staff in formal attire are usually part of this equation.
This top 5 fine dining restaurant list was ranked based on a number of factors including: service, server menu knowledge, food flavour, menu creativity, food presentation and atmosphere.
5 – Rogues
Rogues makes it to the fifth spot and scored the second highest in the food flavour category.
Rogues is located on Dundas St. W and is marking their 30th year – a tenure that’s hard to achieve, especially in the food scene. At Rogues, you can expect traditional fine dining in an old school and quaint environment reminiscent of your Aunt’s home – cozy and inviting. Music plays softly throughout the restaurant and the lively atmosphere is far from pretentious or stuffy, so you feel right at home.
Freshly grown herbs line the one side of the open kitchen tucked away in the back of the restaurant. It is a nice addition to the space where you can observe Chef Bevan Terry and his team performing their craft.
The menu is inspired by the delicious cuisine of northern Italy and the Mediterranean where you’ll find daily features, a number of appetizers, soups and salads, entrees and most notably Rogues’ homemade pastas.
Must-Try Dish: The gnocchi al gorgonzola consists of potato dumplings in a gorgonzola cream sauce and as one of the best in the city, it’s a must-try. This simple yet time-consuming dish can satisfy in so many ways especially when executed correctly. Rogues’ gnocchi is an absolute melt-in-your-mouth experience shaped into large flavourful potato pockets. It is garnished with red peppers and green onions and this combination adds a slight sweetness and slight bite to cut through the rich gorgonzola cream sauce.
The lumache is a dish of escargot prepared with crema bel paese cheese wrapped in a light pastry and served floating in a garlic tarragon sauce. This savory pastry is substantial in size, tremendous in flavour and beautifully presented.
Micheael’s Back Door takes the fourth spot on this list and a tie for second place in the category of best service.
The setup is unlike anything else in Mississauga. It is located at the back of a building in the Clarkson village off Lakeshore Rd. and it’s completely hidden from public view. As you park in the back alley, you will find a glass solarium protruding from the back. It’s almost like you are walking into a secret location.
The server was extremely pleasant and knowledgeable and offered recommendations, as any good server should. This isn’t a big place, so make reservations — especially on Friday and Saturday nights. This would be a perfect place for a date and they even have a piano room that can accommodate 40 people, which is great for a corporate lunch or dinner. They recently introduced a wine room for up to 16, which is great for family parties when you just don’t want to cook at home. Michael’s is expanding so much that it might have a front door one day. Also, Michael’s Back Door has been around since 1981, so you know they’re doing something right.
Must-Try Dish: The risotto pescatore (rotating chef’s daily feature) has shrimp, scallops, fresh tomatoes and white wine and it is one of the best risottos in Mississauga. The shrimp were large, the seafood was plentiful and the rice cooked al dente.
The charcuterie board includes assorted cured Italian meats, sun-dried tomatoes, pickled eggplant, olives, a variety of cheese and balsamic toastini.
Tu Casa Fine Dining is ranked third on this list and tied for the top scores in menu creativity and one of the top scores for food presentation.
Tu Casa is hidden in one of city’s most affluent neighbourhoods – Lorne Park. This gem is just over six years old and although it’s located in million dollar territory and has white linen lined tables, it offers a warm, unpretentious and relaxing dining environment without an overly pricey menu.
The quaint and inviting space has a classic appeal filled with a lot of natural dark wood and marble. The walls are lined with a portion of the wine on their vast wine menu and you’ll find simple, classic accents throughout the restaurant.
The open concept restaurant is naturally and brightly lit during the day and dimly lit in the evenings giving it a completely different vibe that can simultaneously be romantic and lively. The servers are engaging and the music plays on speakers around the restaurant. It’s far from stuffy nor do you feel as though you need to use your inside voice.
Must-Try Dish: A modern take on s’mores. The dish includes chocolate ganache, graham cracker covered house-made marshmallows, chocolate meringue and served on top of a glass top wooden box filled with smoking wood chips which slowly release from the box as you savor the classic campfire favorite.
Ahi tuna two ways is beautifully presented and an Asian inspired dish which includes gently seared Ahi tuna with pickled ginger and wasabi; ahi tuna tartare with ginger, sesame and soy aioli and wrapped in house-made sesame cones.
2 – Piatto Bistro
Piatto takes the second spot on our fine dining list and ties for the top score in food flavour and second highest score in service, server menu knowledge and menu creativity categories.
Piatto is what I would call a “sleeper” of a restaurant, as defined by car aficionados, in this example, is what appears to be a typical, old school restaurant but delivered above that.
Piatto is a long-standing Sauga gem that’s been loyally serving diners since 1989 is Piatto Bistro, a fine dining resto on the ground floor of an old-style house-turned-spa at the corner of Dundas and Mississauga Road.
The space plays music throughout the restaurant, it’s an old school but lively vibe with regulars that frequent the resto. The service is attentive and accommodating and our server went out of his way help me decide on a custom-made dish that he insisted the chef would be happy to make. We had three different servers with varying roles taking care of our table and management checked in with our table during our final course.
The food and service are extra special. The menu reflects Chef Abramo Tonelli’s classical Italian cuisine blending with a touch of French. Born in Argentina of Italian decent, his daily blackboard specials are abundant in seafood options and where you will find especially creative and well crafted selections to choose from.
The menu, which contains some mainstays that pre-date the arrival of new-ish (he joined the Piatto team somewhat recently) Argentina-born Italian chef Abramo Tonelli, features classic European-inspired dishes that feature hearty red meats, rich pastas, seafood and mushrooms.
Must-Try Dish: Grilled seafood includes shrimp, scallop and calamari. The seafood was cooked perfectly and had a smoky flavour from the grill with a house-made tomato olive vinaigrette.
Sea bass (rotating chef’s daily feature) in a lemon and butter sauce served with vegetables. The fish was extremely tender and light sauce complimented the fish. Risotto was the original side to this dish but I requested vegetables and the chef accommodated.
17 Steakhouse is the epitome of fine dining with top scores in all categories and the only restaurant on the list which offers an unparallel fine dining service and the most modern fine dining atmosphere. 17 Steakhouse has stepped up the fine dining game in Mississauga.
There is something for everyone on the menu with varying price ranges so don’t let “fine dining” scare you away from having lunch or hosting a business meeting or get together.
Our server was extremely attentive and extremely knowledgeable about the menu – remarkably more than any other fine dining restaurant in Mississauga. Our server was passionate and educated us on the variety of steak types and cuts on the menu without being overly intrusive and was well-versed at answering all of our questions. The owner checked in on our table just before our last course and makes it a point to check on every table during their dining experience. 17 Steakhouse has set the bar and it’s pretty high.
17 Steakhouse is a majestic Vegas-style game changer to the fine dining scene in the city. Millions were spent designing the 32,000 sq. ft. space filled with over the top features such as a gorgeous oversized fresh water aquarium filled with a colourful array of African cichlid fish that’s visible from both the main bar and one of the two private dining rooms.
The extraordinary space has soaring ceilings, numerous enormous chandeliers throughout a dining area that is filled with natural light during the day and a sizeable, dimly lit bar and lounge area that’s perfect for a pre or post dinner drink. The menus light up, as they are equipped with LED backlights. The rechargeable menus are one of many conversation pieces and they’re the first of their kind in Canada.
Executive chef Neil Patterson (formerly Jacob’s Steakhouse) presents beautifully plated dishes that are well seasoned and the steaks perfectly seared. The menu includes a number of U.S., Ontario and Alberta prime cuts of beef, including the tenderloin, strip loin, prime T-bone, porterhouse and tomahawk. You will also find Japanese A5 wagyu and a reasonably priced American flat iron wagyu at $40 for 8 oz. Other options include oysters, ahi tuna, seared scallops, tempura shrimp, fish options, salads, duck confit, bison tenderloin, risotto, chicken, braised back ribs, charcuterie board, calamari and a seafood tower.
Must-Try Dish: The Snake River Farms American wagyu flat iron steak was grilled and cooked to a perfect medium rare, with a beautiful sear, well-seasoned and served with a side of roasted garlic.
The house-made warm chocolate volcano cake is served with vanilla ice cream on top of a chocolate crumble and garnished with house-made caramel sauce.
