The North Restaurant - Barrie

My husband and I visited our first time here during barrielicious. We tried the 6 course tasting menu. I will try to remember it all! We started off with some oysters on the half shell. While I am a self proclaimed foodie and have experienced many different foods, I have never eaten oysters! Yes they are a bit slimy but they were good. The one unfortunate issue was that the wait staff were unable to tell me the difference between the 4 types of oysters being offered. They did not seem to have any knowledge of the product. The chef/owner was able to come and explain the difference for us. In the end we tried them all and agreed that the raspberry point oysters were our favourite. Our first plate from the tasting menu was pea soup with mussels and bacon. The flavours were very nice, my only critique would be that they should have run the soup through a sieve to capture the pea casings. They sort of stuck around a bit in your mouth. The purple edible petals were ecstatically pleasing. We were then presented with an eggplant puff pastry towered with fresh greens and balsamic dressing. While I enjoyed the salad I felt that the eggplant got lost in the dish. The next was the pork plate. 2 types offered were Pork loin wrapped in bacon with cream cheese in the Center and fried beets as garnish. The other was a pulled pork nestled in a vegetable ( I can't remember the vegetable but this one was my favourite). Fish was up next. It was a tandoori flavoured bass filet with grilled cabbage, sunflower seeds and prosciutto. I really enjoyed that combination of flavours. We were then offered beef. Espresso chilli beef with a blue cheese and jalapeño corn bread. The beef was juicy and tender and the flavours worked well together. Our desserts were a lemon tart and a cinnamon bread. The cinnamon bread was drizzled in a syrup and walnuts however I found it dry while the lemon tart was very nice with a perfect balance of tart and sweet. As I said, the food was great! Here are some things they need to improve on. Wait staff need more information on their product. They have no idea what they are serving and one staff member had to return to the kitchen to find out what dishes she had in her hand. The wait staff were very nice, friendly, polite and did their job well. I feel that they just need more product information. We also lacked in silverware and I ate 3 of my entres with a dessert fork. Now I do not claim to be a wine connoisseur by any means but when I asked for Zinfandel wine I received a glass of white wine. The waitress insisted it was Zinfandel but I don't know if any that are white like a pinot. Their location is a bit disconcerting. They have a great set up to be a power house fine dinning restaurant however, we saw 2 street fights and had a very intoxicated man come up and speak with us while we dined. To the waitresses benefit, she kindly asked him to leave and apologized for the intrusion. The owner also did. Very kind and professional. Gotta move though! All in all I gave them 4/5 stars. Food on pointe, location and lack of product knowledge cost them the last star. Keep up good work! Thank you for having us.

Nice decor comfortable, cozy, food was great, limited wine selection but one selected was very good! Excellent coffee.

Celebrating Canada150 at one of our favourite Restos in Barrie. As always from our welcome by Hostess Yvana and Marlene, Chef Marco never disappoints. From our shared PEI oysters app to our large plate entrees; delicious tender Cdn. Beef Wellington topped with lightly battered onion rings, cheddar scalloped potatoes root veg's; Maritime scallops & shrimp with 'spot on' risotto leaves you feeling good about your choices. Yvana paired the accompanying wine and Marlene made sure our dinner was all we hoped for! Desert was Banana Cream pie but served in a light phyllo pastry w/half banana in a whipped cream, raspberry coulis & chocolate sauce. You can enjoy different seating from their second floor dining for groups/private meetings or try the upper deck-patio plus the main floor comfy bistro-bar, the formal dining area or their outdoor patio. Our casual fav is the bistro or patio. Special occasions in the dining areas. Be sure to reserve.

My wife and I have visited this restaurant many times....food is always delicious and the servers are very attentive.

We as a family (our 2 daughters), my husband, myself, my Mom and Dad all went to the North for Mothers Day dinner. This was the first time ever here, the food was delicious and the atmosphere so comfortable. I will be returning. I want to try everything....it all looks so scrumptious. We all had something different off the menu so that we could taste each others.