I chose Open Range as a venue for one of our Social Club ‘Dinner in the City’ events. I’d been to Open Range a few times before so I know the quality of the food was great, the service was pleasant, and the ambience of the restaurant was nice for a social event. We booked the Wine Room in the back of the restaurant. The room has a maximum of 32 people, and we ended up with only 20. With two tables of 6 and one table of 8 it was actually quite cozy and it turned out well.
Service was great. Once brought into the room the servers took our coats and gave us a tag to pick them up at the end of the night. Water was on the table, and we were asked right away if we’d like drinks. The menu for the evening was at each place setting, and we were provided options to choose from. This was one of the bonus’s of choosing this restaurant for a large group – even though there was a set menu, everyone was given a choice. Sometimes one just doesn’t feel like steak!
I had the wild mushroom bisque. It was tasty but needed salt. 3 of us at the table said so and 2 of us added salt to it and it was much better. Since it was dark in the room I had to use flash on my phone – the photos really don’t do the food justice, unfortunately.
I love the chimichuri sauce that they use at Open Range. Perhaps in the summer when I have herbs in my own garden I’ll make some – it’s so delicious! I had asked for my steak to be medium rare and it was definitely rare. I didn’t say anything, since it tasted fine and I had no issue eating it. The potatoes had a smoky chipotle flavour – a nice kick for something that’s typically pretty standard.
The flourless hazelnut chocolate ganache torte was pretty good. One of us at our table didn’t like it, but I thought it was good. The hazelnut crust was a little tough to break through, but the ganache wasn’t too rich or sweet, and the cake wasn’t dry. My friend and I ate it up pretty fast!
If you’re planning a group event, I recommend checking out Open Range. Just note the minimum spends (they are way more on Friday/Saturday). If you don’t have a lot of drinkers in your group, you’ll never meet the minimum spends on a weekend.
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