America

Ambiance is subpar. Disco coloured lights on the ceiling coupled with uncomfortable seats (that have no backs to recline). Drinks are expensive and the bar doesn’t seem to attract a good crowd. Gorgeous Lee Broom light fixtures but the bar still feel like a sad afterthought. Would not return.

I’ve been here twice, once for Summerlicious (2015) and again for Winterlicious (2016), and both seasons it’s been one of my favourites. The restaurant is obviously gorgeous. The first time I sat on the top floor once which was nice and was quieter, and felt more intimate. You get a nice view and great lighting in the late afternoon/​early evening. I like sitting in the main dining room more though, just because you feel like you’re more in the center of things, plus then you really get to appreciate the high ceilings and cool mood lighting.
I don’t want to go into too much detail about those menus now because they’re not even relevant anymore, but I will say that I’ve been impressed by almost every single thing I’ve tried at this restaurant, and even the things that were less exciting were still good. I think they do try to offer some interesting items on their Summerlicious/​Winterlicious menus every year, so it’s definitely a place worth trying and I think it’s worth it for the $ 28 lunch/​$ 45 dinner. In particular, their matcha chicken and waffles and key lime gelatin stood out for me during Summerlicious 2015, while their vegetarian offerings actually stole the show during Winterlicious 2016 — both the baked potato & raclette soup and mushroom & potato bake were superb. And you can never go wrong with their steaks.
Also worth mentioning is their absolutely DELICIOUS jalapeño cornbread which I could just eat all day… my table had to get a refill of this because it was just so good.
You’d expect service at an establishment like this to be top notch and for the most part it is. The waiters are attentive and try to be accommodating. When there was another party coming who had our table reserved, the staff were able to relocate us to a lovely window seat by the bar so we could continue enjoying our cocktails. It can be a bit hit or miss though, I recall our waiter for Summerlicious last year seemed a bit snooty and probably could have been friendlier.

Went to this America Restaurant on 31^st floor of the Trump Hotel in Toronto last week. Almost on the last day of the winterlicious, we had booked ahead for a fixed price of $ 28 — Winterlicious lunch menu for 4 people. We were seated by a huge window facing to the TD Bank building with a beautiful scenery view. A very trendy and attractive decoration in the dining room made us feel so special and precious when sitting at the table. More importantly, all dishes came out so good and delicious with nice food presentation too. All servers were so nice and friendly that they had prepared a special dessert to pre-​celebrate for one of our friends’ Bday on that day. Good fine dining experience at the America of the Trump Hotel. Will definitely try out a lunch or dinner when summerlicious comes in July/​August this year.

Came here for some drinks at the bar. We expected it to be busy on a Thursday night, but it wasn’t busy at all. We immediately got a table and the atmosphere is very relaxed and comfy. Service was very mediocre, and could’ve been better given there weren’t many people.

There’s a lot of hate for the service at America, but I didn’t have any issues. Everyone was quite nice and considerate. On décor — the restaurant is on the 31^st floor of the Trump Tower, but the view isn’t as nice as other roof top restaurants like Canoe or the Roof Lounge at the Park Hyatt. They dim the lights at night to a point where you feel like you’re in a night club and there’s a DJ in the back who puts out some good tunes. This was alright as we were heading to the club afterwards, but I can imagine some people taking issue with this.
We had a large group so we were able to sample a lot of the food on the menu. The food is hit and miss, but mostly miss. The appetizers and the dessert weren’t that good. Some of the entrees, however, were quite nice. The highlights:
— Whole Roasted Dover Sole (MP, ~$ 70 for us): you don’t often find dover sole on restaurant menus so this was quite a treat. The fish was cooked and de-​boned very well. Probably the best dish of the night. Note: they only serve this on Fridays.
— Tomahawk Rib Steak for Two ($ 150): if you start with high quality meat, it’s hard to screw it up. Nonetheless, this tomahawk was good — cooked to the right temperature, tender and flavourful.
— Mac & Cheese side ($ 9): not an entrée, but this side got quite a bit of attention at the table. It’s more cheese than mac, so if you love cheesy mac & cheese, get this.
— Complimentary cornbread: not an entrée, but this was so good we had to re-​order it 3 or 4 times. They’re fresh out of the oven and have a perfect amount of jalapenos for spice.
Of all the restaurants that I have called «pricey», this one probably sits near the top. It’s not just the dollar amount, but the value of the food/​beverages that you get for it. At America, it was way over the top. I would probably only return if I’m not paying for it or during Winterlicious/​Summerlicious.

We went to America for a special occasion lunch and we were rather pleased. Best freshly baked bread and it was on the house. The steak tartare (large size) came with a side of with fries and was a good size to split between 2 – 4 people as an appetizer. The eggs florentine and bibimbap were good. The ambience and service were excellent. Would like to go again and try some of the dinner items!

Ambiance: romantic. Perfect for business conversations, girls-​night-​out, brunch, or a casual date night. There were not many people. When majority left, our lights were dimmed down to enhance the romantic ambiance. America allows downtown view from their balcony.
Service: friendly and has a sense of humor. Average expectations for a casual upscale restaurant. Servers only came about when needed. Casually checked up without sending off a ‘are you done?’ vibe. Placed others as further away from us as possible, which is nice.
Food: just perfect. Not too outstanding, not too average. The chef himself delivered my main course, ¹⁰⁄₁₀ service on that part. Not too much flavour, every bite extracts individual flavour. Mushrooms are ¹⁰⁄₁₀. Salmon is nice. Pie crunchiness and smoothness are perfect.
Overall great experience. Will return.

I came here for a work event for lunch and we ordered a starter, entrée and dessert for each person. We also had some wine to go with our meal.
Personally, the unique part of the meal for me was the Cluster Bar that I ordered for dessert. There were three choices: dark chocolate (rocky road), white chocolate (cookies & cream), and milk chocolate (cranberries). One other person in my party got the Cluster Bar in dark chocolate and that was quite delightful, a good balance between the bitter taste of the dark chocolate and the sweetness of the marshmallows. I opted for the cookies and cream which tasted just like the Hersey’s cookies and cream, if not better!
What really surprised me was when the Cluster bar came out and it was a full sized chocolate bar!
Overall, an enjoyable meal but most likely wouldn’t come here again, there are better options with similar pricing in the DT core.

Went there for Winterlicious lunch.
Appetizers were great. The beef one was crispy outside and tasty inside, same as the whitefish doughnuts (it’s more like fish balls than «doughnuts».
Main dishes were fantastic, love the salmon tartare that flavored with spice and some crispy thing (idk what) which richen the texture. The chicken pappardelle was great too, neither too dry nor too creamy, perfect.
As for desserts, the chocolate tart is highly recommended, tasted so pure. The upside-​down cake was good too but too sweet to me.
The service was perfect. Professional table and dishes serving, polite and considerate.

My gf brought me here a month ago for my bday. We had the ice seafood rawbar as the maincourse which was excellent. The ambience was quite nice and the view was decent, although something seems to be lacking for that «luxurious» feel.
The food was definitely spectacular. The desert (i forgot the name, but it was some chocolate bar on a cutting board) was a nice finish to the delicious meal.

I finally had the chance to try this restaurant out. What an amazing time I had. Service was top notch and friendly. The food was incredible! I started with the Heirloom Tomatoes appetizer which was the best decision I have ever had when it comes to tomatoes. I can’t believe how amazing this tasted. Symphony of flavors! Virgin olive oil, sea salt, mint leaves, etc. Oh wow!
My main course with the chicken dish and it did not disappoint. You get almost a half chicken with corn done four different ways with whipped potatoes. Incredible.
The ambiance and décor is amazing too — hence the higher price point because, well, Trump. Haha!
I can’t wait go to back!

Was here for a business dinner on a Monday. It was quite busy, with celebrities spotted (TIFF is in town, after all).
We had a delightful meal — the duck main is absolutely TERRIFIC!
Excellent wine options, and great dessert (although size of ice cream scoops is miniscule).
On the bright side:
— very nice mains
— great wines
— delightful décor and nice view of TD towers off the patio
On the dark side:
— by the glass pour is miniature
— you’re supporting Trump

I went here for Summerlicious 2015.
APPETIZER:
Jerk Pork Belly — green vegetable piccalilli, turnip, summer pollen
First time having a «jerkified» pork belly. It was very good and tasty. The pork belly had a crunchy skin and melt in your mouth meat. The jerk flavour added a great touch.
MAIN:
Squid Ink Chitarra Pasta — squid, octopus, black garlic, parsley
This was so delicious — I was very impressed with this dish especially coming from a non-​Italian restaurant. The pasta was perfectly aldente and the squid ink flavour was spot on. The squid and octopus pieces were fresh and good. The black garlic and parsley mixed amazingly well with the pasta.
It’s very rare to find squid ink dishes in Toronto so I was very happy they served this.
DESSERT:
Key Lime Pie — sourdough crumb, meringue, tequila
Wasn’t a big fan of this. It looked nice but it didn’t really have the pie texture. It was more gelatinous which I think they did to be able to make that shape for design purposes.

Came here on a Monday night to visit the patio on the 31^st floor of the Trump Hotel and Tower for drinks. Upon entering the building, the level of service is on an extremely different level from what I’m used to. Greeters will rotate the immense doors for you, and the level of enthusiasm from the staff is apparent no matter where I am in the building. Keep in mind that I was nowhere nearly dressed (backpack and sneakers) for the occasion of a five star hotel since I came here on a whim, but I was still treated with courtesy and respect.
My friend had a glass of belstar prosecco ~$ 14 which was an extremely bubbly wine, similar to the taste of a dry champagne, and myself an «Alice Mystery» mocktail ~$ 10 (raspberries, cranberry juice, lemon juice, vanilla). My drink was extremely sour, which is exactly how I like it, with raspberry pieces in the drink, and a few skewered onto a plastic toothpick. I don’t know much about drinks, but this puckery concoction tasted like a variant of a mojito.
The waitress also served complementary popcorn with truffle-​infused butter, making quite an eloquent treat. It was so good that we couldn’t resist the urge to ask for another round.
It’s a very tranquil, polished environment which makes it a perfect place for long talks.
Oh and you get to oversee the Wellington/​Yonge financial district region from the top floor patio!

It’s that time of year again! Summerlicious is back!
Having been wanting to make a visit to America, I was delighted to see its name on the list of restaurants participating in Summerlicious this season!
My boyfriend and I dressed up and stopped in for lunch on the 31^st floor of the Trump Hotel. I’m glad we put on our fancy attire because this place is absolutely gorgeous! We were lucky enough to get a table on the second floor and appreciate the view of downtown Toronto.
Ok, ok, let’s get to the food!
We ordered off the Summerlicious menu at the incredible price of only $ 28/​person for lunch. The dinner option gets a little pricier.
You MUST order the jerk pork belly to start. It is crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and the sauce that it is sitting in is divine! My boyfriend made the mistake of ordering the Smoky Cod & Iceberg Wedge Salad. While it wasn’t terrible by any means, it was a fancy version of the poor man’s taco salad, minus tortilla chips.
For a main, the big winner was the burger. There are very hot jalapenos that make this dish quite spicy, but it had a delicious, buttery flavour to it. The cucumber salad on the side, was slightly bland, but helped balance the spiciness of the jalapenos.
We had also ordered the squid ink pasta, that was quite tasty. It was tossed in garlic and oil with calamari and squid on top. It was a nice light meal but didn’t have the same pop of flavour that we found in the burger.
Finally, dessert! Always my favourite course! Unfortunately, this is where America lost its star for us. We ordered both the key lime pie and the cheese and chocolate plate but neither really impressed. They weren’t overly exciting which wasn’t the best way to cap off the meal.
The service was impeccable and they gave a truly first class customer experience!
Overall, this meal was as close as this lady’s going to get to the American dream.
— Ashley Marie

Tried out their summerlicious lunch menu ($ 28).
I would recommend the following:
1. Smoky Cod & Iceberg Wedge Salad– guajillo buttermilk dressing, heirloom tomato pico, crispy nori.
2. Squid Ink Chitarra Pasta — squid, octopus, black garlic, parsley
3. Cedar-​Grilled Speckled Trout– cauliflower, spiced chickpeas, brown butter
Unfortunately, I was not a fan of their black forrest cake. It was so sweet that it felt slightly nauseating.

Called to confirm our reservation for the summerlicous event only to find out that the booking had an error. Error was quickly fixed and reassured us that we would still be able to be accommodated. Arrived on time and received a royal welcome despite the booking error. As offered a great window seat for my hot date and I.
For appetizer, I started off with the matcha waffle with fried chicken. The plate was initially served and set for another customer which I saw then brought over to me. Felt that I should have gotten a new one but I was starving so it wasn’t a deal breaker. Waffle was crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Portion size was fair considering that it was an app. The hot date had sweet corn chowder which was also tasty. The wait time to get the main was reasonable. Servers were extremely attentive given the busy crowd.
For main we both had our own strip loin and brisket. Strip loin was succulent and melt in the mouth. The brisket was juicy and full of taste and the vegetables that came with it were also great.
Dessert I had the key lime pie. On point.
Overall a great experience and the only thing stopping it from a perfect review was the appetizer being re-​served to me.

What a disaster,
This was a really hard 3 stars to give out. This was one of those meals where every single thing that could go wrong, did, except for the food.
We waited over half an hour for our drinks. We came late for lunch and there were only 3 other tables in the entire place. We assumed all of those tables had finished eating and were waiting to leave because of how long they sat without food in front of them until they started getting meals 1 by 1 at what must have been an hour after them ordering. At the end of their meals j heard comments like «let’s never speak of this again» «I dont even feel like doing anything else today after that».
After explaining to our waiter 4 times that we wanted onion rings with our burger, and truffle fries to split in the middle, we received a side of truffle fries and an enormous basket of onion rings.
We literally could not find our server for 90% of the times we needed him and ended up asking for the manager.
He was the only competent person we were able to find and he did an outstanding job of making us happy and correcting the errors made by the servers. He also adjusted our bill accordingly.
The food was fantastic, onion rings were best I have ever had, my friend said the same of his burger. The truffle fries were great, my Mac and cheese was huge and delicious.
All in all, had we not had so much free time to kill and weren’t in such jovial moods this meal could have been an absolute train wreck. But thanks to a very helpful manager, a good sense of humour and some very solid food, we did have a great time and would consider returning for dinner.

Came here for winterlicious dinner 2015 with a group of 8.
The ambiance is very classy chic with cool lighting décor and purple/​pink lights. We had dinner upstairs in their main dining area. I was surprised that there wasn’t much of a view for being on the 31^st floor. I was expecting a canoe type place with large windows where you could see the skyline, but you can’t see outside or enjoy a nice view unless you go to the balcony at the lounge downstairs.
The service wasn’t bad at all. Usually when you go to winterlicious dinners, you expect subpar service, but this wasn’t the case. I was quite surprised. Our main waiter was a bit icy, but professional. I asked him for extra bread, but he only gave us one basket when we had two baskets for 8 people the first time around. Our water glass was never empty. There were several servers/​wait staff that came out to give us our food at the same time. It was kind of cool yet overwhelming to see how many staff served us at one time! It was like an entourage of servers!
The food was plentiful. I left stuffed. I had the salmon cocktail, which was my favourite dish of the entire meal. The citrus flavours were amazing. I liked the salmon cocktail (A) more than the bbq pork (B) (my bf got that dish so I was able to try it). The skin was good, but it was a bit dry. For our mains, I had the wellington steak. This was nicely plated. The mix of flavours complemented each other well. The steak was very tender. I didn’t really like the cheek as much because it was a bit dry and didn’t have much flavour (B+). My boyfriend had the pork chop. Presentation was really nice. The pork chop was very tender, but it was a bit spicy, which wasn’t mentioned on the menu (B+). We both had the peanut butter panna cotta. This had a rich PB flavour (B), but was too sweet to finish.
Overall, we had a good experience. For $ 45 (not including tax and tip), this wasn’t a bad choice for a winterlicious meal. I felt like we got our bang for our buck compared to ordering from the main menu as the dishes ranged from $ 25 – 60. I think for a price of $ 45, you can usually forgo winterlicious at a nice restaurant and order a main and one app or dessert to share, and it will be the same price as winterlicious. However, for this restaurant, I would definitely take advantage of winterlicious.

I was «warned» about some potential rude service for America however, I found nothing of the sort — valet was incredibly polite, the door men/​women and wait staff was also very friendly. I found the wine menu to be impressive, their mixed cocktails were done well and their apps and entrees were perfectly cooked and had flavor. I thought dessert fell a little short but that may also have been because of the amount of food I consumed prior.
Definitely enjoyed the experience — from ambience to food and would absolutely return.