Essen

The first time I went to Essen for dinner, I didn’t quite know what to make of it. When I walked in the door, it felt like I was entering someone’s home, with minimal décor and a very relaxed but warm atmosphere. This is all part of Essen’s charm.
The service here is exceptional. I was seated promptly both times that I’ve eaten here for dinner, and served reasonably quickly (but I never felt rushed). The wait staff is courteous and helpful, and were available when we had questions about the menu. The chef even came by to ask us how our meal was at the end of the night, which is always appreciated.
They serve Oast House on tap, who make great beer. Definitely a big plus.
And of course, the food. Wow. The food is incredible. Looking at the menu, featuring many classic staples and no-​nonsense dishes like chicken schnitzel, mashed potatoes, and pierogies, I wasn’t expecting the food to be as flavourful and of high quality as it is. I’ve tried the smoked salmon, the braised beef brisket (my personal favourite), the albacore tuna loin, the chicken schnitzel, the roast muscovy duck breast, roast cauliflower, pierogies, and the duck fat fries. Everything, and I mean everything, is superlative. If you go with a group, they will give you the option of splitting the mains and sides together as one big group, so you can sample more items. Do this.
Essen completely surpassed my expectations in every way. Go here immediately if you are looking to try out a new place.

I SO wanted this place to be good. After reading about it in Toronto Life, we made a reservation for Father’s Day. When we arrived the place was less than half full. The Brunch menu is quite small with not a lot of selection. It wasn’t until we left that we noticed there was a special but our waitress didn’t mention it to us so how were we to know?
After being seated and given menus it was at least 20 minutes before we could catch anyone’s attention that we’d like to order. Once ordering we waited almost an hour for our food. Between four of us there were three sandwiched and one shak shuka. Not a complicated order by any means. Dad had the bagel which was a tiny bagel with smoked salmon and a side of lukewarm homefries and a salad. My husband had the Jewish Banh Mi which also had the sale sides. It had no flavor. My mum had the shak shuka and she loved it but the eggs were rock hard. I had the brisket sandwich and it was not very good. The brisket was dry and hard and had no flavor. The potatoes were cold and when I complained they brought new ones for the table that were just slightly warmer.
All in all it was a pretty disappointing trip to the west end. We’ll definitely be going back but not to Essen.

Enjoyed a wonderful Passover Dinner
Friendly atmosphere provided by staff — who a attentive to your every need
Food was wonderful — cooked to perfection
Loved the maple carrots — yum
Definitely returning

I was impressed with my meal at Essen and am looking forward to going back to try more! Here’s why:
We ended up at Essen after trying to squeeze in at a well known Italian eatery nearby. They were all booked up for the night, so we continued east on Dundas and stumbled upon Essen. It is new to the neighbourhood and looked promising, so we walked in and asked for a seat. Lucky for us, they were able to tuck us in to the last remaining table at the back of the restaurant. The hostess was welcoming, cheery and happy to accommodate us on short notice.
As we sat down, we quickly settled on wanting to try the roast cauliflower and roast eggplant. Unfortunately, our server let us know that these two dishes were all sold out for the evening, so we had to set our sights on some different eats. We then considered the seasonal greens but were again told that this was sold out. Pretty big bummer that three of the main vegetarian options were all sold out. Yet we pressed on and were still able to make some yummy selections.
We settled on trying the following dishes:
Appetizer: house-​smoked olives with warm pita
Mains (to share): Caesar salad, peirogies, vegan fries, and fish schnitzel
Dessert: the puff daddy
Appetizer: the house-​smoked olives and warm pita were very, very nice. The olives are so flavourful. My only suggestion would be to warm up the olives. I think they’d taste much better and smokier warm. I was a bit surprised to bite in and realize how cold they were. Still, very yummy. The pita with fresh za’tar was perfect.
Mains:
That Caesar salad was one heck of a delicious Caesar salad. We ordered the small portion and were shocked at how huge it was! My guess is that they felt a bit bad for not having three of our requested dishes and so provided us with big servings. Whatever the case was, the salad was huge and bursting with flavour. When a Caesar salad is done right, it can be a beautiful thing. Here, the dressing was perfectly tangy and creamy and the pita-​chip croutons were fantastic.
The pierogies were also quite tasty. I’m not a huge pierogy fan but my dinner partner loves them and thought Essen’s were particularly tasty. Again, large portion size.
The vegan fries were so, so good. My only qualm was how oily they were, but perhaps it was worth it given how tasty they were. They aren’t typical fries… they’re thick potato slices with a bit of a crunch but a perfectly soft middle texture going on. An added seasoning salt makes these things addictive!
The fish schnitzel was definitely a hit. We’re both not fans of roasted red pepper so didn’t use the sauce that accompanied the fish, instead opting for the house-​made hot sauce. With the hot sauce, the fish was perfect. Crispy and flaky and juicy all at the same time. Just how fish should be!
Dessert:
Meh. The dessert is about as lack luster as its namesake (no offence, P-​diddy fans).
All in all, our meal was pretty starchy due to Essen being sold out of the main veggie options but was still very tasty.
Bottom line: the prices were right, the atmosphere welcoming, and the food tasty. I’m sold to come back and give it another try! I’m confident that I’ll be even more impressed next time I go, so long as they have what I want available. :)

Don’t be fooled by the mixed bag of reviews before you, Essen’s food is excellent. Brunch is one of those meals that often leaves you wishing you could pay your server to pull a wheelbarrow out from behind the bar to wheel you all the way home, holding your belly in shame. The brunch menu at Essen however captures that warmth and comfort everyone looks for in a weekend brunch without the hollandaise/​pork/​pancake induced hangover we would usually be heading home to sleep off. Two of us each ordered a larger brunch item (the hash and the rosti) and split the big salad, we were left with food to take home, feeling nourished and satisfied. It’s unique but still keeps it simple; it’s affordable, real food that you feel good about eating and that’s worth an hour or two of your time right?

Sorry to say, pretty sub par.
I came here for brunch on a VERY cold Saturday afternoon. We were the only folks in the restaurant — probably a bad sign. The menu is fairly limited but in my experience that’s often a good sign. I ordered the hash and my fella order the brisket sandwich.
The Hash was really bad. Completely dry, it consisted of large chunks of dry brisket and large chunks of fried potato with a few peppers. To top it off the poached eggs were hard cooked so those were dry too. With there being only one order going through the kitchen l would have expected the eggs to be perfectly cooked.
My boyfriend’s brisket sandwich was OK. Not much more than that.
Service was fine but when the owner came to take the half eaten food away, didn’t ask how the food was.
Not trying to be a jerk, just trying to prevent other folks wasting their money the way I did. Keep walking a few blocks the Federal or This End Up.

3.5 stars Good stuff but 20% overpriced
5 Star service — Excellent service. Attentive, informed
4 star drink selection and pricing
4 star food– very tasty but small portions
2 star price– 20% over what it should be
$ 115 with tip for 2 people. A bit pricey

The Jewish Bahn Mi is outstanding! Savory sweet and chock fulla tasty chopped liver. Warning warning — byobm. (Bring your own breathe mint). Ask for the hot sauce — made in-​house !

TAKE CARE OF YOUR DINE IN CUSTOMERS FIRST
There’s a new restaurant in Toronto. It has been open since the beginning of September. It is now November and by now they should have the kinks in the kitchen and the restaurant worked out. There have been a couple of positive reviews by «Where Jess Ate» who, at the end of his review, says «This was a complimentary meal. The opinions in the post, as always, are my own.» and by «www​.dine​.to» which includes the following statement in their review «All meals are paid for, including all taxes and gratuities. All reservations are made under assumed names.»
Both of these reviews were for dinner. We thought we could go for a quick lunch. Such was not to be. We never got to taste the food.
There were only two other customers in the restaurant. I ordered the Brisket Hash. My companion ordered the Jewish Banh mi. Then we waited. There are no appetizers on the lunch menu so we sat there with two glasses of water. And we sat. And we sat. Executive chef and owner Leor Zimerman appeared to be very busy in the kitchen. He was alone. The server/​waiter walked up and down through the restaurant. He kept telling us lunch would be out from the kitchen soon. Such was not to be the case. After waiting 25 minutes, I had had enough waiting. So we left. Unfed and disappointed. The server/​waiter offered to comp the meal but by then I was not prepared to wait any longer.
It would seem that the restaurant received a very large take-​away order and the one, and only, person in the kitchen was unable to handle that order and any orders for customers in the restaurant. We never got to taste the food. We will probably never get to taste the food.
Which leaves one to wonder if Essen will last longer than Quinta before it did or whether it too will be gone in a year?

Our visit began with high hopes for Essen’s brunch. However when we realized we had been waiting for over 45 minutes for a bagel and a small brisket sandwich with no explanation from the staff, we began to reconsider our initial enthusiasm.
The food was actually pretty good when it finally arrived, although the service was subpar. Some tables were reassured by the servers that their food would be out shortly and apologized for the inconvenience, we were ignored completely.
The silver lining is that both the smoked salmon bagel and the brisket sandwich were quite good and the servers, though timid, were pleasant. We’ll most likely give it another try but maybe next time with lower expectations.

I rarely write reviews on restaurants but here it goes.
Went to Essen, ordered a couple appetizers and main dishes. The food is garbage and tasteless. The chefs need to learn how to season their food ie, take a lesson in salting your food.
Soup had zero salt and undercooked noodles.
Brisket was terrible meat and under salted.
Peroggies came with nothing to dip them in, they were chewy and tasteless.
Chicken schnitzel was under salted and didn’t come with any starch to compliment the 20 some odd dollar dish.
In summary, save your money, time, and calories and go to enoteca right down the block if your in the area.

Jewish /​Israeli food is being gentrified;
it’s brisket, but not as we know it. Essen is a great addition to the Dundas strip.
Had a feast that hosted the Chicken Schnitzel, Fish Schnitzel and brisket.
All the dishes were Alef-​Plus (that’s A+) and in the words of the almighty
Albert of Albert’s REAL Jamaican food, the portions are generous.

Had the weekend brunch — brisket hash. The poached eggs were perfectly cooked and seasoned so that the yolks were just beginning to harden, but still funny enough to mix in with the chunks of roast potato. House made hot sauce was awesome. And hot! Oy! Great service, great playlist, great vibes.

Came here for brunch with my girlfriend. Excellent service and food. Had the schnitzel sandwich and tried the brisket. Beautiful hand painted signage in the window by local illustrator Britt Wilson. Big changes since it was Quinta! Can’t wait to try their dinner menu

BOTTOM LINE: The spiritual successor of Quinta is damn good.
I was always a big fan of Quinta (R.I.P.) and Leor Zimerman’s menu, but it never seemed to really take off for one reason or another. He’s now rebranded the space into Essen, which serves «Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine». If initial impressions are anything to go by, I’m definitely coming back.
The bulk of the menu focuses on shared plates, but there are appetizers and mains. The shared plates are sized for 2 or 4 persons, but be warned, the portions are HUGE! I came with a group of 6 and we barely finished what we ordered:
FALAFEL PLATTER (for 4) — We got about 20 nice crisps falafels that weren’t too oily paired with some house-​made hummus. This was coupled with house-​pickled olives and turnips that were delicious. It was a great start for the meal.
CABBAGE ROLLS (for 4) — We received about 8 fat and juicy cabbage rolls in a saucy (but not watery) tomato sauce. I would definitely recommend this.
PEROGIES (for 2) — I can’t remember how many came, but I found them too small and dry for my liking.
EGGPLANT (for 2) — You get about half of a giant eggplant — I only had a small bite because I’m not a huge eggplant fan, but my DCs seemed to really like it.
BEEF BRISKET (for 2) — A personal highlight for me. We received about 6 giant slices of fatty brisket and amazing brisket jus coupled with house-​pickled horseradish that had some truly intense flavours.
DUCK BREAST (for 2) — Oh my. 8 juicy, thick and perfectly medium rare slices of heaven. This would’ve been my favourite if the the beef brisket wasn’t so damn good.
FISH SCHNIZTEL (for 2) — You get about 3 lightly fried chunks of tilapia with a nice dipping sauce on the side. Not too shabby if I may say so.
It’s clear that Essen is best experienced as a large group of ideally 6 to 8 so you can try a smattering of their menu. If you come as a smaller group, stick with their servings for 2. They also had a few great cocktails, and 2 draught beers from the NOTL brewery, Oast House. May I also add that their service was spectacular, especially when it came to divvying up the bill correctly between couples and singles, shares plates and drinks — you’d think this would be pretty easy for most places with electronic bills, but Essen really does stand out by not giving you the usual ‘tude. Now I can’t wait to try their brunch.