ARC Restaurant has two new dining events to enjoy – ARC After Dark (bottomless small dinner plates) and Weekend Brunch. I went to ARC After Dark last week and I really enjoyed everything, so I was excited to try their brunch. Similar to their ARC After Dark concept, their weekend brunch features 17 different dishes to choose from. There is a good selection of sweet and savoury dishes to choose from. These dishes definitely lean more carb heavy and a lot of them have a deep fried component. The bottomless weekend brunch is a good deal if you’re a fan of breakfast items. However, I would recommend ARC After Dark over the brunch.
Weekend Brunch – Must Order Dishes
The Ooey Gooey Skillet features has apple, cinnamon, caramel, and mini croissants. This was one of the stand out dishes from brunch. The mini croissants were absolutely darling. I love the caramel crust on the bottom and it went perfectly with the apples. This is the perfect fall dish.
The Salmon Benedict features cold smoked salmon, hollandaise, and chives. The egg had a perfect yolk center and it went well with the smoked salmon. The English muffin was crispy and overall this was my favourite savoury dish of the morning.
The Avocado Toast, Breakfast Meats, and Harvest Grain Bowl were also my favourites from brunch.
- The Avocado Toast has a poached egg and grilled sourdough base. The avocado had a great lemon flavour and the egg worked perfectly with the dish. However, I felt that the char was a little much on the toast and I could taste a bitter flavour.
- The Breakfast Meats are a selection of bacon, kasseler ham, and pork sausage. The meats were well prepared, and the sausage was my favourite from the bunch.
- The Harvest Grain Bowl is the healthiest from all the choices. It features farro, roasted roots, squash, herbs, and a poached egg. The farro had a lovely texture and the sauce was herbaceous and fresh.
Other Dishes Worth Trying
The Liege Waffle, Buttermilk Biscuit and Beef Shortrib Poutine are also solid dishes worth trying.
- The Liege Waffle has caramelized apple and sauce anglaise. The waffle was crispy on the outside and the apples were a yummy accompaniment.
- The Buttermilk Biscuit is served with honey butter and was moist and flakey. It tastes pretty good if you add the breakfast meats!
- The Beef Shortrib Poutine features french fries, cheese curds, and gravy. The taste was on point, however the first two times we got this dish it came out lukewarm and as a result the cheese had hardened. The third time we got it was the only time the dish came out hot.
Dishes I Would Pass On
To save stomach space I would pass on these dishes – Jerk Fried Chicken, Croque Madame and Funnel Cake.
- The Jerk Fried Chicken features funnel cake and maple syrup. The chicken was well made, however there was a strong curry flavour that didn’t match well with the maple syrup.
- The Croque Madame features ham, gruyere, Mornay sauce, and sunny side up egg. I was looking forward to this dish, however I was disappointed as the flavour was very one dimensional.
- The Funnel Cake was ok, but I would pick the croissant skillet over this for dessert. This dish felt oily and the strawberries didn’t help cut the overall fattiness.
The restaurant was extremely busy and this contributed to extremely long wait times to receive our food. They also like to serve everything at once, so it does take a bit of time for the food to arrive. I estimate we waited between 30-45 minutes between each order.
While the service was friendly it was really hard to get the attention of our server. Overall, I felt my experience at ARC After Dark was a lot better.