Union Social - A good place to spend a Friday Night (or any night!)

I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday Season and are ready to get back into the TDot eating scene! I apologize for my hiatus, December is a crazy time of year for me. Honestly I started writing this blog post about a month ago because I was so excited to tell you all about it, but life took over and I was unable to complete, that is until now (woot woot!)

The Union Social Eatery is what I am going to talk about in this post (and man I am ever excited). This place has done the near impossible and made it onto my "Gotta Go Back ASAP aka my GGBA" list and has secured a special spot in my heart next to Stack and under The Senator restaurant. I gotta say, I was pretty ecstatic about finding this place and bringing my dining buddies to it. This place is located, very conveniently, on Yonge St right next to the St.Clair subway station (well you have to cross over Yonge to get it, but it's close enough).

So as you can see the outside of the restaurant is a mix of industrial and classic styling (ok I'm no design major, but to me that's what it looks like), with  a nice big welcoming wooden door.  The inside is a bit more industrial with large wooden tables, metal poles and exposed brick. The vibe you get from this place is (get ready for this) Upscale, laid-back, sports bar/hip hangout joint. Now when I say upscale, I don't mean you have to show up in your gowns and tuxes (well you could if you wanted to) but you won't feel out of place if you are a bit dressed up vs. the regular sports bars where you might get funny looks if you showed up all dressy like ( and vice versa you can totally show up in your jeans and favourite sports team jersey Go Leafs...Just kidding, or am I? ). We opted for the slightly more dressy attire (cause Ladies night for us is always a time to dress up, put your fun heels on and a little make-up). You can probably also tell the picture on the right is a shot from our table, it was right by the kitchen, but that didn't bother any of us, other than having to watch all of the delicious food be brought out that wasn't coming to our table.

Drinks are always the first choice of the night (we work hard so we like to sit back and relax as soon as possible). The top greeny, foamy drink is the Irie Mon, which contains a mix of blue Hypnotiq, rum, pineapple juice and a squeeze of lime, and yes it is just as delicious and refreshing as it sounds. The red wine (or red juice as they call it, yes I love that) on the left was my drink for the night. I'll give you two guesses as to what it was....yes it was the Malbec (I'm I really that predictable?), which as usual was a nice, smooth wine with a touch of spice (if you haven't tried Malbecs yet, you really should!). And the last fancy drink of the night, which also happened to have the best name (I almost ordered it just for the name) was the Porn Star, which had vodka, sourpuss, curacao, cranberry juice and topped off with a splash of lime (they like their lime splashes). It was a tasty beverage, not too sour and not too sweet.

Above is a photo of our appetizer for the night, that I would highly recommend. It was a trio of dips, hummus, sun-dried tomato and feta and kalamata tapenade. It comes with tortillas and grilled naans for dipping, and I'm pretty sure the grilled naans won for favourite dip transporter. They were warm, fluffy and just down right delicious. The hummus was really good, fresh and not overly garlicky, the sun-dried tomato and feta was my second favourite, full of flavour and just a bit salty, but my absolute favourite was the kalamata tapenade. If you like olives and you like salt you will really like the kalamata tapenade, its salty,olivey (yes that's a word now) goodness made my mouth so happy I may have clapped (just a little). 

Onto the mains :)

So after ordering the drinks and the app, it was down to business with the biggest decision of the night, what to eat for our mains? The above and below photos are all of our delicious, nutritious mains. The top meal was ordered by good friend A. It was a tough decision for her, but she ended up getting the Chicken vindaloo , which if you know A you would be shocked it wasn't a burger, she shares my love of burgers, and going for something so far away from her norm was surprising. Her verdict, she loved it (thank god!) It was a bit spicy, loaded with chicken, potatoes, veggies and a spicy sauce with nicely cooked rice and a big ol' piece of fluffy, soft, grilled naan. In fact, she enjoyed it so much, that she was able to portion it so that she could save some for her lunch the following day!

The next main was mine (and I regret nothing, even though I was stuffed to the brim and had a hard time walking to the super close by subway). I decided to go with two apps (daring I know!). I went with the Korean short rib soft taco (seen on your left) and the dragon sushi roll (seen on your right). Hold the phone (I'm just assuming that's what you are saying), this place has sushi? And you ordered it? And you actually really enjoyed it? Is this a bar or a sushi place you went to? Calm down, I know, why on earth would someone who actually really loves sushi and goes to sushi restaurants on a regular basis even think about ordering it from a place that serves burgers and nachos. It actually was part of the reason I chose this place, it intrigued me. In fact, you can even swap out fries for sushi with your mains (AMAZING!). I gotta say it was a tasty roll, not too spicy, nicely rolled up (stayed in-tact when picked up), had a bit of sweetness and saltiness to it, with really nicely done tempura shrimp. I was shocked as to how good it was, and I will definitely be ordering it again!

The next thing I ordered was the Korean short rib soft tacos (I can actually taste them right now as I write the words, and almost want to go out and get some.....so good!). The short rib was tender, and juicy, the sriracha mayo was spicy, but not overly, and the pickled slaw cut through the richness of the meat and the spiciness of the mayo. which made it one hell of a tasty taco. My other eating companion C ordered the tacos too, and she very much enjoyed them. I enjoyed my meal so much that I will probably order this exact same thing again!

My next good eating buddy M (aka Lucy!) settled on getting the banana coconut crusted chicken. I know what you're thinking...eww, that sounds kinda gross. Don't be so quick to judge, Lucy really enjoyed it! You couldn't taste the banana at all, but it did keep the chicken nice and moist. The meal is actually suppose to come with rice, but she was able to get the cheddar, garlic mashed potatoes that were a special for the night instead. All in all it was a tasty meal, cooked perfectly and Lucy enjoyed every bite!

The last good buddy for the night was R. She went with the Ace High Club, but instead of fries, she shocked us all and went with the dragon roll! I've already talked about the dragon roll (it's good, you should go and eat it!) so I'll move onto the club sandwich. It's like your typical club, but the bread is a foccacia with cranberries in it from Ace bakery, which makes it a bit more special than your usual club. The turkey and bacon (mmm bacon) is smoked and are juicy and tender. It's all topped off with the classic toppings of lettuce, tomato, cheese (mmm cheese) and an herbed mayo. It is a very well executed sandwich and R was more than pleased with it.

Now onto dessert. I know, how on earth did you guys eat dessert after all that, well two desserts for four people, makes it slightly easier!

Above is the warm brownie with ice cream and caramel drizzle. It was ridiculous! It's a warm, rich chocolaty brownie, but as if that weren't enough, they went ahead and put mars bars pieces in it ( you know just in case there wasn't enough chocolate in it already). It was sweet, very sweet, but oh so good all at the same time. Something about a warm brownie topped with ice cold ice cream, creates some sort of party, or shin-dig if you will, in your mouth and it's just spectacular!

The second dessert we opted for was the cheesecake. It was ok, no just kidding it, like everything else we devoured that night, was Ah-Maze-Ing! It was rich and creamy and the blueberries just added to the tastiness of it all.

The service was superb, we were quickly seated (we had reservations), and our waitress was quick with the ordering. The food and drinks came in a timely manner and at the end of it all, we didn't feel like we had to rush out (which trust me at that point, rushing was not an option).

 So that's it, that was the sensational dining experience we had. I know I've picked well, when the husbands want to go (Stack was the other one that husbands wanted to go to and did!). I just gotta give a little slow clap, well done, pat on the back to the Union Social crew, everyone from the hostess who seated us, to the waitress that served us (I can't remember her name, but she was awesome), to the cooks who made our delectable meals, and hey even the bartenders who mixed up our drinks well done you guys, well done! So go there, enjoy, and thank me later!

Happy Eating!