暗闇で食べるブラインドレストラン”O.Noir”に行ってきました

Have you ever eaten in total darkness?  Well, we found a deal and tried out O.Noir, Toronto’s theme restaurant with a blind/darkness theme.  Here’s our experience and some cool recommendations.

O.Noir is conveniently located at Church and Bloor, which is walking distance from Yonge/Bloor station.  It’s in a basement, which actually works really well since there’s no need for light.  The concept behind eating in the dark is that without sight, your other senses will be heightened – in particular taste, so you can enjoy the food better.

One of the most interesting facts is that the servers are all blind.  Some similar restaurants around the world train their servers to work in the dark or even use night vision goggles, which we feel is cheating.

O.Noir is reservations only, so that each of its serving rooms are filled at the same time.  That way, people are not going in and out and letting in light.  There’s a dimly lit waiting area where your order is taken.

You can choose 2-course (appetizer/entree) or 3-course (appetizer/entree/dessert) meal.  For each item (appetizer/entree/dessert), you can choose a “surprise”, which will be something that’s not on the menu.  It’s a fun idea, and we recommend doing this to make the meal much more interesting. We didn’t choose any surprise items.  Instead, we told the server to mix up our orders, allowing us to identify the meal.

After ordering, the blind waiter takes us into the room.  We follow him by holding his shoulder and are led through two doors in a totally dark room.  From the voices around us, we guess that there are four other tables in the room, though we’re not sure.  Everyone also seems to be talking louder for some reason – maybe the darkness makes everyone think they’re deaf too.  Right away, it’s pretty interesting as we try to butter our bread in the dark.  It’s fun as most of us never experience total darkness, and it takes a little getting used to.  Here’s a photo inside.

Yes, it’s totally dark.  For the appetizers, one of us ordered the grilled calamari, while the other ordered the grilled octopus.  Both are pretty good, though the fun of being suprised by the dishes wasn’t as cool as we thought – we quickly identified the dishes we were randomly given.  That’s why we recommend ordering the surprise items.

We were hungry, so we finished the appetizers quickly.  Since all phones have to be off, in between appetizers and entree, we kill the time by playing some games in the dark:

1) rock, paper, scissors

2) hide and seek (using a butter packet on the table)

3) creeping up on each other and yelling (not recommended)

For the entree, one of us has the filet mignon.  Since it’s a steak, it comes pre-cut in pieces so guests don’t injure themselves.  It’s not a huge serving, so if you’re hungry, we recommend ordering something else.  The other order is shrimp and risotto.  It’s filling, but the risotto is kind of bland and not special.

Risotto and loose vegetables are pretty difficult to eat in the dark, so at this point, I’m using my hands a little, but not a lot.  Between entree and dessert, something happens.  The darkness, combined with a feeling of fullness, makes us sleepy.  According to the staff, this happens quite a lot.

Dessert arrives.  One of us ordered the chocolate cake and ice cream, and the other the chocolate mousse.  Both are REALLY sweet, and because our sense of taste is supposedly stronger now, it’s unbearably sweet.  We can’t finish either, especially the chocolate cake, which is the sweetest.  We recommend you order the fruit sorbet instead, but if you really love heavy, super-sweet, fattening chocolate, choose the mousse over the cake.

Both desserts are more difficult to eat with a spoon since they’re soft, and we’re kind of sleepy at this point, so we start using our hands – OK, we use them a LOT.  Below is a picture of our only paper napkin after eating.  More napkins on the table would probably have been useful for slobs like us.

A 3-course meal is regularly $39.95 + taxes and 15% tip, bringing the total for two people to be about $100.  A 2-course meal is $32.95 + taxes and 15% tips.  Considering dessert wasn’t so good, a 2-course meal is sufficient.  We found a special deal for a 3-course meal $70 for two people, taxes and tips included.   For that price, we find it worth the experience.