The Office - dine around Victoria because that's what she said

The Office Lounge site

For our final destination of our Dine Around Chronicles, Mr. Blue, Ms. Violet and I got together to check out The Office. This has been an eagerly anticipated visit as our hopes to go last year for Dine Around were thwarted for some forgotten reason. Stepping into the restaurant, the ambience did not disappoint.

Greeted at the front by the hostess and a gentlemen reminiscent of Gordon Gekko, we were led to a large round table with high back chairs. The chairs are perfect to sit back in and lounge around in over a few drinks, but also suitable for dinner, not forcing diners to sit on the edge of the chairs just to reach the table.

Looking at the menu, we all decided on the $20 Dine Around options (listed below) and on a few drinks. Beer and cocktail prices were quite reasonable, featuring local and imported beers on tap ($4.75-$7.25) per sleeve, and cocktails around $8.50. Between the three of us, we had: the Wild Mushroom Risotto, the Grilled Chicken Mediterranean Penne, the Office Mac and Cheese, the Grilled NY Strip Sandwich, and the Warm Chocolate Chunk Brownie.

The Wild Mushroom Risotto was delicious! All three of us ordered the same appetizer and we all agreed that the only complaint we could come up with was that we wanted more. The rice was flavourful, and well cooked. It wasn't overly firm and gluey, nor runny like you sometimes get. Another nice touch was that you could actually see and taste the mushrooms in the risotto. Too often I find that dishes with mushrooms slice them up so thin or small that you can't even identify them.

For my entree, I decided to try the Office Mac n' Cheese - a gourmet take on a classic dish. Considering that most of my encounters with mac n' cheese came in the KD variety, it wasn't hard to improve upon. The corkscrew pasta was satisfying and had a firm texture to it, soaking up a lot of the cheese and bacon flavour. The panko crust was a nice touch, offering some textural contrast, and the bacon (mmm, bacon...) contributed that full, smokey flavour. I didn't really notice any truffle flavour; if there was any, it was likely masked by the cheese, bacon and garlic. As a full-blown carnivore, the carbs were delicious, but I would have appreciated more bacon or some sort of protein to make the entree feel more complete.

For Mr. Blue's entree, he decided to go with the grilled new york strip sandwich. The steak was grilled to a perfect rare and covered with a delicious sesame base sauce served upon a sourdough bun. The open faced sandwich, combined with very tasty fries, was a very good combination as far as steak and potatoes always goes but with an added flare to give it a little extra pizazz.

Ms. Violet's entree was very flavourful and strong in the sense of aromatic cheeses and sun-dried tomato pesto. Penne pasta you can't really go wrong with and this choice was no exception. The funny thing is, Ms. Violet was unable to finish the dish due to its portion size and had it the next day... where it tasted even better with all those oils and cheese aromas soaked into the pasta. Not bad at all.











As for dessert, we didn't have any options aside from the brownie. For some unknown reason, the other two options listed on their online Dine Around menu were not listed when we arrived. The warm chocolate brownie served with chocolate gelato came across a little on the sweet side, but was satisfying after all the other savoury dishes. It was a solid dessert dish, but perhaps a little pedestrian.

Overall, we found our excursion to The Office worth the wait from last year's Dine Around failure. The dishes we had were comforting and satisfying, without being too fussy. I took a peek at their regular menu and many of the items we had were listed their, or were similar styles of dishes. It should also be noted that on certain nights, they feature live music or DJ'ing. Whether for a casual meal, or to relax with a few drinks, The Office is definitely worth checking out!

- Mr. Pink
- Mr. Blue
- Ms. Violet

Appetizer 1

Wild Mushroom Risotto
Basil + parmesan.

Appetizer 2

House Mixed Greens
Carrots, cucumber, grape tomato + avocado vinaigrette.

Appetizer 3

Rustic Caesar Salad
Rustic dressing, romaine lettuce, herb garlic croutons + parmesan.

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Entree 1

Grilled Chicken Mediterranean Penne
Sundried tomato, kalamata olive, feta + garlic herb wine sauce.

Entree 2

Office Mac n' Cheese
Corkscrew pasta, smoked bacon, roasted garlic + truffle panko crust.

Entree 3

Grilled NY Strip Sandwich
Sesame sauce on garlic sourdough; served with your choice of truffle fries or house salad.

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Dessert 1

Warm Chocolate Chunk Brownie
Chocolate gelato + vanilla sauce.

Dessert 2

Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake
Vanilla gelato + toffee sauce.

Dessert 3

Blueberry Marbled Cheesecake
Blueberry coulis.