Al Carbon - Collingwood

I visit collinwood for the washing and my man and I try as many local restaurants as we can. we ordered the departure from al carbon, we ordered a hamburger, chevaps sandwich and makkaroni and cheese. the Chevap sandwich was very good, and the makkaroni and cheese tasted delicious. the hamburger was raw, so we had to get back and get a new one, they immediately cooked a new one, but we had to interrupt our dinner to go back to the restaurant. they also gave us some drinks for the inconvenience. the dinner would have been much better if we could eat it together.

I made a reservation for two, four days in advance. When we arrived, we were shown to the worst of three available tables (in a high traffic area near the bar and foyer). I asked if we could have a table on the raised mezzanine. The host told me “I don’t think so. There’s another couple coming in a half hour.” I’m still not sure how to take that but the obvious conclusion is they were more important than us. I told him “well we are here now so perhaps you could seat them at the other table”. After a five second staring contest he let us have the better table. The hostess led us to it and basically threw our menus down and left. Thankfully, we were then greeted by our amazing waitress Kate. I don’t think she realized what had transpired but her friendliness and professionalism instantly made up for our lukewarm impression of the restaurant. Kate was extremely knowledgeable about the menu, cocktails and wine list. We started with a pisco sour and an el diablo (not sure if that’s the correct name for it but it was a delicious combination of pisco, cassis and ginger beer). Both excellent. We ordered a ceviche mixto and yucca fries to share. Kate brought us sharing plates without being asked, with extra cutlery. Amazing. The food here is superlative. The ceviche is the perfect blend of seafood with citrus and pepper. It came with dark green peruvian tortilla chips which Kate offered to bring us more of if we needed them. A word to the wise, the portion sizes here are HUGE. The yucca fries were crispy with soft interiors, covered in freshly grated pecorino and a delicious huancaina (creamy garlicky yellow chili) sauce. For our mains, I had the octopus and pork belly with an absolutely delicious potato stew. My husband had the back ribs with black garlic sriracha sauce. It came with an enormous pile of fries, which were excellent but could easily have fed a family of four! On the way out, again the hostess did not say a word to us (after dropping more than $200 before tip, a “have a good evening” or “hope to see you again” would not be out of line). Great server (the pacing of the entire meal was perfect), excellent food front of the house needs a lot of work.

Excellent service, our server Mathew is a highly experienced server making the overall experience. Food excellent~prices were reasonable given the quality portions. Private dining room available. Great bar service. Not sure if they ever have entertainment but wud be a nice touch. Loved our evening there.

Food are all amazing. Very satisfied. This restaurant will always be my first choice

Best Peruvian Fusion restaurant! I’ll definitely be hitting this restaurant up every-time I’m in Collingwood! Amazing service, and presentation of food. More importantly, the food tasted AMAZING! I’ve recommended this restaurant to others and they’ve also left impressed. 10/10 on everything important when choosing a solid place to dine