3.5 stars ... some good dishes but service was sli...

3.5 stars ... some good dishes but service was slipping very fast throughout the night & flavours weren't as great as other 4 star places.

Maybe I came with too high of an expectation, maybe I ordered wrong (but I would have hoped the server steered us right), or maybe it's one of their off nights. Maybe Bar Isabel isn't my place. I came here incredibly hopeful of a mind blowing meal that rivalled my Buca or Grey Gardens experience as it's rated in the top 15 in Canada 100 best restaurant. That's some serious cred right there but for the price, it was just ok for us.

They do have online reservations but this small, dimly lit, and super loud bar books up super fast.It was comfortable and tables were well spaced. Unfortunately it was so soooo loud. You cannot have a conversation even when yelling.

Service here is quite varied ... looking at other tables, there were 2 very good staff who helped craft the dinners and mentioned the specials. Ours just nodded their head and he never mentioned once the specials or what was good to order when asked. This is where I feel we probably ordered wrong.

We had the garden pickles, ensalada de la casa, scallops, bone marrow, chorizo rojo, and quarter octopus along side some ciders. We didn't order the famed Basque cake because we waited and waited for someone to come by but we were mostly left ignored for nearly 15 minutes with menus on our tables.

Garden Pickles - decent with fair variety of different vegetables but nothing unusual or special about it. Comparing to maple leaf tavern, theirs had an unique spice kick that made it pop. This was just simple. 3.5/5

Ensalada de la casa - one of the better dishes of the night. Several variety of different shaved vegetables lightly and nicely dressed. It had Sprouts, fennel, carrots, Brussels sprouts, and pomegranate. Light and refreshing. Solid choice 4/5

Bone Marrow - I've had bone marrow at a few other places and it's usually a rich wonderful bite with the accompaniments. This was mostly a miss ... this is definitely one of the smaller marrows at a higher price point. It came with 4 pieces of large toasted bread that were possibly cut too big as each bite consisted mostly of dried bread, a smear of lightly flavoured chimichurri, and a few tiny spoonful of marrow. There wasn't enough marrow to even make it to 3 pieces of bread and the chimichurri was very light in flavour compared to the Argentinian ones I've had which help make the meat pop and cut through the juicy fatty flavour. 3/5

Scallops - maybe Toronto has a hard time doing scallops. Thinly sliced scallops are lightly grilled and then placed on an asparagus and leek sauce. The scallops were cooked fairly good. The sear marks were a faded beige and because of how it was thinly sliced, once of the pieces were already crumbling before even attempting to eat it. The leek and asparagus sauce was mild and didn't really add much flavour to the already mild scallops. It reminds me of my Good Son scallops order ... I wish I got something else 3/5

Chorizo rojo - most flavourful dish of the night. Bold and smokey, this is a great chorizo. Loved the spicy heat that it brings. It is a small portion but because of the flavour, it is satisfying. If all dishes were this good, I would have left quite happy. 4/5

Grilled quarter octopus - this is supposedly be one of the best octopus in Toronto if you read Yelp reviews. A quarter octopus is a decent size to share for a smaller group or twosome. It is nicely tender with a softer chew and some good grilled edges. Cooking wise... awesome. Flavour ... it was missing compared to other places I've had. The sauce had some spice (paprika?) but it wasn't enough to give the octopus anything to be memorable. 3.5/5

I was hoping for an amazing dinner but left quite disappointed. Service ended up being forgetful and we left without dessert because it just took too long to be acknowledged. Bar isabel clearly is loved but just didn't provide the flavour or service for me to recommend.