A lot of franchised restaurants of the TGI-Boston-Montana-Chalet kind would kill for the ambience at Harlem. While the commercials for these chains play up the special-family-outing aspect, once you pay a visit, their cookie-cutter decor and similar menus become obvious.

Harlem makes you feel welcome right away, as if you’ve stepped into somebody’s dining room in the middle of a family gathering — which in a lot of ways, it is. A family-owned and run operation, the restaurant offers Caribbean-influenced dishes and southern cooking that will put warmth in your heart (and gut), despite the thermometer trying to remind you that you are not in Louisiana and that the weather is downright Siberian.

The dinner menu is constantly changing, but on the night of my visit, there were bourbon ribs, blackened catfish, mussels, BBQ and fried chicken and jambalaya. There is also an upstairs room where DJs spin and bands perform regularly and the whole place is decorated with rotating artwork, reminding you that music, art and cocktails are important parts of the Harlem mix.
Come for the comfort food and stay for the atmosphere.

Trick yourself into thinking you’ve travelled to warmer and tastier latitudes. 

Email us at: LETTERS@EYEWEEKLY.COM or send your questions to EYEWEEKLY.COM
625 Church St, 6th Floor, Toronto M4Y 2G1