Zappas Lounge

Joy Supper Club closed maybe 9 months ago. I never really liked it. The main problem it had was theme nights. For example: on a Friday night, they would sometimes play Salsa music the entire night. I am all about diversity in club music and I often get tired of Top 40 but come on! Also, I’d heard of some shady cocaine-esque dealings at the bar…

When I saw work being done to construct the new Zappas Lounge where Joy used to be, I was intrigued. How would they escape the fate of Joy? My initial impression was not good. They were again trying to do the fine dining / patio / night club thing. It is so hard to do both dining and clubbing in the same place. I haven’t really seen too many places that do it well. This venue is simply too large! When you go to a night club, you generally want it to be somewhat crowded. With such a huge space, Zappas would have to be really packed to make it not feel dead on a Friday night.

I decided to check out the food.

This is the Para Dos (chicken satay, striploin, shrimp, calamari, smoked salmon, hummus, and vegetable medley) for $32. They had a fairly full tapas menu so we decided to try a platter to sample more of the items. The phrase vegetable medley is pretty hilarious. It reminds me of a frozen dinner. The chicken satay was pretty dry and had a bland peanut sauce. The striploin was a piece of beef that was seared with limited flavour. It was also pretty cold. The calamari was really awful. Gummy, slimy, and with no flavour other than salt. The smoked salmon was a bit oily and limited in quantity. The hummus was probably the best part of this dish. The presentation looked like a couple of high school students threw food onto a plate to serve mom for dinner on her birthday.

This is the Mediterranean Club Pizza (grilled chicken, tomato, bacon, peppers, olives, onion) for $11. The price was right but the chicken was pretty tasteless. But what bugged me the most was the dough. Soggy, sloppy and too crispy on the edges. I am pretty sure I’ve made pizza like this at home.

Overall, not a great dining experience. I won’t be heading back for food. That being said, the patio they have there is quite spacious and is often quite full. This has had a marked effect on the business at Woodenheads patio. This is a good thing. Now I can get in at Woodenheads without waiting. I’d only recommend coming to Zappas for a drink on the patio. I’d steer clear of the food.