The Coffee Mill, located on 99 Yorkville Avenue, is closing on September 7. The restaurant has been in the area since Yorkville was a prime hippie spot in the 1960s and offers old school European fare like schnitzel, cabbage rolls and strudel. Until the advent of espresso bars across the city, it was probably one of few places which served the stuff (I wouldn’t know. I didn’t drink coffee until the mid-90s, when I was in high school). And The Coffee Mill has a special spot for me – it was where my husband and I had our first date back in 2005.
Yep, the bread they serve comes already buttered. And it’s sandwich bread, at that. REALLY?
Over the Labour Day weekend, my husband and I decided to make one last trip to the restaurant. I have to admit that the service wasn’t the best – in fact, it’s probably one of the most dated restaurants in the area, with decor looking like it hadn’t been updated since at least the 90s. The style is also dated. For example, the complimentary bread is pre-buttered sandwich bread (who does that??) rather than something crustier with dip or spread. It’s definitely night and day, compared to its neighbour, MoRoCo Chocolat. But since the restaurant meant something to us, we had to visit one last time.
Chicken schnitzel, their signature dish
The meal we had was simple – I had their soup of the day – a bean soup with sausage – not too remarkable – while my husband had a Caesar salad (which was what he had on our first date). This was followed by a main course of one of their signature dishes, chicken schnitzel, again, nothing too spectacular. Came with a small scoop of mashed potatoes and a bit of coleslaw. Dessert? We didn’t bother. We did each order a cup of Borgia, a sweet espresso drink that is more or less a like a mocha, which was very good.
The Borgia is an espresso with frothed milk and chocolate. Ummm, isn’t that more or less a mocha?
While it’s sad that the last of Old Yorkville is closing, I also wonder why the restaurant didn’t bother to update themselves to keep up with all the other restaurants around them. Is it the clientele? Did they not want to attract new clientele? It’s Restaurant 101. If you don’t update, people will move on, since the old clientele disappear. And there’s plenty of room to keep some of the older fare to keep long-time clients happy, while making additions to bring in the new. Younger people have a more sophisticated palate and are simply not interested in ordering brownish-looking food. There’s really nothing “sophisticated” or “Yorkville-like” about their fare, and really, people who go there do so for nostalgic reasons. The interior of the restaurant is filled with pictures of celebrities who performed in the area back in the 60s, after all. Let’s hope that whatever restaurant takes over is going to be a good one. I’m going to miss this place, even though the food’s not that great.
