Date night with Joey Restaurants ~ $100 Giftcertificate Giveaway

I can't even remember the last time my husband and I had a date night.  We love going places with Charlie, but come on, we need a little time to ourselves every now and then.  More now than then! As you can probably relate to, we wanted to make sure that our precious time together would be special.

Date Night
Before Charlie came a-calling we loved to hit our favourite haunts for a nice meal, some conversation and, oh I almost forgot, a drinkee or two.  (Possibly three).  My husband, having been a bartender for many years, always enjoyed sitting at the bar.  He felt it was the soul of a place.  We would go our for a nice dinner, and end up staying at the bar to eat.  At first I wasn't too happy about it, but I grew to really appreciate a good bar-going experience myself!

I grew up in Winnipeg (as did my husband) and one of my all-time favourite places in the world was Joey's.  When a Joey came around at Don Mills, we managed to visit. (A long time ago it seems). And loved it.  So when a new location opened much closer to us in the Eaton Centre, I was ecstatic!   I had it all arranged in my mind.  We would drop in, have a quick drink at the bar for old times sake, and then sit down to a romantic meal.

The Atmosphere
After being ushered in to the beautiful designed open concept (with a great view onto the hustle and bustle of downtown Toronto, and our very own smaller version of NYC, Dundas Square), we headed to the circular bar at the centre of everything.
 Wow! Everyone was very friendly and accommodating.  The drink menu was intriguing with excellent specials every night. (This is not normal downtown).  And the clientele was a typically fascinating cross-section of Toronto.  Movers and shakers, beautiful people, shoppers, and all of them interesting and welcoming.  All the bar staff were very adept at keeping the conversation lively, had great knowledge of their offerings and had smiles galore!

Guess what?   My husband did it to me again!  We ended up staying at the bar for our meal!  Because everything is open, we could see the whole place from our seats.  It was lively and had a great buzz.  The managers were always around (which is also very rare in Toronto) and were concerned that everyone was enjoying themselves.  It always reminds me of back home at Joey's, and that warmth and customer service keeps me wanting to come back.

Shrimp Pest Flat Bread

What we ate!
We had the Pesto Flat Bread(whole milk mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes, chipotle aioli, fresh basil) and Suhsi Cone appetizer and it was truly wonderful.   The appetizers are unique and delicious.  I ordered the Lobster Ravioli (  East Coast lobster, rock crab, shrimp  & ricotta with a lemon dill cream sauce)for my main and it was a knock-out!  Quite often you don't get enough of the lobster in some places, but not here.  The seafood in the mains and apps are substantial and delicious.  My husband, who is not terribly adventurous when it comes to food, had the Bacon Cheddar Burger.  But am I glad he did!  He is pretty picky.  Burgers are almost always overdone and dry, with not a lot of beef. This burger was magnificent.  Juicy, huge and delectable.  I really liked the fact that it wasn't a chock full of additives and weird spices etc.  It just tasted amazing.

You what else rocks about Joey? JOEY Restaurants works with Bellmann's Farm to bring you the freshest organic veggies! Check out the photo's on their Facebook page.
Executive chef Chris Mills has created a spectacular menu with taste, supporting local farmers and quality in mind.

We had a great time. Great atmosphere, great cocktails and food and of course my company. I love going to Joeys.
And I want you to have a Date Night too!  I want to hear from you. Are you in need of Date Night? Do you have a Joeys near you, you'd like to visit?  Joeys is giving one lucky mama a $100 gift certificate so you and your significant other can have a nice night...where you know....you'll talk about your little one, LOL!

My favorite place, Joey Eaton Centre

How to Enter:

1. Must have a Joey's in your area, check {here} - mandatory
(Open to USA as well! It will be in CDN currency)

2. When was the last time you had date night and why do you want to win this? - mandatory

3. Have you been to a Joey Restaurant? What is your favorite on the menu? - optional

4. Like Everything Mom and Baby on {Facebook} as the winner will be announced on my page. -optional

5. Like Joey's on {Facebook} and tell them something about this review & giveaway (Facebook has no affiliation with this giveaway) - mandatory


6. Tweet it copy and paste daily! @MamaAsh is giving away a $100 g/c from @JoeyRestaurants for DATE NIGHT! Enter here: http://goo.gl/fb/etJYE


7. Follow Joey Restaurant on {Twitter}. -optional

Please Read:
1 entry per household, open to Canada and USA,  please leave a email address to contact you if you win. Giveaway ends Nov.23/11

Spa Cosmopolitan, recipe {here}