In an earlier entry, I wrote about the CN tower. I wrote that if you’re going to the CN tower, it’s either to do the tourist thing and see the exhibitions, or to hit the restaurant that sits at the tower’s top. This post is about that restaurant.

Where to start when discussing the CN Tower’s restaurant?

Firstly, it’s important to know that you’re not just making the journey 500 meters into the air to eat at a fast food joint. The CN tower restaurant is “posh”; a combination of wealthy tourists, and wealthy locals showing their less wealthy touristing friends and relatives the “good life” available in the city. Fortunately I was in the latter category

If you’re going up the tower, you’re doing so really for one reason. The view. The food at the restaurant is of high quality, and the service pleasant and attentive. Yet these are things you can get from many places in Toronto. A 360 degree rotating view of the entire city and Lake Ontario however from half a kilometer into the air however, is not.

The best time to go for a meal is right at dusk. This way you can enjoy the picture in full light, picking out all the points of interest in all their detail for miles away, and as you dine, watch the setting change as the sun’s light fades and the flourescent lights of the city take it’s place.

As the restaurant turns (ever so slowly, for those concerned about motion sickness) you’ll be treated to views of Toronto Island, just off the shore in the lake, the hidden “other” Toronto airport, watching plane’s landing on the short and narrow strip, and a look over the entire city, well out into the Greater Toronto area. Oh and not to mention, you can marvel at just how great the great lake is, wondering how even from up so high, you can’t even come close to seeing anything on it’s other side.

To the food. Actually I greatly enjoyed my meal, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that it’s most memorable feature was it’s price. I (or should I say, my gracious host) paid $58 for my veal medallions which we’re both divinely tender and mouthwateringly tasty. I’m no stick in the mud when it comes to an expensive meal, but in Canada where fantastic food is so cheap, you remember $58 meals. I also went for the sweet potato fries which besides the lemony sauce that didn’t seem to fit, were a nice addition.

After taking in about as much of the view as you can handle, it’s time to head back down to earth, before which you can make a stop in the exhibition area of the tower to pick up any part of the view you might have missed out on during your meal.

Overall, the CN Tower Restaurant is one of those experiences I’m certainly glad I had but that, without good reason, I probably wouldn’t do again… which is probably why most Torontonians do exactly that – one time, then usually rarely ever again.

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For some reason, alot of the local Torontonian’s we met during our stay in Toronto didn’t have much respect for the old CN Tower.

Though famous world wide, we constantly met locals seemingly ambivalent towards the poor tower. They either:

1. Had flat out never even been there.

2. Hadn’t been there in forever and had no desire to go.

3. Referred to it only when mentioning it’s shape as being similar to (in combination with the adjacent Rogers Center) the male genitalia.

or 4. Referred to it when joking that it was only the tallest tower for that time because it has a ridiculous stick poking out the top that has no function but to increase it’s height.

Maybe because it’s a tourist attraction, maybe because of the shame of it no longer BEING the world’s tallest tower, (now merely “a tall” tower)… I don’t know, but it’s not the same way New Yorkers talk about the Empire State building, I’ll tell you that much.

Anyway, it came time during our stay to finally see what was happening in the tower for ourselves and make up our own minds.

The first time you go, seeing the tower from underneath is quite spectacular. It seems so skinny from a distance but up close you realize just how big and wide the main column of the tower is… not to mention it’s height relative to the surrounding buildings.

Your first part of the CN tower experience is usually (once you get through the gift shops and security checks – one such machine includes a curious device that seeks to uncover your hidden weaponry by forcefully blowing air on you…) the elevator ride to the top. Depending on your comfort with heights, the ride is either terrifying or exciting. The elevator is glass so you get to feel the physical sensation of elevating that far into the air almost as if unaided… pretty neat.

If you’re going up it’s only for two purposes: One, to see the view and learn about the tower, or two, to visit the revolving restaurant. I’ll cover the CN tower restaurant in another post.

Once you’re at the top, your main goal is to circle the tower’s main perimeter and view the city from all angles. From the top you can see the entire city of Toronto, even out into the widespanning GTA (Greater Toronto Area), you can see Toronto Island, a short ferry ride into the lake, and of course, right out into the vast Lake Ontario itself.

Lucky enough to visit the tower with a local who was a great tour guide, we had pointed out to us many features such as the immense greenery of the city (a product of the city’s initiative to have people plant more trees), the building down town who’s windows are plated with gold, and the building that’s the tallest (maybe in the world?) for it’s width, a narrow, skinny but 55 (or thereabouts) story tower jammed between two buildings sitting on proper sized blocks.

One of the CN Tower’s main drawcards is it’s infamous glass floor, offering the ability to “look down” from the tower’s 500 odd meter deck just as though you’re floating on air. If it’s too much for you, you can simply stand back and watch the inevitable tourist teenager pretending to jump hard on the glass feigning fear at the obviously slim probability of falling through.

Otherwise you can simply read about the different features of the tower, it’s history, it’s height and so on, or if you’re lucky enough to go at night, enjoy the bright changing lights that encircle you as you wander.

At the end of the day, if you’re visiting Toronto, the CN tower is worth a visit, if for no other reason than to say you’ve experienced what it’s like to be that high in the air, that high in a glass elevator, or that high standing over a glass floor. But past that, it’s not a place you’d keep coming back to (without occasion, excluding the opportunity to watch a baseball game with the Roger’s Center roof open – something I’ve heard is quite a treat), hence it’s distaste with the locals.