Sel Z.
Yelp
For a chain restaurant, JOEY does very well in all aspects: the food, the service, the ambience. JOEY at Sherway Gardens Mall is actually not inside the mall, but in the same complex. Entrance is right at the parking lot. The inside is pretty big, spanning 2 floors. The main floor has a lot of booth-style seatings and larger dining tables, with a darker interior (and also cooler temperature). The second floor has a bar-like seating area with more sunlight and warmer temperature. The washrooms are located on the second floor.
Service is great - fast, friendly, and the server we had was very knowledgeable and knew the ingredients of all the dishes on the menu inside-out.
1) Herb Crush Salmon (truffle beurre blanc, preserved tomatoes, creamy mashed potatoes, snap peas, asparagus) - JOEY was the first and only place we've been to where we we were asked how "well done" we wanted the salmon to be cooked. The server said the salmon would be "medium" and asked if it was okay (i.e. we could've asked for it to made more rare or more well done). We were okay with medium. No other restaurant (that serves salmon) has ever given us this option to choose! The dish came out very colourful with beautiful plating. The salmon was a good size. The green seasonings on top of the salmon, as well as the mashed potatoes and vegetables, were very flavourful. I didn't taste much of the truffle, but it was still delicious nonetheless. The vegetables (snap peas and asparagus) felt overcooked... I would've preferred more crisp vegetables. But it worked well with the creamy mashed potatoes.
2) Oven Roasted Wild Cod (with steamed and crispy rice, snap peas, cauliflower, herbed greens, Thai peanut curry sauce) - We were told that this dish had a bit of a kick, so we asked for the spicy peppers and peanut curry sauce to be served on the side, which they happily accommodated. The cod was nicely cooked, fluffy, and nicely seasoned on top. The cauliflower and snap peas were more on the soft side... wish they were more crisp. The steamed and crispy rice had a nice soft texture, that was mixed with bits of almond pieces which added a nice crunch. The peanut curry sauce was not spicy at all. I tasted more of the curry than the peanuts. I really liked the herbed greens that this dish came with.
3) Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes (crab, shrimps, and corn with panko crust, apple fennel salad, house-made tartar, toasted almonds) - LOVED the crab cakes here. There was minimal panko crust covering (only a light layer of panko crust on top, just enough to give it a nice crunch effect), and you could see actual big pieces of crab and corn in the crab cakes. The apple fennel salad was crunchy and a bit tangy, and I really liked the toasted almonds in the salad.