Factory Girl, Danforth

I’ve heard great things about Factory Girl on the Danforth, so I was excited to visit the gastropub for a recent birthday lunch. Factory Girl is located closer to Broadview Avenue. There’s a Green P parking lot within walking distance, which makes it very accessible.

Factory Girl has a cute little patio at the front and one at the back, but with temperatures feeling like 40C, we opted for the air-conditioned interior of Factory Girl.

It was not busy when we arrived for lunch mid-week so we were able to sit where we wanted and chose a booth in the front room.

We were quickly greeted by our server, who advised us about the specials of the day and took our drinks order. My dining partner chose an Angel’s Gate Dry Riesling, which was $7.25 for a 6 oz. glass, while I opted for water.

Our server brought us our drinks and lo and behold, there was lipstick on my water glass. I quickly pointed it out to him and he apologized and brought me a new glass of water. It wasn’t a great introduction to the restaurant, but because I really wanted to like this place, I chose not to dwell on this lapse in hygiene.

We then placed our food orders and while we waited for our meals, had a look at the walls, which were covered with posters of rock icons. Factory Girl takes its name from the song from the Rolling Stones album, Beggars Banquet, which explains the restaurant owners’ fascination with rock legends.

My dining partner ordered the Curry Linguine with chicken, zucchini, diced tomatoes and curry cream sauce, $16.99, and offered me some of the linguine to taste. Wow, this dish is a winner! There is just enough heat in the curry sauce to give the dish a pleasant kick. The linguine noodles were perfectly cooked, as were the vegetables and chicken. I would order this myself on future visits to Factory Girl.

I was curious about their wood oven pizzas, so I ordered the Giuseppe pizza, $17.59, which came with fior di latte, grilled eggplant, tomato, roasted peppers and goat cheese. The pizza looked amazing when served and, although the crust looked like it was going to be thick, it was deceiving since the pizza base was actually fairly thin. There was a pleasing smoky flavour from the roasted red pepper and eggplant that was tempered by the mild fior di latte. While I enjoyed this pizza, it would be nice to see a few more vegetarian pizzas on the menu.

Factory Girl, Danforth would be a great place to drop by during sporting events since there are several HDTVs placed throughout each of the rooms.

My introduction to Factory Girl started off on a wrong note, but the food and service redeemed itself and I look forward to returning.

Factory Girl, 193 Danforth Avenue, 647-352-2799