0:13  
[Music: slow jazz piano] Goat cheese.

0:18  
Hey, I'm Lameez.

0:19  
And I'm Madonna.

0:20  
Toronto's full of unique places. 

0:22  
A lot of hype. 

0:23  
But are they worth it? 

0:25  
Today, we're checking out O'Noir.

0:27  
Where you dine in the dark?

0:29  
Do they cook in the dark? Let's head to the kitchen.

0:39  
Eden Smith has been a chef here for about a year.

0:42  
He loves the concept of not seeing your food.

0:45  
Yeah, texture and smell is a big thing. Especially because it can't see the food getting the the seasoning right to make sure that the beef has the proper texture all the time and make sure that the portobello mushrooms are cooked throughout and crispy on the outside. But it's all about that kind of feeling and you know what I mean? The the smell, and the the texture of the food is a big thing, especially in the dark.

1:05  
There is a preset menu at O'Noir, but they also offer another option.

1:10  
A really cool thing is giving people to surprise starters that we have, just the overall aroma and the smell is really nice. Especially in the dark they can't see what they're eating, smells really nice. It's a kind of surprising and make whatever you feel like, make something interesting and see if they can guess.

1:25  
He's made surprises from scotch eggs to alligator tacos and people had no idea what they were eating.

1:31  
Yeah, people don't know what's expect with that, tastes like chicken people think it's chicken. Alligator.

1:37  
So we decided to take the risk.

1:39  
After being told to switch our phones off and hide anything that could emit light, we were taken into the room.

2:13  
[sound: interior restaurant, unintelligable} Please follow me. We are going across here. Okay. So this is your chair, let me pull it out and have a seat. Thank you.

2:28  
It was dark. My first instinct when I got my plate was to touch my food. Like actually feel it with my fingers.

2:35  
Yeah, I was pretty worried about how I was going to eat. 

2:39  
I keep bringing the food towards my mouth and it just falls off the fork. 

2:43  
All the server's are visually impaired. Tracy, who's been here for seven years is partially blind. 

2:49  
It's really about, you know, opening up your other senses and and also trying to see what it's like to to live this life even for an hour and a half. And really consider you know what people go through.

3:01  
I feel like people know that about O'Noir, but does it actually help?

3:06  
It's very, very difficult to get a job with a disability, with vision loss in this city. The only people that hire people like that are big companies like banks. Small companies like this really don't take a chance on people with disabilities, o that's because they think it's going to cost them money. Then they'll have to bring in separate, you know, devices. And so it was tough, and I had a job and it was I got laid off and so then I was out of work for a while. And so this has been a savior for me. 

3:36  
We were definitely feeling the effects of not being able to see.

3:46  
What what is that? Oh, it's the whole plate. I thought it was a vegetable or something.

3:53  
O'Noir definitely provides a unique experience for someone with 20/20 vision. The atmosphere is interesting and the staff are phenomenal people. 

4:02  
Yeah, I think after talking to people who work there, they all have a positive experience whether or not they have their full sight. I found myself reflecting more during dinner because I couldn't see anything, not even you.

4:21  
So I think we've come to a conclusion. We think it was worth the hype. This is Lameez and Madonna for News Night.