The Gardens at Casa Loma

This Toronto landmark is now offering a magical garden dining experience

The Gardens at Casa Loma is featuring al freso dining all summer

After a long winter of lockdown, itโ€™s feeling pretty magical to be emerging from the confines of our homes to enjoy food and drink under the summer sun on restaurant patios. One Toronto restaurant group is taking this enchanting experience to the next level with an outdoor dining experience set at the foot of Torontoโ€™s own fairytale castle.

The Gardens at Casa Loma is a new outdoor dining experience from Liberty Entertainment Group (who also run the castleโ€™s other onsite restaurants). The new dining space is set amid the castleโ€™s stunning gardens, offering sweeping views of the Toronto skyline and the historic castle itself.

The Gardens at Casa Loma

โ€œThe beauty is: while you’re on the patio, youโ€™re in the lower gardens with a backdrop of the castle so you see the exterior of the castle and then we have a beautiful view of the city as well,โ€ says Nick DiDonato, president and CEO of Liberty Group. He says the space also features some tented areas to accommodate diners on rainy days.

Although the gardens have been used as a wedding venue in the past, this new project represents the first time theyโ€™ve been opened to the public as a dining venue. Working out of a pop-up kitchen in the gardens, Liberty Entertainmentโ€™s culinary team has created what DiDonato describes as a โ€œglobalโ€ menu.

The Gardens at Casa Loma
Mixed Grill platter

The approachable menu spans from Mediterranean-influenced appetizers like grilled octopus and chips and dips platter with hummus and tzatziki; to classic mains like steak frites and lobster ravioli. The Gardens at Casa Loma also offers a sizeable selection of wines by the glass and bottle, cocktails and easy-drinking beers. โ€œIt gives people an opportunity to get outside, experience some wonderful dining and experience one of Canada’s most iconic historical sites,โ€ says DiDonato.

The Gardens are currently expected to remain open until early September. Bookings can be made online.

โ€œWe’re really pleased with the response we’ve been getting. Our first three weeks were sold out every night of the week,โ€ says DiDonato. โ€œWeโ€™re thinking, โ€˜we should have done this years ago.โ€™ You look at the pandemic and the things that have happened in the past year and itโ€™s a learning curve. You learn and do a lot of things you may never have [otherwise] done.โ€

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