With its old-world ambience and too-good-to-be-true prices, Bar Poet feels magical in more ways than one. Sparkling fairy lights and sky-high greenery add to the already enchanting architecture of the one-time church space. The bar’s self-dubbed “Toronto-style” pizza is made using stone-ground 00 flour and priced at less than $10 per whole pie. For an

Jen Agg’s retro-styled Dundas West restaurant specializes in pasta and wine. Rather than recreating classic pasta dishes, chef and co-owner James Santon focuses on Italy’s culinary tradition of using local ingredients. The result is a menu of Italian-inspired dishes with Toronto flair, along with charcuterie platters that pay homage to the space’s previous life as

Bellwoods Brewery is a Toronto favourite for many reasons. First and foremost are the brewery’s beers: Each one is brewed locally, given its own name and an accompanying poster with original artwork, which really shows how committed owners Mike Clark and Luke Pestl are to creating an unmatched bar and beer experience. For example, their

The King West Bier Markt has got the patio of every bar’s dreams: seated and absolutely huge. It gets further check marks for a strong, Europe-leaning beer list (including a few cellared bottles) and food — think wursts, schnitzel, mussels and flammekueches — that deftly match the suds. The food is made from scratch and

Grabbing its name from the classic martial arts flick, BIG TROUBLE is a Chinatown bar that promises the 20-something set a good time. Sibling owners Andrew and Christine Pham wanted to properly celebrate the hood they grew up in; multicoloured lanterns dot the room, red drapes decorate the windows while a dragon oversees the bathrooms

Brazen Head is an elevated Irish pub in Toronto’s Liberty Village, known for its beautiful patio that’s the perfect place to enjoy fresh air and sunshine in the pub’s two-levels of outdoor seating, whilst drinking a pint of Guinness. Every weekend diners have flocked to the pub to enjoy bottomless mimosas and the mouth-watering brunch,

Ironically, Cabin Fever is a place you may never get sick of or want to leave. Just a stone’s throw away from High Park, this cosy bar is all about a good time. With a pinball and arcade game list nearly the size of the beer one, there is a lot of fun to be

Casa La Palma is a 1,400 square foot lounge perched on top of its sister restaurant, Dundas West favourite La Palma. It’s a physical extension of the downstairs, but there’s a notable difference: its inspiration is not free-wheeling Venice Beach, but stylish Palm Springs. It’s co-owned by the same team as La Palma — culinary

Civil Liberties wants you to exercise your right to create your own freedom, but here it’s in the form of a cocktail. Located on Bloor Street West, this cocktail bar believes that the customers have the right to create exactly what they want every night, so instead of having a menu, you get to choose

One of our favourite hidden gem watering holes that’s south of King is the Corks bar in the Longo’s at Maple Leaf Square. Corks makes a good start with a well-trained staff and a solid draft and bottle list that’s exclusively Ontario craft, but the added attraction is that guests are welcome to bring food

Get your twang on at the Dakota Tavern, home to the wildly popular Bluegrass Brunch. For $14, diners chow down on as much OJ, coffee, scrambled eggs (yes, only), sausages, fruit salad, potatoes and pancakes as you can eat from family-style platters all while stomping your boots to killer live bluegrass bands. Boasting some of

Drom Taberna is the place to go for everything eastern European. The owners reimagined the space of the legendary Tortilla Flats into an all-day homage to the old country. The large interior is collaged with posters brought home from Poland by the owner’s wife, along with an old piano and a stage for nightly live

By next year, close to 2,000 people will be living inside Yonge and Gerrard’s Aura, Canada’s tallest residential tower. And they’ll have no shortage of places to eat nearby thanks to SIR Corp, which is responsible for several restaurants on the ground floor: Reds Midtown Tavern, Scaddabush and Duke’s Refresher + Bar.

Get ready carb-lovers: this is not a drill! Canada’s first Eataly outpost is opening its doors on Nov. 13 in the Manulife Centre at Bay and Bloor. Food fiends who have visited one of Eataly’s 40 other locations worldwide have been counting down the days until the beloved brand arrives in Canada. Eataly Toronto does

“It’s not exactly like a dive bar, but it's got that kind of dive bar aesthetic,” says Sean Young, one of the owners of the upcoming El Furniture Warehouse restaurant opening on July 1 in the Annex at Bloor and Bathurst. “It’s just a really fun environment, the music is great, all rock and punk and hip hop, and all the items on the menu are $4.95 — pastas, burgers, quesadillas, desserts, everything is $4.95.”

Located on the rooftop of the swanky new Ace Hotel, Evangeline is helmed by celebrated local chef Patrick Kriss, the genius behind the Alo brand. The cocktail bar is open from Wednesday to Sunday from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., and showcases a selection of small, seafood-heavy shareable plates like east coast oysters and a

FOUNDER BAR has swiftly knit itself into the fabric of the Little Portugal bar scene. The bar team is comprised of some of Toronto’s biggest names, including co-owner Brad Gubbins, and Sandy De Almeida. A collaborative cocktail menu reaches far past the 100-libations mark, with the Flying Scotsman — a duo of scotches matched with

Function Bar is pretty much what your eight-year-old self hoped, wished and probably thought adult freedom would look and be like. This underground bar near the bustling Yonge and Eglinton intersection is decorated with posters of nostalgic iconography, and there is free play on a console, arcade and board games — beat the high score

Downtown Markham is getting pretty fishy with Good Catch Boil House. Toronto restaurateur Patrick McMurray is responsible for bringing one of the first raw seafood bars to the area in addition to the freshest daily seafood catches that are served. Good Catch Boil House is not serving up just your average seafood favourites, though its

Double, double toil and trouble, Grey Tiger cocktail bar is brewing up some wicked cocktails in its cauldron. This occult-themed cocktail bar wants you to come in and embrace your inner witch. The menu is presented like a book of spells, each one more dangerous than the next. The Tarot-esque designs illustrate the menu of