Crown Bar and Lounge may be situated on a King, but does it have the jewels necessary for it to truly become Toronto royalty? I arrived at Crown right around the witching hour, as exemplified by the lovely lass who was collecting the cover charge ("No, it's $20 EACH!). As I made my way to the bar for round one of what would end up being a four-round slugfest with the bar staff.
I was already 3Deep on heavy vodka cocktails before ordering the first round of Budweiser ($6.50) and vodka/soda ($7) for my friend and me. Those prices, while fairly standard, proved to be the cheapest that we'd pay all night, since the same bartender magically changed the total price of the same combined drinks to an even $14 for our second round, but I'd rather not speculate. Bottle service accompanied by the usual suspects of mixes can cost anywhere from $160 (Alizé Gold) to $550 (Ace of Spades Champagne), with a bevy of other adult bevies available at an average price of $200.
Crown had a lot for my wandering eyes to take in, which was mostly a good thing. The VIP booth walls are cushiony, and I spotted at least three photographers documenting the fist-pumping action. There were two go-go dancers on platforms helping to keep the energy up, among other things, and the neon ceiling lights also added to the ambiance. The men's room was spacious and clean, yet the four closely huddled urinals left something to be desired, and that something was more room between me and a guy handling his junk.
Towards the back of the venue, up a few steps, is a dark, vacuous room containing several round tables and what appeared to be more VIP booths, yet my unimportant friend and I breezed past security and set up shop. My favourite touch (besides the large booth at the back of the dark room, where I can only presume that shady deals and tipsy girls go down) was the dozens of paper cranes hung from the ceiling above the main area.
The patrons were mainly 20-somethings of differing ethnic backgrounds, and most people appeared to be enjoying themselves. Crown isn't really my type of place, but it could be a fun, if generic, spot to check out for those who feel like dancing with a few friends. The girl to guy ratio was fairly balanced, so the prospect of leaving with a piece of arm candy is there, especially for non-uggos.
I like shmoozin' and groovin' every now and then, but doing so to the same music that I could hear at any other dance club, and paying $20 to do so, is not my cup of Red Bull.
Additional Details
- Beers on Tap:
- None
- Signature Drink:
- None
- Bar Snacks:
- Optional hors d’oeuvres with bottle service
- Patio:
- No
- Music/Genre:
- Danced-up top 40, club standards
- Live Music:
- No
- Who Goes There:
- King West crowd, 905ers
- Hours:
Discussion
39 Comments
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Totally, bro. Totally.
This review is incredibly poorly-written and barely feels edited. Punctuation is your friend.
My friend and me? Really? A bevy of other adult bevies?
Go-go dancers helping to keep the energy up *among other things*?
And why do we need to hear about a guy handling his junk? (As if we couldn't figure out that closely huddled urinals might not be ideal for ourselves.)
This review only gets WORSE from there on.
Did you write this while you were still drunk?
If you think this is an example of style when writing, I'll agree. It's an example of poor style, and poor taste.
Im crowning right now.
Written by a kid for kids
Crown Bar and Lounge: where winners go to meet other winners
I'm not anti-club, but this place sounds and looks incredibly generic.
file this under 'places to avoid'
Slovenly yuppies. Tuck in those shirts.
the main image has jed harper standing at the bar. so meta.
You didn't mention how at 2:30 am you left the same way you came...
Without a girl.
Laaahhhooo-zer.
Any place that used to be a tanning salon, has got to be hot!
Finally! A 905 niteclub in downtown Toronto
Horrible review. So is it good or bad? Take a side and explain. This has not swayed me in any direction.
Difficult to imagine a less appealing place in which to spend a money than this. If $6.50 is standard price for a bottle of domestic beer at a club/bar in your world (King West? Oakville?) then I'm just thrilled to have nothing to do with it.
UCGHHHHHH, 20-SOMETHINGS
Crown is a terrible night club if you even want to call it that.
We were so excited and heard all this buzz then we get there and it's not that busy, fine we didn't really mind but for a club that says mature crowd they are far off!
First the bartender says she's out if beer when I could see it in the fridge so I tell her and she tells I gotta ask another girl because that fridge is too far for her. Are kidding?
Then as the night progresses they let a party in beside us late and they're drunk and starting problems to the point where we're about to leave and 1 smashed a bottle on someone from our booth.
Of course ambulance comes stuff is left at club and never recovered.
thanks for the review! now I know I'll be avoiding this place.
"where tipsy girls go down" - hello: offensive. Should have been edited out. Why not just write "DRUNK GIRLS ARE SLUTS". Other than that I was not terribly bothered by the breezy I pulled this out of my ass review.
I agree the article is lacking a professional, journalistic tone. I understand the writer may have written it as such because of the type of media BlogTO is; but to refer patrons as "a piece of arm candy...&..... non-uggos." That is very discriminating and controversial for BlogTO and its choice of writers. There are certainly other words to replace the ones in the article.
I'm the guy in the hat in the picture.
No actually, I'm not. I'm just a guy who thinks the guy in the hat is a douche!
Hey everyone.
jed is the man. you reek of bad troll.
BlogTO commentators are, without a doubt, the most critical, and negative bunch to ever grace the pages of te interweb....love you all. I literally LOLed at any number of your comments.
Evidentially, the journalist of this piece appears not be be the only one in T.O. whom can't write. Mind you, commentary isn't a place to judge one's writing and the mistakes I see are only visible to a writer's eye.
I need a drink.
"WHOM CAN'T WRITE"
"my friend and me" is proper. Ask the author who his drink was for, and I bet his answer would be "me", not "I". There are cases where "me" is actually more appropriate than "I", and this is one of those cases.
C'mon, people! This dude CLEARLY gave many examples of why you should avoid this place, and did so while at the same time throwing in some personality. Sure, his review's not gonna win a Pulitzer or anything, but he objectively assessed a place that doesn't seem to be the type of place he likes, anyway.
So none of the haters have been or....?
You all make it sound like you have the best night of your life at your regular hangouts. I need to get some info on those locations. I've been to Crown several times and haven't had anything less than a good time. It's the kind of small club you hit up to get the club feel without the huge crowds. It's not a life altering place, like the rest of them but if you want a nice newer spot to hang then hit it up.
liek if u cri evrytiem ;_;
Eww king west. Guess what douche bags: money isn't everything!
'hit it up' lol
This place is total shite
Oh look, another negative review from a 'blogger' of a venue east of Bathurst that doesn't serve PBR.
I'm shocked.
I love the comments on this article, and site. People just like to shit on people.
Who goes there? 905ers? Did you ask them that? I get the 905er joke but really, had to put that in 'Who goes there?'
LOL
Some time ago, I needed to buy a building for my corporation but I didn't have enough money and could not purchase something. Thank God my friend suggested to get the mortgage loans at trustworthy bank. Therefore, I did that and used to be satisfied with my sba loan.
staff are nice and its really pretty inside, great for a b-day party !
I got a pbr there lol
Had a great night here. Great service and awesome DJ