I Deal Coffee on Queen Goes Deadpool. Is Madras Pantry Next?

I was a big fan of the Ideal Coffee in Kensington and the one on Ossington was good too but my experience with the Queen East location was lukewarm at best. Fabulous setting yes, especially in the summer when the windows were open but that's where it ended. Service was sub par and the final straw was being handed an espresso in a styrofoam cup.

Location might have been part of the problem but not the whole story.

Good coffee though!

"a perfect coffee one day and the next, you get scalded milk with giant bubbles poured over a poorly packed shot with no crema"

That's exactly what I have found after every decent coffee I have got in Toronto! Drives me nuts! I have given up asking for my preferred long machiatto, because:
- coffee will probably be burnt
- milk will probably be scalded
- it won't be 'marked' with foam but drowned in it
- it'll be made 'wet', which is to say a cappucino
- nobody knows what long, or allonge, or the like means
- I'll have to spend three minutes explaining how to make a not very tricky coffee
- I'll be charged $5 for the mess they make

I agree not the best location. Queen and Carlaw is a better location

My 11:00 am coffees every morning, and fantastic brownies... all gone.

I can't vouch for the espresso, but the service was what kept me in every morning. (I also did like that my patio office smelled like roasting coffee all summer!)

Too bad.

I'm not surprised that blogto has an area that celebrates businesses going under.

This was my favourite coffee spot in the city. Of course the coffee and the ginger cookies were excellent, but what I really enjoyed most was the staff at I Deal. Damn.

Red Rocket Coffee rules!

Had never sat around for a coffee, but I had been buying beans there for several months. Sad to see that location go down.

As for Madras Pantry...always liked the idea of it. However, I tried it twice, and was somewhat underwhelmed by the dosas. Lacked flavour. Possible that they were milder for the faint of heart...but that's where they lost me.

And for those searching for consistently well made coffee [and great spots to hang for a bit], I suggest Ezra's Pound or Dark Horse [East or West].

The Knesington Location is now using biodegradable paper cups. No matter what information is posted on the walls, it's what their customers what that matters.

Myself I find a great balance between frequenting Manic, the Kensington Ideal, and even that Coffee Culture!

I didn't even know this location existed, it's too bad, but really if an area simply can't support it then move on.

I'd say the location is capable of supporting a coffee shop and/or restaurant and pedestrian traffic continues to increase year by year in this area. I hope someone else gives it a shot. I Deal did have had the best coffee (and brownies) but they didn't always make it easy for customers to spend money with shorter hours and not the biggest food selection. All the same, I will miss them, wish them well and will continue to make the trek to Red Rocket for now.

This sucks! I remember when the great Caribbean place, The Dutchpot, closed at the same location as I Deal Coffee. I live in the area, and so much want these businesses to suceed. Unfortunately, it isn't the nicest Part of Queen Street east, and the demographics keep higher-end places from doing well.

The Coffee Time at Queen and Coxwell seems to be doing well, though. Major intersection, lots more traffic, and they cater to people who don't want to pay big bucks for their morning cuppa 'jo.

Rest in Peace, I Deal :(

Shorter hours and untrained staff pulling inconsistent shots, go figure that they'd close. I was walking by last weekend and was surprised how much pedestrian traffic has swelled in the area. Closing couldn't be about lack of traffic. Let's hope that the next business in that location loves great coffee and cookies!

FYI, brown paper went up on the windows of the old I-Deal joint last night. Here's hoping something good is on its way.

FYI the open secret in the neighhourhood is that IDeal's owners sold their business and moved to Costa Rica. The new owners are Merchants of Green Coffee and Dark City, both bean roasters. They never planned on keeping Queen St East open.

Oh puhlease. I-Deal was just a hapless victim of local unreasonable neighbours? How about they never really tried, they treated their coffee shop like a warehouse, they provided minimal food which stopped every time Heather went on vacation (could no one else bake?), they installed illegal roasters with no fire detection (and they had a fire), they were completely not interested in any well meaning suggestions by their customers (I heard Heather say myself, "If I hear one more customer tell me how to run my shop, I'll scream"), they did nothing to improve the place beyond what existed on Day 1, they furnished the place with stuff they found on the side of the road, they ran a filthy shop and were proud of it (we're not Starbucks you know), they left their employees in the dark towards the end (every morning when I come in, something else has been moved out overnight), and they (or the new owners) stiffed the landlord out of rent. They just never really had their heart in the location. I wish them well in their Costa Rican Surf Shop but I can assure you, they NEVER think of their old business on Queen East and I gag every time someone refers to them as victims of the neighbours. They were working every angle. Wake up and smell the coffee.

Actually Dark City is FCN's main roaster, and they roast most of the rest at their MAtilda Street location. i Deal wasn't doing most or much of any of the roasting other than for i deal locations. It is true that FCN and MGC have made more noise than impact but the facts of their business as stated above are accurate. Another accurate fact is that small companies have to work together to import coffee as it is imported by the container full. So unless you want a whole lot of 1 kind of coffee you have to buy and trade with other roasters and importers. No small coffee company has the capability to import 6 varieties on their own, the cost of storage alone would be back breaking.

I'm not sure what happened with the rent. I don't work for i deal, and am no more privvy to what actually happened than anyone else here. All I was saying is that it is unfair to blame the new owner (FCN) for a situation you have only heard about and don't have all the facts. When I heard that FCN was buying i deal (a fairly recent event, btw) they only ever talked about the Ossington and Kensington locations. The Queen East location may have already closed by that point, at least judging by the post date on this blog post).

M'eh, It's hard to have a roaster in crowded area. I'm sure the people over at the Weston factory hear it all the time, as do the bars, restaurants and live music venues all up and down Queen St.

Not surprised about the not-so-fresh-smelling beans. I gather that roasting is from Dark City that now roasts for MGC and may be partners in the new IDeal. MGC's Matilda location is barred from roasting by the Fire Marshall after multiple fires. Ossington had fires too, surpise if Kensington didn't. BTW, MGC touts the datestamping of all their beans to guarantee freshness, but whatever happens to the older unsold bean? Rrright! You're thinking the same as me.