Neighbourhoods
Riverside
Riverside, formerly known as Queen-Broadview Village, is often now lumped together with burgeoning Leslieville, despite the efforts of the local BIA to give it its own identity. Ground zero to the Spring's first major outdoor art festival - The Riverdale Art Walk - Riverside is also home to some of Toronto's best burgers, cafes and furniture stores. The Opera House, a live music venue that retains its charm from its former life as Vaudeville theatre, and the Mac-fanboy destination Carbon Computing are two of its most recognizable residents.
Looking for something
specific in Riverside?
507 Antiques / Design Stores
507 Antiques is one of those places you've seen a million times but never really looked at. Hiding beside the Don Valley expressway in a huge, clearly labeled building,...
Aft Kitchen & Bar / Restaurants
Aft is a new kitchen and bar that quietly opened early March on Queen at Broadview in the site of the former Toucan Taco Bar. It's garnered a quick reputation...
Ambiance Chocolat / Grocery Stores
Ambiance Chocolat sells fresh handmade chocolates, hot chocolate, home made cookies, fair trade coffee and tea. ...
An Sibin Pub / Restaurants
An Sibin Pub took over the corner lot of The Real Jerk last year and has transformed the space entirely. Though I was never really attached to the Caribbean eatery,...
Appetite / Restaurants
Appetite has taken over the spot formerly home to Loic Gourmet. On the menu is a daily soup, sandwiches, salads and weekend brunch. They also have prepared food to take...
Avenue Road / Design Stores
Avenue Road is a palatial furniture and home decor store located, oddly enough, on Eastern Avenue. I don't use the word palatial lightly. And, forgive the superlatives in this post,...
Bergstrom Originals / Fashion Stores
Bergstrom Originals makes colourful and unique clothing, designed in their in-house studio. They recently moved into larger digs on Queen East so there's now more space to showcase their women's...
Bike Sauce / Services
Bike Sauce has now moved into a storefront near Broadview and Dundas East. They offer a social space for bicyclists and advocacy programs, not to mention a stock of new...
Bonjour Brioche / Restaurants
Bonjour Brioche, at the corner of Queen East and Degrassi Streets is a favourite neighbourhood spot serving breakfast, lunch and weekend brunch. Lines snake out the door on weekends as...
Burger Shoppe / Restaurants
Stopped into the Burger Shoppe with friends last night looking for some fast food done right. I'd had one of their organic beef burgers in the past and it...
Canadian Pie Company / Baked Goods
The Canadian Pie Company is paying heed to, in my opinion, a quite under appreciated baked good. After all, who doesn't love pie? Especially when the crust is just so,...
Dangerous Dan's / Restaurants
Find yerself at the corner of Queen & Broadview much? Maybe you just stumbled out of Jilly's and into chilly, river-scented street blinking daylight with a rumble in yer...
Dark Horse Espresso Bar / Cafes
The first thing I notice upon entering Dark Horse Espresso Bar is the huge wooden table in one corner. The thought of sitting beside strangers unnerves me, but the bar...
Desmond & Beatrice / Baked Goods
Desmond & Beatrice has finally opened its long-awaited shop at Queen and Broadview, and it's already selling out of its famous cupcakes before close. Desmond & Beatrice was previously a...
District / Restaurants
District bills itself as a modern Japanese bistro. While standard sushi restaurant offerings like tempura, miso soup and maki line the menu, the vibe is more sleek and sexy and...
EMPIRE by Bullet / Design Stores
EMPIRE by bullet is a home decor store on Queen East. Inside are plenty of British imported foods, tapestry and pottery, as well as the Keep me Posted card and...
energyXchange / Fitness Clubs
energyXchange has the makings of an intimidating fitness club experience. Except that it's not. A slick interior, matchy-matchy trainers' uniforms and a Flash-heavy website are typically strong warning signs. But...
F'COFFEE / Cafes
When I first heard the name "F'Coffee", I wondered what-the-F my friend was saying to me, but I was too tired and hungry to care. Visiting this friend's friends in...
Hardware / Design Stores
I walked in and immediately thought, wow, did these guys name their business well. Hardware is the perfect one-word summary for their aesthetic. There are no gentle curves in this space,...
Healthy Whey / Grocery Stores
The Healthy Whey is a new health food store that has just surfaced on Queen East in Riverside. On the shelves are plenty of vitamins but also a good selection...
IX Gallery / Galleries
IX Gallery is the exhibit space of Colourgenics Fine Art Digital Imaging. The gallery holds monthly photo exhibits as well as artcentric workshops, seminars and events. Vintage works are shown...
Jilly's / Services
Jilly's? Is that place still there? There are a lot of people who think that the Riverside area would have gentrified a lot sooner if Jilly's and the hotel above...
Kimberley Jackson / Design Stores
Kimberley Jackson on Queen Street East is a real contender. If you were wondering where to get handsome coffee, dinner, end, side and other furniture made right here in Ontario,...
L'Orto / Grocery Stores
L'Orto is the new offering from Tommaso's Trattoria. Found right next to the restaurant near Broadview and Eastern Avenue, L'Orto is an Italian grocery store selling a selection of quality...
Little Peeps / Fashion Stores
Little Peeps is a well-curated kids and baby store on Queen East that sells a range of toys, clothes, footwear and books....
MacFab / Design Stores
MacFab is a long-standing fabric store in Toronto that recently moved from the west to the east side of Queen. Inside, they have a massive selection of fabrics, wallpaper, drapes,...
Mary Macleod's Shortbread / Baked Goods
On the edges of Riverside, Mary MacLeod's Shortbread bakes, what else, some of the best shortbread in Toronto. ...
Merchants of Green Coffee / Cafes
Merchants of Green knows coffee. That fact was made abundantly clear to me half an hour after meeting Merchants' Morgan Yew, as our conversation evolved from Ethiopian coffee rituals to...
Olive & Olives / Grocery Stores
Olive & Olives is a Montreal based company that has opened a retail storefront in Riverside. On the shelves are rows upon rows of olive-based products including olives (in jars,...
Opera House / Bars
Not to be confused with the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, the Opera House is one of Toronto's most popular live music venues. Located in Riverside, the Opera...
Phil'z 20th Century Design / Design Stores
It seems everyone sells reproduction Eames recliners (personally I think we can point to Frasier), but not everywhere has an Eames Sofa Compact (Phil'z does -- $2995). For square footage,...
PicNic at Home / Baked Goods
PicNic at Home is a cafe and bakery owned by the same people behind PicNic Wine Bar. The difference here, of course, is that coffee and tea are the beverages...
PicNic Wine Bar / Restaurants
Riverside's Pic Nic Wine Bar has carved a niche for itself in the east end by serving up carefully sourced charcuterie plates alongside an extensive wine list and simple, thoughtfully...
Prohibition / Restaurants
Prohibition may have had a controversial birth -- being the site of a feud between former partners Joey McGuirk and Michael Summerfield -- but aside from the signage outside, it'd...
Pulp Kitchen (Queen & Broadview) / Restaurants
Pulp Kitchen is back again — this time, sharing space with LPK's Culinary Groove at Queen and Broadview (UPDATE: Pulp Kitchen is now located across the street and LPK's has...
Quad East / Fitness Clubs
Quad East is the latest of the the Quad Spin locations. This 2-storey loft space has a quiet spa-like atmosphere fitting of its low-key Riverside 'hood. The stretching room...
Quince Flowers / Design Stores
With two locations, in Queen East, and up north of Yonge and Eglinton, Quince has beautiful stores and exotic, simple arrangements. Photograph courtesy of Patrick Smith....
Rasputin Vodka Bar / Bars
Remember in Sex & The City when Samantha Jones makes Smith Jerrod, her young piece of manmeat, the "Absolut Hunk" - the naked model in an Absolut vodka ad? He's...
Riverside Public House / Restaurants
Riverside Public House officially opened a couple of weeks ago in the sprawling space previously occupied by the Blue Moon Pub just a half block east of Broadview on Queen...
Ruby Eats / Grocery Stores
Ruby Eats is a new shop of chef secrets. And these aren't just any secrets, mind you. Ruby Eats has the choice cookware, the preferred produce, and the favourite finds...
Ruby Watchco / Restaurants
Ruby Watchco has just opened in the former Citizen space on Queen East. Former Restaurant Makeover star and Four Season head chef Lynn Crawford has completely transformed the space into...
Silhouette Tailoring / Fashion Stores
Silhouette Tailoring is attempting to revive the bespoke from its little shop in Riverdale. While the practice may be slightly dated, Nasir Naebkhil is doing all he can to give...
Spaces Self Storage / Services
Spaces Self Storage just opened in February at Broadview and Eastern Avenue and has state of the art security, 24/7 access, a climate controlled building, packing supplies and even 4...
St. John's Bakery / Baked Goods
St. John's Bakery's olive boule was a revelation in bread for me when I tried it for the first time. This round loaf has a classic sourdough base with a...
Stemz / Design Stores
Stemz on Queen East is a great option for special occasion flowers. Their designs are chic and stylish and use nothing but the best quality flowers....
Stephan Caras / Fashion Stores
Stephan Caras on Queen East is easy to miss. Located in a massive, ornate-looking building, it's easy to mistake for a library or law office and is set back a...
Studio Pazo / Design Stores
Studio Pazo in Riverside sells twentieth century modern furniture including tables, chairs and lighting. ...
Sushi Bar / Restaurants
Sushi Bar has taken over the cavernous space formerly home to the SOMA Restaurant and Lounge....
Table 17 / Restaurants
Table 17 is a new spot in Riverside that is already packed almost every night of the week. The restaurant is divided into two rooms and features huge mirrors, chalk...
Tommaso's Trattoria / Restaurants
Tommaso's Trattoria is located in a tiny strip mall on Eastern Avenue near the new Mini and BWM dealerships. I almost feel like I'm in New Jersey on a Soprano's...
Training Room / Fitness Clubs
The Training Room is tucked away in a commercial strip mall on Carlaw between the Lakeshore and Eatern Avenue. The gym is packed with lots of weight and cardio equipment...
Neighbourhoods
Other Neighbourhoods
- Annex
- Baldwin Village
- Bayview and Leaside
- Beaches
- Bloor West Village
- Bloorcourt
- Bloordale Village
- Cabbagetown
- Chinatown
- Church Wellesley Village
- Corktown
- Corso Italia
- Danforth
- Distillery District
- Dundas West
- East Chinatown
- Eglinton West
- Etobicoke
- Financial District
- Forest Hill Village
- Harbourfront
- Junction
- Junction Triangle
- Kensington Market
- King East
- King West
- Koreatown
- Leslieville
- Liberty Village
- Little India
- Little Italy
- Markham
- Mount Pleasant
- North York
- Ossington
- Pape Village
- Parkdale
- Port Lands
- Queen West
- Richmond Hill
- Riverside
- Roncesvalles Village
- Rosedale
- Scarborough
- St. Clair West
- St. Lawrence Market
- Upper Beaches
- West Queen West
- Yonge & Bloor
- Yonge & College
- Yonge & Dundas
- Yonge & Eglinton
- Yonge & St. Clair
- Yonge & Wellesley
- Yorkville
Community
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Know a great local business we should include on the site?
