The Best Pubs in Toronto

Any Pub that serves beer, is the best Pub
:P

Blog T.O. - where amalgamation never happened, and Scarborough, Etobicoke and north of Eglinton don't exist.

I can't help but notice the absence of Dora Keogh. The list includes, as usual, a token Danforth pick ... but the Auld Spot over Dora's? Puh-lease!

Dave & Jay:

As with all 'best of' posts, the content was reader generated. So where were you when we were asking for input?

@Jay:
As a denizen of the Danforth I'll admit the Dora's a fantastic pub. Both Allen's and The Only should've made the list too.

Great to see so many places that are east of Yonge!

I've been consistently disappointed at the Mill Street Pub. C'est What, HoP and Betty's always deliver.

Guess I missed the poll.

What about Paupers and the Madison Avenue pubs?

This must have been fun to 'research' ;)

I must say, the food at House On Parliament is hand's down the best pub food I've ever had. I have dreams about the steak and mushroom pie.

I actually always enjoy these lists but only having recently discovered blogto I've never actually seen a poll for any of the lists - how does the poll happen? When does it happen?

I agree about House on Parliament. The food is fantastic, especially some of the specials. It's often busy but it's one of the few places I don't mind waiting for a table.

Auld Spot and Rebel House are also pretty great.

"What about Paupers and the Madison Avenue pubs"

Paupers is #9 on the list.

Carlos makes a good point.

Sarah's on Danforth also has a nice beer selection and patio. It's a tad dingy in the colder months though.

Personally, I like the space at the Madison but I think the place is a dump. Great place if your a frat-boy, though.

I couldn't be more disappointed and disgusted with Mill Street Pub, in what was my first and last visit there. Was there for my 30th birthday in February/08. After spending a great night there with a gang of friends that drank and ate all night (so basically a hefty tab) - we uncerimoniously had our beers forcibly grabbed out of our hands (I kid you not) after last call was called, by a bartender with a major attitude problem. Left my number with the manager that was on duty that night to further discuss the problem, and never even got a call back. Great PR there Mill Street... a birthday I know I'll never forget for all the wrong reasons.

Glad to see Betty's is one the list though - great patio on a hot summer day.

The Distillery only likes you these days if you wear fur and carry a little dog in a purse.

Smokeless Joe, Bar Volo and Victory Cafe are missing.

Auld Spot is great, C'est What isn't bad, neither is Paupers, though some friends of mine are there too often, (variety people!), the Local is alright, though I haven't been there in years, but Dark Horse? Come on! It's no good.

I second that Smokeless Joe, Bar Volo and Victory Cafe are missing

All in favour that Smokeless Joe, Bar Volo and Victory Cafe are missing?

Motion carried.

Whichever one is walking distance to home, and what Carlos said.

Everything at the pub ends up tasting like beer anyway.

how can any self-respecting barfly want to include a 'local' with cafe in the name?

hey, what about the unicorn?

I never "got" Victory Cafe. It's OK but it was never a place I was in an hurry to return to. It can be a bit sceney, in an off-putting way. Not as relaxing as I like a pub to be.

The burgers are good, though.

"how can any self-respecting barfly want to include a 'local' with cafe in the name?"

When it has better beer than the bulk of the places on the list...

C'est What used to be my fave pub. I had been going there since I was old enough to drink legally. But somewhere in the last few years they changed ownership or management and it has lost all its appeal.

A friend and I arrived at a half-empty pub on a Thursday evening and was told to wait to be seated, even though there were clearly tables available. I said we were expecting a third to join us but she wouldn't let us have a table and told us we'd have to wait for a table for two. I could hardly believe it!

I'll never set foot in there again. What a sure way to lose business from long-time regulars.

Can anybody recommend anything in the East end? And by East end, I don't mean something between Yonge and Sherborne.

No, I'm not complaining that there are few-east-end places on the lists. I would have nominated something if I wasn't new to the area.

That's why I have been watching the best of lists fervently; to discover places to check out in my new neighbourhood. Unfortunately, I have been left a little dissapointed that more places out this way haven't been nominated.

Also, I don't really see what is so special about the Victory Cafe. I'm thinking it's only on its high pedestal because of its popularity with particular groups.

@Ryan L.:

which east end hood? The Dora Keogh, Allen's, The Auld Spot, The Only are all along the Danforth from Broadview to Jones. If you're in the beaches try Murphy's Law. Can anyone else help a brother out?

Ryan L - There are lots of pubs on the Danforth that are worth a try. The Old Nick is OK. The food is basic pub grub and the Saturday night entertainment (local singer songwriter types) is hit and miss, but overall it's a nice little pub. Good service and an interesting eclectic crowd.

Allen's, Dora Keough, and Auld Spot are all good too.

Just how far east are you?

For East end, Brass Taps is alright too. Like someone else said, Sarah's has a good beer selection. The Only is a personal favorite. Farther down is the Renaissance Cafe which always has an excellent micro selection on tap.

Places in the beaches to check out include Castro's Lounge, Murphy's Law, Feathers, Lion on the Beach.

The Blue Moon in Riverside is always a fun, dingy place to drink some pints and shoot some pool with the strippers from Jilly's...

@Ryan L - If you're in Scarborough (Kingston Rd./Midland Ave. area) check out The Tara Inn. Further East I would recommend The Black Dog (Port Union/401).

In the Beaches try Murphy's Law, Lion on the Beach, and Quigley's (all on Queen St. E). The Grover on Kingston Rd. is an OK place too.

-Brian

I moved from Roncesvalles to Leslieville in March and the one thing I really miss is the Local pub - have not yet found another "local" pub to replace it.

The Victory Cafe rocks for three main reasons: it's tucked behind on a leafy quiet street, has a nice wrap-around patio, and the regional micro/cask beer selection is commendable.

yeah, but how's the coffee...heh...

It might be unreasonable to focus on one thing, but to me a pub drops at least a grade when they offer shoestring fries (as pictured in two of the images above) as opposed to the thick, "chip" fries or whatever they're called.

If you want, you can have thick, fresh cut fries, or even wedges, but shoestring fries are unacceptable. I'll get a pint anywhere, but I'll never order food at a place that serves shoestring fries.

I like Southside Louie's on College St. Decent food and service. Cozy, pubby atmosphere. But the crowd is always a little dull.

This may/will seem an odd choice to everyone, but it is a fave of mine (if it is still there? not in Toronto anymore) - The Black Horse Tavern near Bloor and Dovercourt.

For east of the DVP along Queen I'd recommend Prohibition:

http://blogto.com/restaurants/prohibition

The failure to include Dora Keogh on this list damns it into irrelevance. Missed the mark here guys. Fynn's and Mill St. are utter comic spectacle compared to the genuine pub spirit and simplicity that Dora's continues to embrace. Thumbs down.

I used to love C'est What? but since they opened up the restaurant portion a few years ago it's become far less friendly and snooty -- we were actually getting the stinkeye and really lousy service from the servers because we dared to want to want to have more people in our party than would comfortably fit at a four-person table...and they refused to put two tables together, actually saying to us "I can see where this is going...." Well, where it WOULD have been going is our party spending a bunch of money on both food and drink. Where it ended up going is down the street to another establishment that looked like it wanted our business. Au revoir, C'est What, au revoir forever.

@nope: the failure to recognize the diff between a simulacrum and the genuine article damns your last comment into irrelevance. I'd argue that McVeigh's is far more 'authentic' an Irish pub than the Dora (McVeigh'sused to funnel money to the IRA in the 70s for chrissakes). But the Dora is a comfortable spot (apart from those annoying milking stools)and the next time you're in the snug, look over and i'll be the one raising a pint in your direction...

By the way, that was meant to read "far less friendly and far more snooty". But that was probably obvious from the rest of the post.

memrobelia --> memorabilia

I say this deserves a correcto-box.

@jenia I think you're thinking of the wrong site :)

The Bow and Arrow, Cloak and Dagger, and Done Right Inn all deserve a mention too, I think

I can't resist, and I'm flabergasted that no one has mentioned it: The Only Cafe (Danforth/Donlands). Ok, so it sells coffee & has "cafe" in the title. But this joint is a proper local boozer that has excellent beers on tap & fabulous friendly service. Its become like a tradition in my family.

ummm...it's only been mentioned like half a dozen times. everyone omits the 'cafe' part which now that it has been brought to my attenion, means it deserves the same scorn previously reserved for The Victory Cafe. Except this one's on the Danforth so it's cool. ;o)

Well thanks for pointing that out...I'm so relieved...

so can anyone tell me how you vote on these things anyway? I know I asked once already but hey...I can only but try.

Good pick on "the local" it's good but not the best...

what about the rhino? wait that isn't much of a pub...but it does have a good bar stool area and the cheapest selection in town.

I have been drinking at smokeless joe's for over 7 years...every year it goes downhill and their beer selection gets worse and the prices go up...

For those wondering about how we come up with these lists....

Back in January we asked blogTO readers to nominate their favourite places in a number of different categories. Based on the nomination round, we then came up with a final set of categories and a list of nominees in each. We then ran a poll asking everyone to vote.

So....ever since the poll ended we've been publishing the results in these Best Of lists. Many of the lists include the final results of the vote + some extra places that were nominated but didn't make it into the final cut. The reason we've sometimes added these extra places is because in many cases the list was narrowed down to 5-10 for purposes of the vote. But when we started publishing these Best Of posts we realized there was more value expanding the list to 10, 12 or 15 spots.

At this point, we're basically finished announcing the results so some of our recent lists have actually been generated by the authors of the post itself in consultation with the rest of the blogTO team. An example of this is the recent Best Cupcakes post. Cupcakes was not a category in our January poll.

Moving forward, expect more blogTO generated Best Of lists but we'll also be conducting future polls to give everyone a chance to have their say.

Frank, you greatly misinterpreted my statement if you felt it was an appeal to "authenticity" (even if it was a great segue for you to throw some Baudrillard my way -- now there's a topic for us at Dora's). All that matters to me is the spirit and engagement of those who attend, day or night.

And I've been to a few of them!

How about a list (taken from a poll) of the top two or three pubs of all the major neighborhoods in Toronto? Because, as the author says "What really makes a great pub is staggering distance from your front door." I agree. But no pubs from my 'hood made the list;(

I remember a few years ago, Toronto.com had a similar best of list section on their site. That was of course before they became just one big advertisement machine. They used to ask for reader submissions, but also include their own picks. The nice thing about that system was that if readers forgot to nominate a very worthy locale, then it could still be voted on (and vice versa)

Perhaps next time around if readers don't get in their picks for places outside the core, then the writers can suggest their own to encourage a little 'diversity'. If the non-core suggestions still aren't good enough to make the list, well then perhaps we should get mad at the neighbourhood for failing to produce a good burger place rather then get mad at the BlogTO writers.

What, no Duke of Gloucester????

@Tim thanks very much for the info - I wish they hadn't all been done in January (not having found the site until May) but hey, they're interesting nonetheless.

Hey Carlos? Any sane person in Toronto wishes amalgamation never happened...is the Blue Goose in Etobicoke?....re: Pimbletts'- the best and possibly only authentic pub in Toronto by far..R.I.P.

I'm wondering what people think of the Bedford Academy. I ask because I can't figure out myself whether it's awesome or kinda sucky.

I like your strategy strategy! Thanks for keeping some of my favourite place(s) off the list. Keep sending people to sub-par, travel-guide inspired bars like these and keep the real places just that, real.

This is a great post on teh local watering holes that many people visiting Toronto might not be able to find. This is a perfect guide for those looking for a nice cold draft beer or warm beverage for those winter visits.

Southside Louie's on College Street is a good neighbourhood spot. The newest kid on the block is the Cornerstone Pub at Euclid & College. The Gem on Davenport, west of Ossington has a great wraparound patio at the corner of Davenport and Somerset. Other good pint pullers include The Red Lion on Jarvis Street, and The Artful Dodger on Isabella.

I forgot another one: The Roxton! Great food, great ipod selection. Cosy, no distracting TV's; wonderful fodder for conversation while watching the night go by over a pint or two.

The Artful Dodger - Yonge and Isabella.

Good mix of colourful locals, the usual suspects on tap and a better than average pub menu. Quality jukebox(es), three lounges and two patios.

What more could you ask for?

Artfful Dodger is best?? You can sit all day by yourself at the bar and nobody talks to you or says hello even if you gape at them and smile forlornely with homliest patheticness. I go and sit all day from 11:30 until late at night but still nobody like me or be nice except thems who works there but I heard them giggling behind my back. When I take the initiative and go hang out with peoples and join them they treat me like a I'm a turd. One really cute girl smiled at me when I asked to join her and her friends but when I went to sit down said GO AWAY and her friend said I looked like I just fell out of a nose.