Team behind popular Toronto nightlife spots opening funky new steakhouse
A Toronto hospitality company known for creating some of the city's buzziest nightlife spots is about to open what could be its most ambitious project yet: a steakhouse.
Steakhouses in Toronto — and, really, around the world — carry with them a decisive connotation. You expect marble floors, white tablecloths that you'll try desperately not to stain with the jus from your rare ribeye, servers in suits.
In recent years, newer steakhouse concepts have started to break the mould. Linny's, for example, incorporates clean minimalism and rarely-seen menu additions like thick-cut pastrami. In Kensington Market, Burdock launched what is quite possibly the city's first brewery-steakhouse.
Now, Municipal Goods, the team behind such Toronto hot spots as Paris Texas and Small Talk Jazz, is putting their own spin on the tried-and-true concept, with a new steakhouse called Sonny Can't Dance, landing on King West this month.
Boisterous in its multicoloured gingham branding and lacquered gold fonts, the restaurant feels plucked out of an era you can't quite put a finger on: the '50s? The '80s? The naughts?
The menu is equally playful. A concise raw bar and sushi menu takes inspiration from a variety of cuisines: ahi tuna with Thai chili and ponzu, salmon sashimi served with salsa verde.
The steaks, of course, are the star of the show. Sourced from Ontario's Bielak Farms and dry-aged at the Cheese Boutique (owner Afrim Pristine is the culinary director at Municipal Goods), the selection of cuts is concise. Still, it hits all the bases, prices capping out, mercifully, at $88 for a Japanese Wagyu A5 striploin.
And for the particularly budget-conscious, the restaurant is also running a deal every Wednesday, where patrons are invited to roll a single die. If they roll a one, their entire bill will be just $1.
In a section of the menu quite literally titled "But wait, there is more," you'll find a prime beef burger, Wagyu Philly cheesesteak, vodka pasta and the catch of the day. There are even a handful of pizzas on the menu, perhaps paying homage to the steakhouse's predecessor.
As it happens, Sonny Can't Dance is taking over the former home of another once-popular restaurant and nightlife hub, Pizza Wine Disco.
When Pizza Wine Disco — which was exactly what you'd think it was, an Italian restaurant that gave itself over to DJs and dancing later in the evening — closed in March 2026, Municipal Goods teased that something new was coming.
Now we finally have our answer, and my oh my, is it ever juicy.
Sonny Can't Dance opens Thursday, Aug. 13, and will be located at 788 King St. W.
Fareen Karim
