Cassette is the new-and-improved restaurant at Toronto’s Gladstone House.
For a building that’s been around since 1889, West Queen West’s Gladstone House (formerly the Gladstone Hotel) has seen its fair share of food and beverage concepts.
Most recently, the restaurant space on the building’s ground-level east wing was Melody Bar, which quietly closed its doors in 2022. After three years of collecting dust, the doors to the space finally reopened with a fresh coat of paint, refreshed concept and new menu in October 2025.
Cassette is here, and it’s turning the volume up on not only the food and beverage guests can find at Gladstone House, but programming for the community at large.
The new restaurant maintains Gladstone House’s punchy vibe, an homage to the neighbourhood’s rebellious, creative air, while simultaneously appealing to the diverse tastes of the hotel’s guests.
With a name that refers to the preeminent mode of audio consumption in the 70s, 80s and 90s, there’s an equal weight given to retro aesthetics (see: black and white checkerboard tiles and nostalgic menu items) and music, the latter of which is highlighted amply in regular live music nights and weekly DJ sets.
At the same time, it’s not hokey. There’s a cohesive sophistication about both the interiors and the menu at Cassette. Childhood party staples like sliders ($25), for example, are made new on the menu with the inclusion of kebab-inspired lamb patties, sumac salad, cucumber and tzatziki.
Corn ribs ($14), a summertime carnival classic, are generously slathered in Tajin butter (bathe me in it) and a drizzle of lime.
Uncommon on menus at sit-down restaurants in the city, these puppies made me seriously question why that is. They’re addictive, and they’re good enough to warrant a trip for them alone, paired with a spicy cucumber margarita, called Soundcheck ($18) on Cassette’s menu.
Speaking of cocktails, the beverage menu takes on a similarly playful-meets-poised approach. Classics, like the aforementioned spicy marg or the Extra Dirty ($19), a martini served with olive oil-washed Tanqueray or Ketel One with extra olives on the side, pair with unique signature cocktails that are easy to love.
Pictured above, the Kiss Cam ($16) is a vodka-based beverage with rich cassis, tart passion fruit and peach bitters. I can’t confirm why this particular beverage was given this particular name, but I imagine it has something to do with the way the bright tropical flavours make you pucker, pleasantly, on the first sip.
Other menu items subscribe to the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” school of thought, and the Gladstone Burger ($28) is a perfect example.Â
Containing everything you’d want on a burger, like a dry-aged patty, caramelized onion, gruyère and Marie Rose sauce, and nothing you don’t, like tomatoes (fight me on it), it’s a complex yet wholly familiar bite. Exactly the type of thing you’d want to order, along with a pile of extra napkins, for late-night room service.
The Cassette Chicken Tenders ($19) make a serious bid for some of the best chicken strips in the city. Pounded flat a la schnitzel, each bite of chicken is supremely crispy and seasoned all the way through.
The addition of cornflake crust ups the crunch factor even further, and a generous dusting of flaky salt cuts through deep-fried monotony.
The Spiced Cauli-Steak ($18)Â means that the non-meat-eaters have something just as tasty to fall back on, but even those of us who do won’t be disappointed.
Surprisingly juicy and tender charred cauliflower sits atop a bed of cauliflower puree with earthy chickpea gremolata, with a tasty punch of pickled onion for brightness.
It’s easy to feel, when it comes to hotel restaurants, that, when you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, but Cassette is living proof that a well-positioned, calculated risk can yield results you’ll want to play over and over again until the tape snaps.
While there are no communal tables to be found here, the room feels apt for connection, whether through the intimate performance stage, low lighting or lengthy bar and friendly staff.Â
If you’re staying at the hotel as a visitor to the city and stumble on one of Cassette’s already popular trivia nights, it feels likely that you’d get a good snapshot of what the city is all about: we don’t take ourselves too seriously, we’re an approachable force to be reckoned with, and we love our music.
Cassette is located at 1214 Queen St. W.