In a city where restaurants and bars close as quickly as they open, one kind of place seems to be thriving: the pub. Torontonians are flocking to cosy, community-driven spots where good food, live music and familiar faces make a night out feel like home.<\/p>\n
Torontonians seem to crave the simpler pleasures \u2014 meeting a friend over a crisp pint, gathering around a fireplace, enjoying live music and digging into seriously good comfort food.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To celebrate the pubs keeping Toronto\u2019s social life alive, we asked our readers and community members to share the ones they love most. From neighbourhood staples to new hits, these five have captured the city\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n
Did we miss your favourite pub? Comment below and let us know who we should have featured and why.<\/p>\n
1. The food pub: House on Parliament<\/p>\n
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Regulars Annie Cunningham, left, Trish Zehender and Leigh Manford share a pint and a laugh at House on Parliament.<\/p>\n
Nick Lachance Toronto Star<\/p>\n
At 4:30 p.m. on a recent Tuesday, House on Parliament in Cabbagetown was already bustling with people\u00a0grabbing an early dinner or tossing back a pint, from 20-somethings to seniors. Thirty-year regular Ann Hepburn wended her way through the bar, stopping at tables to greet friends,\u00a0offer hugs\u00a0and share a laugh. She\u2019s been coming here for so long that her grand-daughter\u2019s photo graces some of the menus. Each features a black-and-white picture of someone beloved by the pub, whether it\u2019s a regular, long-time chef and now partner Sri Nalliah, or late co-owner Duncan Hammond.<\/p>\n
The familiar faces:\u00a0Co-owner Beau Opperman spent time in England and wanted to bring its friendly pub culture to Toronto. He and his wife and co-owner Tania Waldock found a space (via a Toronto Star classified ad) and opened in 1996; Waldock credits the tight-knit Cabbagetown neighbourhood for their longevity. \u201cEverybody knows everybody,\u201d Waldock says. \u201cThe magic of this place is that community. Even if you didn\u2019t come in for five years, you\u2019re gonna be recognized; you\u2019re gonna be welcomed.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Co-owner Tania Waldock credits the tight-knit Cabbagetown community for the pub\u2019s longevity.<\/p>\n
Nick Lachance Toronto Star<\/p>\n
Elevated comfort: Some House on Parliament fans prefer the ambiance of the dim, elegant dining room in the back, adorned with plump leather banquettes and gilt-framed portraits. The pub is famed for its excellent meals and extensive daily specials; today, for example, you can dig into everything from pub classics like bangers and mash and chicken pot pie to fancier fare like sea scallop and asparagus risotto and a baseball-cut sirloin.<\/p>\n
Husbands Ron Atkinson and Bruce Blandford have been eating here for decades. \u201cIt\u2019s a friendly neighbourhood pub with fabulous food,\u201d Atkinson says. \u201cIt\u2019s just a nice place to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many of the kitchen staff have been here for 20 years, and most servers have at least a decade under their belt here. Order the lamb curry and the server will bring over some extra raita if they see you\u2019re running low. Take your leftovers home and you\u2019ll discover yet another serving of raita, tucked away in your to-go box.<\/p>\n
2. The English pub: The Feathers<\/p>\n
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Friends enjoy lunchtime at the Feathers, surrounded by red velvet seating and walls filled with framed photos of regulars and celebrities.<\/p>\n
Nick Lachance Toronto Star<\/p>\n
A time capsule:\u00a0Walk in the door of the Feathers pub in Scarborough and your blood pressure drops. The worn, curlicued mahogany carpet underneath your feet. The faded wallpaper, peeling a little in places. The red velvet banquettes. It feels like an old roadside tavern where you felt really happy once. It\u2019s all very \u201cCoronation Street\u201d: it\u2019s been on forever, but never gets old. During our visit, regular Tara Duff was affixing a signed portrait of an actual \u201cCorrie\u201d star to a wall jammed with framed art. She\u2019s been coming here for her Guinness pints for 15 years. \u201c(I love) just how quaint it is and how it\u00a0preserved the original decor,\u201d she says. \u201cYou don\u2019t feel like you\u2019re going to just a regular bar \u2014 you feel like you\u2019re coming home into a living room and it\u2019s just really comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Bartenders serve a pint at the Feathers, a pub beloved for its traditional British menu and warm ambiance.<\/p>\n
Nick Lachance Toronto Star<\/p>\n
One 96-year-old man comes in just about every day, according to owner Kiki Dai, who took over in 2023. If he hasn\u2019t arrived yet,\u00a0people ask,\u00a0\u201cWhere\u2019s Grandpa?\u201d until he does. Here, the regulars rule.\u00a0When a new chef wasn\u2019t making the English classics like\u00a0homemade haddock cakes and liver and onions\u00a0correctly, dining dropped dramatically until another was brought in\u00a0who had already mastered British cuisine. Despite the usual British-pub affinity for watching soccer games, the installation of a large TV caused a revolt. (It was hastily removed.)\u00a0The regulars, however, have embraced the\u00a0live-music Saturday nights.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, Feathers is for enjoying a quiet pint or a dram from the rare-whiskey case at the old bar, thick and worn into smooth curvature by 45 years\u2019 worth of elbows, or digging into a crispy chicken sandwich or a made-to-order\u00a0Cornish or cottage pie. You\u2019ll most likely be served by\u00a0Leicesterian Louise Gallo, something she\u2019s done here for 28 years. \u201cIt\u2019s like home away from home,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
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Owner Kiki Dai, who took over The Feathers in 2023, keeps the pub\u2019s \u201chome away from home\u201d atmosphere alive.<\/p>\n
Nick Lachance Toronto Star<\/p>\n
The traditionalists:\u00a0Come the weekend, Saturday is lamb shank day and Sunday is the traditional English roast, complete with Yorkshire pudding. Dai, who used to own Bar Fancy on Queen West, known for its Fancy Chicken; she tried adding it to the Feathers menu, but it didn\u2019t go over well. \u201cThey don\u2019t like the fancy. They don\u2019t even like the word \u2018fancy.\u2019\u201d Dai laughs. \u201cThey want traditional\u2026So, we keep everything exactly the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
3. The music pub: Whelan\u2019s Gate<\/p>\n
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Musicians jam during a Sunday night session, one of the pub\u2019s weekly live-music traditions that draw locals together.<\/p>\n
Steve Russell Toronto Star<\/p>\n
An evening at Whelan\u2019s Gate is one of the city\u2019s safest bets for a guaranteed good time. High Park\u2019s long-standing Irish pub features live music three nights a week. There\u2019s Canadiana on Wednesdays, bluegrass on Sundays, and Tuesday is, they claim, the city\u2019s longest-running Irish session. They also have a trivia night on Thursday that has become so wildly popular that tables book up well in advance (the people who run it love Whelan\u2019s Gate so much they got married there).<\/p>\n
A century of character:\u00a0Owner Steve Auty took over the pub in 2014. \u201cWhat drew me to it was the sense that it was already a real community place \u2026 There\u2019s an authenticity to Whelan\u2019s Gate that you can\u2019t really manufacture. The building itself is more than 100 years old, and it\u2019s been owned by the same family for decades. Over the years, a lot around it has changed, but the pub has kept its character \u2014 right down to the wagon wheels out front,\u201d Auty says.<\/p>\n
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A pint and fiddle rest on a table during one of Whelan\u2019s Gate\u2019s regular live-music nights, part of the pub\u2019s long-running Irish tradition.<\/p>\n
Steve Russell Toronto Star<\/p>\n
The Wednesday revelry:\u00a0Even the entryway sets the tone.\u00a0A\u00a0sign hangs right by the front door, pointing the way up the stairs to the \u201ccozy snug.\u201d Whether you\u2019re settling in by the fireplace or dropping in for a performance, the good vibes are always high. Even on a blisteringly cold recent Wednesday, the upstairs bar was warm with revelry as\u00a0people convened to hear Peter Graham and the Voyageurs play folksy originals and\u00a0covers\u00a0like \u201cHarvest Moon.\u201d It was John Porter\u2019s second\u00a0visit that week; he\u2019d also gone to the Irish night the previous day. He\u2019s been coming to both nights every week for a year. \u201cWe go to a lot of live music in different bars, but it\u2019s a bit different here. You don\u2019t hear Irish music on Tuesday nights at many places,\u201d he says. \u201cThis is a wonderful pub…I\u2019m making a bunch of new friends here, too: it\u2019s very friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Auty says that sense of continuity is what makes Whelan\u2019s Gate special: \u201cWhen you walk in, you\u2019ll see people who\u2019ve been coming for years sitting beside someone who\u2019s discovered it for the first time.\u201d At the bar you\u2019ll likely\u00a0be served by Alex Tulk, one of the city\u2019s most charming barmen. \u201cThere have been many decades of lives that have gone through here, so it\u2019s always great to see people coming back from different generations that still make this place feel like home for people that are very new,\u201d Tulk says.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s happy to talk about the menu, whether it\u2019s the famed burgers of house-ground brisket or pickles made from cucumbers grown out back in the garden, beside the ground-floor patio, which is\u00a0on the second (!) floor of the building. Ask for a lemonade, even if it\u2019s not on the menu, and he\u2019ll make you one from hand-squeezed lemon juice\u00a0\u2014 from scratch, of course.<\/p>\n
4. The Irish pub: P.J. O\u2019Brien Irish Pub & Restaurant<\/p>\n
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Patrons celebrate St. Patrick\u2019s Day at P.J. O\u2019Brien Irish Pub, a hub for locals and Irish newcomers alike.<\/p>\n
Nick Lachance Toronto Star<\/p>\n
The booked snug:\u00a0Jameson. Harp. Kilkenny. And, of course, the almighty Guinness. Signage representing the patron saints of Irish booze watches over you benevolently at P.J. O\u2019Brien in Old Town, Toronto\u2019s unofficial Irish HQ. There\u2019s even a framed copy of the Belfast Agreement on the wall, along with maps of Ireland and a series of paintings of by famed Irish painter Jim McDonald and not one, but two snugs (one small, one tiny). They\u2019re joined by photographs of stalwart regulars who have died \u2014 colourful characters who helped define the place. Pop your head into the larger snug at lunch and you might catch a trio of old pals who have been coming here for decades. It just feels like home here, they say. (And they always book the snug.)<\/p>\n
Emerald\u00a0networking:\u00a0Even much of the uniformly friendly staff hails from the Emerald Isles. Co-owner Pat Quinn, Jr., whose family took over the pub in 2001,\u00a0often hires Irish newcomers, and the vast number of Irish folks who visit the pub has turned it into a busy networking hub for finding new opportunities in the big city, whether it\u2019s community or career or companionship.<\/p>\n
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Owner Pat Quinn Jr. raises a glass of Guinness on St. Patrick\u2019s Day at his Old Town pub.<\/p>\n
Nick Lachance Toronto Star<\/p>\n
Irish\u00a0yearning for a taste of home (and locals who just love good pub grub) can indulge in national favourites like sausages and chips, beef and Guinness stew, shepherd\u2019s pie, grilled salmon and corned beef and cabbage (and the extra-crispy fish and chips are a must-try). There\u2019s live music on weekends as well, to liven up the joint even further.<\/p>\n
And everyone enjoys the pub\u2019s iconic yellow-and-blue exterior\u00a0and the wall emblazoned with a giant \u201cIt\u2019s Guinness time\u201d clock, which draws many visitors,\u00a0with some even doing their wedding photos there. \u201cIt\u2019s just a great community we have here all around,\u201d Quinn says. The luck of the Irish is paying out these days, big-time; this past year was their busiest yet.<\/p>\n
5. The Scottish pub: The Caledonian<\/p>\n
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Darcy Tobin Farrell talks with her children Br\u00edd\u00edn Ward McCarthy, left, and Gleeson Ward McCarthy as the family enjoys dinner beside their father Donal Ward McCarthy at the Caledonian.<\/p>\n
Nick Lachance Toronto Star<\/p>\n
There is one non-negotiable at The Caledonian: everyone who walks through the door gets a warm, hearty greeting, usually from co-owner Donna Wolff herself. Wolff hails from the auld country and takes pride in making everyone feel welcome at her Scottish pub.<\/p>\n
The hemlock tables:\u00a0The pub was a labour of love between her and her Canadian husband, David Wolff. After years of seeking out anything vaguely Scottish in the city, she yearned for the real Scottish pub atmosphere she knew from back home. So they secured a spot in Little Portugal and built it out themselves, even creating tables out of hemlock taken from their cottage property. Apparently they weren\u2019t the only ones craving Scottish fare: the place was busy right from the start in 2010.<\/p>\n
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Traditional Scottish haggis with neeps and tatties, a specialty at the Caledonian.<\/p>\n
Nick Lachance Toronto Star<\/p>\n
Wolff\u2019s love of bringing people together has resulted in many lasting connections. \u201cIf you\u2019re on your own, I\u2019d make sure you met somebody and got introduced to the people at the bar, and then you start recognizing faces,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd we built up a whole different group of people that didn\u2019t know each other, but now are all friends and do different stuff.\u201d She\u2019s been behind the bar so long that she\u2019s seen first dates turn into engagement parties \u2014 and then families.<\/p>\n
The Caledonian draws a mix of generations. On any given night, families gather alongside regulars,\u00a0with a lucky few securing the prime spot by the fireplace in the back. On a Tuesday night, one family took up half the bar. Dad Donal Ward McCarthy loves coming in for Wolff\u2019s hospitality. \u201cEveryone can walk in and the minute they walk in that door, they\u2019re greeted and in most cases they know their name.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Co-owner Donna Wolff behind the bar at the Caledonian, a Scottish pub she helped build in Little Portugal.<\/p>\n
Nick Lachance Toronto Star<\/p>\n
Liquid gold:\u00a0The pub hosts regular tastings to show off the best of Scotland\u2019s storied spirit. With more than 650 kinds available, Wolff says they have\u00a0one of the largest collections of whiskies in the world; they even have their own cask at some of the distilleries over in Scotland. (Look to the sign on the wall for a list of patrons who keep their rare bottles here.) They also carry all the Scottish specialties, from the most delicious Scotch eggs and sticky-toffee pudding to the real star of the show, a melt-in-your-mouth Macsween haggis perched majestically upon a mountain of neeps and tatties (turnips and mashed potatoes).<\/p>\n
At 10 years old, Gleeson Ward McCarthy is already a regular. Hard at work, he is drawing an epic pastoral scene featuring leprechauns and fairies; his own go-to order is the steak stew or steak pie. Asked what he loves about the Caledonian, his reply is simple but assured: \u201cI just really like coming here,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m happy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a city where restaurants and bars close as quickly as they open, one kind of place seems…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,3302],"class_list":["post-566362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}