Slices of vanilla cake were handed out among the staff at Café On the Square, the spacious restaurant inside Toronto City Hall where for 26 years, politicians, lawyers, wedding parties, lobbyists, protesters and students grabbed coffee, muffins, or a made-from-scratch meal.
But the staff wasn’t celebrating. They were back for one final day on Friday — not to serve, but to clean up, say goodbye and mark the restaurant’s quiet closure the day before on Aug. 7. The cake was a thank-you from a longtime diner who heard the news days earlier.
“I’ll miss the customers,” said Wayne Honeyghan, the restaurant’s head chef for 21 years. “I’ll miss the staff. It was like a family.”
With the café officially closed, Honeyghan sat outside instead of in the kitchen, reminiscing about the regulars — like the woman who always ordered fish, or the personal support worker who favoured lasagna. He could still recite the orders by heart.
That kind of familiarity kept customers coming back.
“The food is fresh, healthy, made-from-scratch,” says longtime customer Gabi Berkovics. “I usually go for the fish with vegetables, rice or potatoes. It was a $15 lunch, including tax, for a full meal. It’s very disappointing that it’s closing.”
As staff gathered one last time, the space stood as a late-’90s time capsule — zebra print carpeting, chrome stools, and wooden fixtures glowing warm orange.
“I liked looking at the weddings, the fireworks at City Hall,” says Norman Gee, who’s worked there since it opened in 1999. He was the supervisor, but also fulfilled other roles like dishwasher. Over 26 years, he served five mayors, including Tory, Chow, and Ford — who would come in for a salad, but no dressing.
Among frequent patrons were Councillors Mike Colle (Eglinton–Lawrence) and Paula Fletcher (Toronto–Danforth).
“I’ve been a regular there — I’m devastated about its closing,” says Colle. He’s known about the impending closure for months and says he worries most about the staff. “I’d go two, three times a week. The staff were just beautiful people. Wayne always went out of his way to get fresh chicken and salmon. It was home-cooking at City Hall. It’s appalling to lose a place like this.”
Fletcher says it was always a place to see a familiar face.
“The staff were always very friendly. They remembered the patrons and their orders. They liked to joke around with people. I always knew it was Pierogi Monday and Quiche Friday, so they always knew my order when I came in on a Monday.”
“I won’t be having any pierogies on Monday or any quiche on Friday,” she says. “That’ll be too bad.”
Tony Palermo, a spokesperson for the Café On the Square, said in a statement to the Star: “Since the pandemic, it has been increasingly challenging to sustain the business. The dramatic decrease in foot traffic, compounded by the shift to remote work, has made it impossible for us to sustain our beloved cafe.”
According to a 2015 Star article, the café had faced financial challenges years earlier, including disputes over unpaid rent and operating losses.
The city, in response to the Star’s inquiry, said in an email: “The City of Toronto received notice from the operators of Café On the Square stating their intention to terminate operations at Toronto City Hall.” The City says it remained open to further discussions, but the closure was finalized on Aug. 7. “Considering the Café’s pending closure, the City issued a competitive Request for Expressions of Interest (REOI) for longer-term food services at City Hall on July 3, 2025, and identified a new operator who will provide select food and beverage offerings on a temporary basis, while the competitive REOI process is underway.
David Rider, the Star’s City Hall bureau chief who’s worked out of the building for the 15 years, calls the café the unofficial town square — an even playing field for politicians, lawyers, library patrons, and families.
“City Hall is a workplace but also a gossipy small town of a few thousand people. There are the city staff in the curved towers, politicians in second-floor offices and the council chamber, the lobbyists who come and go and the pixel-stained wretches in the press gallery. Also, staff and patrons of a public library, a wedding chapel and a daycare. Café On the Square has been the beating heart of that gossipy small town for many years, although a less crowded and weakened heart since the pandemic closed it and then remote work thinned its customer base.”
“I’m not a foodie, so I will only say the fare was not fancy but hearty and nourishing, and the long-serving staff became like old friends.”
