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.
Torontonians seem to crave the simpler pleasures — meeting a friend over a crisp pint, gathering around a fireplace, enjoying live music and digging into seriously good comfort food.
To celebrate the pubs keeping Toronto’s 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’s heart.
Did we miss your favourite pub? Comment below and let us know who we should have featured and why.
1. The food pub: House on Parliament
454 Parliament St.
At 4:30 p.m. on a recent Tuesday, House on Parliament in Cabbagetown was already bustling with people grabbing 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, offer hugs and share a laugh. She’s been coming here for so long that her grand-daughter’s photo graces some of the menus. Each features a black-and-white picture of someone beloved by the pub, whether it’s a regular, long-time chef and now partner Sri Nalliah, or late co-owner Duncan Hammond.
The familiar faces: Co-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. “Everybody knows everybody,” Waldock says. “The magic of this place is that community. Even if you didn’t come in for five years, you’re gonna be recognized; you’re gonna be welcomed.”
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.
Husbands Ron Atkinson and Bruce Blandford have been eating here for decades. “It’s a friendly neighbourhood pub with fabulous food,” Atkinson says. “It’s just a nice place to come.”
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’re running low. Take your leftovers home and you’ll discover yet another serving of raita, tucked away in your to-go box.
2. The English pub: The Feathers
962 Kingston Rd.
A time capsule: Walk 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’s all very “Coronation Street”: it’s been on forever, but never gets old. During our visit, regular Tara Duff was affixing a signed portrait of an actual “Corrie” star to a wall jammed with framed art. She’s been coming here for her Guinness pints for 15 years. “(I love) just how quaint it is and how it preserved the original decor,” she says. “You don’t feel like you’re going to just a regular bar — you feel like you’re coming home into a living room and it’s just really comfortable.”
One 96-year-old man comes in just about every day, according to owner Kiki Dai, who took over in 2023. If he hasn’t arrived yet, people ask, “Where’s Grandpa?” until he does. Here, the regulars rule. When a new chef wasn’t making the English classics like homemade haddock cakes and liver and onions correctly, dining dropped dramatically until another was brought in who 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.) The regulars, however, have embraced the live-music Saturday nights.
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’ worth of elbows, or digging into a crispy chicken sandwich or a made-to-order Cornish or cottage pie. You’ll most likely be served by Leicesterian Louise Gallo, something she’s done here for 28 years. “It’s like home away from home,” she says.
The traditionalists: Come 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’t go over well. “They don’t like the fancy. They don’t even like the word ‘fancy.’” Dai laughs. “They want traditional…So, we keep everything exactly the same.”
3. The music pub: Whelan’s Gate
1663 Bloor St. W.
An evening at Whelan’s Gate is one of the city’s safest bets for a guaranteed good time. High Park’s long-standing Irish pub features live music three nights a week. There’s Canadiana on Wednesdays, bluegrass on Sundays, and Tuesday is, they claim, the city’s 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’s Gate so much they got married there).
A century of character: Owner Steve Auty took over the pub in 2014. “What drew me to it was the sense that it was already a real community place … There’s an authenticity to Whelan’s Gate that you can’t really manufacture. The building itself is more than 100 years old, and it’s been owned by the same family for decades. Over the years, a lot around it has changed, but the pub has kept its character — right down to the wagon wheels out front,” Auty says.
The Wednesday revelry: Even the entryway sets the tone. A sign hangs right by the front door, pointing the way up the stairs to the “cozy snug.” Whether you’re 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 people convened to hear Peter Graham and the Voyageurs play folksy originals and covers like “Harvest Moon.” It was John Porter’s second visit that week; he’d also gone to the Irish night the previous day. He’s been coming to both nights every week for a year. “We go to a lot of live music in different bars, but it’s a bit different here. You don’t hear Irish music on Tuesday nights at many places,” he says. “This is a wonderful pub…I’m making a bunch of new friends here, too: it’s very friendly.”
Auty says that sense of continuity is what makes Whelan’s Gate special: “When you walk in, you’ll see people who’ve been coming for years sitting beside someone who’s discovered it for the first time.” At the bar you’ll likely be served by Alex Tulk, one of the city’s most charming barmen. “There have been many decades of lives that have gone through here, so it’s always great to see people coming back from different generations that still make this place feel like home for people that are very new,” Tulk says.
He’s happy to talk about the menu, whether it’s 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 on the second (!) floor of the building. Ask for a lemonade, even if it’s not on the menu, and he’ll make you one from hand-squeezed lemon juice — from scratch, of course.
4. The Irish pub: P.J. O’Brien Irish Pub & Restaurant
39 Colborne St.
The booked snug: Jameson. Harp. Kilkenny. And, of course, the almighty Guinness. Signage representing the patron saints of Irish booze watches over you benevolently at P.J. O’Brien in Old Town, Toronto’s unofficial Irish HQ. There’s 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’re joined by photographs of stalwart regulars who have died — 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.)
Emerald networking: Even much of the uniformly friendly staff hails from the Emerald Isles. Co-owner Pat Quinn, Jr., whose family took over the pub in 2001, often 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’s community or career or companionship.
Irish yearning 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’s pie, grilled salmon and corned beef and cabbage (and the extra-crispy fish and chips are a must-try). There’s live music on weekends as well, to liven up the joint even further.
And everyone enjoys the pub’s iconic yellow-and-blue exterior and the wall emblazoned with a giant “It’s Guinness time” clock, which draws many visitors, with some even doing their wedding photos there. “It’s just a great community we have here all around,” Quinn says. The luck of the Irish is paying out these days, big-time; this past year was their busiest yet.
5. The Scottish pub: The Caledonian
856 College St.
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.
The hemlock tables: The 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’t the only ones craving Scottish fare: the place was busy right from the start in 2010.
Wolff’s love of bringing people together has resulted in many lasting connections. “If you’re on your own, I’d make sure you met somebody and got introduced to the people at the bar, and then you start recognizing faces,” she says. “And we built up a whole different group of people that didn’t know each other, but now are all friends and do different stuff.” She’s been behind the bar so long that she’s seen first dates turn into engagement parties — and then families.
The Caledonian draws a mix of generations. On any given night, families gather alongside regulars, with 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’s hospitality. “Everyone can walk in and the minute they walk in that door, they’re greeted and in most cases they know their name.”
Liquid gold: The pub hosts regular tastings to show off the best of Scotland’s storied spirit. With more than 650 kinds available, Wolff says they have one 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).
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: “I just really like coming here,” he says. “I’m happy.”
