Writers Room Bar occupies the 17th floor of the Park Hyatt Toronto at 4 Avenue Road, on the Yorkville edge of the Annex. It is the reworked version of the hotel's long-running rooftop lounge, which reopened in September 2021 after a full restoration. Streets of Toronto covered the relaunch and framed it as an intimate rooftop cocktail room rather than a sprawling party deck.
Who would love it: drinkers who want a quiet, high-end nightcap with a view over Queen's Park and the city. Who would hate it: anyone after a budget round, because this is the top of the Park Hyatt price range and the room is small.
The name nods to the hotel's literary history, the floor where writers and editors once gathered during the Toronto book scene of the last century. The redesign keeps that reading-room feel, with low lighting, banquettes, and windows on three sides framing the skyline and the green of the park below.
What to order: a spirit-forward classic from the cocktail list, a Champagne pour, or a Canadian whisky flight that leans on the deep back bar. The list rewards the classics here more than the novelty builds, and the bartenders keep the pours measured.
Best time to go is a weeknight after 8pm, when the room settles and the city lights fill the glass. Weekends draw a dressier crowd, and seats are limited, so arrive early or expect a wait at the elevator.
It is the most refined seat on any Yorkville rooftop crawl. Compare it in our guide to the best rooftop bars in Toronto, and see the rest of the Toronto rooftop bars.
The reopening was a long time coming. The Park Hyatt closed for several years for a top-to-bottom restoration and reopened in September 2021, and the rooftop was one of the headline rooms. Hyatt's own listing and the Toronto press covered the relaunch as a quieter, more intimate version of the old bar rather than a reinvention.
The literary framing is earned rather than decorative. The Yorkville hotel was a fixture of the Toronto book world for decades, host to launches and readings, and the redesign leans into that history with shelves, low lamps, and a menu that nods to the writers who drank there.
Reviewers consistently warn that the room is small. Tripadvisor and Yelp notes point to limited seating and a dress-up crowd on weekends, so the advice is to arrive early or come on a weeknight when the elevator is not backed up. The payoff is one of the highest public bar seats in the neighbourhood.
It pairs well with a Yorkville evening. Bloor Street's galleries and restaurants sit a few minutes' walk away, and Museum or Bay stations put the hotel within an easy ride of the rest of the core.
The drinks list rewards a slower visit. The back bar is built around Canadian whisky and the classics, and the bartenders lean toward precise, spirit-forward builds over novelty. A measured Manhattan or an old fashioned suits the room better than anything flashy, and the Champagne list gives the space its celebratory edge. With seating this limited and a view this high, the bar trades on atmosphere as much as on the glass in front of you, which is the point of climbing 17 floors in the first place.
Who it's for
- A high-end nightcap after a Yorkville dinner
- A quiet, design-led seat over a loud party deck
- Skip it if you want a budget round
Sources: Park Hyatt Toronto official dining page (2026); Streets of Toronto; Tripadvisor; Yelp reviews
