Editorial
Toronto's after-work bar scene is better than the city gets credit for — partly because the best options require leaving the Financial District and heading west. The best after work bars in Toronto cluster along the Ossington and Dundas West corridors, with a strong showing in Little Portugal and the stretch of Queen West between University and Bathurst. These are the places we actually go to.
The strip from Dundas West up through Little Portugal and Ossington is where Toronto's serious bar culture lives. It takes twenty minutes on the 501 streetcar from King Station, and the quality improvement over the Financial District options is immediate and significant.
Not everyone wants to go west after work. These Queen West and King Street options give downtown Toronto's workers solid alternatives without requiring a streetcar commute.
Toronto's neighbourhood bars offer the best value in the city. These are the places that regulars return to every week precisely because they don't require a special occasion.
Birreria Volo on College Street in Little Italy is the bottle shop and bar that carries on the Morana family's Bar Volo, pouring a deep rotation of Ontario and imported craft on tap. It runs late Tuesday through Saturday.
Clockwork Champagne and Cocktails anchors the lobby of the Fairmont Royal York on Front Street, a timeless lounge for grower champagne, bubbly cocktails and seafood towers. Live jazz piano plays the afternoons.
Mother on Ossington builds cocktails from an on-site fermentation room, splitting the menu into barrel-aged drinks, classics and zero-proof options. The room is intimate and ranks among Canada's best bars.
Toronto's after-work bar scene rewards the westward commute more than almost any other North American city. Bar Raval is the headline act — there is nothing quite like it in New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles, and it should be on any visitor's list. For the regular weeknight, Civil Liberties and Archive Wine Bar offer the best combination of quality and price in the city.
James covers North American bar culture and has been writing about Toronto's bar scene since 2015. He rates Bar Raval as one of the ten best bars on the continent and stands by that opinion unconditionally.