The Monkey Bar in Toronto

Their pecan chicken and lamb are to die for . We have been there many times, but I keep ordering the same thing, because I just can t get enough of it. I am sure everything on the menu is delicious. Save room for dessert.

This restaurant was recommended by a friend. He spoke very highly of the food and the service. It was true to form. Everything was just right. Food : 5/5 |

Outstanding food! Great service! Small place. Busy so make a reservation and you still may have to wait a bit but well worth the wait! Back again. Another fantastic evening. The veal chop was perfect as were the veal medallions and the Eton Mess for desert! Chris looked after us and made sure we enjoyed!

Just had a Winterlicious dinner for $45. What a deal! Everything was served hot and was delicious. Its been a while since weve been to this local restaurant and we were pleasantly surprised to find it had not changed...maybe even got better!! Our server was extremely attentive and helpful packing up our desserts since we were so full from the generous apps, mains and the fabulous bread. We will be back.

Went to dinner as part of the winterlicious special they had going on with my family. The food was delicious and the portion sizes are incredible. Our waitress was very friendly. The only downsize to the dinner, was that our dessert order was not put in in a timely manner. We waited about 20-25 minutes for our dessert to come after our main was finished. My husband literally took two bites of his dessert before we were given the bill and expected to pay right then, so they could clear the table for the next party. Felt extremely rushed and was a bit of an awkward way to end the night.

Loved it! Got the winterlicious menu and everything was fantastic

Best neighborhood restaurant! Steaks, pasta, fish . Delicious

Came for Winterlicious, the menu is exciting, fresh and tasty. There are few options during Winterlicious that you must try. This is that place. Food : 5/5

We went for Winterlicious. The food was fantastic, the service, and server were great too.

Great food, tight seating, waiter was very attentive, pricey but good food

Outstanding food, great tastes and amazing service.

The best restaurant

Excellent food and service. Such a great place to dine.

One of our new favorites! The staff is friendly and attentive. Everyone loved their appetizers and meals. The food is cooked perfectly - lamb chops were rare as ordered!

We only went there for cocktails, so that s what I ll focus on. However from our observations the other guests appeared to be greatly enjoying their delicious looking food. Service from everyone we encountered was friendly, attentive and professional. The bartender was meticulous, creative and artful. The cocktail menu was delightful to read, and the actual drinks were beautifully crafted, delicious and completely hit the spot. Well done Monkey Bar, we ll be back.

The food is SO good! Went for my birthday and they were amazing. The host (chefs son) is lovely and made our experience so fun (personalized drinks, bday song, and card). The food took about 30min to come out, but honestly, it was worth the wait. Everyone at the table raved about their dish (even the vegan meal). They were able to host two large groups and both servers were attentive. We wish the ac was a bit better, but truly, there is little to fault about this place. We would definitely go back!

Recently we had the pleasure of Summerlicious dining. Every dish we ordered was prepared with utmost care and precision, bursting with flavor and beautifully presented. From the appetizers to the main course and dessert, each bite was a delightful journey for the taste buds. It was a true culinary masterpiece... Equally impressive was the exceptional service we received from the staff. From the moment we stepped through the door, we were greeted with warm smiles and genuine hospitality. We were feeling like valued guests throughout our visit. Thank you, The Monkey Bar!

It was too late for me to plan an event for more people since Summerlicious is over soon. So my friend and I enjoyed a fabulous food and service experience. Thank you Nadia for your attentive care and knowledge. The staff here works as a team to enhance your satisfaction. I have discovered that works best in any restaurant. The shrimp appetizer, the salmon entree ( thanks Nadia ) and the chocolate ice cream sandwich desert were divine. I will be looking for the Monkey on Winterlicious, so I can book for my crowd. Last but never least, thank you to the chef and his colleagues who create their food with love. Oh, btw, my friend loved how soft your custom napkins felt. She loved her soup of the day, her chicken entree and lemon meringue dessert! We will definitely be back.

We had an awesome night. Great staff. The food was delicious with healthy portion sizes. Highly recommend.

Great service and prices the food also was really good I recommend the fish of the day along with the pasta and espresso martini.

Service is incredible with great attention to detail and food is also so tasty and consistent. Thank you to the whole family for making my birthday extra special as well. We will be lifelong guests!

Wrll tun by family.

Was pleasantly surprised with this spot! It s very unassuming from the outside, but had amazing food from appetizers to desserts. Service was also impeccable and very friendly. Will absolutely be back!

Love this place! Family owned restaurant and has been around many years. You can not go wrong with anything ordered. Flavours are amazing, each dish unique and carefully prepared. Reserve at least a week before because they get really busy.

We discovered Monkey Bar during the pandemic, while living nearby and it has become our favourite place. It is family run and a labour of love for Richard (Chef) and Cameron (the warmest ray of light server Ive ever met). We are obsessed with the braised short ribs - tender, juicy, tasty meat and the string fries are addictive. Weve tried other apps and mains and overall liked everything. Highly recommend :)

Recently celebrated a friend s milestone birthday with a small party. The food was amazing. The atmosphere is warm and kind. The staff go out of their way to help. I strongly recommend this restaurant. You will not be disappointed.

I dont want to tell you how good this place is because I may never get a table if I do! Food is the best I have eaten in Toronto. Well presented , delicious and served by super kind and friendly staff. If you dont go here you will have missed a true local gem

Exceptional food and excellent service! Been to the Monkey Bar a few times and most recently for a Valentines Day dinner. I am never disappointed by the experience at this local restaurant. The owner s son (wish I got his name) has always been a pleasure to chat with. He was kind enough to split our meals into our individual plates and also offered complimentary wine on the house for the special occasion. Looking forward to our next experience at Monkey Bar.

Great food. Friendly staff and good service.

Great food. Have been eating here for many years. Thank you Richard.

Fantastic food and service!

We had an awesome experience. Great staff and excellent food. We felt very welcome and will return next time when we are in town! Recommend to book upfront!

Fabulous Local Restaurant. It was our last weekend in Toronto and went with close friends. It was a perfect evening in every aspect. I called ahead a week earlier requesting a bison burger ( this is the best burger in Toronto) and it was on the special list. The lamb was perfect, the shoestring fries also as good as it gets. Our friends had two types of fish everything was cooked perfect and the service was great. I highly recommend this restaurant

Great food, great atmosphere, great service

My wife and I alongwith another couple had dinner for the summerlicious special. The food was very good. I highly recommend you book a table for the meal

This place is family owned and the service is Excellent! The food is amazing I really enjoyed the dinning experience and would recomend this place for a great time.

This place is a hidden gem ! From the chef to the staff ! Iv never felt I belonged anywhere the food was seasoned and cooked just right and I was left full of absolute love Beacuse you can literally taste it . I will most likely be returning.

Excellent service by Evan

Freaking Delicious food and the homemade Ice cream was out of this world.

Just picked up the Wednesday Chicken Dinner special. Everything was great, plus homemade gravy and biscuits. Thanks guys!

One of our favorite local restaurants. Small interesting menu, but broad enough to appeal to many tastes, and all beautifully prepared. Currently take-out only, but the high quality is maintained. We also love Wednesday Chicken dinner. 10 minute drive home with mouthwatering aroma permeating the car. We never make it more than a couple of blocks before we attack the french fries. Yummm.

One of our favorites

First time trying The Monkey Bar. Ordered take out. Very friendly service. Food was delicious. Big fan of the pistachio goat cheese appetizer. Beef ribs were great too. We will definitely be coming back for an in-person meal once things open up again. Nice to have a local restaurant to add to our go-to list

Just delicious

Always great fun

One of my favorite casual fine dining restaurants; I have never had a bad meal here. Best Caesar salad in the city and unique way of doing a New York strip. Everything I have had on the menu is great. Family run business with great food, service and atmosphere.

Absolutely unforgettable experience with delicious food and friendly atmosphere of amazing family running this cozy restaurant. Definitely will come back here!

Anniversary Dinner. I had the branzino and hubby had the ribs. Finished with some divine dessert.

Amazing service and great food. They serve authentic Italian dishes at this very cute/cozy restaurant in midtown. Will definitely be returning.

Lived in the area for a number of years and never visited! Definitely regret not checking this place out sooner! Staff were so friendly and inviting. Great atmosphere and menu. We will definitely visit again :)

Excellent place to share with friends or family, the staff is wonderful and the food is made directly by the owner which makes it simply delicious!!!! It will become one of our favorite places!!!

Best food I had in months

Was there for dinner with two other couples. Restaurant was full and lively. Great menu selection. Have been here before and really enjoyed the meal and great service unfortunately this time had the venison special medium rare but was served raw and had to be reheated. It was a very tough cut and not enjoyable to eat . The appetizers and the other mains of calamari liver and schnitzel were all good. Would definitely come back just unfortunate this time my meal choice was sub par

Great food and service. Street parking. A little noisy but had a very enjoyable meal.

Went for winterlicious, had calamari, fried brie, rack of lamb, braised beef short ribs & eton mess, all were delicious. Excellent food!

Great service, great food, good atmosphere!

Great service and food.

Excellent food and excellent service! Definitely will go back!

Discovered this restaurant through Winterlicious and they have the most innovative and unique menus! Great fusion food to bring your friends to, accompanied by nice selection of wines. The owner was also lovely and would come bring us our food when he can. Relaxed atmosphere, cant wait to be back again!

Amazing food and VERY allergy friendly. Im dairy free, egg free, gluten free and I could order most things on the menu.

Delicious food

My husband and I were very impressed with the service and especially our steak and frites we ordered. We have seen this restaurant many times before but were thrown off by the word bar in the name. It is a lovely restaurant with a good wine wine list and an exceptional menu. Highly recommend.

A pleasure to support Monkey Bar through the pandemic. Tonight I had the short ribs which were excellent. A very enjoyable dinner and my dessert of Eton Mess will be enjoyed a little later. Having had that in the past I know it too will be excellent.

Love the place. Good is amazing, wine selection good and service amazing. Did the Wednesday roast chicken dinner. Delicious.

Great job with pickup order. The food was fresg and well packaged. The food is tasty and different then stuff around it.

Great dinner. Bit pricey and louder than expected but all in all enjoyable.

Nice small restaurant. Decent food.

Great food & atmosphere.

Food and service was good. Nothing spectacular that blew my palette away. Small cozy restaurant and the locals seem to love it

Great food and service

Great food. Personalized service.

A gem. Simple, elegant menu with delicious food that doesnt rely on throwing in trendy ingredients just for the sake of having them. Small, clean, well laid out restaurant. Service was efficient but not intrusive. Parking can be a challenge, but its worth it... and the dessert menu is obscenely good. A bit of a drive for us but quickly becoming our favorite date night place. If it was closer to our house, wed go every week.

Went for the first time for Summerlicious. Service was very fast and efficient and the food came out at the appropriate time and temperature. I look forward to going again and trying more dishes. The caesar salad with warm new potatoes was delicious and the grilled calamari appetizer was so tender - these two dishes really stood out for us.

Friendly staff but way overpriced. Spring rolls are just average. The veal and lamb are actually ok but the fries are like straight out of microwave oven. The worst fries I ve ever had. For 50 bucks I expect a bit better quality food. Would not recommend.

Went for summerlicious, and was really pleasantly surprised. Everything was cooked and seasoned well. Service handled the busy restaurant well.

Really impressed by this restaurant. Grilled calamari is a must order!! Never had a bad meal here and will always recommend this place

Its a good restaurant with lots of nice servers. I will come back!

Great place, great food and great atmosphere! I recommend it!

I am not sure what some of the bad reviews are all about. We are 10 people, each tried different things. All were very delicious, from the fries to the steak to the pasta to the coffee and desert. Very impressive service. Will definitely recommend and return.

Its been long time I actually enjoyed the quality of the food. The atmosphere is very nice and cozy. The waiter is proper and not too pushy. But the food: amazing ! Go here and you will not regret. Gurenteed by me !

One of the best restaurants I ve been lately Hands down!

with the 100s of restaurant choices in Toronto...this is one that we frequent most. Food is delicious, menu is interesting and staff is really lovely!

One of the best finds in great food in Toronto. Prepared by Richard a chef who owns and runs the restaurant and cares about everything he served with great quality and service. Fantastic salads, ravioli, lamb and desserts. Best get a reservation as this is a local restaurant that has a large following.

Really impressed by this restaurant. Never had a bad meal here and will always recommend this place to family and friends. Everything was cooked and seasoned well!

Nice neighborhood spot

Best quiet little joint that always has the best food. The atmosphere is a like coming home for a great Sunday afternoon dinner at your parents.

Amazing calamari, Lamb, salad, bread, Eton mess Excellent martini, Lovely staff, Overall a great experience. However, unfortunately I would not recommend the duck, it was dry, stringy, almost a duck jerky AND I left my plate virtually untouched, yet none of the staff asked me if everything was ok as sat and watched the rest of my table enjoy their meals. I didn t want to create a scene by saying anything and was expecting one of the staff to intuit the situation. Oh well. Duck should be moist and rich and flavourful, if the Monkey s staff read this... loose the duck!

Went for winterlicious, and the starters we had were the grilled calamari and chickpea-fried shrimp. Both in my opinion were good, only got two pieces of shrimp which was a little disappointing. For our mains I had the rack of lamb and my boyfriend had the arctic char. I loved my lamb and the garlic mashed potatoes, tried some of my boyfriends arctic char and it was good too. For dessert we both had the affagato and it was good too. The cookie that we were given I believe was cinnamon with nuts from what we overheard the waiter tell the group beside us, really enjoyed it but was not told of the other option of cookie which was a chocolate cookie? When we were ready to pay we had to go to the front ourselves because we had waited for what seemed like a while and there were only two people serving the entire restaurant. We ordered two drinks as well, a whiskey sour and dark and stormy did not like them very much. All in all it was a decent visit and would probably go back again.

Wonderful local restaurant

Excellent restaurant. Clean and food prepared very professionally. Staff could smile more and look more enthusiastic cuz they have a great one going there!!!!

Groupon friends visited during winterlicious; we were seated according to our RSVP and the owner was very welcoming. Fòd was very delicious.

Absolutely amazing experience! Incredible service and food. Got the beef short ribs, and my wife had a steak. Absolutely incredible, will be back!

Wonderful meal. The owners know how to treat their customers and the chef produced another great dinner. A great place to go for any occasion or just a night out with friends. You will not be disappointed.

Very cute, quiet, spot.. Great service and delicious food.

Excellent food and service! The rack of lamb was delicious

Excellent food. Great Service wonderful time

Food and service are excellent

Always excellent!

The food was fantastic besides being rushed through the courses. There was definitely pressure to eat within our allotted time before the table would be given up to the next guests and the next reservation. The courses came a little too quickly and didnt allow us to chat properly. Appetizer, main, and desert were rushed through in less than an hour. If it wasnt for the quality of the food - which was again very good, I would have thought that I was at a pickle barrel. Otherwise, its difficult to get a read on this place as there is no real atmosphere - there are all different types of cuisine served: Asian, Italian, French and the decor is quite bland.

The waiter who greeted us at the door was not welcoming at all. This seemed to set the tone for what was to come. Our table was rather neglected for most of the evening. A fruit fly was floating in one of the glasses of water. The wrong wine was brought to the table. No apologies were ever made. Things were just whisked away and replaced. The dishes were not very clean. Cocktails were not served in proper glasses. (Bartending 101, people!). The food was good but unfortunately the lack of interest of our sullen waiter ruined the experience. Not once were we asked how the food was or if we needed anything else. There were rather dangerous rickety stairs leading to the impossibly small washroom in the basement. Will not return. Would not recommend.

Delicious food, perfect service.

very reliable

I agree with the previous comments which mention the food is great, but atmosphere is too rush to be enjoyable!

I would go every day if my waistline could handle it. Great food, service and reasonable prices.

The restaurant was small but very cozy and comfortable. Food were great, and the staff were very friendly and helpful. My partner and I really enjoyed our time there. However, I did not notice that the duck leg came with the potato fries. I personally do not like fries and did not expect a nice restaurant would usually serve fries. I later found out that the menu wrote that, but too bad that I didnt pay much attention when I ordered the food. Otherwise, everything was great!!

Nice little venue. Menu is well curated. Food is great! Baked goat cheese with pistachios appetizer is amazing. Eat two and call it a dinner lol... Veal cutlets were perfectly executed, although I wished for some capers perhaps in the tomato relish. Staff is very nice

The food is very good. A bit of an older crowd. However convenient location and tasty food

Delicious

Food is amazing, Calamari and Rack of lamb the best I have had. The chef pops out of the kitchen to ask how your meal is. great service and experience.

The angel hair pasta with shrimp was fantastic.

Bar tender reading a recipe to make the simplest cocktails (btw in wrong glasses) should have given us the idea how bad this place it. Maybe this is a fascinating place to folks living in around Lawrence and Bridal/Post Rd crowd but definitely its not for younger crowd whos actually tasted a bit of diverse food and can take flavours other than salt. The service was fake and at some point full of attitude. Also expensive for what you get.

I liked the Ravioli and friendly service.

Excellent food, cozy place and very good service.

Good food wine etc..

Good food, intimate atmosphere.

Amazing for summerlicious. The lamb was great

Excellent food and service. I am a repeat client. I know that I will leave satisfied.

Great meal

Ordered from Monkey Bar via Uber Eats and the food was incredible. The duck, calamari and veal were some of the best weve had. Will definitely dine here in person.

Cozy atmosphere. Servers were not intrusive at all, courteous. Prices are reasonable and the food was great!!!

Ive always had great meals here.

The food was delicious. Went for summerlicious and got a 3 course menu for $25. It was definitely worth it. Fine dining style with an extensive selection of wine. Really small place though, so you may need reservations on busy nights.

I cant believe this is the first time Ive visited the website. Its only because I changed phones and lost the number in the transition. Any foodie that has not enjoyed Richards cuisine needs to. Consistently delicious.

The food is always excellent at this small and sort of hidden neighbourhood gem but it was our go to on New Years Eve for a family dinner because it is cozy and reliable. Love everything on the menu.