Toronto's cocktail scene has been underrated by international press for a decade, and the city's bartenders have decided to stop waiting for recognition and simply get on with the work. The result is a collection of bars that operate at a level that would hold their own against the best in New York, London, or Singapore — and in some cases surpass them for craft-to-price ratio.
The scene clusters around three main corridors: King West, which has the money and the rooftops; Kensington Market and the area around College Street, which has the character; and the Entertainment District, where volume-focused cocktail bars have given way to genuinely interesting programs over the past four years. The best action is increasingly happening east of Yonge, in Leslieville and Riverside, where lower rents allow bartenders to take risks they could not afford in a $15,000-a-month King West space.
We visited 39 cocktail venues across the city over two weeks. These 12 represent the current best that Toronto's bar scene has to offer.
1. Bar Raval, College Street
Bar Raval
College Street Spanish Pintxos · Vermouth
Grant van Gameren's homage to Barcelona's pintxos bars is the most visually striking room in Toronto. The mahogany interior curves like the inside of a wave. The cocktail list centres on vermouth, sherry, and Basque spirits — order the Txakoli Spritz or the house Sangria Blanca and stay for three hours. No reservations and worth the wait.
$$ · Open daily from 4pm
2. Civil Liberties, Kensington
Civil Liberties
Kensington Whisky · Jazz
A 30-seat whisky bar on Augusta Avenue with live jazz Thursday to Saturday. The back bar holds 400 bottles from 28 countries and the cocktail list builds on this: the house Sazerac uses a 12-year Canadian rye that you will not find anywhere else in the city. Low light, high standards, no reservations on weekdays.
$$$ · Opens at 5pm Tue to Sun
3. The Burdock, Bloordale
The Burdock
Bloordale Craft Beer · Natural Wine · Cocktails
A music venue, brewery, and cocktail bar that manages to be excellent at all three. The house-brewed beers are among the best in the city, but the cocktail programme has become its own reason to visit — built on Ontario spirits and house-made syrups from foraged local ingredients. The back room hosts live shows on weekends.
$$ · Open daily from 4pm
4. BarChef, Queen West
BarChef
Queen West Molecular · Avant-garde
Frankie Solarik has been making Canada's most technically complex cocktails on Queen West since 2008. Nitro-frozen garnishes, aromatic smoke chambers, and cocktails that arrive in pharmaceutical vials. The experience divides opinion but delivers on every dimension of craft. The tasting menu — 5 cocktails, 90 minutes — is unlike anything else in North America.
$$$ · Reservations required
"Toronto has stopped apologising for not being New York. The city's best bartenders are building menus that reference Ontario's terroir as specifically as a Burgundy winemaker references their soil. That shift in confidence has changed everything."
5. Reposado, Kensington
Reposado
Kensington Mezcal · Agave Spirits
The best agave bar in Canada. Reposado stocks 160 mezcals and tequilas and the staff can talk about the differences in terroir between Oaxacan valleys for as long as you want. The cocktail list is the second reason to visit: a Spicy Paloma made with house-fermented habanero, or a mezcal Negroni using an espadin mezcal the bar imports directly.
$$ · Open daily 5pm to 2am
6. Victor, King West
Victor
King West Hotel Bar · Classic Cocktails
The lobby bar at Hotel Le Germain is Toronto's best hotel bar by a significant margin. The room seats 50, the light is perfect at any hour, and the cocktail list manages to be simultaneously classic and Canadian. The house-smoked Penicillin using Ontario single malt has been on the menu since 2019 and still draws people to the hotel specifically to order it.
$$$ · Open daily
7. Chantecler, Parkdale
Chantecler
Parkdale Late Night · Industry Favourite
Where Toronto's hospitality industry drinks on their nights off. Parkdale's most beloved bar opens at 5pm but hits its stride after midnight. The cocktail list is deliberately short at 10 drinks, all priced under $16, and each built with the same precision you would expect from a $24 cocktail in Yorkville. The bar stool furthest from the door is the best seat in the room.
$ · Open until 2am nightly
8. Libertine, Little Portugal
Libertine
Little Portugal Wine Bar · Aperitivo
A 24-seat wine bar on Dundas West that does serious cocktails alongside its natural wine list. The Negroni programme is worth the trip alone: 6 variations, each using a different vermouth and amaro combination, served with a brief tasting note card. The kitchen closes at 10pm but the bar runs until 1am Wednesday to Saturday.
$$ · Wed to Sun from 5pm
9. RendezViews, Entertainment District
RendezViews
Entertainment District Rooftop · Skyline Views
Toronto's best rooftop cocktail bar looks south across Lake Ontario from the 14th floor of a King Street building. The view alone would justify a visit but the cocktail programme under head bartender Ana Souza is genuinely ambitious: her rotating seasonal menu currently features 4 drinks built around Ontario ice wine and local berry ferments. Book for sunset on weekends.
$$$ · Reservations required
10. Northwood, Leslieville
Northwood
Leslieville Neighbourhood Bar · Cocktails
The eastside bar that has made Leslieville a destination rather than an afterthought. Northwood seats 40 in a narrow room with a 20-foot back bar, and the cocktail programme changes entirely with the season. The current winter menu — built around black walnut, preserved citrus, and Ontario apple brandy — is the best thing we drank in the city on our last visit.
$$ · Tue to Sun from 5pm
11. ABV, Ossington
ABV
Ossington Wine · Cocktails · Natural
On Ossington Avenue's most competitive block, ABV has carved out territory by focusing on low-intervention wines and spirits. The cocktail list carries 12 drinks, all under 15% ABV, all built around fermented and lacto-processed ingredients that most bars have not yet discovered. A genuinely forward-looking menu in a city that rewards ambition.
$$ · Wed to Sat from 6pm
12. The Communist's Daughter, Dundas West
The Communist's Daughter
Dundas West Dive Bar · Live Music
No one goes to the Communist's Daughter for the cocktail list. They go for the atmosphere: a narrow 40-person room on Dundas West that has hosted more memorable nights than any Yorkville lounge at five times the price. But the cocktails — simple, well-made, and cheap — are better than they have any right to be. Order the house sour and stay for the band.
$ · Open daily from 3pm
Toronto vs. Montreal: Which City Wins for Cocktails?
The rivalry between Canada's two great bar cities is real but increasingly misguided. Toronto has the scale, the investment, and the international talent pipeline. Montreal's cocktail bars have the neighbourhood character, the later hours, and a French-influenced approach to the aperitivo that Toronto cannot replicate. They are different cities doing different things, and the best approach is to visit both. For a full comparison of the two cities' bar scenes, see our Toronto vs. Montreal bar scene guide.
For your Toronto bar planning, the general rule is: King West for hotel bars and corporate entertainment, Kensington and Dundas West for neighbourhood character and value, and Leslieville for the forward-thinking new openings that have not yet been discovered by the weekend crowd from the suburbs.
James Harlow
Senior Editor — North America
James covers New York, Chicago, Toronto, and the US West Coast for barsforKings. He has worked in bar programmes in three cities and brings an operator's perspective to every recommendation he makes.
