Apt 200 — Restaurant in Toronto

Absolutely Horrible Experience – David the Bouncer Ruined My Friend’s Birthday

im not sure if David is his real name but just in case he lied about it, he has a tall white male, skinny, about 6ft, blonde/ brownish hair, blue eyes and was wearing a hat

I’m writing this review after one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had at a club, and it’s all thanks to a bouncer named David at Apt 200 Toronto. My friends and I (4 of us, all dark-skinned women) showed up to celebrate my friends birthday — excited and ready for a good night. When we arrived, David immediately told us we couldn’t enter with the Cutwater drinks we had in hand, which we completely understood. Without causing a scene or arguing, we respectfully stepped aside and finished them. No issue there. But when we tried to get back in line (now without the drinks), David told us we were no longer allowed entry. When I asked why, his exact response was: “Because you were drinking Cutwaters.”

Excuse me? We were told not to enter with them, we complied, and now we’re being denied anyway? It made absolutely no sense. What really set this whole thing off was the group of 8 girls in front of us, 3 of them actively holding alcohol, yet they were all allowed in with zero issue. So what was the difference? Why were we treated differently? As I questioned him (still respectfully), David’s tone and attitude became rude, dismissive, and completely unprofessional. Bystanders even started chiming in, pointing out how unfair he was being. It wasn’t just us who noticed it — others saw how wrong the situation was and called it out.

It’s hard not to feel like this was blatant discrimination. A white male bouncer turning away four dark-skinned women, while allowing a large group of girls to stroll right in with alcohol in their hands? The optics were bad — and the treatment was worse.

I work as a bartender myself, and never — not once — have I seen anyone turned away for something like this, especially when they complied and tried to do the right thing. People come out to celebrate, to have a good night, not to be singled out and humiliated. David clearly hasn’t been trained on how to handle situations with professionalism or basic decency. If this is the type of staff Apt 200 hires, they seriously need to reevaluate their standards.

He ruined my friend’s birthday for no valid reason, and I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone who values fairness, respect, or basic hospitality. If you're a person of color — especially a Black woman — proceed with caution, because David made it clear that you're not welcome.

Do...

Do not go here!

I was naive to ignore all the horrible reviews and I'm hoping this review will help you avoid the mistake I made. This place will go out of business in a few months. Nobody is going to wait in line during the winter.

We went around 10:45 because we knew there would be a line and hoping to get a start on Halloween weekend without waiting too long. 3 of our friends were already inside and we were a group of 8 waiting behind 10 people in line. It looked like we would get in pretty quickly.

The lady with a clipboard yelled to the line saying it would be a 45 min wait unless you had bottles. They let 3 people in every 30 min. My friends inside were texting me telling me how empty it was in there. We waited in line for 1 hour and politely asked the lady how much longer from where we were standing. There was only 3 people ahead of us. She said 45 min. We were in shock. It was 45 min 1 hour ago and now it's still 45 min? This place is seriously messed up. How do you make money having people stand outside for hours instead of buying drinks inside? No bar is that special, especially on Queen West where you should run your business this way.

We left and went to The Ossington. No line up, great vibe. When we left at the end our night, we still saw a line up at Apt 200. That's just sad. And this is why I say they will not last long. I wonder what the replacement bar...

If I could give less than a star I really would.

As a lot of people have described, I had a TERRIBLE experience even before getting inside. The group of people who I was meeting arrived 10min before me (let's say about 10pm) and when I got there, there was a substantial line. I called up my bf to see why the could be possibly a huge line, given he got in with 0 cover and 0 line. He explained it was dead inside so it made no sense why there was a line. Others in line texting people inside said the same thing.

After about 15min a girl outside had said that there was no point waiting and that "your best shot at getting in" was if you were on a guest list or were willing to buy bottles with a total of 3 people. At this point it's a complete money grab and I'm out of patience. This continued for about an hr.

It took a friend inside to come down, show the bouncer her tab (which was over the cost of a bottle) to let me in. I was then expected to pay cover. At this point I had 0 willingness to buy any drinks. I'm not sure if it's complete fault of the bouncer or a combination of him and management. Either way, terrible customer service.

Once inside, the decor is nice, the music is literally playing a drake album with some popular songs in between (take that however you want) and apparently a Corona is $10.

Would...