Bar Volo — Restaurant in Toronto

Cross Yonge Street at Wellesley and, looking north to the towers of Bloor, and south down the long shambolic Strip, you might never know that you are but a few steps from a bar and birreria that could transport you to a city in Italy: Florence, Rome, or perhaps the south. Or, seen from another perspective, a first rate gastropub in London, England.

Enter Bar Volo, at 17 St Nicholas Street.

Tucked in a quiet side street scarcely a block west of Yonge, and with the curiously secluded and protected air provided by the surrounding condo and office towers, Bar Volo is a sudden oasis in the thrumming heart of downtown Toronto.

On a recent Wednesday afternoon we stopped in, following a visit to an exhibition at the Gardiner Museum, a short easy stroll through the Victoria College Campus at the University of Toronto.

We ordered a bottle of wine for three of us, Caesar salads, a Verde pizza to share, and the Mezza Luna pasta.

All the plates were revelations — of lunch semi al fresco, at the best it can be in Toronto. How do they make such exquisite food in such a small kitchen?

The Verde pizza, with straciatella, fior di latte, and pesto was perfectly baked, and ideal for a warm late spring / early summer accompaniment to the wine, a dry yet flavourful wine from Andi Weigand, the organic German winemaker of note and distinction.

Our Caesar salads were light, fresh, with bright zesty dressing and beguilingly simple presentation.

And the rose sauce with the soft pillowy ravioli stuffed with ricotta and cheese of the Mezza Luna rounded off our trio of plates.

The wine was terrific value at 1/2 price on a Wednesday, is just one of several wines of unique luminous character you can get at Volo — and perhaps nowhere else in Toronto.

But I had met my friends there because I wanted to try the Bar Volo beers. For me that was the main event.

The beers more than lived up to expectations — but more on that in another post.

The love of the traditions of a great pub and a superb wine bar is evident everywhere in the design details of this small corner of nirvana. The manager truly knew her beers, and recommended a fresh cask she just had put on tap that morning.

Our young server knew her wines equally well, and was as modest and friendly as she was informative and helpful in describing them.

On a lazy weekday afternoon we benefited from their professionalism in a way that might not be possible on a Thursday evening, or a Friday night, when the bar must be packed with downtown revellers.

But we were here now, and the staff were spot on with service.

As workmen outside worked on the comfortable patio outside for the season, our open windows, from what one might call a dining room, but what is really more of a snug that opens to the outside, there was easy conversation, refuge from the world of city noise, and a sense that everything, absolutely everything other than lunch could wait.

Latin music played in the background. Was that an English, Italian, or perhaps South American touch? A little of all three, perhaps. That’s Toronto.

In a city where superb and modest relaxed wine bars are few, and relaxed patios are even more scarce, Bar Volo is a rare treasure.

Go there only if you want honest food, and a highly individual approach to fine ales and surprisingly, unconventionally fabulous wines.

Find Bar Volo, down their little side street, hidden from the big main drag, and cherish it for this summer, and beyond.

Summer is...

This place doesn’t live up to the hype for me. I’d give it a 3.5 stars but will round down. It’s not bad, just not great and wouldn’t be my top choice unless it was super convenient. I’ve tried both at night and during the daytime.

First of all, it’s just a little too dark. I like a vibey bar but this is like lights off, so dark you feel almost sleepy and can’t see people that clearly. There’s also not much of a vibe, decor is very plain and seating is just these wooden benches/chairs.

Next, the cocktails sounded super interesting but were very one note, lacking depth of flavor. The one I had from the description sounded amazing, but in practice just tasted like juice. I will note they have a good sour beer selection, including a non alcoholic sour beer, which is definitely a plus point.

The food is decent too, but not enough interesting vegetarian options. I had the eggplant sandwich which was tasty, but it was missing the cheese!! It said there was stracciatella but I couldn’t see nor taste it. I think they put the tiniest smear. And anyways I would have much preferred a more traditional melted cheese like mozzarella. Their chicken parmigiana sandwich had the melted cheese you’d expect so unclear why this didn’t. The flavor was good but it was soo oily, oil was literally dripping out of it and by the end there was a 1/2 inch deep pool of oil in my plate. Kind of gross.

Again, this place is somewhere between 3-4 stars and definitely not a bad option if you’re in the area, but I wouldn’t put it on a bucket list of “must-see” spots in Toronto.

Update: changing my review from 3 stars to 1 star based on their extremely rude response. I was generous with my review noting many positives, but certainly won’t be supporting businesses who are rude to their customers and can’t take feedback. To clarify, my review on their cocktails is based on a late night visit many months ago, and multiple cocktails I ordered and drank fully. Overall my review is based on multiple visits and experiences. Personally, I don’t like their decor or drinks and as I wrote, would have preferred a melted mozzarella cheese on...

The drinks are great and the food was decent. My only problem is the employee with the blonde hair and tattoos. She was pretty rude.

I asked her if my friends and I could switch tables. We were originally seated at one of the small 2 seater tables, but there were 3 of us, and the little stool was uncomfortable. I simply asked her “Hi, my friends and I were wondering if we could switch tables to the one with the bigger tables?”

But she looked annoyed and responded saying “you can sit there if you want, but don’t expect me to clear it immediately. I’m really busy right now and there are a lot of customers so it’s going to take a while for me to clean the table”.

It felt very argumentative (?) I think if she simply said “sure, I’ll clear it as soon as I can, but it might take some time. Thank you for your patience” it would’ve been fine and completely understandable. There were a lot of customers, and very few employees, I can understand. But saying “don’t expect me to clear it immediately” was unnecessary.

My friends and I were contemplating on going to another restaurant instead. But after a few minutes I asked another employee, male with a colourful shirt, he was very kind. He said “Yes of course, let me clear the table for you” and we were able to move tables. He seemed very nice and friendly.

It’s interesting that I asked the same question, but the responses were so different between the two employees. I’m not sure if the first employee was having a bad day, but I hope she doesn’t take it out on the customers. It’s been a rough month for me, and I was just hoping to enjoy my day with my friends. I didn’t expect such a negative response from the waitress over a simple question. If she needed time, she needs time and I’ll respect that. But please don’t take it out on the customers when they...