Coffee Oysters Champagne — Restaurant in Toronto

Unfortunately I would not recommend this bar/restaurant to anyone due to the horrible service I received last night. The service was so terribly condescending to the point I felt compelled to write this review in order to inform people who might be tempted to try it like we did.

My friends came to Toronto last night for Nuit Blanche. As it was still pretty early after we had dinner, we decided to go on a bar hop to warm up for the event. We decided to give this restaurant a go and luckily there happened to be a vacancy for us. Little did I know it was going to be the most uncomfortable experience in my life in any restaurant.

Their menu was a little confusing as we could not see the oysters so we asked the host to point out where the oysters were. To our surprise that seemed to be a difficult question as she told us she was not sure either. She took the menu and went to her colleagues to find out - a minute later she returned and told us the oysters were actually listed on the first page and the first 4 options listed were all oysters.

OK. I understand she might not know the menu that well but when the first 4 choices are indeed the food item in the name of the restaurant, I found it surprising that my question was difficult.

After looking at their menu for a minute we would like to order, and we were greeted by a waitress or a manager. We ordered some oysters but were not quite sure what to order for drinks so we asked this person who recommended Veuve Clicquot as she claimed it was the most popular choice. We then asked about the price and she replied that she was not sure as their customers would not "typically ask for the price". Those were exactly the words of the manager. Strike 1. Sorry we didn't fit your customer profile.

As she was searching for the price painstakingly throughout their drink menu, she started asking us more questions. She asked us what the occasion was, and to that we replied we were just on a bar hop. She seemed rather annoyed by our answer, commenting "oysters and Champaign for a bar hop, OK", raising her eyebrow and emphasizing the OK at the end. Strike 2.

After perhaps the longest minute in my life, she finally found the price of Veuve Clicquot in the menu and confirmed it was $180 (and she went the extra mile to let us know it was only the price of the non vintage one). We were not comfortable with it and she replied: "so what IS your budget then?" Strike 3. Thanks for asking; we can afford to spend $200 on a bottle of Champaign anywhere, else.

We did not care to answer that question last night. We simply wanted to pay for the sparkling water and leave, after the 15 most uncomfortable minutes of my life. The Manager did waive the bill on the sparkling water (the food order had not been placed) - the very least anyone could do in any situation like that.

That, my friend, were the highlights of my experience. Thanks for going the extra mile to point out what your customer profile is supposed to be. It was really insightful.

Everything I said in this review is true and I am willing to be responsible for...

Been to COC a few times and have always had a great time, so expected the same from A Toi. Orginally had tickets to their event for Sweet Sorrow for Sept 8th, and even bought a 20’s inspired dress to immerse ourselves in the theme. 2 weeks after the tickets were purchased the event was cancelled due to TIFF. That was the first of a series of disappointment from A Toi.

I understand that TIFF is a lucrative time for businesses in the area, so canceling the event to host a buyout is the right decision for the business. Trying not to let this ruin my birthday celebration, decided to come in on Sept 7th since I had already had my heart set on visiting A Toi, not to mention the new outfit for the occasion.

Let me tell you, the best part of the whole experience was the whimsy of entering and leaving the restaurant. Some of the furniture was busting at the seems exposing the stuffing. Our poor server was triple sat after we arrived and expressed her frustration loudly to the hostess. Due to this she was inattentive, requesting us to wave at her for service like we were at a dingy dim sum restaurant. After bonding over our shared intolerance for raw onions, she was kind enough to ask the chef if the Tuna Tartare could be made without onions. He said yes, so we agreed to try it. Spoilers, it came with onions. I had tried to ask the food runner about the onions when she dropped off the dish, but she literally ran away while I was speaking to her. Can’t forget to mention the first food runner that delivered our oysters and said “boop” as he set them down. Odd way of describing a plate of oysters.

Since our server was in the weeds during our entire visit, she never quality checked the food, or came back to get my second drink order or even ask about ordering more food. So we decided to spend our money somewhere else for more cocktails and food for the remainder of the night.

Truly disappointing experience as we were celebrating and it was included in our reservation notes. Was not looking for a free hand out (times are tough for restaurant since covid), but it costs nothing to verbally acknowledge a birthday. Will not return to A Toi or COC...

DO NOT come here for important business dinners unless you're okay with having a 50/50 shot of having good service. For any business people that work on Bay - I used to bring a ton of my business clientele here, including any out of town visitors of mine, as the experience of entering into this Speakeasy is actually pretty cool. In fact, last time I was here I spent over $2,000 entertaining some of those very clients. However, the inconsistency in the service may ruin your dinner/outing because some bartenders have an air of pretentiousness.

Recently I brought some of my out of town family members here to come check out the experience and the bartender had forgotten to bring a Coke for my cousin that doesn't drink. Not a big deal usually, but when we followed up on the missing item in our order, the bartender proceeded to give my cousin a ton of attitude, including several snarky comments, due to his attempts to follow up on his order. It might sound like I'm blowing this simple scenario out of proportion, but the level of unprofessionalism experienced was appalling enough to warrant me to write about it here. It was almost as if it was his fault that she forgot.

Following this experience the very same bartender continued to deliver rude service to us, along with more snarky comments to my cousin. This caused us to raise the issue with management, which, of course, was unhelpful as well.

I get that bars get busy, but I'm not going to a hooters or something - I'm going to a high end place where the drinks are $30 bucks each and the food is overpriced because I'm seeking some type of experience. An experience that the place obviously cannot deliver consistently.

The only good thing I can say about this place is that the women in the fancy dress is always wonderful, but I can't trust important business to a place that can't consistently take care of it's customers and treat them with a level of respect deserving of a place of this nature.

TLDR; If you want to impress family, friends or clients, go somewhere else because I promise you this place doesn't care for...