Crafty Coyote — Restaurant in Toronto

I don’t usually leave reviews for restaurants or bars — mostly because I’ve come to expect the bare minimum when I go out these days. Plus, reviewing places often feels like more trouble than it’s worth. But as the gap between good and bad service continues to grow, with seemingly no effort to address it, I feel compelled to speak up. So, here we are: Crafty Coyote is getting a well-earned negative review.

From the moment we sat down, the experience was off. Our server (a male, unfortunately didn’t catch his name) seemed like cracking a smile or offering basic politeness would have caused him physical pain. We weren’t there to be difficult, just two people looking to have a casual meal and a couple of beers before a show at Lee’s Palace. But even getting his attention felt like an imposition. After several attempts to flag him down, I was ready to leave. My partner talked me into staying, hoping it was just a bad moment. I regret listening.

We ordered the pulled pork sandwich, which the menu described as being served on a brioche bun with grilled pineapple and other toppings. What we got was a soggy mess, a bun that looked like it came out of a Dempster’s bag from Costco and a slice of canned pineapple plopped on top. In 2025, when customers care more than ever about transparency and quality, the least the kitchen could have done was let us know they were out of brioche buns or that they’d be serving something completely subpar. Instead, they quietly served something they clearly didn’t care about and hoped we wouldn’t notice. We did.

And yes, I know what some might be thinking: “It’s a pub on Bloor — what were you expecting?” But that excuse only goes so far. There are plenty of spots nearby offering better food, better service, and better vibes, for the same price. Why should we lower the bar just because some places can’t be bothered?

Beyond the food, the service was consistently apathetic. Long waits, indifference, and having to ask multiple times for the beer menu again just to place another order. It all added up. I didn’t want to write this review, truly, but between the server’s attitude and the food’s utter mediocrity, I felt I had to.

Especially now, as prices rise and wages don’t, we should be holding establishments more accountable. Our time and money matter. When we choose to spend those limited dollars going out, we want it to feel worth it.

As someone who genuinely loves beer and pubs, I’ll say this: decent service leads to longer stays and higher tabs. It’s a simple equation. Still, I left a generous tip; not because it was earned, but because I can’t bring myself to be as inconsiderate as the person serving us.

So, can we just do better? Can we stop pretending this level of service is acceptable? Let’s stop letting places waste our...

The dishes look amazing! But doesn't' taste any good!

It was 60 minutes after our intensive workout and 6 hours since lunch and we were all drooling looking at all the yummy dishes that were coming out. The squid looked good, nachos looked good, burgers looked very artisan, but three of us settles on the lobster grilled cheese. It looked SOOO good my friend wouldn't want to split half with me so we both ordered the lobster grilled cheese. Mistake mistake!

When ours came out it looked good but the taste was a different story. One side was crispy and the other was soggy on the centre. Some cheese inside wasn't even melted and it wasn't even hot. And the worst was that they added ketchup, strong sweet flavour ketchup with the sandwich which killed the subtle taste of lobster. Genius!

The place was also too noisy to hear anything your friends are trying to yell at you. I just smile and nodded at the girl across from me as she tells me the story of her fun job working in other countries or was it about the destitute of her civil war torn country. Either way next time I see her I'll just pretend we never met before.

PS There was no AC, yes it was 36 degrees yesterday which was a couple degrees cooler than inside!

Food 1.6/5 Service 2.0/5 Ambiance 1.5/5 Value...

Server since the beginning was super rude, at the beginning we didn’t even care, but then the night was going and after a couple of hours of awful bad service we decided to ask for the check, of course we didn’t even consider to give a tip since the server was so so so soooo rude in many ways we didn’t tip him. After that we just kept going with our night and we planed to drink some more drinks to watch some big fight and that same server saw me drinking from the bottle of water and he just decided to take the bottle away from my mouth and said that how did I dare drinking from “the bottle” because “they had to clean it” after that I was so impressed about his reaction and I started drinking from the glass I served previously and told him “I’m sorry if you’re angry I didn’t tip you but you just didn’t deserve it” and then he just decided to throw the glass out of my hands while I was trying to drink it 😂. Not good, if anyone is reading this until this point, you’re better off going to anyyyyyyy of the thousand other bars in Toronto.

Ps. After that BS I was refused service by the servers and also management was so bias and didn’t help at all, all the experience was so damn BS. just go to the next...