Duffy's Tavern — Restaurant in Toronto

So this place has some fond memories and the staff has literally watched me grow up. I've been coming there ever since I was 17 and they were the only bar in the area who accepted my fake ID. So I've been coming here for close to 8 years as I write this review, this is the go to hang out spot for me and my friends, whether it was to grab a bite, play some pool, have a drinks, pregame, or even take a date to.

The service has always been bad to perfectly honest, and there is A LOT of turnover with staff so that might explain why. There's been so many occasions where it took close to an hour to get my food, and while I'm waiting there's people who walk in and get their order faster than me, which is absolutely ridiculous. Moreover, there's a 25% chance on average that they will mess up your order. Either bringing you the wrong plate, serving burgers that are incredibly undercooked, bringing you the wrong side, or just completely butchering your regular dish, the list goes on. Despite that I've always let it slide, and accepted as part of the Duffy's experience which grows on you overtime.

Me and my friends joke that it's part of their charm, but it's getting harder to tolerate all the nonsense that you have to deal with on top of the awful service. For example, they jacked up the price of their pool tables. Instead of paying per game which they did for years, they now charge a whopping 10 dollars an hour and they take your ID so you don't run out on them. This is all to use pool tables with peeling felt, that are slanted, some of the balls are missing and literally ALL the pool cues available for use are crooked. Every single one. In any case, I too let all of that slide until recently where they gave me the wrong ID when I squared off with them and this has happened at least 4 times.

Again, all part of the charm of this quant dive bar but last night was the final straw. I came with a date, it was fairly busy so I expected to wait but not to the extent I experienced. The waitress knows me and my friends, but she took 15 minutes to even notice that I had sat down, and only then did she bring me a menu. Before she even went to bring me a menu, she asked us " oh are you guys ok? Did you want anything to drink or eat?". I'm not coming here just to sit around and watch people get drunk lol she genuinely gave off the vibe that she had zero interest in serving us.

I ordered tequila shots and my date ordered a rum and coke. I got my tequila shots fairly quick, but my date didn't get her rum and coke until 45 minutes later when I got up to see what was up. She had legit forgot about us. Again, I could see it was a busy night so I am not going to overly hold it against them. What happened next was what put the final nail in the coffin. I went up to the counter to get our order, the waitress fully saw me, acknowledged that she saw me, but instead of at least saying sorry I'll bring that up to you in a bit were busy, she was complaining to other waitress about how much she hated working here, and was talking doeb some of the patrons at the bar. When she finally did come help me, she said oh I'm having a bad shift, I lost my smokes, and I swear I'm going to snap. Working at Duffy's does probably suck, hence the super high staff turnover, but cmon I'm a regular, I bring business, I tip well and I'm one of the easier to deal with customers. At least try to maintain some semblance of professionalism, and when she did pour my shots, she over poured them so there was spilled tequila all over my hands.

The only reason I'm giving two stars is because of the nostalgia, otherwise they deserve 1 star, their awful service is the only consistent thing. It kills me to say it, but that will be the last time they ever receive me or my...

We’ve been coming here for half price wings for a few years and the service has been great, until this past weekend ( Sat July, 19th 2020). While sitting on the patio we decided to order food at 10:20pm. We were told by the waitress that this was fine, but it was last call, so if we needed anything else we would have to order. So we ordered. At approximately 11:10pm, and went to use the washroom, when I returned I went to sit in my seat. A gentleman that was working there started to yell at us, saying that he had been telling us for hours that they were closing, we were only told once and not by him. We still hadn’t received our bill yet. As he was yelling at us, he decided to put his hands on me, and pull my chair out from under me. Clearly not keeping the physical distance that COVID-19 requires, and not wearing a mask. Masks aren’t even worn when serving food or drink. When my fiancé questioned why they were closing at 11pm, but the night prior he walked by a bar on St Clair west at 1am and the bars we’re still open, we were told that “different streets, have different rules” and “we are just trying to make up for our lost revenue from COVID-19”.

A week prior we were there for half price wings and it looked like a storm was about to roll through. This same gentlemen told us to move on to the side walk and that if it started to rain “just go inside”. Again, this is during a pandemic where Toronto hasn’t even reached stage 3 yet. I am deeply disappointed in the service, as two people we were with had never been there before, and we told them that the wings were worth it. Needless to say, as someone who was a regular customer, I will not be spending my...

Was mostly empty when I came in with two friends, but still took over an hour to get our food from the time of ordering. We asked around the 30-40 minute mark what the holdup was, and were told it was "because of a rush of orders in the kitchen". We didn't see anyone come in during that time, and the place was still mostly empty, so the excuse didn't really make sense.

When our meal finally came, one friend got the right order, my order was wrong, and the other friend was still waiting for her food. Her order was the breakfast special: eggs, bacon, toast, homefries. Nothing that should take over 70 minutes to prepare.

When the server came back again 10 minutes later (still no breakfast special for my friend), I let her know my order was wrong. She argued that what I ordered was correct, until I described what was written in the menu, then took the food back.

We were patient and polite, and at least got our drinks comped for the inconvenience (and the one friend whose order was right ate her meal, which was comped, too), but busted down the street to Brock Sandwich and got served great sandwiches within 10 minutes or so.

The kicker is that if the server had told us in the beginning they were having a lot of problems in the kitchen and couldn't guarantee food quickly, we probably would've given the place another chance. As it was, we've been warning people away based on our experience. Too bad: the place seems like it could have potential. Old bar, neighbourhood standard, etc. But just because it's been there for a while doesn't mean they should either take customers for granted, or hire staff who aren't equipped to deal with problems, whatever...