LOCAL Public Eatery Liberty Village — Restaurant in Toronto

It has been a long time since I've been this impressed with a restaurant, so please forgive this ridiculously long review. I don't want to leave out any details, as the beauty of our experience here is truly in the details.

We walked in at about 6:20 pm with a toddler on a busy Saturday evening. We had just gotten off a long GO train ride with our child, and we were frazzled and hungry.

Upon stepping through the door, I was immediately concerned that this was not the place to bring a toddler. The crowd was made up of millennials like ourselves, but childless, and just there to enjoy a Saturday evening, watch a Leafs game, have a drink and eat a meal. I wasn't looking to ruin that for anyone with a screaming kid.

I asked the hostess, "we have a baby...is that okay?" She warmly responded, "of course it is! I'll set you guys up!" She then informed us that they have a table for us right away, but there's a reservation coming for 7:30. I told her that it wasn't a problem, since there's no way our toddler would let us stay that long anyway.

As the hostess seated us, she told us that she would turn down the speaker right above our table so as not to overstimulate our child. I was taken aback by this incredibly thoughtful gesture. We didn't even ask. Truthfully, I was relieved that the music was loud enough to drown out the imminent whines of a cranky child so as not to inconvenience our fellow patrons. The hostess then brought over a floating booster seat that attaches right to the table, but still pushed a chair underneath it "just to be safe". I was so touched that she cared enough to do that.

Our sever, Elizabeth, greeted us before we even sat down. She didn't waste a minute to ask what she could get us to make our visit more comfortable. Once we sat down and pulled out the menu, she came immediately to take our drink order, and was back with those drinks within minutes. We really appreciated the non-alcoholic selection, as my husband and I don't drink. I was able to enjoy a crisp glass of rosé for the first time ever. And it was delicious.

Elizabeth recommended a great appetizer, the loaded potatoes, which arrived about 8 minutes later. And it was incredible. While we finished our appetizer, the hostess came back to let us know that she moved the 7:30 reservation to another table, so there was no need for us to rush.

..Wait, where am I? Why is everyone being amazing?

Our meals arrived shortly after, and as expected, the food was simply delectable. I had the chicken satay noodle peanut salad, my husband had the Caesar salad and our toddler really enjoyed the kid's quesadilla. Everything was fresh, beautifully presented, tasted great and the portions were perfect.

Our toddler was now losing patience and refused to sit anywhere but on my lap. Elizabeth spotted the increasing fussiness and asked if our child would like to colour. I said sure, anything to keep her distracted. Elizabeth came back quickly with a piece of paper with a cute black-and-white image, which was obviously freshly printed in the back office. She also handed our daughter a few crayons she managed to scrounge together. I was honestly so touched by this gesture.

Other than the ABSOLUTE BEST service I've received in YEARS, LOCAL Public Eatery has awesome music, super fun decor and really tasty food.

This place is a vibe. We...

I am a local living in downtown Toronto and I highly value residents' opinions when I visit new cities. So, I hope this review adds a bit of a flavour to my home, Toronto.

I pitstopped at LOCAL to get a cup of coffee and rest in their energizing atmosphere in the second lap of my downtown night walk around 10pm on a Sunday night! After some hesitation for a quest like this, I was warmly assured of the coffee service by the front of house personnel and politely asked for my preference of seating. I find this polite considering how busy they were, still valuing a customer of coffee!

Nice music with very balanced volume for both conversation and entertainment, great architecture and lighting with high ceilings and multiple seating options, creative & diverse menu, and big plates!, vibrant crowd, friendly and attentive personnel.

Just to set the scene of the city for urban explorers, I walked on Bloor St (Spadina to Ossington), Ossington Ave (Bloor to Liberty), and King St (Ossington-Spadina) which are known for their fancy restaurants. LOCAL was by far the busiest place in town not only beating all the restaurants but also many of the clubs & bars. And impressively enough, there were still people coming in around 11pm when I was leaving (the place closes at 1am on Sundays). Bear in mind, LOCAL is a very large restaurant and it was leading by both "number of people" and "% of capacity" metrics!

I chose to sit on the patio to look less weird and to enjoy the nice weather and watching people play corn hole while being helped by charming Celine who took good care of me. Despite her work load, she never ignored me even though she knew that I was there only for coffee! In fact, at the end, I was surprised by the nice "on the house gesture" being charged nothing. This is one of the reasons why this place has so many loyal customers!

This was supposed to be a short review for a cup of coffee but I couldn't help it because I truly believe that quality prevails quantity no matter the size of your bill given the upscale caliber of the place and its clientele.

Toronto deserves many more places like this. Thank you for your hospitality! I will eat next time :)

P.S.: The...

I go to local Liberty village LITERALLY 3 Times a week for the past 10 years...tonight I went with a friend, had a great time as usual! Paid my bill. Not a single problem. Until. I engaged with our waitress (who claimed she was a manager even tho iv been going there 10 yrs at all times of day and hav never ever seen her in my life.) I said everything was great but would you mind if I asked you something.. so I said...do you think it's strange and messed up that on door dash for 2 days out of the week that certain food is half priced? ( Tacos and wings, Tuesday and Wednesday ) To Wich she says we don't go or or do that and I think the whole thing is stupid because we actualy lose money...where I response well this is my whole question. Don't you think buy not doing half price while you're actualy on house and in the actual establishment doesn't make any sense and also hurt the business? If I come in, spend 200$ on liquor AND I ALSO TAKR CARE OF THE WAITRESS tipping and such and such AND I ask about the deal and you say no and then I were to walk out...taking my 200 and my friends and tips...that it doesn't make much sense and hurts the business?...SHE SAYS WELL WE GET ALOT OF Business AND IM A MANAGER AND WE DONT NEED YOUR Business BECAUSE WE HAVE ENOUGH...TO WHERE I took a complete turn and said mam. That's not something you wanna say to a paying customer with no problems ..SHE RESPONDS WE LOSE MONEY ON 11$ WINGS SO YOUR 200$ DOESNT MATTER....quote on quote....IM SORRY BUT WHOEVER OWNS LOCAL PUBLIC EATERY and you would let an employee straight up say we don't care for your business because lots of people come here is absolutely outrageous. AGAINST literally everything that has to do with good business. (New girl small short Asian girl manager with tattoos) Surely if you have enough business you have enough waitresses applying for jobs that you can let this person go and not matter right?...guess you guys don't care about my 200$ a night 3 times a week and...