Madison Avenue Pub — Restaurant in Toronto

this place is an absolute joke. Condescending and uncaring staff, dirty and worn out environment, overpriced and bad tasting drinks/food. keep reading if you want details and examples :) 75% of the customers and attendees are underage and they treat you like garbage. tonight I came to the madison with my friends and I had to come to the front of the venue to pass a sweater on to my friend who was outside. I had just paid $12 for a drink when I was called outside, so I quickly came out to pass the sweater on. I was standing for 5 seconds when the supposed owner started aggressively ushering me to go back inside because I couldnt drink outside. I understand this, however, I simply needed 20 seconds to get this done. he was so condescending and even threatened me with a police officer, suggesting that he would what, get me arrested? how about you arrest the bouncers you have who knowingly admit drunk underage people into your establishment. the security even acknowledged TODAY on this same visit that he is surprised my friend is ”actually 19 now” acknowledging that he knew he was underaged while letting him in. I asked the bouncers to please hold my drink for me while I passed the sweater as I didn’t want to set in down inside with the risk of it getting spiked. they declined and told me to go in and finish it. I said “my friend is standing right here, so you really expect me to go in and finish this?” As they were basically encouraging me to chug my drink. they were so condescending and demeaning, I got fed up and uttered a subtle “omg shutup..” and put my hand up to signal I was walking away. I was then chased inside by security and kicked out of the maddy fully sober, because I didn’t want to abandon or chug my drink and simply needed 15 seconds to pass something over the fence. Keep in mind I was on the maddy property within the fence drinking a drink sold by their establishment. I was not asked how I would get home or if I was ok. I was sober and able to find my way home, however, the way that they were treating me suggested that they felt I was “obliterated”. this is disgusting. I am a bartender at a restaurant and know that the establishment and bartender are liable for the life of the individual that they serve drinks to until that person is sober. As far as I’m concerned, the maddy does not care about its customers and does not care if people go home in an ambulance. They let people in who are evidently intoxicated and kick people out for silly reasons such as my own. this is not my first negative experience with this place and truly it is a spot known to be popular with underaged teenagers, specifically highschool students, ask anyone in toronto. It used to be fun in my first few years of undergrad and now it has totally gone downhill. I hope the owner sees this and I hope you know that one phone call and your establishment is shut down. I saw someone fall through the ceiling once from a lack of security at a construction area and you are still open. You are killing the u of t student bar by allowing so many under aged people, none of my 23 year old friends even want to come here anymore. Good luck after I make...

Definitely a college / university bar. Almost everyone there was in that age group. It was extremely loud and it wasn't even close to full, so I probably wouldn't go back. I wouldn't want to hear it when it's full.

Food was decent, but we only had apps and drinks. Wait staff were okay. Nice, but took forever to acknowledge that we were seated. We had to flag them down. So there is a definite disconnect between their hosts and wait / bar staff. I've worked many years in the industry and would say they did a poor job until we were actually being served by a bartender. Again, it was not a busy night so it's hard to excuse it.

The outside patio is heavily enclosed, so even with a slight breeze at night, we were suffering in stale heat without access to the breeze. It was a bit like a very loud sauna with sticky surfaces (they blamed that on sanitizer solutions being used on the tables). They had the doors to the interior building open to the outside patio everywhere and there was no air conditioning being used indoors. We booked indoor seating to avoid the heat but were sat outside and it made no sense to ask to go inside because it was just as hot inside the building, possibly hotter.

It strikes me as only being popular because of location, size, and because students have been going there for a few decades so it's part of the culture there.

If you're a college or university student, by all means go there and you will probably enjoy it. If you are even slightly older than that, this place probably won't appeal to you.

EDIT: I changed my review from a 2 to a 3. They replied to my review below and I respect that they addressed the issues I brought up. I think that's commendable and a sign of good customer service culture from the management. Having been in the restaurant business, being short staffed is somewhat common and it's tough on everyone. Given the COVID situation and how it has impacted the whole industry, I can definitely cut them some slack there.

Having said that, my experience was what it was so I don't want to change my review too much. I have to stay true to my experience there but I encourage everyone to read their response to get their side of things, as well as other reviews. It's hard to accurately judge a restaurant or bar on one experience.

Also, to be fair, I didn't try their main menu, only apps. They might have a really great kitchen staff and menu. Keep that in mind when you read my review.

Again, they have my respect for responding and being completely transparent. That's good customer service that you won't find a lot of places. Based on my first experience, I can't change my rating to a 4 or 5, but I would be open to going back and giving them another chance to provide me with a fresh experience once COVID has passed and they can get back to normal operating standards.

As a side note, restaurants and their staff need support now more than ever, so if you want to try this place out, don't let my review stop you. They have a large operation and likely need some support just like every other restaurant. Give them a chance to give you a better experience than...

I've been to this place a few times, and I have quite a mixed feeling about this place. In my school days, I've never been here, so when my friend invited me to come, while I didn't expect much, I was still surprised.

It's probably the only restaurant in the town that doesn't give out napkins. I think that alone says a lot. I typically order quite a bit of food when I come to a bar, and with bar food your hands always get dirty, so why would napkins not come with the food? And I did ask for the napkins, they didn't say they don't provide napkins, but I think the server forgot about it. Food wise, chicken was meh, but fries (both regular and sweet potato) are good. Oh and nachos are fine as well. Can't go wrong with that. Calamari is a big good portion, and good for share.

The few other times, when I sat at the bar instead of at a table, the bartenders were always cool. And that's when I learned I could grab napkins from the bar. I mean, who would think that you'd have to go across the room (they have two rooms at the ground floor) to grab a napkin? But at the bar, while the bartenders were cool, it's... sad. Old Fashioned is the baseline of every bar, just like vanilla flavour is the baseline of all ice cream places. You can't hide it with Old Fashioned. It tells how good the bar is. Guess what... they don't have the ingredients to even make Old Fashioned. Perhaps I'm old, and it's to serve students, but the bar is incomplete, despite the best abilities from the bartenders. Oh yeah, the washroom is always the hardest, because paper towels were never filled while we're under a pandemic, so I always had to grab extra napkins from the bar to make sure I can dry my hands and open the door with used napkins.

Now you may ask, why did I go multiple times if I dislike the place so much? I happen to be extremely passionate about good voices. My friend invited me over to the place because the performer, Alexis, was really really good. Her range is very wide, clear high notes and solid volume, flexible with performance with good impromptu, and she knows how to interact with the crowd. I got to know her better over time. She was honestly the only reason, the only reason why I repeatedly went back. I do thank my friend to help me discover such a good voice.

I know she performed on Saturdays, so I went back a couple times to see her, except now there's Omicron, and last I heard the place closes early, so I doubt...