Oldtown Bodega — Restaurant in Toronto

Pretty much the quintessential "local watering hole" for the elder millennial crowd. Like 100s of other bars in this city.

I expected much more. I don't know why, I just assumed that a cocktail bar in this neighbourhood would be creative and cool. Well, okay, it is cool. But it's not creative and their backbar is very limited.

If you're looking for interesting and unique cocktails, Henrietta Lane a few doors down is a better bet, but if you just want typical standards or beer in a dark room, Oldtown is the place to be. (I pushed the exposure way up in my photos.)

I didn't dislike the joint, and the bartender was decent and nice enough, but the uninteresting cocktail menu (of basic classics) left a lot to be desired, so I asked for an off-menu classic -- which they did not have the ingredients for. I ended up ordering a simple margarita. I couldn't tell you what it tasted like after the fact, other than a little too tart. Nothing remarkable, but not terrible.

Music was good, other customers were chill, the place was packed even on a weekday so they're obviously doing a lot right, and the décor is okay too.

It's a perfectly fine place. Good for a half-decent cocktail, but don't expect fireworks. I think it's definitely worth a stop if you're...

The place itself is cute for a date night but the drinks were unremarkable. I had actually dragged a friend there with me insisting that it’ll be great because it’s so highly rated. We were both so disappointed. The Whiskey Sour we ordered was one of the bitterest/tartiest I have had to date. And when I told the server this (mentioning that I love whiskey sours and have had a lot of them over time) he responded saying ‘yeah we know what we’re doing we make 100s of these every night’. So disappointing. Cherry on top is that they took the whiskey sour away (we ordered another drink in its place) but when the bill came, they had charged us for our drinks plus 50% of the whiskey sour saying ‘there was nothing wrong with the drink, you just didn’t like it so we’re going to charge you’. In my 10 years of living in Canada, I’ve never come across such service. It’s a pity as it’s so close to my place and I was so excited to visit and had heard good things. Maybe they were just having...

Ever been told you didn’t order enough drinks to stay at a bar? I’d expect this at a strip club, but not at a relatively sparse cocktail bar on a Thursday. We were approached by someone who was not our bartender for the night and rudely asked to leave when we declined to get another drink. No warnings, just an agitated accusation that we should have been more considerate of him by getting bombed on a weeknight. Be advised that three drinks is not enough to deserve a booth and enjoy your date in this joint.

To the tall bartender with the hat: you know who you are, and should work on that.

Otherwise, great atmosphere, tasty drinks, the actual bartender that was serving us was excellent and appropriately (though reluctantly) tipped despite his colleague's behaviour. Sorry you have to work...