Poetry Jazz Cafe — Restaurant in Toronto

Walk past it before 8:30 and you would look at it, love the decor and say you'd want to go there one day.

If you make it inside you notice how tight the seating area is and how easily crowded it gets.

You take a seat, get cozy and then someone comes and asks for $10 cover. Took us by surprise especially as there was no sign anywhere stating there would be cover and we didn't really know what we walked into. We were told there would be a live show in 45 minutes and we'd have to pay or leave soon as seating was limited. We paid.

The atmosphere is very nice, loved the decor (there's a lava lamp so that's extra points 💯). There is some type of animated film being projected on the wall behind the bar - that is a nice touch, and interesting to watch. However, the seating is very crowded with barely any room to move and the seats get uncomfortable to sit on, crowded during a show.

Although the staff was nice, the service was very slow, and they seemed highly understaffed as the place was full - 2 bartenders 1 waitress taking drinks and 1 host. Drinks on the pricey side, the homemade ginger beer lives up to its ginger name (lots of ginger so if you're not a fan, then I recommend to stay away)

The show was good, the guitar and bass were the perfect volume but the drums were too loud to the point of being uncomfortable as we were close to the stage.

They have an outside patio area with interesting decor and a piano that's playable -best part of the joint as no one was there so it wasn't as crowded as inside!

OVERALL I think Poetry Jazz Cafe has lots of potential, love the decorations and the atmosphere and it seems like a great place to come and enjoy a night out with character. Will come back for other shows so hopefully the service...

This is an interesting, much needed 'young and hip' jazz club in Toronto. I think they claim that they don't play old jazz at the venue, which is a shame but I understand their cause. I'm a big fan of rag time so I tried avoiding this place when I read that as I thought they were pretentious with their approach. It's hard for young jazz musicians to distinguish themselves in today's music industry but there's no reason to make such statement -at least, that's what I think. Still, I feel like this is the type of venue where young musicians can discover and network with each other to create significant projects that may impact the Toronto music scene. Anyway, despite these mixed feelings, I couldn't help myself and started going to this place since last year for at least once a month every other month.

Realistically speaking, the bar is great. Cool, moody interior, decent drinks, and good young musicians. It's a perfect date spot. You can see some local pioneers and young talents play here which adds to the mood. Vibe-wise I would compare it to Kansas Smitty's in London but not as polished regarding service and curation. It is still the best in Toronto for what they're trying to establish.

For me, this is the 2nd most charming jazz venue in town after Grossman's Tavern. It is slowly growing on me and I find myself coming here more often. Definitely an important institution for Toronto music and I will happily continue to...

My fiancee and myself were In the Toronto area and decided to look up somewhere with live Jazz music to catch a drink. Google brought me here at 8:20pm Saturday night, once we approached the door a doorman on his phone blocked us from entering and asked if we were there for the live music to which I replied we were. After we paid the $20 cover charge each, we entered and found literally no seats. Found one stool for my fiancee and placed it at the bar in an opening and was then told by a bartender that area must be kept open for traffic. We moved out of the way to immediately watch someone sit down in the exact same spot with no words said to them. Annoyed I let it go but ordered two drinks which totalled $32. I paid cash $40 and was told they don't provide change, so I put it on debit instead because I didn't want to tip $8 for two drinks. So I got our drinks, we took place standing at the back wall to enjoy our drink and listen to the live music which played one song within the hour and a half we were there, the remaining music was a mixture of lofi and techno jazz being played way to loud with the treble notes set extremely high. At this point we gave up hope and I bailed on this horrible experience. Jazz music is to be enjoyed, not screamed into my ears at a piercing level of low sound quality.

TLDR: spent $75 to have two drinks and listen to one live Jazz song over 90 mins in a hot, crowded, loud and dissapointing...