Whatttt ... only 3.5 stars? We went to the brunch buffet on Sunday and loved it! Great choices and options. Not overly crowded or picked over. Plenty of available seating and nice jazz quartet. Well maintained location with friendly staff. $26 for all you can eat - can't beat it! read more

I must've been here a thousand times and not even once did they dassapoint me. The food is pretty generic however (pasta, fish, salads) but it always tastes good. The pastas here are the best tasting in my opinion. The service has been consistently good as well, regardless whether i was with a group of people or just by myself. The prices are average for the downtown area read more

Really delicious food. I eat here once a month at least. I love the Penne Alla Sambuca and all the steak choices. maybe a little bit pricy, but the food and the place it self are really great. Had my birthday reservation without any problem. Great servitors. Recommended. read more

Generally speaking, the food is quite good ON THE MENU. The buffet food was TERRIBLE. This was the week day/dinner buffet. You would think that a restaurant, such as this one, with fairly good and appetizing meals, would make sure that the buffet would be up to the same standards. NOT! Quite frankly, the buffet tasted like leftover days old food. Never again would we agree to have the buffet food. It was worse than eating at a hospital. Don't be fooled when the staff tries to convince you that the buffet food is "tasty". They are just trying to get rid of the stale food/leftovers. DON'T FALL FOR IT! read more

This is a decent restaurant to get a meal before heading anywhere in the downtown core for the evening. The food isn't anything special, but it's reliable and has been here for years. The service is consistently good. Close to so many great things (theatre, shopping, the highway). read more

I help organize regular events for a professional association with typically 50-60 people attending. Although we mix it up by trying other places, we keep coming back to the Hot House because we are consistently pleased with Andrew and the Hot House team's ability to coordinate with us before and during the event, providing decent selection, quality and service for a reasonable price point at a central downtown Toronto location, close to TTC and with parking on site. Individually, I have enjoyed their popular jazz brunch with friends and family-- to avoid waiting in line, reservations are recommended! And they are also a popular spot for a casual lunch with colleagues or an after work drink with friends. They have a format that works. If you want haute cuisine or intimate dining, go elsewhere. However, if you want years of tried and true decent quality and variety of food for a range of palates, ample portions, and service used to dealing with groups at a central place people can access and at a moderate price, check out the Hot House. read more

We came here for brunch! I got the Eggs Benny and my SO got the Eggs Florentine. The Hollandaise sauce on both was really tasty and they were priced reasonably. My poached eggs were overdone but everything else on our plates was seasoned perfectly. When choosing a side we had the choice of homefries or fruit and I wish we were able to have half and half. If possible, sit on the patio as the location is astounding. read more

I recently went to the Hothouse Cafe for dinner with family and friends. I found the service excellent and timely ; the portion size was abundant for the price. Food quality was great with good flavour and no scrimping on ingredients I.e my spaghetti carbonara was full of delicious bacon and proper Ingredients ; very authentic. Kids portions were excellent and affordable. I highly recommend this restaurant for portion size and price; quality of service and food. read more

Plenty of vegetarian options and a good drink menu. The gnocchi con funghi was awesome and the full order of bruschetta was HUGE. Get the smoked old fashioned, it shows up in a beeker still smoking like some kind of science experiment. So good. read more

Hothouse - Smoked old fashioned - Italian Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

What can I say? It's a buffet. A couple of decent items, and mostly crappy ones. For $21+, you are better off going anywhere else and ordering from the regular menu. I ended up eating the fruits and a couple of pieces of cake because they were the only decent items--my experience got shot to hell the minute I bit into cheese that had gone bad. Nasty! Avoid this overrated brunch. read more

Excellent stop for a Saturday night. The calamari was amazing. Bonus they serve wine from the local region. Service was excellent and top level checked in more than once. We ate on the patio but the inside also was excellent. Family- toddler friendly for a nice night out on the town. read more

Sunday brunch at the Hot House Cafe, complete with live jazz, is akin to Special Turkey Dinner Night at my 86-year-old grandmother's all-Hungarian people old folks' building. But without the 100% Hungarian requirement. I don't get it. On the one hand, I've been for dinner, and I know the menu is....meh.....so why should I be surprised that the brunch is lesser even, then "meh"? Perhaps because it's often touted as one of the best brunches in the city, which is both appalling and embarrassing. It's basically "The Mandarin" but with breakfast foods. It's such an odd, weird mish-mash of cuisine, not unlike the meal of various coloured foams in the movie "Hook". 5 points if you recall what it is I speak of. To where the points apply, I have no idea. But if you're competitive with yourself, go for it. Anyway, they had a mimosa special, 2 for $9. That's decent. Even more decent if, after ordering the mimosas, they show up. I headed for the buffet. And let me add this; I was an overweight child and young adult. I KNOW how to buffet. There's a line of code in my DNA dedicated to strategic buffet planning, implementation and execution of buffet strategy, etc. You head for the "good" stuff to get your moneys' worth- whatever the gigantic meat offering is, the cheese and the dessert. All the rest is filler which you reserve for plates 2 and 3, respectively. At $19.95 per head, I find the buffet's offerings slim and strange. The first offerings are a table of breads; muffins, croissants, bagels, etc. And then dessert immediately follows that table. Why? Why oh why? Dessert comes last. Or sometimes it's plate #3 (on a dinner sized plate, not those shitty dessert sized plates) and then you follow up it with some carbs. I like to use the dessert shift as a palette cleanser, of sorts. There is no salad bar, but rather some potato-type salad, some quinoa-type salad and a bunch of other weird non-salad salads. Then a gigantic salmon. Then the weirdest selection of hot foods; meat, mussels, cheese cappelletti, tofu stir-fry, some kind of chicken legs....are you getting weirded out yet? And then all the traditional breakfast offerings; scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and smashed potatoes (another interesting choice) and a custom omelette bar. Basically, the Hot House buffet seems to strive to cater to too many a person. It's like they had too many ideas and got over-excited, like when Homer decided to build a website and ended up having every kitschy, tacky chotchka on it (Dancing Jesus, Y2K Countdown, you name it). I think the buffet needs some serious revising. Oh, and more staff, always helpful. Sorry Hot House, I love a good buffet, but this one misses the mark. The decent things- you CAN make a reservation, even for the coveted Sunday brunch, they replenish everything on the buffet frequently, you might rope yourself a slick old Dude for your new BF. read more

Our bus trip to a play in Toronto included dinner and Hot House was the restaurant they took us to. I had never been to this place before but will definitely be back! The food was terrific, the staff very accommodating and the service was stellar for so large a group. Props to the owner and staff! read more

Unappetizing pastas and pizza. Food was mostly cold and lacking in flavour. Super friendly staff though.

Really solid 1/5. I know a lot of folks on Yelp have diverse tastes and often rate based on their general impressions on the staff, ambiance, price, food, etc as a package deal- so this is how I'm rating this place. I'm going to say right off the bat: you can tell by the manager's attitude here that they're certainly making more than enough money without your business. They make it clear that they don't give a shit how you feel about your dining experience- and I guess that's between them and the owner. The food is probably about as good as Golden Griddle- so it's alright, but nothing spectacular. It's too bad the crowding and the wait times for your meal are much longer and it costs a lot more. So basically, you're paying extra money for a bit less convenience. Even at off hours, the service here is atrocious. All that said, I doubt my review will deter many people from wasting their time and money at this joint. If I can save one soul a few hours of their lives and $40, I'll die a happy man. read more

No. NO. Sorry. Very overpriced, BLAH food, served by friendly but confused staff (we had two waiters, throughout, who didn't know the other was serving us) , who won't leave you alone! Toronto the Mediocre, at its mediocre mediocrity. And noisy as hell! read more

I came here for my program graduation dinner, and it was pretty alright. Cushy cozy restaurant, quick and attentive service, decent food (nothing outstanding but nothing bad either!). My night was memorable because of the event itself - Hot House was a good venue! read more

Came here with my friends and their babies! Really kid-friendly and they gave my party of 8 lots of room at the back during a Saturday lunch hour. The servers were so kind and took care of us. Thank you! read more

Absolutely delicious gnocchi mushroom fughi. So tasty! Very heavy as expected but huge portions. Definitely value for money. Well worth the $20. This place is very reasonable priced and has great service. Our waitress as always on point and attentive. Highly recommend. read more

Expensive, slow service and food wasn't worth it. Took 45 minutes to give us our food. Fish and chips special was 17$ and they used way too much sea salt on the chips, I would describe it as 'McDonalds fries' but with way more salt. Don't think I would recommend this place to anyone. And that 17$ mediocre fish and chips lunch did not include a beer. read more

What can I say... I think the Sunday Jazz brunch is highly over-rated (although yes, the waffles are good). The regular menu is average. The place is huge, true...but it has no soul. Doesn't feel like an urban eating experience to me - more a suburban one. Not a huge fan. But, if you have a big group - it's a decent enough option. read more

The name and the sign are confusing since at first glance, I believed the location to be a strip club for up-and-comers but I was wrong, way wrong. The location is ideally situated, at the corner of Church and Wellington and for lunch, the place is delightful without being too stuffy or bohemian for that fact. Service was prompt and friendly and you can actually have a conversation in this place without it being overbearing because of the noise. The food was good, I had the jambalaya and it was well presented and tasted good. In fact, this could become my goto restaurant. I wonder if the action changes after 11:00 pm. Hmmm. read more

Great spot for brunch! Live music and all you can eat buffet for $20. This place is classy and spacious. The only downside is the waiting time, which can be up to 40 minutes without reservations. Strongly recommend the cheescake and the variety of salads. read more

I want to say I'm indifferent or neutral to this place, but I've been meaning to try Hot House for a while because I live in the vicinity and it always seems to be popping, especially on the patio. I eventually went here and tried their Summerlicious menu - that was my first mistake. My friend and I ordered the artichoke dip as the app, which came with three measly, slightly burnt pieces of pita bread and the tiniest dip. The steak frites was drenched in a questionable brown sauce and on the burnt side. The gelato was decent, but overall disappointed. I was with good company, which helped distract me (slightly) from the slow and inattentive service (took a while to order extra cocktails.......) Overall, disappointed and my advice would be not to participate in Summerlicious if you're just going to cheap out. Don't participate for the sake of participating. read more

We had ordered here on Christmas Eve, also being a local patron in the area. We ordered the jambalaya and lamb burger, which came with a side of house salad. Upon a couple of hours of eating this, we had both experienced terrible cases of food poisoning. There was certainly food contamination in either of those dishes as we had shared the meal. Surely enough, this was a lousy Christmas experience. Never will I ever eat here again. read more

I am referring to the BRUNCH only. I used to come here for a delicious Sunday brunch around 2003-2005. I recently went back and was extremely disappointed in the quality of not only the food, but also the buffet set-up (spatulas are caked with food) and the staff working the buffet. At this point, they're simply relying on their reputation from the past to pack people in there. I definitely won't be back. Try Boiler House instead read more

When i used to work in the area, my coworkers and I would come here every few months for someone's 'birthday lunch'. I always liked it for lunch. I recently went to Hot House for the infamous Sunday Jazz Brunch Buffet. Wow! It's super busy on a Sunday! We arrived quite early, in between 10 and 10:30 and didn't have a problem finding a table for two inside near the windows. But there was lots of space on their great big patio as well and i would have gladly sat out there as well. It's farther from the food, but it was a gorgeous morning. I started my brunch with a chocolate croissant and some fruit. The croissant was really good! Super fresh and buttery with yummy chocolate meltiness inside. I went back for another. Second round was a waffle and some bacon. Mmmmmm..... baaaaacon.... I had more than the 3 or 4 slices of bacon that you usually get with a standard breakie. That in itself is worth it in my books :) In fact, third round i went back for more bacon. Had some roast potatoes and some cheese and... i forget, there was so much food! But we did spend a good couple hours there and casually sipped our teas and coffees in between plate fulls. Plus we enjoyed the live jazz as well. It was a delightful Sunday! There was quite a line-up at the omlette station so i would assume that's a popular item. I don't like omlettes myself so i skipped that. But they will make them to order for you with whatever you fancy. The price is quite steep but there is tons of food, and if you take your time, enjoy the company and the music, it's worth it for a nice Sunday brunch. read more

Hot House is a good standard restaurant in the St. Lawrence Market area. It's a good restaurant, but I've never found the food to be outstanding. Last time I was there I had the orange roughy which was very good, but again not outstanding. The desserts that I've had there are excellent read more

Great location & brunch option!! I've been to Hot House on many occasions for brunch and love the live jazz while having their tummy buffet that has many options. If you want a fresh omelet ... Done! Craving carving station...its there!! My favourite dish in buffet is their cheese capeletti. It is comfort, saucy and cheesy, Great combo. Their desserts are out of this world! Be sure to try the banana chocolate cake and the baileys cheesecake. They also have great brunch cocktail options such as 2 Caesars for $9. We needed an extra shot of vodka with ours but still great deal. The brunch is all you can eat and offers great value. read more

When in doubt of what to eat, drop by Hot House. They've been around forever, love their brunch. Last Friday we tried having dinner - they have a pri fix menu for $35, you get salad or soup, 12oz steak, dessert. One person cannot finish it. We are glad the food quality is still holding up....Service in the beginning was ok, near the end, it was nice, there seems to be tonnes of staff working that night, and they were all busy. Need to head down in the summer to see if their brunch is still as good as 5 years ago!! read more

Tonight, I dined at Hot House. For couple times a year, I would go there for the buffet. The best food is probably the prime rib and custom prepared pasta. The atmosphere is pretty good. And they have a tv there as well, so if you want to watch a sports game, enjoy. Or you can have a table beside window for view. I would recommend. read more

The Hot House is an overrated place that old people go to and the buffet was despicably disgusting. The food reminded of a school cafeteria and even a school lunch would've been better. The cakes were dry, the create your own pasta was bland and had no taste, and the lasagna looked like it had come out of a freezer. I would not recommend this establishment, avoid at all costs, and enter at your own risk. read more

This place is pretty consistent. Love the atmosphere and it's in a great location. Service was solid. My friend and I split the crab cakes which were pretty good. The pizza diavlo was very tasty. The star of the show was the sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream, it is a must try. Overall I would give this place 3.5 stars. read more

Food was below average, tasteless and nothing to brag amount. I will not be returning.. Basically my pasta was bacon bits and peppers in a sauce that was as tasteless as it looked.. Service was good food was horrible. read more

I've eaten here with friends or family maybe forty times over the last 10 years. It never fails to be an excellent experience: delightful staff, delicious food, and ample portions for greedy types like myself. It's smart enough to be suitable for special occasions, but unpretentious enough for a spontaneous bite to eat. read more

Amazing food!! My boyfriend and I ordered take out from hothouse after seeing how busy they always are. He got the jambalaya and I got the Cappelletti... we were blown away! The Cappalletti was one of the best dishes I've ever had.. I tried to savor it but it disappeared quickly =(. My boyfriend loved his jambalaya so much he didn't even share! Highly recommend! They have a beautiful patio as well! read more

Book your brunch experience and enjoy. Bring your appetite and a good friend or lover, there's something for everyone. Mostly, the service is superb. The staff were friendly, helpful and knowledgeable about every dish. Hot House is worth every dollar. read more

Came here for a pre Paintnite meal. They have Paintnite at the back of the restaurant. We decided to have appetizers and drinks beforehand since we thought having a full dinner would take too long. Drinks were typical, nothing to report there. Their cocktails weren't that good for the price you pay but I guess you expect a decent tasting drink for what you pay for. The food we ordered was bruschetta and calamari which were recommended by our server. It was okay, but nothing special. I thought the calamari pieces were a little small and greasy. I did have a good time at Paintnite though and the service was good during that time. I don't think I'd come back for dinner but I'll definitely try their brunch buffet next time since I heard that's what the restaurant is known for. I do enjoy the atmosphere of the restaurant for sure. It was nice and cozy but this was a Tuesday evening. I'm sure the brunch morning is busy! read more

Hothouse - Lobster pasta. I felt this was a little bland. Friends had Penne Sambuca and it was super flavourful! - Italian Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

You ever tried getting psyched to eat because of how huge the place is only to fall flat on your face because the food and experience didn't meet expectations? (whew!) well this is definitely NOT this place. You better bring your Game if your having their Sunday Brunch buffet, albeit on the higher side in terms of price you won't be beat by the wide selection and variety that these guys have to offer. There was so many food selection that no wonder they area was huge and brimming with clientele. Service is superb! I don't know where to start, they have a very efficient omelet station that makes tasty omelettes my picky 9 year old just gobbled it up quickly no excuses given.(thumbs up) a wide array of casseroles, pasta, Cold salads, breads, cheeses. highlights: mussels , omelette, CAKE STATION (yes, emphasis was needed). Their cakes were just amazing and they have an attendant that serves you your cake of choice which to me is good idea then theres no waste of food .They slice it thin enough for you to have your fill yet still be able to sample everything on their selection. Sharing the dits to my hubby and friends which dish or cake to try next just added to our already enjoyable Family weekend.:) read more

I really like Hot House Cafe. Love how you can watch your salads being prepared in the middle of one of the seating areas so you know it's fresh. Jazz Brunch of Sundays is only fair by comparison. Of course, having lived in New Orleans we have a completely different rendition of what a Jazz Brunch should be like. So I'm jaded. Decor is fantastic and I usually end up here. Especially with the Dominion next door. read more