The Grand Theatre is a much loved downtown concert venue that had a major renovation within the…read morelast few years. It's a good place for concerts, plays and the like, and it's worth seeing something here if you have a chance. Kingston is such a great city to see big names in small venues, and in my opinion, that's always the best way to see someone live. Seating is comfortable, and I don't think anyone in the back of the top level would have a drastically different view of the stage as someone sitting closer to the front on the lower level. I believe there is a bar and coat check service on the site.

Since the renovation, I have attended many events at the Grand. Sadly, my husband has rarely joined…read moreme. If you are under 30 years old, half price tickets are available for many shows. However, the tickets are usually located in the balcony. The leg room in the balcony makes an economy seat on a discount airline feel luxurious. I'm barely 5' tall and my knees touch the seat in front of me. If you can get orchestra tickets, the Grand Theatre is a fantastic venue. Even in the last row, the view is excellent. Parking is easy, the washrooms are clean, and the lounge is comfortable.

Dan is a hoot and great at demonstrating all the techniques. He breaks it down into manageable…read morechunks. I am sorry to be finishing up our session tonight. You can bet I'll sign up again.

From the owner: We specialize in improv classes, improv workshops and entertainment for your event.read more

The ensemble may be new but they are awesome. They have played during recent services at historic…read moreSt. Andrew's Presbyterian Church Kingston, and I have been very moved. One morning my spirit smiled as Lisa played the virtuoso solo recorder piece "The English Nightingale" by Jacob van Eyck, and John performed the organ piece "le Coucou" by Daquin. Another morning my soul soared as Lisa and John together offered up the reflective and beautifully moving 'Meditation' from Thais by Massenet. Awesome indeed.

From the owner: Classically trained duo, perfect for wedding ceremonies, cocktail hours, receptions, dinners,…read morespecial celebrations, concerts or to provide a beautiful musical tribute to a lost loved one. Specializing in music from the Baroque period (1600-1750) playing period instrument reproductions (recorder and harpsichord). All members of St. Andrew's Baroque Ensemble are highly educated musicians with university and conservatory training, and each has decades of performing experience. They offer free consultations and expert advice with worksheets to make the music selection process easy and fun. If what you desire isn't in their current repertoire, they are also composers and arrangers, and can arrange a pre-existing work to suit your needs. Why not make your event really stand out by commissioning a brand new composition to be performed and premiered just for you? Feel like Frederick the Great with St. Andrew's Baroque Ensemble as your own personal court musicians!

This place used to be an old repertory theatre. In fact the last time I was in this particular…read morebuilding was to see "Barton Fink" for the first time. Time To Laugh is a very simple comedy club. Headshots of performers line the wall as you'd expect and the sound system fills the space nicely. What you do notice straight off is the enormity of the stage. It did used to be a movie theatre after all so the more animated comedy acts tend to have more physical space to run about, act out, or yank stuff out of a trunk if you're watching a prop comic. There aren't many, don't worry. The acts appear to be independently booked from either the Yuk-Yuk's or the independent circuit in Canada, so it appears that you're able to get a nice mix of comics at the club. I did mention that it was fairly basic, and it is that. There's no room or want by the owners to put in a kitchen, and Ontario law dictates that if you're serving booze, you're serving food. So, how does TTL get around that? All food orders are phoned in to the Grizzly Bar across the street and walked over. Don't worry, there's plenty of umbrellas available so your nachos won't get soggy on rainy nights. The staff are friendly, the place is fun, the food is as good as the Grizzly can offer, and the comic roster is pretty deep. You'll find the time to laugh. Ehh? Ehh? See what I did there?

Ugh. This place is pretty vile inside. There's also a massive creepy Frankenstein type character at…read morethe top of the stairs that never fails to irk me every time I'm walking in. That aside, the few time I've been here it's never been for comedy. There's a strange rotating slew of concerts (none of which I've been to) but it is also put to use for Soul Shakedown (dance party put on by the local community radio station) and some other random fundraisers here and there. Overall though, the ambiance really sucks. Huge open room with vinyl floor makes dancing a bit awkward unless a.) you're sort of drunk and don't care or b.) the place is packed. Depending on the event, a.) is usually in play for a lot of people but b.) rarely happens because the place sort of gets all spaced out. Long and the short of it: only go if the event's worth it.

The Agnes Etherington Art Centre is located in the middle of Queen's campus right past the very…read moreimpressive Theological Hall and Kingston Hall. The entrance to the centre had accessible accommodations and was well maintained (heavily salted!) for the slippery winter weather. Once we were inside, we were greeted warmly by the receptionist. Since we were first time visitors to the gallery, she walked us through a map and told us which exhibits were open or undergoing installations along with a short explanation of what each was all about. There is no admission fee but you can make a donation to the centre with no suggested amount. There is a small area for you to hang up your coats and belongings. There are also lockers with an electronic locking system available if you're here for a longer program. It was actually kind of hot in some of the gallery rooms so I'm glad I had somewhere to hang up my coat. The gallery is separated by exhibition rooms, some of which are curated by the students at Queen's. One such exhibit was the Quest for Colour: Five Centuries in Printmaking that had recently gone up. One of my favourites was the B-Side Agnes Etherington by Paul Litherland. It features a series of photographs of the backs of some of the paintings from the Agnes Etherington gallery itself. Overall I found that the wall labels for each of the pieces to be very helpful in knowing what to look for in a certain piece or to fully appreciate the artists work. The centre also is home to part of the original Agnes Etherington house. There are a few art pieces here as well as a grand piano that can be played by visitors on weekends from 1:00 - 4:50pm on a first-come, first-serve basis. All in all I spent about 50 minutes here taking my time to enjoy each piece. If you're on Queen's campus I'd highly recommend checking it out!

Props to this place for staying open after Hallowe'en!…read morePretty much everything else in Kingston closes down. Students want to see tourist attractions too, and friends visiting students who are busy with student-type stuff kinda need these tourist attractions lol. TIP: Thursdays are free and they're open late! If you like Canada and like learning about Canada at all, you'll like this place. It's got an extensive collection of Inuit prints and sculpture, old-school sketches of Kingston and places called Upper and Lower Canada (which I know I learned about at one point, but seriously, Upper and Lower are non-intuitive place descriptors lol), and modern stuff featuring artists who suffered from AIDS or who migrated from South Korea or moved from their native reserve in rural Alberta to do humanitarian work in Rwanda. How cool is that?! Canada is awesome. Two of my favourite pieces were: A. This Punjabi-born, British-raised, now Canadian artist's depiction of the ... geez, it's gotta be more than 24 ... ways you talk about family relationships. Your wife's mother's brother's wife has a specific name. I would just call her ... "you"? lol B. Carole Conde and Karl Beveridge's staged photo series that's supposed to be a social commentary about cola's production chains having adverse effects on people worldwide. It's deep. It's so deep that I can't understand it and therefore can't explain it. My bad. And the Queen's students/alumni behind the desk are uber-helpful. It's a shame this place isn't more frequented, but I had a couple of hours of eerily peaceful browsing time, broken by this weird piece that screams at you to rotate it when you get too close. Check it out yo!

I'd like to make a complain about the Mansion restaurant that I and my friends went together for…read morekaraoke tonight July 9th, 2025 at 9:20 pm. When we got there my friends did not have the ID with them which didn't allow us to get in, one of them had the student ID with their date of birth and when she went there to ask the guy that was asking for those he was rude and talking at her. We decided to have food outside since they had half price, when we sat we had to called the waiter because he was just ignoring us, I asked him about the wings, price and kind which he had not idea of what he was selling. So we went inside to ask for the menu since we didn't get any. The bouncer (the guy who denied the entrance and the one who yelled at my friend) he came to me (I had the ID) and start yelling at me telling me I can't be there because we don't have the ID and there is a bar, I told him to be more polite and talk to me better since we are buying food which he just respond screaming that he is the bouncer and we have to leave and doesn't matter that we are buying food. Awful experience, this was our first time going to that restaurant and this was the service that we got. These kids that were working tonight do not have any idea of customer service.

Where do I begin about this amazing restaurant/bar:…read more The service is absolutely phenomenal; the bartender and servers are so friendly and always willing to serve you. The food every-time I order it is always up to par. The atmosphere, the people; it's always a great place to come everyday, it's definitely my home away from home. I've met so many amazing people here; from the regulars, to the employees, to the owners; they are such great people to get to know and to become friends with. When I wanna go for lunch or dinner or a night of drinking; I choose The Mansion. When I'm either drinking at home or out at other bars in the Kingston area I ALWAYS end up at The Mansion for last call. It's not only close to home; The Mansion is home.