Thank you for getting back to me and responding. To answer your response, I asked the waitress if there was another table right away and she said there was nothing available even though I saw a few open and not cleaned. I would like to come back as I did like the atmosphere of the restaurant. Regards, Antonio read more

The restaurant was great. Great vibe and the service was amazing. My boyfriend had the ribeye steak it was a big chunk a meat which he was happy with. It was cooked a little more than medium rare which is what he asked for but this happens. I had the special entree of the day mackerel. It was really yummy however I felt like the meal was not enough. 2 chunks of zucchini, 3 little potatoes on a purée. It was really yummy just wish there was a bit more. Overall I would go there again because I enjoyed the food, service and the atmosphere. read more

My fiance and I had dinner here on Saturday. We were not impressed with our meal and did not have a good experience. For appetizer, we ordered fries with a trio of dips. The portion size was very generous, but the dips themselves were nothing spectacular. For the main course, my fiance ordered the surf and turf. Although the lobster tasted fine, his steak was cooked well done... he ordered it medium. It was very tough to eat. I ordered the yellow fin tuna and it was awful. The tuna was over seasoned (too much pepper). The accompanying sides (egg and millet hash) were the worst part of the dish. It tasted terrible. The hash tasted like bird food. I left most of my plate uneaten. When the server came by to collect our dishes, he mused that I must have over indulged on the fries appetizer that I couldn't finish my meal. I think he should have realized that given we didn't eat most of our meals (appetizer and main dish) there must have been a problem. The chairs were very uncomfortable. They seated us in outdoor patio chairs. I can totally understand that Saturday night is one of the busiest nights for the restaurant, and they probably needed to add in additional tables to accommodate more people, but please get better chairs! Your customer's backs will thank you for it. At the end of the meal we were both so happy to be out of them. For the amount we paid for this meal, I expected more... at least a dinner that was edible. We will not be returning. read more

I have to say afternoon at pure spirt just before was very good. Enjoyed the atmosphere and food. I was also would I enjoyed the Caesar salad delightful taste of the right balance of lemon juice and Parmesan cheese it had very fresh unique taste to it. I am not generally a salad person but it definitely woke my taste buds up and kept my mouth watering for more. read more

Pure Spirits - Elegant old and stylish for the new millennial for that afternoon brunch. - Seafood Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

See all

Only 3 tables with people and just me at the bar. Does it really take 40 minutes to get a burger and an old fashioned?

I have been a patron of Pure Spirits for several years and have recommended it to family and friends on several occasions. It WAS one of my favourite restaurants in Toronto. This past Monday I ordered the muscles for lunch, one of my favourite dishes on the menu. However, later that day I started to feel queasy. The next day I was violently ill...I GOT FOOD POISONING!! I was extremely disappointed about this situation which was completely avoidable. If the kitchen staff knew the muscles were bad, then they should have thrown them out instead of serving them. NEVER GOING AGAIN! read more

My wife and I had dinner here yesterday. Our entrees were good, however, our calamari appetizer was small for $17. When I asked for a couple of slices of bread, I was told that it would cost extra. Also, when I asked for one refill on my coke, which cost $4, I was told that it would cost extra as well. When I spoke to the manager Mathieu, he gave an excuse about the restaurant being closed because of COVID-19. I've got news for him, most restaurants had to close temporarily. That's still no excuse to nickel and dime the customers. The manager clearly knows nothing about customer service. He acted like we were attacking him personally. We won't be coming back. read more

Small portions. Nickle and dime you on bread and free fountain refills. When I asked the manager about getting one free refill on coke and iced tea, I was given an excuse of the Covid-19 crisis for this and not getting a couple of slices of bread together with our appetizer. Also, small portions of an appetizer for $17. Overall, the customer service sucks. If they want return customers, they should be generous with more than water!!!!! read more

Stopped by here while at the Distillery District last weekend. The oysters were great! Highly recommend sitting by the bar and chatting up the oyster chefs. You'll get to see them open and clean out the oysters (if you find that interesting as I do). read more

Pure Spirits - Seafood Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

I visited here on a Friday night with a group of four. We were seated really quickly without a reservation and the venue was very busy. The atmosphere is great; dark lighting, comfortable and lively. There service was okay and the food was pretty good. We ordered a few plates to share: mussels, deep fried squid, mushroom lobster pasta and the crispy skinned salmon with pommes anna. The squid had an off-putting texture but the mussels were incredible, and the salmon was perfect. I also found the pasta in the lobster dish to be overcooked and mushy but everything else had great flavour. I hope to try a few other things in the menu next time. read more

Terrible experience. AVOID AT ALL COSTS IF YOU HAVE THEATRE TICKETS. Made a dinner reservation weeks in advance. When we arrived at 6pm, told the waiter that we had tickets to a Soulpepper show for 8pm. We were told at 6:45 pm that our meals would take another 20 minutes because the kitchen was so busy. When we had not received our main courses by 7:20 pm (nearly 1.5 hours after arriving) we asked to speak with the manager. He said that our mains would not be ready before 8, so offered us free appetizers of our choosing in lieu of the meals. We asked for a few specific appetizers. At 7:35 he brought us a handful of appetizers, NOT the ones we had requested, explaining "that's all I could get from the kitchen right now". Really and truly a terrible dining experience. Even for a busy kitchen, completely inexcusable. This from someone with serving experience. DO NOT GO HERE IF YOU ARE HEADED TO A SHOW AFTERWARDS. read more

Really good oysters. Some of the best I've ever had. I would have preferred a little cocktail sauce and tabasco for them but when in Rome. Beer was very nice. Food was very good as well. Yellowfin tuna was pretty solid. Service was prompt and courteous. The hostess even charged my phone for me. Not terribly priced either. I think we all got out of there for about $75/head. Oh, and the bathrooms were really clean and nice. read more

Not sure what to make of our visit here tonight. My boyfriend and I came on time for our reservation (we had come early but left to walk around when they told us they couldn't accommodate an early show). When we arrived, the hostess mumbled about where she wanted to seat us, and the host was adamant about not seating us there--wherever there was--and seated us at the farthest table by the kitchen and washroom! But this was not before he made a snide "I'm a sophisticated elite man" remark about a shopping bag we had from a purchase in the distillery district we had made. "Is that for me? I wouldn't mind having it". Then when he sat us down he made a pathetic quip about asking if we'd like for him to find others to sit with us in our booth. My boyfriend and I had to switch seats, because the kitchen lights were blinding him. It was a stark difference to the ambiance in the front of the restaurant. They honestly need to put up some sort of barrier to hide the kitchen. I asked my fb what he made of our spot and he said not to worry. We were dressed very well, and looking around the room, I didn't think we were underdressed at all. The waiter was late, and barely served us. It took awhile to take our order and it seemed like he was really busy serving other patrons. The food itself came out quickly, but I would say it's overpriced compared to the quality. We were never asked how the food was, and was barely talked to other than just to take our order and settle the bill. This is my third time here, and I'm not sure what to make of the experience, but I likely won't be back. read more

Service was slow but friendly staff and very accommodating. Food is just not good - got a bunch of different things Mussels - flavoring was good but the mussels themselves were tiny - like pea size. Paella - rice was way too sour Gumbo - lacking flavor and ingredients. Only one shrimp and about a few pieces of sausage Steak - forget about it - gross cut (although should know better than to get steak at a seafood restaurant right? ) Oysters - fresh, liked the selection! Overall food was subpar and not worth the price. I would maybe just return for oysters and beer/wine. read more

I hardly ever write reviews but reason why this is quite different is because I recently just got back from visiting the distillery district My visit to pure spirits was on May 20,2016. The sun was out, the weather was great. We were immediately greeted and seated right away. Our waitress/server Tori-- very prompt at taking our orders and serving our beverages. I didn't think much of it but after I finished my three (3) oysters which I waited 20minutes for she finally offered us complimentary bread which I thought was quite off because some places would offer bread bread with our beverages not 20-25 mins of already being there. She noticed I was getting inpatient she apologized for the wait I accepted..but the excuse she gave us was that..its been awhile since there's been sun out so the restaurant is trying to get back into things. Keep in mind there were so many tables still open.. I'm not from Toronto not anywhere in Canada-- but makes me think how the service will be for others during the summer time. The 3 oysters though!! Yumm!! read more

Ok let's start off saying I don't like oysters but my wife does so thats how we ended up here on valentines day. Ambience is typical hip restaurant. Service was ok since we didn't have reservations but we had to sit at the bar. Good beer selection. I got the Asian duck leg which was bland but the duck was soft. My wife got the jambalaya which she devoured. My wife enjoyed but I didn't. read more

Had new zealand oysters that were a special oyster they had in and they were absolutely unreal. one of the best oysters I have ever had

We sat at the bar... Great service and atmosphere and amazing food. We split some oysters, lobster, and the seafood Mac and cheese. The lobster was so perfect.... Cooked perfectly and the cut out of the shells... All perfect with no hassle. That is how all lobster should be done. The food is amazing and the oysters were superb. Great location and atmosphere. read more

What a great venue for the Toronto Jazz Festival! We sat on the patio and enjoyed pickerel ceviche and traditional mussels for a perfect luncheon on Canada Day. Very cheerful wait staff--special thanks to Emily J who advised on our menu choices and made us feel right at home! read more

My husband and I went last night and we were thoroughly disappointed. First off we waited a while to be greeted once seated. We finally met our server who greeted us by saying how slow the kitchen was that night and to expect to wait for our food. So my husband was starving and decided to start with oysters as they wouldn't require much prep. One of the oysters in his shuckers dozen arrived with a fly in it and the server brushed it off saying it was natural. The Lobster Rockefeller came under cooked, chewy, and inedible. Service was horrible overall. The restaurant should invest in training their staff properly as our waitress was running around like a chicken with her head cut off and was inefficient at best. We will not be coming back ever again! read more

I wasn't expecting too much given the reviews but the overall experience was great despite a couple of minor things (forgot about my coffee, didn't really take drink orders). The brunch menu was varied and catered to all types of diners but all the options were a bit different from your average brunch menu. The portions were well sized to fill you up. I had the lobster tagliatelle and it didn't look like a large portion but it was very filling given it was a cream sauce. My husband had the mussels and fries and said the sauce was okay. My MIL had the brunch special and enjoyed that. And the kids shared chicken fingers from the menu. It would have been great to have some cooked veg options in the kids menu but that is my general complaint. The ambiance was nice, casual but still a bit upscale. I would come back and try more other seafood options. read more

Came down to the Distillery district for a date. Nice atmosphere, and staff were friendly and attentive. We ordered the trout rillettes and calamari tempura. Both were good. We had a couple drinks as well. Overall it was a little on the expensive side when I got my bill. Like another review below... our restaurant was empty, so they were closing up, and we left, only to see the place across the street still packed. Maybe it's just a different kind of place, but I thought it odd. I would like to sample some of their other menu items if I happen to be in the district again. Menu is pricey, but looks like they offer some intriguing dishes. read more

This is my favorite oyster bar / seafood restaurant!! I've been here for at least 5 times and never had a bad food read more

Avoid the snarky tall bartender with a bad hair cut. Gotta wait 30 min for a bill at the bar. Boooooo

Amazing dinner. We loved everything we had. The gnocchi is perfection and the lobster pasta was fantastic. Prepare to spend some money- a tad expensive. read more

I really don't like giving bad reviews unless they really piss me off and not care about the fact that their customers are truly disappointed. The Oyster house is one of those places, they just don't care about the customers . They might be doing alright because of their location and the beautiful Distillery as a destination but they wont stay in business for long if they continue having such a horrible service. I cant even get into details as it makes me even angrier. read more

Terrible service. Server took our drink order and never came back to take the food order. I asked for the manager and the server told that the manager shows up once in a while and she would grab me next time he stop by. I explained to the manager the situation and he offered to expedite the food order for me. Since my dead is diabetic we couldn't wait any longer. He brought the check and when he noticed I had the Yelp app opened he offered to take something off the check. He took a sangria off but we still had to pay for a beer and a coke. Toronto is an amazing city and had amazing restaurants. This past week I tried several different places. This is the only one I had a problem. read more

The place,food and service is great......one of my favourite

Do not eat here! I found a black parasitic worm in my oyster!!! Soooooo disgusting I wanted to puke. They do not clean their oysters properly and have the worst service EVER! I am usually not one to complain but this has never happened to me and I was a little freaked out.... Seriously do not eat here!! read more

Horrible service! I'm visiting from New York and wanted to check out some restaurants in the neighbourhood. It was after lunch time, 2pm, on Wednseday, May 5. When we asked for a seat, the hostess with long blond?! hair came up to us and told us 20 min. wait. We looked around and it was more than half empty inside and out in the patio as well, The hostess told us with unfriendly tone of voice "the kitchen is busy." I just couldn't believe her indifferent attitude towards customers. If the kitchen is busy, the customers cannot be seated in the restaurant?? I travelled all over the world and this hostess was HORRIBLE! I would not go back there or even recommend to anyone. read more

WORST restaurant experience EVER! My wife and I visited Pure Spirits for the first time with two other female friends of ours (our party consisted of 4 females, ages 25-32). We drove in from Buffalo and arrived in the Distillery District around 1:30pm. We enjoyed one beer each at the Mill Street Brewpub along with a meat and cheese platter. We then headed to Pure Spirits around 3:30pm. We were genuinely excited to try the oyster bar out! As we sat down at the bar, we were immediately impressed with Tyler, the oyster expert. He shared much of his oyster knowledge with us, and we were greatly intrigued by the oyster selection (and education provided by Tyler). We ordered a basket of sweet potato fries to accompany our oysters. The food in general was good. We closed out our $150 check and tipped an additional $80. Three of us work in the service industry as bartenders/servers, so we always appreciate a knowledgeable and friendly server like Tyler. We truly enjoyed the friendliness of the wait staff in the beginning. After closing the tab, we put on our baseball hats and prepared to head to Rogers Center for the Blue Jays game. My wife and I (we're both women) hugged and took a photo together in the restaurant. Then, my friend and I headed outside for a cigarette. We spent about 25 minutes outside talking to other tourists before heading back in to the restaurant. The new bartender coming in (who appeared to be 13 years old) was less than pleased to be introduced to us as we ordered our second beer. Before we knew it, a server we hadn't yet seen came over to inform us that we were "cut-off". We laughed, thinking he was joking, but he was not. After asking to speak with the manager, she finally appeared with a large security guard in tow. The manager, Nadia, offensively accused us of being "intoxicated" and told us we had to leave. One could imagine our surprise. After all, we had only consumed one beer and one shot each over the span of 2 1/2 hours we spent in Pure Spirits. I could understand being asked to leave if we were vulgar and disrespectful around other patrons in the restaurant, but I can assure you this was not the case. Nadia was abrasive, offensive, ignorant, and condescending. She was rather speechless once she realized that we were actually completely coherent and quite sober. We coached her in how she could've better handled the situation and advised her she would've been wise to approach the situation like a professional instead of treating us like common criminals. I doubt such clientele would tip $80 on a $150 oyster tab. Moral of the story: If you are ever dumb enough to patronize such a poorly managed establishment, do not order ANY alcohol! You will immediately be labeled as a belligerent troublemaker. Also, do not hug anyone of the same sex. Gays and lesbians will not be tolerated. Expect to be accused of being "intoxicated" (probably even if you're only drinking water) and escorted out. read more

Our server JC was truly outstanding. The food was excellent, especially the oysters. Wonderful place - will definitely go back.

This place situated in the distillery district where there are no chain restaurants. The entire area the food was expensive so this restaurant as well; however, me and my friend had an great experience at this place! though the food was expensive but the atmosphere was good and our waitress was nice! We had a bottle of wine and I ordered their specialty which was the raw oysters on the half shell (Rasberry Point) there were SOOOO good! Best oysters I ever had though i paid 21$ for 6 but it worth every penny! I would recommend this restaurant if you could afford it. This was our only expensive meal out of the whole trip. read more

Haven't been here in awhile but last time was great. A fresh selection of Maritime oysters and an adequate selection of fish. A nice patio outdoors and a spacious interior. Pricey. read more

Pretty pricey for what you get here but they do have a nice outdoor seating area to lounge in. Had the freshly shucked Oysters, fries and mussels. Place was pretty empty while all the other were pretty busy that is why we came here so we did not have to wait 1-2 hrs for Mill st. across from Pure Spirits. read more

Good spot for a nice meal. Nothing totally over-the-top, but the food is really solid, and the drinks were good. Service is really nice, and what you'd expect for a higher-end restaurant. Super bustling, plenty of people here during the Christmas market. Considering the rush the waitstaff had it down really good. If you're looking for a really unique meal, I'd still pick the place across the street, but if you're feeling like some pretty straight up seafood and other standard Canadiana choices, this is the place to go in the distillery. read more

Came here for drinks and apps and we were seated quickly outside. We ordered the mussels and fries but substituted sweet potato fries. We also ordered a set of regular fries and sangrias. The order came pretty quickly and we started wolfing down the food. The traditional mussels were great - fresh and generous enough to share with two. The broth was good and the mussels were large. The sangrias were fruity and the regular fries were great. Nice atmosphere in the distillery district and we really enjoyed our experience! read more

Very poor services! The server (waitress) did not smile at all, so very unhappy while serving us. At the very beginning she mentioned her name quickly and I did not catch it, so I asked her to repeat. She got upset. I ordered a coffee and my husband just water. She kept asking him what he would like to drink. I guess she was trying to push people to order alcoholic drinks, bad way to do business. After dinner I ordered a coffee refill, thinking that all restaurants give free refill, but got charged $3. So I paid $6 for two cups of lousy coffee. Starbucks coffee is only $2 with free refill. We will not be back to this tourist trap! read more

I am not a big fan of the Distillery District but this was quite good. The hostess may need some work around the edges and it is quite loud. But the oyster selection was excellent and the server was quite knowledgeable. The wine selection was more than sufficient. It's all a bit over priced for my tastes but isn't any oyster restaurant? read more

Not such a great experience on my first outing here. As a side note to my comments, the Boiler House was closed for a private party, so the overflow ended up at Pure Spirits. The restaurant was packed and the only available seating was outdoors. We thought we would brave the patio. Okay, so we are shown our table and it is at the end, the very back of the patio.. in no man's land. It would have been okay had the wind not picked up and started to chill everyone. Oh yes, there were patio heaters... 4 to be exact. There should of been at least 10 for the size of the patio. Server came to take our table immediately and wanted to know if we knew what we wanted to order... we had not even open the menus. So we placed our drink order. Ten minutes later another server came by and wanted to take our order. We mentioned we placed a drink order and he said that it will be coming out. In the meantime, another couple had been seated and got their drinks and appetizers even before we saw anything on our table. Finally, 20 minutes later, the server showed up with the drinks. We decided to stick it out a bit even though we were freezing. We placed orders for appetizers and crossed our fingers. By this time, we decided to just have the appetizers and then leave. The server came back to take our order for the mains, and we told her we would be leaving after the appetizers. At that time she mentioned the kitchen was behind in getting out orders. You think she would have mentioned that when we sat down. We got our appetizers and asked for our bill so we didn't have to track her down later. Appetizers were good. We tried to find her to get our bill and pay. Finally got the bill, paid and left. It was a BAD experience overall. For as many people as were being seated on the patio, there should have been more patio heaters. There weren't enough servers to accommodate the guests on the patio and there should have been some notification by the hostess of the time issues before being seated. Will I be back... don't think so. read more