We dined at Pure Spirits tonite before attending Cavalia. We thought we would 'grab a bite' in the Distillery District but hadn't planned on coming specifically to this restaurant. We will, however, be making a return visit specifically to enjoy their delicious Salt and Pepper Calamari. We didn't have time to risk ordering mains like pasta or seafood so opted for Soup of the Day (Potato & Cauliflower) for me and Clam Chowder for my husband, Spring Rolls and Salt and Pepper Calamari. All were excellent. The calamari had a light tempura batter and the dipping sauce was a red vinegar Asian sauce. We advised our waitress of our tight timeline for getting to the performance and she hit the mark with a couple minutes to spare. We did not see the interior but the patio was gorgeous and jazz music was cool. We will definitely return both for the aforementioned Salt and Pepper Calamari and to sample some of the other dishes we saw other diners enjoying. read more

I can't really comment on the food because when we went to Pure Spirits Oyster House, we were ignored by the waiter for over 20 minutes. We walked out after talking to the manager. The reason we were ignored was because we had 1 baby and 1 toddler with us (4 adults also). Apparently kids are not welcomed on a Saturday evening (we arrived before 6 and chose a table outside). The babes were not doing anything that would annoy anyone else. They were drawing quietly with the kid's menu and crayons that were provided by the hostess. If this establishment doesn't want children then they should not provide high chairs or a kid's menu. In addition, the last time we went there to eat was many years ago and we were a big group. When the bill came with split it and added a tip to our total. We paid using our Visa and the waiter decided to add an additional tip on top of what we had offered (it was already 20% and he added another 20%). I will never eat at this restaurant again read more

The space and location is awesome but the food was meh and the service was impersonal and slow. I wondered if sitting at the bar and sticking with the oysters would have been better than a table. read more

Great place for oysters and seafood. I ordered the tuna and it was amazing. The lucky lime oysters were also yummy. Friendly staff and great atmosphere. Doesn't hurt that its in a great location either. read more

We were extremely disappointed with this place. Our oysters smelt bad. We asked them if we could change 3 of the smelly oysters. They came back with a full new plate and they still weren't the freshest. Then we orders seafood chowder. It was served Luke warm and tasted from out if a can. Possibly one of the worst meals I ever had for the hefty price. I hope I can bring myself to eat oysters again. Service wasn't great either. We were there on Saturday oct 15th outside patio. read more

I absolutely love the look of this place. It's got a good vibe. Food is stellar. Always. The truffle pasta should remain on the menu forever. My only complaint is that we made reservations using OpenTable.com and our reso wasn't in their computer. Not a big deal, but the hostess kind of made me feel like an idiot about it... kind of blunt/sort of rude. That was until I showed her the email and confirmation. We were sat shortly after that. read more

Worst customer service ever. The service started off average; there was no personality in our waiter but we were served our drinks in a timely fashion, had some appetizers and our main's came out at an understandable time for a busy Saturday night. However, the night turned sour after the main dishes were served. Our waiter disappeared and trying to flag down another waiter for service was next to near impossible. We were never asked for a second drink and our water glasses went empty. We waited nearly an hour after our meals were finished (!!) for our waiter, but having wore our patience thin we tracked him down and asked for our bill. It took our waiter an additional 30 minutes (!!!!) to get the bill. Having waited over an hour and a half AFTER the meal was finished to get out bill, we were all in agreement that he deserved absolutely no tip. As we left the restaurant the waiter had the balls to confront us and make some crude statement along the lines of "Is that what you've give as your final total for that meal?" (!!!!!!!!). Having had enough we just left the restaurant and all bitched on the way out. Looking back, I wish I had called the manager and had the waiter reprimanded. I would never eat here again and I make it a point to complain about this place any opportunity I get. read more

Ordered ribeye and burger. Not bad. Friendly service. Beautiful area in distillery but food is nothing special. Buck a shuck on Tuesday was the highlight read more

Absolutely disgusting. I was given a fishy salmon crab roll along with an appetizer that was basically water and cucumber. The waiter was very unfriendly so I tipped him 10% while my girlfriend tipped 3%, I laughed since she did a better job then I did. Never come here. Also, the oysters were bad. read more

I am giving it 5 stars because the food was amazing, I loved the ambiance, the people who worked there were very friendly, but the service wasn't 5 stars. Our wine was served after the food was sent out, and it was hard to get our server to come to the table. However, the food was SO good. The lobster pasta dish? Ridiculous. I'm so glad we went here during our time in Toronto. It was a blast. read more

Went there for dinner with my husband our appetizers were less than appetizing, my crab cake seemed rushed and thrown into too hot oil, the only good thing were the oysters, I guess making ice to keep them cool is not too demanding of the staff. Our entrees were a disaster, his lamb chops were over cooked and my black cod on "fresh, seasonal" summer vegetables looked like a bag of frozen peas and carrots had vomited on my plate. The cod was drenched in oil and the size was ridiculous, I have bigger pieces of cod in my freezer! We sent our meals back and decided to give them another chance. I opted to change my meal to what my husband was having, this time around the meat was made to order but our green beans were RAW and sweet potato overcooked, we tried to overlook this because things were just getting too ridiculous but after several attempts to eat the raw veggies we finally brought it to the attention of the staff, they re-fired them up and came back slightly more palatable. Still trying to give the restaurant a chance to redeem themselves we decided to order dessert thinking this could make up for the previous dishes. While we waited for dessert the manager sent over some complimentary chocolate strawberries, this was nice, or so we thought. We ate the strawberries and dessert arrived, we shared a cheesecake topped with fruits and raspberry "compote" which was more like a runny raspberry sauce and then I cut the inside of my lip on egg shells!! This dinner could not get any worse!! We finally asked for the bill only to find out that we were billed for those "complimentary" strawberries! They did take off a small portion of the bill but the vibe we got from the staff was that we were looking to be compensated and were somehow sabotaging the meal ourselves due to the ridiculous amount of incidents we encountered. That negative vibe coupled with the insulting slap in the face charge for the strawberries was that last straw, we demanded to pay for the full bill (minus the strawberries) and vowed never to return to such an ill managed establishment. We did tip the waiter only because the poor sap really was clueless and didn't know what to do with himself once it all started to fall apart around him. When we tried to explain to the "acting" manager why we were suddenly and rightfully way over due in being upset with the whole situation he too was clueless. He just could not wrap his head around why it would be insulting to a customer to bill them for "complimentary" strawberries. Save your time, appetite, and money do not go to this restaurant or risk being treated poorly. read more

Warm cozy atmosphere, although the tables down the middle feel cramped and vulnerable. If you can go with a 4 or less people and get a booth, that's probably most comfortable. The food was good, I had some oysters which had great accompaniments, and the mussels and fries. The fries were undercooked, which I should have sent back. However, the provincial mussels were delicious, the broth was perfect. It seems everyone else enjoyed their meals too. read more

Went here at my mothers suggestions for a birthday lunch, I'm glad we did. Stopped in about 3:30 and the restaurant was reasonably quiet and we got seated right away. Our server came we ordered drinks and oysters with the help of his suggestions. My mom and her fried sampled the kuushi, lucky lime and malpeque oysters and were very pleased with all of them. The freshly grated horseradish and three sauces were delicious. I ordered the pure spirits pappardelle pasta with wild mushrooms and lobster, my mom and her friend ordered the lamb sandwich. Both dishes were spectacular, the pasta was flavourful and light; the lamb sandwich came with wonderful crispy fries and a salad on the side. I also ordered the Kentucky Iced tea, it was pricy but really strong so I get the price point. Our food came out quickly, our server (I think his name was lance) was charming and knew the menu very well, helping us make choices with the oysters. Our experience was lovely and if we are in the area again will definitely be back! read more

Pure Spirits - Papperdelle pasta with wild mushrooms and lobster - Seafood Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

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I have been a server and bartender in many different restaurants over the course of the last ten years, and, being in the industry, I find myself much more tolerant of everything that could possibly go wrong with the average dining experience. This will be the first review I have ever written, because Pure Spirits has set a new standard bar for me, so here goes.... I was part of the group mentioned in a previous review here, "4 girls get thrown out for being too intoxicated", and although Deanna touches on the rather important facts of the situation, I feel compelled to express my own personal view. Our first experience in the Distillery district, we grabbed a beer and some appetizers at one of the open bar patios, all of us logging in to facebook and posting our photos and cheersing for the camera, nursing our first round because we were so preoccupied making sure our status updates looked good. Knowing there were oysters not far away, I hurried everyone along to Pure Spirits, and we chose a spot at the bar right in front of the oysters and the oyster ninja, Tyler. Tyler was awesome, shared his knowledge with us, joked around with us, but, most importantly, kept feeding us oysters. The daytime bartender, wanting to join in on the fun we were having, gave us a round of shots to compliment our round of beers, and to wash down all the oysters with. Tequila. mmm. So, 2 beers and a shot in, over the course of about 3 hours, we're all feeling pretty good and getting pumped up for the dodgers/jays game, so we pay our $150 tab, and tip an extra $80 between the bartender and Tyler. After stepping outside for a smoke, we went back inside to grab another beer and start getting ready to put on our game faces. Hats on, a few hoots and hollers to show our team spirit (perhaps it was the oysters kicking in??), I order another beer from Mikey, the new bartender. Oh, mikey, mikey, mikey....were we too intimidating to a young man like yourself? Overbearing? Were the baseball caps a little too "Murican" for your taste? Your ever so uncordial greeting and your lack of professionalism to talk to us directly is what started this whole snowball rolling....because after not bringing the beers we ordered, and then leaving the bar, the ten minute span left me wondering (and thirsty!!), so that upon asking Tyler what happened to my beer, he is forced to leave his job to find you to figure out what happened. And when some other server/bartender whom we hadn't seen yet came over to do your job for you and tell us that we were cut off, my first reaction was "how does this 12 year old kid have a job here?", followed by, "I would like to see a manager, please." This is where it gets fun.... Oh, Nadia, Nadia, Nadia......did you have to send over your bodyguard first? I am assuming he is your personal bodyguard because you are so terrible at your job and like the thought of protection from 4 very loud and rowdy 'Murican girls, and I also can't imagine that at 4 in the afternoon in a restaurant setting you would need a bouncer. So, I'll call him "Linebacker", and I hope he considers a career change because we could use someone his size on the bills. So, Linebacker walks over to stand next to us while we all wait for Nadia to come walking over, hopefully with some answers to my questions, namely, "why are we cut off???!!!". Which is the first question I ask. So when her explanation was that her bartender found us to be too intoxicated to consume any more alcohol, our initial reaction, Laughter, fell out of all our mouths, and the second question, "No, really, why?" followed. Her stone cold reaction was that we needed to get out, and now. Well, with Linebacker standing there looking all tough, and pure shock written all over our faces, we left. But, after walking out, I personally was a little upset, and I'm not the type to just let something lie, so I felt the need to go back and speak with Nadia on a more personal level. I couldn't get over the fact that we were not intoxicated, and I like to call things how they are. So, I wanted her to tell me the real reason she was kicking us out, whether that be that they don't like gay people (2 of the girls in our group are a married couple and had been slightly affectionate for a photo op, which of course went for another status update), or perhaps they just don't like rowdy and loud 'Muricans, or maybe, just maybe, Nadia had been misinformed by her staff, in which case we would have accepted an apology of sorts. The conversation that ensued, a coherent conversation mind you, let Nadia know that we were not intoxicated, and we touched on the fact that she is extremely unprofessional and clearly not qualified to manage staff nor clientele. If you do choose to patronize this establishment, something I will never do again, please tell Nadia I said "Shuck You!!!" and whatever you do, don't enjoy yourself or you'll be accused of being intoxicated. read more

Food was okay but the service was a little slow. I think I waited an hour before I was able to get my waiters attention for the bill. Kind of ridiculous especially on a Monday night where the restaurant was at less than half capacity. Moreover the waiter did not inform me or my partner of the specials. If I'm in distillery again I may return but I wouldn't make a point of visiting in the future. read more

Great location in the distillery with a nice outside patio by the cobblestone street. With the exception of the "duo of tuna", which was pretty good, the food was a big let down. read more

OMG one of the worst fine dining experiences ever. for the prices they charge, i'd expect way more. just because theyr're in the distillery district they think they can charge those prices but it's so totally wrong. their whole restaurant smelled awful, like rank fish, but not just rank fish, but when fish gets past the point of rank and starts to smell like fecal matter. like the zoo. yuck! i even had to send fish back... it was so bad. i don't remember the last time i've sent fish back. mussels, yes, at cantine in yorkville during summerlicious (horrible), but fish?! usually restos can cook out that rank smell but that smell was completely embedded in all of the fish had to offer. i can tell you one thing, that pure spirits is purely rank... pure bacterial culturing going on on the surface of all fish and seafood here. the whole resto stinks and the food was awful. i went there because of their nice website and a friend wanted to try but both items i ordered (whitefish, then sent it back to the kitchen and ordered the calamari) were not so fresh. you could taste the fecal/rotten fish/zoo taste. I don't know what else to say other than it tasted like what the zoo smelled like, which is animal poo, which is waaay too much bacteria!...meaning it went bad. toronto has such low standards for fine dining, and i say that as someone who's lived in toronto my entire life! i just get to travel and taste food from other regions and i realize that we could be doing much better than what we have to work with. awful. never go. WAY OVERPRICED... the patio is nice and the service is friendly (but fake).. definitely not worth the price, even if fresh. the ingredients were very basic and no culinary expertise went into it at all. probably one of my worst seafood dining experiences in a while! read more

Went here for AYCE mussels on Mondays, with a group of 4. Seated without any problems at 6PM, started getting pretty busy around 7. There were two flavours for the mussels, traditional and thai curry. The thai curry flavour was pretty good, but all of us thought traditional was the winner hands down. Got the mussels with fries, which were okay, and the bread was pretty good. Would go again if craving lots of mussels. Our waitress was great, but service slowed down a little when it got busier (which is reasonable). Overall would go again. read more

Service was extremely slow...painful. Cesar salad was awesome. Rest of the food was good but if you eat here make sure you have 2 to 3 hours to wait for the food and drinks. read more

Visited the Distillery yesterday with an old friend. We first had lunch here and what a dissapointment. We both had fish and chips and the fish was basically inedible. Not cooked properly and quite tough. The wine/beer selection was ok and we didn't complain as it was a congenial day out at the Christmas market and I didn't want to cause a fuss and spoil the day. Maybe that was there only 'off' dish, but I would be very reluctant to return. read more

We had 6 people and sat at the bar since all the tables were booked with reservations. Great wine selection. We ordered 3 dozen oysters and a diver scallop between all of us. Amazing oysters and great selection! I was missing the cocktail sauce though. :( The scallop was great with an awesome pico de gallo atop. The staff was friendly. read more

It was our first time at Pure Spirits Oyster House and Grill to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary with a casual Saturday lunch. The Hostess was very friendly, and Ben was very professional, attentive, and fast. The delightful little lady server (I believe she was Fillipina) was smiling all the time. The bread ... oh the bread ... wow!!! We enjoyed our lunch thoroughly. The oyster poi boy was out of this world! Thank you! read more

Nice location, decor is well-done but chairs are very uncomfortable. Food is okay, but nothing to rave about. It was slow and came out cold. Service was horrible. The staff were not friendly and our waitress was slow, rude and condescending. I would not recommend this place and we would not go back. read more

After dining at PSOHG I was pretty surprised to look them up on Yelp and find such a low rating. My experience was pleasant. Showed up for a late lunch on July 1st, Canadian Independence day for you Americans. There was a 10 minute wait for patio seating but well worth it. We decided to graze for the day so only ordered half a dozen oysters (I forget which kind) and a bowl of their Malaysian style mussels. The mussels, although a bit overcooked (shrinking) had the most amazing sauce. My date and I couldn't stop dipping our bread in the sauce. Definitely give the beer, patio and Malaysian sauced mussels if you get the opportunity. read more

Have not been here since the place first opened, and so returning to a Sunday Brunch I was pleasantly surprised. Sat at the bar while we waited for a patio table despite plenty of inside ones. Had a special brunch menu which was reasonable in price and acceptable in quality & quantity. Service & atmosphere (weather co-operated) excellent. Will come back again one evening for dinner but it is a little bit out of the way if one does not have a car. Although a taxi is not too expensive from Yonge & Front. read more

We were there on the past Saturday night for a dinner with 4 other couples. The restaurant had very nice ambiance and the server as well as the hostess did the best they could but there seems to be something wrong with their procedures. Our table ordered 4 orders of the chef picnic and one couple ordered appetizers and pasta. We also had 2 bottles of white and one bottle of red. The wine took 40 mins to arrive from the time we ordered and the chefs picnic took over an hour from the time it was ordered. We were told by the server that the oysters will be coming first as an appetizer followed by the rest of the meal but it all came together. The menu appetizers and pastas took much less time to arrive which made for some awkward timing at the table. When we asked for extra condiments - pepper and Parmesan - the waiter told us that he asked someone else to get it but they didn't do it. The pulled pork that came with the chefs picnic was not fresh and tasted dry and stale. The pasta, although well cooked and flavourful was extremely salty to the point where it was almost bitter. Unfortunately, we did not enjoy the dining experience as much as we had hoped. read more

the truffle sauce pasta tastes great, but the recommended one is...ummm...maybe I'll not have it next time.

We decided to go somewhere after the person taking our reservation for 9pm said that their kitchen is closing in an hour and was sounding we should come another time as if we will intrude on their closing duties. Mist restaurant will tell you no worry, just come and we will try to serve you right away. read more

I came in with a group of 5 and we were aged from low 20s to mid 20s. I guess we weren't up to par with their standards of what their guests should be like because we were told that there were no tables available when it was clear that there was. Will never come back here after the disgusting treatment and will definitely be telling our friends and family. read more

Great food. Outside , the oysters and mussels were very good. The burger was nicely smoked. Great service .

Underwhelmed. Just got back from dinner here. Had made a reservation about 6 days in advance and left a message confirming the reservation mentioning that it was my husband's birthday and that we would like a nice table outside if possible... Table was inside, service less than mediocre. Requested wine, didn't come till into main course. They did absolutely nothing regarding the fact it was a birthday evening though other tables had singing etc. When mentioned the waitress said "oh I didn't know, do you want some fruit or something?" Pretty sad, especially after making a reservation so far in advance... Food greasy and borderline cold. read more

Deadly slow and poor service. Food is mediocre.

Burger Wass ok just nothing special. Théorêt signature pasta dish as well was just ok. Over priced for what they offer. For the same price I would go to Chase or Buca. service was extremely friendly read more

The oysters are fresh and tasty but not cheap. They have a great selection ranging in price from $2.50_$4 each. The seafood dishes are great. I have been here several times for dinner and have never been disappointed. The dinner prices range between $19- $40 with the average per dinner entree around $30. So for 2 ppl with entrees and oysters you should be expecting to pay $100 with NO alcohol. Still it's good food ;) read more

Came here for Winterlicious lunch on Sunday (Feb 3, 2013) for the party of 5. There was no wait on the table and we got a table besides the window. The window table with fixed bench can usually accommodate 2-4 people and they put one chair at the end which is not ideal but we were ok. We all opted for Winterlicious menu. 3 of us ordered PEI mussels Provençal with White Wine, Tomatoes and fresh herbs. 1 of us could not eat shell seafood so she ordered mixed garden leaves, red quinoa, pomegranate and blue cheese. The name sounds fancy but it is just a green salad. 1 of us ordered a wildflower honey soup which my friend found it very sweet. For entree 2 of us order fish and chips and the rest ordered slow roast prime rib baguette. Both dishes come with French fries but it was over cooked. The portion of entrees was adequate but since we are all small eaters it was ok. The best of all Winterlicious dishes are dessert. I ordered toffee cake, 3 of us ordered cream brûlée and one of us ordered apple cobbler with ice-cream. Overall we were quite satisfied with the overall dining experience. However, 4 of us got sick after going to this restaurant. We pretty much had the same symptoms (high fever, diarrhea, stomach ache, feeling cold and headache). Only 4 of us ate Mussels and 1 of us did not eat and she was fine. I went to the doctor and he confirmed it's some viruses and possibly from food. We all believed that it is the Mussel. DO NOT eat Mussel in this restaurant! Not sure if their oysters which are specialty of this restaurant were from the same origin. read more

wow...what a terrible disappointment. last night's dinner was shameful i'd say. Seems we waited 15 minutes to get our drinks but the main courses arrived as we were still eating our apps. The waiter did not engage us at all and not exactly sure what he was doing there on a friday night when everyone is out to have a good time. i ordered the arugula/quinoa roasted veggies salad and we were hunting for the quinoa and the roasted veggies. oh i found one but it looked like it had been around for a week. the dressing was full on vinegar that it was not tolerable. The salad went aside and got picked up by the busboy. He later informed me that the salad came off the bill....other extreme disappointments were the seared tuna (ordered by two of us). the tuna itself was good but the noodles and veggies were swimming in soy. arg! The squid was rubbery and too well done. all in all a bad evening with terrible service and at $100.00 a person it was shameful. oh and by the way the salad never came off the bill but we just wanted to get out of there. read more

Never disappointed with this place but never wowed either. Great location for distillery district and of course they know their oysters!

Great food and quality service. The patio is lovely and so are the surroundings. Consistent and a go-to for our family for dinner or brunch!

I must say the food was good. This star rating is about the waiter. The waiter has no patience and didn't even try to explain the menu. While asked about the type of the dark beer he just said 'I'll bring you the darkest one' and it ended up an IPA which we don't prefer. Throughout our visit he didn't give us any needed help and showed obvious no respect. And by the end of it we still give 15% for the tips on top of the total bill (I don't want the other staff suffer from his lapse service) and guess what -- he was quickly took the receipt from the machine and almost through it to me and walked away. I must say that the girls in front desk were pretty nice. The waiter, maybe he is the owner? We visited on June 11, 2016. read more

Dined here last night and it was the worst dining experience I've probably ever had. I ordered The Mediterranean chicken. It cake out with no walnuts on it but worst of all the chicken was bone dry. I told my waiter who took it back to the kitchen. My waiter then came out and said sorry but all the chicken will be dry. He asked me to order something different. There was nothing else on the menu I wanted so he took it back to the kitchen again. He came back again and said the chef won't make me a new one because it will be dry again. Never has a chef ever refused to remake a dish I was unsattisfied with. Horrible service! So I was forced to eat a chewy and hard to swallow dry chicken dish. And for $27 too. I will never return to this restaurant! read more