Had a perfect early birthday dinner tonight! Started with the door being held open for us by one of the staff. When seated, noticed there was a card on the table with a birthday message! Service throughout the night was spectacular! All the staff were very informative, topped up water consistently, swapped out cultery every course, and were generally so easy to converse with. Not going to talk about every dish since the menu changes seasonally, but will highlight some of them. We did enjoy all of them though. Our favourite of the night was the Snow Crab Tartlets -- It was so well balanced being creamy, fresh, with a bit of tartness. The most surprising/interesting dish was the cheese course -- salty, but countered with sweetness. The little birthday cake was also a nice added touch. Overall, very cozy, intimate restaurant, but not stuffy or pretentious, that serves up a really good tasting menu that is priced fairly. Would definitely go back again. read more

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Great restaurant with good service. Dining room was full so I had the bar menu. Ordered everything but the smoke trout and the tuna were the best. The bacon wrapped mussel skewers were great too. Pork was good. Veal was good too. Bread was soft. Lentils were good. We ordered double of the trout, mussels and tuna. The blackberry dessert was a bit of a miss. Head chef is leaving so not sure what the quality will look like in 2026. Venue was intimate with a moderate noise level. read more

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Let's preface that the ratings don't lie BUT food and service is top notch 5/5 for sure. Rated as one of the Top 100 Canada Restaurants, this accolade is partially deserved. I wished that I would give a 5 stars but I cannot due to their shady business practices. When booking the reservation, there is zero mention of a FORCED 20% gratuity when they proclaimed it was a "no tipping restaurant". A no tipping restaurant that forces customers to pay 20% gratuity, especially if the food and wines are expensive, is just shady. There is mention of 20% gratuity only if you scroll all the way, click on the tiny FAQ link, and nested in there a mention of it. The only place they listed it, intentionally hiding their claim. Nowhere on the menu or the restaurant stated a forced 20% gratuity. I would have made this a 1 star review because of their shady business practices, but I was able to call them out of their practices and get the forced 20% gratuity removed from the check to stick to their principles of a no tipping restaurant, so I bumped the review to 3 stars. On to the food, we got the scallops, beef carpaccio, and trout. The scallops were very fresh and came with a nice bread and butter to start. Beef carpaccio has a nice tender texture, same for the trout. Scallops to start were ironically the heaviest dish, but it was satisfying nonetheless. Service is excellent as they check up on you regularly and provide plentiful water refills. Nothing was rushed nor too slow, and the cadence was good. read more

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Walking by 20 Victoria, you may not even notice that there's a restaurant here. There is barely any signage, and this minimal approach carries through to its interior. When we walked in, we were greeted with the buzz of a full house on a Friday evening, but it felt like we had stepped into somebody's cozy living room. In the center, there were a few chefs doing their magic in a completely open kitchen. Next time, I'm definitely nabbing a bar seat to be able to observe their work. From start to finish, service was impeccable. There were two main wait staff monitoring all the tables, and their attention to detail was undeniable. Between courses, any crumbs (usually from their delectable milk bread) were swiftly swept from our surface. For a table of 6 next to us, I observed them approach the table in sync so that both sides would get their dishes at the exact same time. My favourites from the 7-course tasting menu were: 1) Sauteed greens with ajo blanco 2) Pan-seared scallops with guanciale and cherry tomato sauce 3) Bluefin tuna sashimi with pear ginger slaw There were one or two dishes that leaned on the salty side, but flavours were overall on point. Each course was explained in detail, and I loved learning about ingredients I hadn't come across before. 20 Victoria 100% earned their Michelin star. Mark your calendars to make a reservation https://www.exploretock.com/restaurant20victoria! read more

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If you love tasting menus like I do, Twenty Victoria likely offers one of the most affordable ones in Toronto. Through a prepayment on Tock, the non-refundable six-course meal is set at $175 per person and is inclusive of gratuities (but before taxes) meaning the only thing that needs to be settled at the restaurant are drinks (beverage menu prices also includes gratuities). The first dish, kanpachi and oca root, combines slices of raw fish with a root vegetable that's described as "a cousin of the potato" and tastes like a starchier jicama. While it looks like sashimi, when the kanpachi is mixed with the crunchy diced oca root, olive oil, citrus, and basil seedlings, the dish tastes more ceviche. It was a vibrant starter that happened to coincide with tropical music being played in the dining room (a mere coincidence), the happy music putting us at ease that it wouldn't be a stuffy meal. What seemed like A LOT of sauce arrived with the trout and egg. Yet, the whipped hollandaise-like sauce carried a lightness that didn't overpower the rich fish and even worked solo with pieces of fallen fish roe. Ultimately, throughout the menu, we found the balance of richness and lightness was what made Twenty Victoria excel - serving a decadent ingredient with something refreshing or at least restrained so that you can continue through the menu without feeling gross. Pairing chopped walnuts with scallops wouldn't have been my first choice, but it wasn't terrible either. The slightly cooked through nuts added a bit of texture against the soft scallops, which were perfectly seared and served with a lovely creamy sauce. In this dish, the raw celery (?) leaves provided a bright element to counteract the buttery condiment. With the scallops comes their bread course, a magnificent loaf that needs to be sold to go. Hot and crispy, the dark brown crust breaks away to reveal a milky airy centre. It's their version of Japanese milk bread, which makes complete sense after the explanation as my husband found it resembled a lighter brioche while it tasted like a richer pain au lait for me. Regardless, I only wish I didn't devour it all as the bread would also go well with the next dish. My advice for you, save a quarter. This is a long review, for the rest go to Gastro World. read more

Restaurant 20 Victoria - Canadian (New) Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

Part of a longer review... Restaurant 20 Victoria is an intimate space with a wide-open kitchen as a focal point--there's no bad seat in the house. It also happens to be one of the most coveted restaurant reservations in Toronto since it opened in the summer of 2021--and for good reason. The restaurant marks the long-awaited return of Chris White and Jonathan Nicolaou, who closed their critically acclaimed restaurant, Brothers Food & Wine, amidst the pandemic. Located at 20 Victoria Street in the heart of Toronto's financial district, the restaurant strikes the right balance between elegant and cozy, with only 20 seats inside and a small outdoor patio. Due to its limited seating capacity, it's not uncommon for reservations to be booked months in advance. read more

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I came here with a friend, and we were very excited to get reservations at 20 Victoria three weeks later, which is also recommended in the Michelin guide for Toronto. Our experience started with our reservations at 5:30 pm. We were immediately greeted and led to our seats in a corner in the back. My friend ordered a glass of wine, and I ordered a cocktail that was an elevated Aperol Spritz. They had two cocktails to offer with a more extensive wine list. Our meal started strong, with dishes with robust flavours and attentive service; however, as the night got longer and the restaurant became busier, the plates became saltier, and we were not impressed by the combination of flavours; we waited longer for service. Our least favourite dish was the desserts, which was a poor finish for our dining experience. As we had already pre-paid for our meal online which includes tip and tax, we still needed to pay for our drinks which included a 20% service fee + HST. After a long meal, we went to look for our jackets, among many other jackets, on a coat stand. The server saw that we were trying to find it and said we would have to search around for it - not something we would have expected for a fine dining experience. We left the restaurant at 8 pm. The menu changes daily, and the restaurant uses fresh and seasonal ingredients. The dishes can look simple, but the restaurant uses different techniques to deliver a well-executed meal with complex flavours. However, we had high expectations and were not impressed with our experience towards the latter end of our dining experience. read more

I felt like I was in someone's living room and they were feeding me. It was so delicious and so romantic. Expensive but worth it. The staff were the best staff I have ever come across. read more

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Food was great as was service so you're probably wondering about the 3 stars. The restaurant advertises itself as no gratuity, which is a direction i love, with employees being paid living wage/benefits etc. and the additional expenses worked into food prices. But bill came with 20% added tip and when enquired was advised their system hasn't been updated yet. I get that but then don't advertise yourself as no gratuity restaurant until your systems are updated. We also had to ask for our reservation deposit (we were bar seating) to be applied against the bill. Apparently it's supposed to happen automatically but appears there isn't sufficient controls. On top of that the credit is applied in the most obtuse way, as a discount to each item ordered so you also have to do some math to verify the correct amount was credited. While food was delicious and prepared beautifully value wise wasn't the greatest. If they went head to head with Alder, Alder would win hands down. I want to emphasize that aside from issues stated service was fantastic. All that said though the combo of events has me leaning on not going back and I just can't give a place I wouldn't go back to more than 3 stars. read more

Restaurant 20 Victoria - No tip statement at reservation time - Canadian (New) Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

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Yummy food. Pleasant experience until we got the cheque. The catch: forced to add a twenty percent non-negotiable tip which wasn't printed on the menu in the bar. Normally restaurants or bars print "eighteen percent gratuity added for groups of six or more" and then at least you know when choosing menu items. This is super illegal to upcharge bar customers. Tips are optional in Ontario. We would have ordered less or at least budgeted accordingly if the menu was honest and forthright. It's almost like they hope drunk patrons don't notice the extra mandatory cost. WTF. Buyer beware. Go eat at places that actually do it right: https://www.narcity.com/toronto/6-ontario-restaurants-dont-accept-tips-heres-how-theyre-doing-things-differently For example: "Richmond Station in Toronto, a favourite in the city's food scene, adopted a no-tipping policy in 2020. Instead of accepting tips, they increased the prices of their food and drinks to include a "hospitality included" approach. This means that customers pay only for what they see on the menu. "There's no like surprise or gratuity at the end of the bill, and if anyone tries to leave a tip, we say no," Sophie Poulton" I believe Beast pizza restaurant also gets it right but not mentioned in the list. So many better options. read more

I was not planning on leaving an online review for 20 Victoria after our disappointing our experience there. I even reached out directly to the restaurant to provide feedback and see if there could be a resolution that would make me feel better about our experience, but after being given an incomplete boilerplate response which didn't even address half of our concerns, I have decided to post a review to warn others on what they can expect from this establishment: We (my partner and I) came for the 7 course dinner on Friday May 24th for the 8:30pm seating. When we arrived there was nothing flagging that we would end up having the experience we did, except that we were greeted with a disingenuous "Welcome back, nice to see you again", despite never having dined there before. The dinner started off lovely but the service was a little slower than expected (1.5 hrs to receive our first three courses). The first flag came with the wine: I had requested a rose or an orange wine, as they were listed on the menu. When the server returned, he brought a rose and a white and did not mention orange wine at all. Both bottles he brought were in the $150-160 range, although the bottle of rose he brought (which was $150) was listed on the menu as $85, creating some confusion to start with. We ended up selecting the rose, as that was the closest to the wine I actually asked for. After this the experience really started to go downhill. The food was excellent, I will say, I have no complaints about that. The white asparagus dish was not particularly to my taste (the server made a comment about it being "too rich" for me, which I found a strange comment to make), but that is a matter of personal taste, it was not objectively bad or anything. This is when the service really started to speed up (this was probably 10:30pm by this point) to the point where it felt rushed and not relaxing or enjoyable. At one point my partner got up to use the washroom, and in the seven minutes that he was gone I was asked twice if he was "done with it". After being asked the second time, I relented and said yes, fine, take it away. When my partner returned and realized that his food had been taken, he was extremely disappointed. Now verging on 11-11:30pm, the final courses felt like they were rushed through. We ended up having to take our dessert to go. If the timing had been properly planned, we would not have had to wait 25-30 minutes between the first three courses. However the lack of swiftness in the first part of our dinner led to the second part feeling rushed and not enjoyable. We also noticed that although the chef spent plenty of time conversing with the other tables (upwards of 15 minutes), at no point did they spend any time with us. This is not something that I particularly desired, but when one sees everyone else given this service except personally, it does feel a little like we were ignored or left out. Sensing our displeasure, the server, with concern, asked multiple times "Is everything ok?" The final disappointment came when we received our bill. Although the restaurant description on Tock says the "prices are inclusive of the service fee", we noticed a 20% service fee added on. This is not inclusive pricing. The service fee is on top of the total cost of the bill, not the cost for the prix-fixe meal, which is not adequately communicated when making a reservation, or even in the FAQ section. That is where it seems like most people seem to encounter confusion (if the online reviews are any indication). The website simply states that "pricing is inclusive of the 20% service fee". It is implied that the 20% service fee is embedded into the price of everything, not just the prix fixe options. Perhaps stating that "the prix fixe options are priced inclusively, and a service fee of 20% applies to any additional items ordered outside of the prix fixe dinner (ie. wine)" would make it clearer to people. There were also burnt out lights in the dining room. Small detail, but shows the level of care and attention to details they have. Not a good look for fine dining on a Friday evening. Wednesday maybe, but not a Friday. I reached out to the restaurant after our experience to give them the opportunity to address some of our concerns, and we basically got a boilerplate response that addressed only a couple of the issues that we brought up, wasn't signed by anyone personally, and essentially just said "Sorry you had that experience". This is a place that makes it seem like you should be lucky to be eating there, that it is a privilege to dine there, which is why people choose this place for special occasions, etc. We spent over $700 and honestly would have had a better time at an O&B restaurant. The fact that we brought up our concerns directly with the establishment (rather than putting them on blast online) and at first were thanked for "starting a dialogue", only to be brushed off, felt like all they care about is your money. Avoid. read more

Restaurant 20 Victoria - Canadian (New) Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

I went back to 20 Victoria and had the most wonderful meal with very attentive and personalized service. This is becoming one of my favourite restaurants, if not my favourite restaurant in the city. The food was absolutely delightful, and what a finisher- the pistachio cake was so divine. We will be back very soon. Thank you for existing!!! read more

I ordered scallops, beef tartare, and duck. Everything is fine except the beef tartare; someone goofed and added way too much salt to it. What a letdown. read more

How could a meal so impeccably cooked be so... boring? I just couldn't decide what to write for a restaurant that clearly has such a beloved following (I think we were the only table that wasn't greeted personally by kitchen staff at some point during the evening). So here goes. Our menu - fried oyster 'snack', swordfish crudo, trout, sformato with peas & caviar, zucchini, pork with collards and a strawberry sponge cake. Every course was clearly signalling "light", "clean", "restrained" - to a fault. Similarly the wine pairings were all described as clean or fresh, with emphasis on not being too lush or fruity. However to my palette without exception they were all ascerbic verging on sour - all tasted green and unripe and frankly unpleasant and did not enhance the food. What it all added up to was expensive, impeccably cooked food, so restrained that we all felt that we'd been cheated out of the special occasion we wanted. We hoped for Alo but got weight watchers. read more

Tiny joint...truculent attitude! I stopped by Restaurant 20 Victoria at 3:05 this afternoon. I politely informed a woman at the entrance that I live down the street and would like to see a menu either in print form or on a tablet etc. She told me that they don't have a menu of any kind. I told her that I'm planning a gathering - seeking a patio. Since no menu information is available, I asked her what might be served for an onsite patio gathering for four customers. She curtly exclaimed "Perhaps this is not the place for you" and suggested that I "try Mercatto around the corner on Toronto Street" as it may be "more for you". ( Because she knows me so well!) Stunned, I asked her to confirm the current name of the establishment for the record. She flatly refused to provide the name. Insulting and indeed condescending to be sure. Her stupid comments were delivered just mere hours following the resurrection of outdoor foodservice operations locally AND only days after a local print reporter quoted co-owner Chris White as saying; "We have been sitting on our 20 Victoria space since last June. We've just been waiting". "The pandemic forced us to take a year and a half to stare at our lives and think about what we want them to look like." "We just want to be restaurant people". "Then everything stopped. We watched our industry get ripped out of our hands overnight". Okay pal. Want to be "restaurant people"? Want to recover your nil income since June 2020? etc. etc? Start by informing your snobby staff that COVID-19 has been a DISASTER for restaurants in Canada. Tell them that "Half of restaurants may not survive the summer". (Restaurants Canada-June 17, 2021) Notify your employees that hundreds of thousands of F&B jobs remain lost - many forever. Oh, and by the way, there is no Mercatto "around the corner". read more

Incredible night at 20 Victoria. I had not been to Brothers -- a major regret, but I'm thankful I could experience such amazing food and attentive service tonight. Firstly, the food - haven't had a meal like that in a long time. Each course was seasonal and perfectly balanced, with astonishing flavours and innovative touches. The squab was excellent, paired with a smoky eggplant sauce. The sweetbreads were perfect. The dessert course in particular was shockingly good and unexpected. The price they're asking is also just unbelievably good value for cooking of this calibre. Everywhere else comparable to this place in Toronto is charging 1.5-2x the cost of 20V's menu. Secondly, the service. Reading these other reviews has me a bit surprised. My guest and I had warm and attentive service -- water being filled automatically, knowledgeable staff, eagerness to answer questions about the food, personable and good conversation. Never pretentious or obtrusive.. I didn't have a bad interaction all night. I can't speak for the other reviewers but I'd say to keep in mind that: 1. restaurants are recovering from COVID, so have some understanding and kindness; 2. this restaurant is still quite new and growing pains are expected; 3. this is one of the hottest restaurants in town right now and getting a seat is not necessarily going to be easy If you're looking for some serious, inventive cooking and excellent service, and don't mind navigating getting a table, look no further. read more

The meal started out fantastic but then two of the plates were way too salty for our tastes. The chocolate cake dessert had a chemical taste, and the chocolate flavour just wasn't there. The cherry clafoutis had great texture and flavor, and I only wish it had a few more cherries. They really have to get the salt under control. The service was very attentive. People were shouting in the restaurant, because the music was too loud. read more

My review will be a bit biased as we are huge fans of the former Brothers. Different concept and even better. Not for anyone looking for old favourite menu items and not open to trying new ingredients and/or preparations. Always creative using fresh and seasonal ingredients, every bite can be complex or subtle but always a surprise. Tasting menu with choice of mains and desserts. Service is always exceptional. Chris and company will look after you as if you were the only ones in the restaurant. One of the toughest tables to get in the city. Some of the previous reviews sound like sour grapes. By the way, don't fall in love with a particular dish, and you will, as the menu changes based on what is seasonal, available and what the exceptional chefs dream up. Tip included in price, much in favour. Can't wait for our next visit. read more

Lovely dinner in the bar room at 20 Victoria. The service was warm and impeccable, the food was delicious and the space is sophisticated. We had the black cod crudo, asparagus, strip loin, salad and a fresh Ontario strawberry dessert that was to die for! It was my friend's birthday and she was wished happy birthday by multiple staff and Chris made sure to come by at the end of the night to say goodbye. We were there for close to three hours and never felt rushed. This is how restaurants should be!! read more

In the phone message it was said that for October reservations they will take place starting at noon on the 14th of September - so I called at 12:01 got a voice mail - left message -no one called back - just tried again at 4 and voice mail said October was all booked up - really pissed off - gives me an idea of the respect they have for previous customers read more

An excellent night all-around! Wonderful service from Scott and staff and an absolutely delicious five or six (I lost count!) course tasting menu (with choice of main and dessert). Splurge and get the wine pairing as well - Dana is an expert. Not inexpensive, but worth every cent! Can't wait to go back. read more