Visited On: October 23, 2019 Meal: Dinner Dining Style: Dine-in Would I Return: No Ordered: -Steak Dinner ($21.00) -Tea ($2.50) Thoughts: I would give Shopsy's a 3.5 star rating. To me, this is one of those places you check out once and that's good enough. I was satisfied with the service and food, but nothing stood out for me to want to return. Service We went for an early dinner at 6:00 PM on Wednesday and were seated within a few minutes. We had 3 different servers serve us throughout the evening, as opposed to 1 like in most other places. Everyone was helpful and friendly. Food I ordered the steak dinner (8oz AAA Alberta NY striploin, shoestring onions, fresh vegetables and garlic mashed potatoes). To my surprise, the plating was well done and very impressive. The steak had more fat pieces than I would have liked and the garlic mashed potatoes was a bit dry. However, the steak was cooked perfectly and the shoestring onions were crispy and delicious. read more

See all

Well I've never been to a NY or Montreal deli, but I kind of like the music.... Shopsy's Deli has been around since 1921 when Harry and Jenny Shopsowitz opened a small ice cream parlor below their tiny apartment on Spadina Avenue, in the heart of Toronto's garment district. Their sons Sam and Izzy built the business, and Sam eventually became known as Canada's 'Corned Beef King.' I first heard about Shopsy's when my first real girlfriend (Miriam) told me stories of family visits to Toronto and eating at their neighbourhood deli. Soon after, my friend Norm and I headed off to Toronto to see the sights and eat at Shopsy's for ourselves. And I have returned periodically to this location over the years. This is a great place to satisfy a craving for a delicious deli sandwich (hold the white bread and mayo), along with some crunchy coleslaw and a nice green pickle on the side. And you get a bit of the attitude thrown in for free. My only real criticism is that this Shopsy's is not really in the "neighbourhood" anymore. I love the Jewish-style delis not just for the food, but for the community energy. read more

I visited shopsy's today on a school trip! I'd like to note first that the service was really great! The hosts were extremely welcoming and accommodating to our large group! we had a buffet style dinner that included salad, pasta, chicken tenders, chicken wings and pizza. The food was alright but given the circumstances it was a good meal. read more

Shopsy's Deli & Restaurants - Caterers Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

We came in here yesterday for an early dinner and it was busy. The service was a little slow. The waiter was friendly when he finally came over and took our order right away. We got the fish and chips and a pint of steam whistle. The drinks and entrees were served in a timely manner. We asked for extra tartar sauce but they just made a point to say they filled up the single cup on our entree plate a bit more--that was cheesy. At any rate, it was very good, along with the fish. The fries were a bit dry and cold. The coleslaw too watery and too much vinegar. read more

See all

Hailing from NY, and having owned a Jewish Deli in New Haven makes me an expert of sorts on good deli. My culinary background doesn't hurt either. shopsy's is an affordable comfy place that serves really delicious corned beef. The soup was decent with a nice fat matzoh ball. Although the rye bread wasn't as fresh as i hoped (yesterday was Family Day) it was fine. Constructively, the corned beef was so thin,and tender, that it was in tiny pieces on the bread. It required two hands to keep it intact. The potato salad was tasty (not sure if it was made in-house) as was the Cole slaw. Service was friendly and good (Allie) read more

Shopsy's Deli & Restaurants - Shaved corned beef - Caterers Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

Every year Shopsys has a Buy 1 get 1 free coupon in the Toronto entertainment book at entertainment.com and when we are visiting we try to use it every year. This visit we had the ribs and fish and chips. Its just ok, the ribs were a bit tough. The fried fish was better. The french fries tasted like it was fried many hours ago and this was just heated. The cole slaw had too much vinegar.The coupon makes the 2 meals just $10 eqch, cheapest in downtown Toronto. read more

Shopsy's Deli & Restaurants - Half rack ribs and fries with vinegary cole slaw - Caterers Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

See all

I'm not sure why they don't have more stars! This place is really, really great! I've eaten here 3 times now and every time I've gotten amazing, friendly service, and yummy food at a very good price! This morning was the Torontonian breakfast with pea meal bacon, and a cup of coffee. Coming from the US, I don't expect much flavor in restaurant fruit, but it was extremely flavorful and fresh! I wish I could take home a whole loaf of the multigrain toast! Everything was really good. Also recommend their Garden Salad, came with super flavorful bell peppers and chickpeas, sunflower seeds, and this delicious vinaigrette. Gotta come try this place!! read more

Shopsy's Deli & Restaurants - Torontonian ($11) with peameal bacon ($2) substitute. Delicious!!!! - Caterers Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

This is a restaurant under Sheraton Toronto Centre, but it doesn't take room bills. Their entrance was confused me as well. AND THEY ARE A STEAKHOUSE WITHOUT STEAKS when I came in!!! 0 Star if I can give! read more

Brunch before "The Last Ship" starring STING. Great food, quick service, kind of noisy, but it was crowded. Got lucky that there were only two of us, so we got a table quickly. I had the "Canadian Express", eggs, pea meal bacon, hash browns, broiled tomato and banana nut bread toast. Very tasty. The wife had an egg white, spinach omelette with wheat toast. She said it was good also. Well off to the show ! read more

The quality of food has plummeted from where it was when I first ate at their site at Front and Yonge. The welcome staff was taxed with managing seating people while also completing a takeout order. Waiter was slow to arrive. The real disappointment lay with the food. Everyone's meal was cold. Hot dogs, pastrami and my smoke meat. The Swiss cheese added to my sandwich was missing. It arrived after I pointed out it was missing. Sitting cold and pathetic on a side plate. I came to realize that even added to this sandwich when originally served would have resulted in cold cheese on cold meat wrapped in a hamburger bun. What has become of this chain? $60+ plus lunch! Cold food. read more

Remember when this was Toronto's preeminent deli? Well those days are long gone. Recently ordered a corned beef combo via Skip the Dishes and specifically requested no coleslaw or pickle. Of course what showed up included them. Yes fries can get soggy during delivery especially if they have been sitting for a while. However, I also experienced a truly new taste sensation. Fries tasting of stale and musty oil. Needless to say all 300 gm of them went into my compost. Even the dogs turned their noses up at them and I have two hounds. It was left to the corned beef to redeem the rest of the disgusting food and it failed miserably. It was a pile of lukewarm meat with no taste, AT ALL, piled on a soggy "rustic" bun. Blech!!! There wasnt even any mustard included. Never tasted corned beef that tasteless in my life. Would love to give this place negative stars but unfortunately Yelp wont let me. read more

I can't believe a place like this still exists....I walked in at 9:10am stood at the front desk for about 5 minutes because there was a sign posted there saying please wait to be seated. I was seated someone came over and took my order at 9:10. I ordered the "eye opener" and to be honest no pun intended this experience truly was an eye opener. I sat patiently until about 9:55 am when my food arrived. For those of you who don't know what an eye opener is on the menu it's 2 eggs done the way you like a choice of protein bacon, ham or sausage whole wheat toast and home fries. The server brings me my food apologizes and to be honest the only thing I said was does it really take 45 minutes to fry an egg? Mind you the place wasn't even busy. So it kinda makes you wonder why it took so long. Here's the kicker I ordered extra toast and when my food came the extra toast was no where to be seen. That would probably take another 20 minutes. Well doesn't the poor server come back to my table to tell me my extra toast would be a couple minutes. That was the last straw I just left I am a platinum member at the Sheraton and enjoy the benefits of their ambassador service and only chose this place because of the convenience. Well that was my mistake that will never be made again. As I walked back to the elevator in the hotel the concierge stopped me and said I heard they aren't even serving people down there and I told him my story and he said 4 different groups complained to him about the same poor service and inattentiveness I probably wouldn't have written this if it was only me but 4 different groups had issues. The place only opened at 9am and wasn't even that busy there was literally 25 people in there. Do yourself a favour don't go here check out eggspectations, or take the 5 minute walk to the Eaton Centre. read more

I was really bothered that my tuna melt was open faced on some sort of soft roll instead of being on rye bread. Aren't tuna melts always on rye or am I being a stupid Chicagoan? The brisket soup was surprisingly good; I've never had anything like it. Service is average. Prices are high for what you get. read more

Stopped in briefly for breakfast/brunch. Good service. Lovely pancakes. Would live to try their deli sandwiches at a later time...At a later date. read more

I had a hankering for motzah ball soup, which I used to love here. The place was dark and quiet, I would've walked away thinking it was closed if it wasn't for the one man drinking at the bar. No one to sit me, until a kitchen staff member came out and got me a menu. Ordered the $9 little bowl of soup, showed up instantly. Motzah ball tasted bland with a hint of soap. Bad broth, bad motzah ball. Overall, a disappointing experience. read more

Worst. Restaurant. Ever. Well, perhaps not the worst, but even being famished does not make up for the amount of suck that comes from this restaurant. First of all, it was a Sunday afternoon & it seemed that nothing was open -- these folks were the only place we saw on our way to the Hockey Hall of Fame. We were immediately seated by the window... & proceeded to sit there while about 5 employees walked past us several times. We had been sitting there for about 15 minutes before anyone realized they were ignoring us. The waiter did apologize & rushed our food, which was decent of him, though it didn't make up for the craptastic food. I ordered the triple decker grilled cheese, which says that it comes on Challah bread... not so much. It came on wheat bread that was really soggy on one side & really over crunchy on the other. It didn't matter how hungry hubby & I were - this food did not cut it... not to mention the fact that I got sick several times after having eaten it. Later on, I saw a Shopsy's cart on the sidewalk... I wish I had seen that before my horrific experience... I have a strict rule that I do not eat food on wheels... read more

I got there about an hour before closing I couldn't find much else open in the area and ordered the deli sandwich with roast beef. I was expecting something with condiments maybe some lettuce maybe some garnish but instead was served the driest sandwich I probably ever ate in my life. it was really hard to choke down but the ice tea was very delicious. My waiter was great but again the roast beef was so dry it was like eating old clothes read more

Being a Texan with a slight accent I am not sure why this place only has three stars. I mean really, Texas, specifically Austin, have some great eats... this place is far from "ok" or meh... I'm here for a week on business and stopped at this place by the hotel. I ate Bill Cosby and he was gooooooooood. Ok well it wasn't really Bill Cosby but that is what I ordered. Pastrami & Corned Beef on rye with swiss cheese. It was served with slaw and a choice of options but the fresh cut fries were all I could think about... and they lived up to my imagination. Service was good but what I liked the most was the tipping instructions in 7 different languages. So in 7 differnt ways they are saying tip "biatches." The atmosphere looks sort of pub like - the music was strange. It was Gwen Stefani covering some 80's hit. I will definitely go back next time I am here wandering around. read more

Lunch service is terrible. Waitress was unable to take our orders.. the manager had to do it. The women's bathroom was covered in pee. I stepped in it, and now my pants and shoes smell of someone's nasty pee. Never coming back! read more

Great food. We cleaned our plates! The service was excellent and they had the best bacon you could die for. Restaurant is casual with a bar and a lot of TVs. There is also a fancier section where they serve great steaks. I personally enjoyed the casual area and will be returning again. read more

Quick, no nonsense service from experienced waitstaff. Got a tuna melt and a tea. Tuna melt turned out to be open faced but I dealt with it. Suitable for a business lunch or perhaps if you have kids. Lots of tourists. Would be back if I had no other options. In and out in 45 minutes at lunchtime. read more

See all

Occasionally I have a huge craving for a great deli sandwich with some crunchy coleslaw and a nice green pickle on the side. Shopsy's is definitely my savour when it comes to my deli taste. Sure, it may not compare to Montreal's Schwartz's deli or the deli restaurants that line the streets in NYC, but Shopsy's is still amazing when it comes to juicy meat, yummy sides, delicious desserts and fountain pop! If you are not looking to eat healthy, get yourself the corned beef or pastrami sandwich! You can request the meat to be cut lean and you can get the sides of coleslaw and a pickle or some great caesar salad. If you do wish to eat for your heart, they do offer health combos with lean turkey and chicken breast cuts and other goodies such as low fat frozen yogurt. read more

Great place to meet friends for breakfast. Good selection of item, well prepared. I just wish they'd go back to opening at 07:00!! read more

After a long day of traveling my husband and I went here mainly out of convenience. The food was good and great service. We had the Bill Cosby sandwich and steak. read more

Shopsy's is, I guess, the closest thing Toronto has to one of those New York/Montreal-style delis that serve up different choices of smoked meat on rye, latkes, potato salad, and have pictures of celebrities on the wall. And it does have all that. This is the typical Jewish-style deli. The décor is that of a diner and the menu is also reflective of the theme. Sandwiches are given celebrity names akin to the celebs that have performed at the O'Keefe/Hummingbird/Sony Centre [delete as timeframe dictates] across the street (http://www.yelp.ca/biz/sony-centre-for-the-performing-arts-toronto). Okay, one sandwich is named after someone. Step forward Bill Cosby (thankfully not ham-my). There are pictures of celebrities posed with the owners, or as I sadly recognize it, "pictures of Al Waxman and other people who are most likely dead that I don't know". The big surprise about this place is the humidor. After a big greasy meal, it's nice to be able to enjoy a cigar. The humidor is well appointed and has a decent range of cigar. Not huge, but enough to help you find something to suck on after gorging on a Bill Cosby. Wait, that came out way wrong. read more

After waiting over half an hour for our lunches to arive our food was just ok. There was no apology for the fact that we had to wait so long for our food. When we did "ask" our server for the reason we still didn't have our food another server told us that everyone came in at once. For the type of food and service the bill was just too much. Our server should have at least offred to comp our drinks. $10.50 for 3 pops. We will not be returning!!! read more

Beef brisket entree was drowned in gravy, garlic mash was lumpy for some reason and some of the veggies were brown from being old or from cooking. Nothing stands out to recommend or not to recommend Shopsy's. read more

Shopsy's is supposed to be Toronto's answer to New York's deli but it doesn't really come close. The corned beef is a far cry from the way they cure it in Manhattan. Seems to be the way at all the TO delis. Even worse is the service which can be painfully slow. Worse yet, I went here once during Passover and ordered the Matzo Ball soup and it had noodles in it! Excuse me? Uh, you can't have noodles/pasta on Passover! And i'm pretty sure this wasn't the Passover 'pasta' that's sometimes available in stores. This was the real deal. Sent it back and got one without noodles but who knows if that really and truly was 'Passover-friendly'. Pickle Barrel is a zillion times better than this spot and the only reason I might consider coming back here is for convenience. read more

Oh my god Yelp is in Canada. Finally! I can now sing the praises of Shopsy's. After a grueling 12 hours in which we flew from SF to LA to Toronto (yeah, tell me how THAT flight plan works), we arrived to rain and starving stomachs. Shopsy's was 1 of the closest places near our hotel, and we decided to eat here. It was great! They had "healthy combo" options that came with a side of frozen yogurt (I think that was the clincher), and even though they were closing soon, they were quite nice to us. I'd definitely come back here. read more

My burger was really dry, and everything seemed to be off a little in regards to taste and efficiency.

I miss the old Shopsys and used to talk with Sam when I was a kid. He was so big he could barely fit behind the counter. Best kosher salami and great corned beef. a classic and the best outside of Montreal and New York. read more

Who has the best deli food outside of New York City? Apparently it's Shopsy's in Toronto. My father and I were quite surprised and pleased when we ate here. Next time I'm visiting Toronto. read more

In a word horrible. I love smoked meat. This was rubbery, chewy and bland. Definitely not a redo.

Came here for lunch today. Nearly empty and the staff utterly inattentive. They must all be meeting in back. Not sure what is going on, but everyone seems sad here. read more

Can't remember what I had but great place for decent deli food. Yum Yum Yum eh? SL. Ran into a friend from work there too... eh AS? Try the pastrami... everyone else has...try the dog with relish, ketchup, mustard and sour-kraut if available... eek... high calorie and fattening... Andrew (c) Copyright 2017. Andrew M. Walduck. Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. read more

Thanks a bunch for supplying lunches to my place of business this week and last. Everything was delicious, and I received no complaints. The Lasagna you supplied yesterday was amazingly good. OMG! It blew us away! Was Emril working in your deli yesterday? We didn't know Lasagna could taste this good. It was a crowd pleaser. Keep up the good work! read more

Ordered a roast beef DIP sandwich, "open faced" - which I assumed meant the bread was open - but I still assumed I got two halves of a bun. That's a sandwich, right? otherwise it's just meat on toast. Anyway, got my sandwich with just half a bun with a bunch of meat on it. I asked where the other half of my bun was - politely - and she grudgingly brought me another half of my bun, so I could actually dip into my dip. Anyway, not satisfying in many ways - okay service, hard to find place, bad outdated music, dry bun, crappy meat, and apparently they brow beat you a little if you don't understand open faced or HALF faced. read more

Thoroughly enjoyed a soup (came out hot and stayed hot) and salad, and everyone's food looked great! I was reluctant about coming here because of other reviews, but I was very impressed by service and food quality. read more

I've been here a couple of times, sort of by accident. I think in the future I will avoid it, because the food is pretty weird. It's part of an Irish bar (???) and I assume they share a kitchen because there are only about one or two items on the menu I would ever associate with a deli. The couple of things I HAVE gotten have been greasy, overpriced and pretty gross. There are a million other restaurants in the area - save your money and so somewhere decent. read more

Doesn't live up to it's reputation as a great deli. The Rubens sandwich I had was nothing special and the meat was tough and chewy. With a the great selection of Ontario craft beers available, I was surprised to not find any on the menu. read more