20 Best Nightlife in Toronto, Ontario

The Gladstone draws an artsy Toronto crowd that appreciates creative endeavors like music performances, cabaret and burlesque, and trivia nights. A 2022 relaunch gives the trusted community and LGBTQ+-friendly programming a bright neon pop art backdrop, with a light-up dance floor, '70s and '80s art-pop records on the wall, and TVs broadcasting what's on stage during busy events. Regulars flock to popular karaoke nights—both recorded and with a live band—and drag brunches. The Bar + Bistro has an accessible comfort food menu with Mediterranean and North African twists, plus plenty of themed cocktails that play off the Gladstone House's long history. The Gladstone Ballroom, once the centerpiece, now hosts mostly private events and weddings, but does sometimes host big party spillover. Original pieces from local artists are on nearly every wall.

Locals know the Drake as a hub for art, culture, food, and nightlife, with multiple spaces hosting events on any given night. The basement is home to the Drake Underground, a venue that hosts live music and DJ nights, while the rooftop Sky Yard patio serves drinks surrounded by eye-popping art installations.

One of the city’s most interesting destinations for beer, Bar Hop Brewco features an ever-changing lineup of 40 rare and one-off beers on tap. The location just off Queen West features an aging room for beers, a large and sunlit rooftop patio overlooking the main drag, and a menu of refined beer-laced eats like Porter-glazed garlicky mushrooms, bacon-and-blue-cheese mussels with baguette, and bone marrow poutine.

This laid-back dive bar has an excellent selection of draft beers and classic pub fare, from poutine to nachos and chicken wings. It’s a fun spot to watch sports.

With more than 150 beers from 30 countries, including 50 on tap, this enormous restaurant/bar has a corner on the international beer market, but the best thing about it is the oversize year-round sidewalk patio on the Esplanade, ideal for an afternoon brew. The lines are ridiculous on weekends—do as the locals do and go midweek instead.

The family that runs this narrow beer bar has a side business importing rare brews from all over the world, so you know whatever's on tap—whether it's brewed in Ontario or Belgium—is going to be stellar. The setting feels decidedly Old World, complete with weathered brick walls and a hidden patio space that feels like a walled-off courtyard. A specialty grocer and bottle shop, Bottega Volo, is two doors down.

In comparison to the raucous, glittering scene you'll find nearby, Boutique Bar is a (relatively) low-key spot for a cocktail, whether you're feeling like a classic negroni, a martini, or one of the house creations. If you can, grab a spot on the tiny front patio and watch the comings and goings along Church Street. DJs bring the party on weekends.

In a cozy underground setting that's part beer cellar, part library, and part pool hall, C'est What offers more than 40 taps of Canadian beer, plus a menu of globally inspired pub grub. The main room is home to a couple of pool tables and a comfy fireplace area lined with couches, while an adjoining room hosts live folk, rock, and roots acts a few times a week.

Restaurateur Jen Agg is a household name in Toronto, and the drinks are never an afterthought at her restaurants or at Cocktail Bar, where the ceiling is covered in pressed tin tiles and bottles gleam behind glass-paned cabinet doors. Across the street from Agg's other flagship spots Rhum Corner and Bar Vendetta, this boozy spot respects classic cocktail tradition—think Manhattans and absinthe concoctions, but rarely any vodka—but isn't afraid to take a few left turns either.

This dark but friendly little bar opened at the corner of Dundas and Ossington in the early 2000s, long before the neighborhood became trendy. Now, with its snack bar sign from its earlier incarnation and old-fashioned vinyl jukebox filled with punk and indie rock classics, the Commie (as the regulars sometimes call it) is an institution. Not much more than a bar and a few tables, it's the kind of spot you can go to, have a couple of pints, and find yourself in a deep conversation with someone you just met.

An Annex fave since the '90s, this brick-walled spot offers a variety of drink specials throughout the week, plus bar bites and the odd live DJ set. Head right back the next morning for a tasty brunch.

The rowdy atmosphere—every guest is greeted with a cheerful hello in Japanese by kitchen and serving staff when you walk through the door—is just part of what makes this izakaya so charming. Grab a Sapporo, sake, or cocktail splashed with Suntory or vodka, but don't sleep on the delicious small plates.

Originally launched as a pop-up taco stand, La Carnita expanded to this space on College and eventually spawned a number of sibling restaurants across the city. The tacos, hand-crafted cocktails, churros, and house-made paletas still reel diners in week after week. The space is filled with funky graffiti and the sounds of loud hip-hop beats.

If you want to "see and be seen" in the Financial District head to this vast restaurant and bar, which has a wraparound year-round patio facing both Front and Yonge Streets. The O&B has become the destination for Bay Street's movers and shakers. Check out the impressive cocktail menu.

Once a Soviet themed-bar, Pravda now channels the opulence of a 1920s speakeasy; it offers happy hour cocktails and operates as a supper club in the early evening, which is popular with the after-work crowd. As the night wears on, it transforms into a lively nightclub with a DJ and performances by an aerialist, belly dancer, or live musicians. Take a tour of its glass-encased walk-in freezer on the second floor, where you can don a fur coat and sample more than 70 vodka brands from around the world, such as French, Latvian, and Polish vodkas, each for a fee.

No hole-in-the-wall sports bar, this sleek 25,000-square-foot space adjacent to the Scotiabank Arena lights up with almost 200 high-definition flat-screen TVs and amazing sightlines from every club-style booth, table, or stool at one of the three bars. Head to the second floor to watch a game on the biggest TV, an HDTV screen two stories high. For popular sporting events, or any day or night the Jays, Leafs, or Raptors play, it's best to make a reservation (accepted up to three weeks in advance), though the bar does keep a third of its seats for walk-in traffic an hour before face-off.

This classy tequila bar was ahead of the bar buzz on Ossington (it opened in 2007) and is still going strong. The dark wood, large windows, big back patio, and mix of DJs and live jazz set the tone for a serious list of tequilas meant to be sipped, not slammed. There are also enjoyable Mexican nibbles like ceviche and tacos. Reposado has also expanded into a bodega next door with enviable bottles available for takeout.

The delightfully divey Only, on a relatively quiet stretch of the Danforth, is known as one of the city's best beer bars, with 25 taps plus more than 200 bottles and cans. The atmosphere is dim and raucous, with 1990s alt-rock blasting on the stereo. The bar doubles as a café during the day, and hearty vegetarian pub grub is also on offer.

This hotel's sceney rooftop bar has become a bona fide party destination. The lounge space is encased in a glass pyramid that allows for stunning views of the surrounding city, with a wraparound open-air deck. While you're feasting your eyes on that panorama, enjoy a house cocktail, local beer, or some of the kitchen's globe-spanning small plates.

A predominantly upscale crowd of men, mostly in their twenties to forties, frequents this cavernous pub and its brother bar Sailor where DJs mix nearly every night. The Toronto gay bar institution is known for Best Chest and Best Butt contests, which are hosted by some of the city's most beloved drag queens, as well as raucous dance parties. The exterior of Woody's was used on the television show Queer as Folk.