Prices of Toronto Pubs

[Raphael]

My personal favourite is Volo. Nothing has topped it in terms of its selection and prices. Although, I think the best 'beer restaurant' I have ever been to is in Peterborough; St. Veronus. The food is beyond incredible, and the prices are shockingly low. The beer is great as well, but usually out of stock

Beer prices are too high there for my taste. I want to try somewhere new in Toronto as I am here for the summer. I had planned to visit Smokeless Joe's, but the prices mentioned in reviews pushed me very far back. Volo is absolutely incredibly for prices on tap. For example, $4 pint nights on Monday are a great deal, especially when you run across things like Denisons Weissbier. I was looking at Beer Bistro, but it looks pricey. Any ideas or suggestions?

I don't mean to sound like a cheapo, and I am all for fine dining. But Volo is somewhere I sometimes like to meet my friends to for a few drinks. Beer Bistro looks more like a restaurant to me. I am definitely satisfied with Volo, but I'm also looking to expand my horizons here.

[lister]

Additional places I go to are C'est What? (no patio) and Victory Cafe (has patio.) The food quality is better than the run of the mill pubs but not as good as beerbistro. They're different restaurants.

You can't compare prices here in Toronto to places like Peterborough. There's just a higher cost of doing business in Toronto especially in the various prime downtown locations these beer places are at. I pick my spots on beer when I'm out. Obviously don't order any bottles that are available at the LCBO or TBS. Stick to the taps and if there's something unique in bottle, you'll just have to suck it up and pay the high price to try it (I did that at BB for Brooklyn Chocolate Stout and Pumpkin Ale) unless you go beer fishing in New York State.

[shintriad]

As far as dining at the major beer-friendly bars downtown, my personal fave is also the mighty Volo. Great food and prices, meaning you can put aside a few bucks for some of their rarer imports.

C'est What has better-than-average pub food and very reasonable prices. You can only get Ontario micros there, so no one beer will be a wallet drain.

BB can get pricey and I have mixed reviews as far as the grub. Stick to the basics and you'll be alright. Like most fine restaurants, they keep a few lower-end options available...doesn't make you cheap to look for them, sometimes you just wind up going out for dinner when you weren't expecting to.

As far as Biermarkt and Joe's, they can also be expensive, but same deal as above. Personally, when I'm at either of those, I orders mussels. Relatively inexpensive, tastes great, and paired with a strong Belgian or two it's actually a fairly balanced meal. Got your proteins, carbs and essential alcohols right there! What's amazing about those two places is the difference in size -- one's relatively huge, one's a tiny boite.

Finally, check out the Mill Street pub, great beer and I hear the food's no slouch either.

[Jan Primus]

I think Volo has it all...best selection & price on Beer, same with the food.

[PRMason]

While I agree that price is an important criteria, I believe that ambiance and selection are far more important when choosing where to drink.
Toronto is an expensive place to do business and rents and staffing are much more expensive than elsewhere in Ontario.
If a bar wants to make money, they really do have to triple their cost on everything to do so. Labatt Blue on draught costs .10 cents an ounce for the bar to purchase. So a 20 ounce pint is $2.10, their cost, not factoring spillage. The average price for a pint should therefore be $6.30 minimum if an average bar wants to make money.
I'd love to see pints for $4.00 everywhere everyday, but there wouldn't be any bars left in business to sell beer to us. Lets please be tolerant and broadminded about this issue and let the GOOD BARS ( like BB, Volo, Victory, C'est What ,Smokeless etc.) charge a fair price so that they can remain in business.

[Raphael]

Let's also not make generalizations. I am not considering anything above $4 expensive. As I said, Volo has very fair prices all around (save for a few beers, i.e. Rochefort 10 at $13). I go more often on Fridays than I do Mondays. However, the prices of Smokeless Joe's and Volo differs quite a lot in prices. Hence why, Volo is my favourite place to go. They are certainly making business, and I would rather find places that have similar pricing to Volo, than say Smokeless Joe's.

While I agree that price is an important criteria, I believe that ambiance and selection are far more important when choosing where to drink.
Toronto is an expensive place to do business and rents and staffing are much more expensive than elsewhere in Ontario.
If a bar wants to make money, they really do have to triple their cost on everything to do so. Labatt Blue on draught costs .10 cents an ounce for the bar to purchase. So a 20 ounce pint is $2.10, their cost, not factoring spillage. The average price for a pint should therefore be $6.30 minimum if an average bar wants to make money.
I'd love to see pints for $4.00 everywhere everyday, but there wouldn't be any bars left in business to sell beer to us. Lets please be tolerant and broadminded about this issue and let the GOOD BARS ( like BB, Volo, Victory, C'est What ,Smokeless etc.) charge a fair price so that they can remain in business.

[Jon Walker]

I don't mean to sound like a cheapo, and I am all for fine dining. But Volo is somewhere I sometimes like to meet my friends to for a few drinks. Beer Bistro looks more like a restaurant to me. I am definitely satisfied with Volo, but I'm also looking to expand my horizons here.

If good beer is more important than the food I'd add three other suggestions to the bars already mentioned.
1) The Bow and Arrow. General pub food of modest quality but a decent selection of draft beers. I haven't been in a while so I don't know what's on tap now.
2) The Cloak and Dagger. Tiny place with a good number of taps and decent pub food.
3) The Magpie. Again, very good selection of draft beer and decent bottled beer options but no food at all (no kitchen).

[runes]

hooray! veronus is just down the street from me (as is the brewpub and tasty restaurant hot belly mamas/olde stone)

but alas, i got there quite frequently, but they haven't had a shipment in in quite a while, so i've tried pretty much everything they've got in stock. i always ask about the new arrivals that aren't on the menu, and the bartenders know me, and give me the scoop.

but what a great place it is! (aside from the fact that they aren't hiring ever!)

[Raphael]

Yes incredible place! And never hiring too... damn, I was hoping to work there for my third year. Start off a dishwasher and work my way up to waiting hopefully. Not much better paying jobs for students than waiting tables. And I love the place. The architecture, the woodwork, the food, the beer (when it's actually there), the ambiance and the best waiters I have ever met! I wish I was in Peterborough now...

[runes]

good to see another student from the 'borough! I've dropped of quite decent retaurant resumes (cook and dish experience) and haven't even gotten nibbles this time round! Looks like i'll be working for labour-ready again this summer!

[jmcnally]

While I'm still a Volo fan, hasn't anyone else noticed that the food prices have recently jumped significantly? I used to get the pasta special for $12-14 and now it's $17. I think the pizzas have all gone up as well. I guess $4 pint night is putting a dent in Ralph's profits. Sigh.

[esprit]

In regards to St. Veronus, in the past few weeks we have transferred the following to them which should either be there now or in the near future:

Brussels White
Orval
Mort Subite Gueuze
Maredsous 6, 8 & 10
Westmalle Dubbel
Westmalle Tripel

and in the not too distant future he'll be getting:

Scaldis
Koningshoeven Dubbel
Koningshoeven Quadrupel
Floreffe Double
Barbar
Rochefort 6, 8 & 10
Chimay Blue

[esprit]

If you want to get away from downtown Toronto you can find some excellent value pubs in the west end...most notably Rhino on Queen West and Ciro's at Bloor & Landsdowne. Ciro's has a great patio in the back, a great selection of bottles at very competitive prices and whopping portions of very inexpensive food. I've never dined at Rhino's but I'm told they put together some good pub grub at good prices. They've really stepped up to bat when it comes to bottled beer selection and are now carrying manyof our offerrings with many more on the way.

[Raphael]

I will give those a try! Thanks for the info. And I'm glad to know many of Veronus' beers will be back in stock. I do plan a few summer visits. So I know just where to go!

[runes]

that quadrupel sounds absolutely delightful. gotta go there in the coming week! (though im strapped for cash, the good old bank of mom and dad might understand...)

i have a bottle of floreffe dubel that my dad got somewhere somehow waiting in my cellar. i'm thinking it's a good one to start my cellaring career with (along with a fuller's vintage and a few TP)