The Bar Towel

Is now open on King St. near Brant. A part of the Donnelly Group which is a Vancouver based pub company from what I understand.

Decent taplist including 3 Speed, Cause & Effect, Detour, Henderson's, Cruiser, Golden Beach, Rhyme & Reason, Blood Brothers, La Formidable, Red Racer, Headstock, Silversmith Bavarian and a number of the usual suspects.

Donnelly Group is quite the machine I expect they won't stop at just one pub in Toronto. They will definitely shake up the crappy corporate pub scene in Toronto. Run those damn firkins out of town!

I did some work here installing the AV equipment and cables throughout the place. It is quite nice on the inside, and definitely not your typical Irish pub. 40 taps, as well as an extensive scotch bar and cocktail program with in-house unique cocktails. The head bartender really knows his stuff and cares about doing a good job. Very refreshing - a lot of pubs I go to I end up having to explain how to make a Negroni or what bitters are. Not here.

I've been a couple of times now and it's a very promising place.

Great side patio which is quickly becoming a King St it spot. Communal tables and an outside bar are on the patio with a slimmed down taplist, but if you ask nicely they'll get you a beer from the inside taps.

Quite reasonable prices - beers start at $6.25 for 16oz, with happy hour specials - Beau's was $4. Good looking food menu - had the Sanagan's sausauges which were tasty.

The wait staff have been trained on beer, know their stuff and are enthusiastic about it.

My only quibble is twice a beer ordered has not been the one that's arrived - once with Mill St IPA and again with Beau's La Formidable, where Organic Lager and Lug Tread were brought. However, both times the staff made it right and brought the correct beer and left the erroneous one for a bonus glass. My suspicion is that the staff is saying "Mill Street" and the bartender is defaulting to the main line. Not a huge deal but never like telling a server its the wrong beer as I usually feel like they think I don't know what I'm talking about.

It is clear that the Donnelly Group knows how to run a bar. They hits the marks and everything points to this being a very successful spot. As commented earlier it is miles apart from the corporate pub chains in Toronto and very welcome to have a quality establishment in this space.