The Bar Towel

whats the deal with this place? its right beside smokeless joe but it only has one place rating on ratebeer. the bottle menu looks decent. is there a reason id never heard of it before i walked by last night?

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16575

Has three reviews on beeradvocate.

mintjellie wrote:http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16575

Has three reviews on beeradvocate.

seems like a place that would've come up in my time on BT.

ill plan to stop by the next time im in the area.

still seems strange that there are no toronto reviews on either RB or BA

A few older BT threads here and here but not much since 2006.

I never reviewed the place on either site when it opened. From my recollection the food was decent but pricey. Overall, IMHO, it had the feel of a place that was geared more toward pretension than the connoisseur. The "entertainment district" is generally not a draw for me. Even Smokeless Joe's has lost its appeal since it stopped stocking and importing exclusives and the prices have always been prohibitive. The rent in that neighborhood is apparently ridiculous.

The wife and I went there once with another couple, and had a pretty lousy meal. Unless they had some really rare gems on the beer list (which they don't), I doubt I'll ever go back.

Its pretty meh. I had a decent meal there once but for the price I'm not in a big hurry to go back. I don't remember the beer selection being anything special at the time but that was a while ago.

Went there for the first time recently and had a really light meal. The food was good but it's very expensive. The atmosphere's kinda nice. Good tap list if you want some high-quality Belgians, but again, pretty pricey.

I work in the area and it still strikes me as a good alternative to Smokeless, where it can be tough to get a seat on some nights.

I've been there a couple of times this year. I found it to be quite pleasant. Very nice ambience, decent Belgian tap list (Delirium, De Konninck, several others) and a bunch of solid enough Belgian bottles (Gouden Draak, Westmalle, etc) if no rarities. I enjoyed the food.

I went a few summers ago and found it expensive for what you get. Totally agree that it seems more suited for the pretentious lot, there was certainly nothing noteworthy in a bottle or keg when I was there, nor was the food worth the price. A big, solid "meh" from this guy.