Alleycatz Restaurant Jazz Bar

I went here with friends to celebrate my birthday. The food is absolutely horrible, but we didn’t come here for the food – it was all about the music. And the music was fantastic. There was a live band… not sure of the name, and a great DeeJay. They played all old school music (70s, 80s, 90s) and we couldn’t help but get up and dance. We pretty much danced all night, until the DeeJay started playing Top 40. That’s when we left.
The drinks were okay. My friends tried the Diva Colada and the Mango Belinis and complained of not enough alcohol in the cocktail. I stuck to the martinis (Orgasmic Catz) and I wasn’t disappointed. I’d go here again on the right night, with the right band playing, but I’d eat somewhere else first.

Would not recommend. My mother and her friend went to this place last night and in her words, «in all my years, I’ve never experienced such TERRIBLE customer service». She will never again step a foot in this establishment. Enough said.

The food was good and we had a nice dinner. The service was good. What we didn’t like was that there was a group of people on the other side of the restaurant having a speaker talk. It was distracting us from enjoying our dinner.
They have music later in the evening but we didn’t end up staying for it as it was starting late.
I wouldn’t run back to this restaurant but it was decent, not great.

We celebrated a birthday there. We had made reservations, so got a great booth (spacious, unlike some of the other tables).
We were not rushed at all, our service was prompt and attentive. Our appetizers and meals were very good. (Mussels, spinach dip, stuffed chicken and giant ravioli).
Our only complaint was that wine list was not up to date, but we were offered a comparable wine to our choice at the same price.
The band tonight is «Soular», and they are exceptional.
All in all, a great night.

Terrible service, 3 course meal took about hour in between courses.
And that’s why I guess they bring you your bill with tip included. Never will spend my money here again.

I was there recently with a group of 5 for Winterlicious. We were passed a few times by other staff before anyone acknowledged us. Service was extremely slow despite the fact that the restaurant was relatively busy. Our server would serve food to half our table before moving onto another table.
We were prepared to tip according to the service we received, but unbeknownst to us, an automatic 18% gratuity was added to our bill because we were a «large» party of 5. While it’s standard practice to mention this to customers before service, this was not mentioned before service nor was it mentioned when the bill was brought to the table.

Came for Winterlicious everything was good not exceptional but we were happy enough until the tacky 20% mandatory gratuity charge with the bill-​there were two of us! We usually tip well but it was such a turn off to have it forced on us that we will not be going back here. Such a shame you are probably losing potential repeat customers over this even though that’s what Winterlicious is about-​attracting new people to your restaurant. Beware!

My friend had her birthday dinner here on Friday — located on Yonge/​Eglinton area. It also coincided with Winterlicious. We were a large group — maybe 10 or so. They told my friend that after she confirmed reservations that any no shows would incur a $ 25 charge for her.
I haven’t been here for 10 or so years… I was actually surprised it was still here… and when I walked in, it hadn’t changed much. Low lighting, a bar in the middle and the stage to the side.
We were kinda squished in — all the tables are close together as they want to pack in as much people as possible.
I ordered the organic beet salad as an app (where’s the beet?!) b/​c I could barely find them in the salad. On the plus side it wasn’t dressed heavily which is always a pet peeve of mine when people drown salads in dressing. For my main I had the beef short ribs with sweet potato mash and veggies. The beef ribs were really tender — however the pieces that I got had lots of fat on them. The mash was good. For dessert I had the new york style cheesecake. It looked weird. First of it was cute as a long rectangle slice — but it looked like someone cut it with a rusty knife b/​c it was all jagged looking. Also there wasn’t a nice thick graham crust on it. Just some drizzle of raspberry sauce. It would never pass a Gordon Ramsey’s inspection. It tasted ok — store bought.
We had to ask 2 – 3 times for a refill of water — no one bothered to do so when they brought out our food and noticed the empty water carafes on the table. Also it looked like some of the glasses were dirty — not used dirty but dusty dirty. We had to ask for some new ones.
The live band starts playing around 9:30−10pm so if you want to hear your dining companions then come a bit earlier. The band plays covers of songs form the 80, 90s and popular now songs. The DJ takes over on break. Usually around 11pm-​ish the reggae and soca come on — my kinda jams.
You will see everyone from the young to the old — quite a few seniors hitting up the dance floor — they looked so cute! You of course get your few hatchet’s up in here and groups of guys roaming trying to get lucky.
In the summer I believe they have their alley way (hence the name) open so you can mingle there — not exactly a patio though. I’m ok with not having to go here again.

I went here last night for a friend’s birthday and the food was just okay, the wait staff were fine but the people who managed the place were incredibly rude. I understand that some of our party didn’t show up and they were concerned about selling the empty seats but don’t interrupt and ruin our meal by rudely and blatantly scolding at us about it. If you wanted to voice your concern, you should have executed it in a more professional way, we are still your customers and scolding us about the empty seats was so tactless. Then another managing staff spoke to the birthday girl, and other my friend who planned the event and made the reservation some more while everyone was on the dance floor but it was still in a really rude tone and brazen manner just to be more redundant.

I’ve been here a few times during the past year and every time I had fun! It’s a great restaurant and in the evenings there’s great entertainment. I particularly enjoyed TAXI. I hosted a birthday party here in January and everyone had a great time. Everyone dances after 11, and the ambiance is always a blast!

Cool atmosphere but terrible service. There was maybe 3 tables that were occupied in the whole place, not busy at all but still took 10 mins for the waiter to come to us. We told him we just wanted drinks. We drank our first beer and he just didn’t come back. We waited over half an hour after finishing our beers to get more before we went to the bar and paid the bill and left. Terrible terrible service.
I’m also a big fan of jazz music and was hoping for something similar to The Rex but was very disappointed. They weren’t even playing jazz radio but a bunch of pop/​rock stuff.

I wish I could give this place no stars.
A group of us went to Alleycatz for my sister’s bachelorette on the recommendation of a local business owner.
Even making the reservations before I should have known what we were getting into. The manager John was rude on the phone telling me that if we didn’t have as many people as we made a reservation for, we would be charged for leaving empty seats, which I totally understand on a Saturday night, but you can find a polite way to tell your customers.
So not wanting to get charged we made a reservation for 8 people, and we had 9, but two of them were just staying for a drink and then leaving.
All we asked was for them to pull up another chair to our table so we weren’t taking up a big table. They didn’t even let me finish explaining our situation And right off the bat John was so rude and uncooperative, then another manager butted in and said they were at capacity and didn’t have any free chairs (we could see empty chairs everywhere) and it took one of the girls taking him aside and explaining completely for hem to bring us a chair.
Even then he would walk past our table and tell us we had to squish together more because we were taking up too much room.
Our server on the other hand was good, she was very attentive and helpful, and I wish I had caught her name.
The food was ok, nothing to write home about, but I will never go here again, and never recommend it to anyone.

Went in to see a live performance… Ambience was dark and a good place for a date… Crowd is mature… Ordered a pasta… Kinda steep pricing… Portion was moderate… Taste was whatever… I think this place has guaranteed business so they don’t put the most effort. Didn’t hate it but nothing I am drooling over. Their sexy spaghetti was just OK looking if u ask me.

Gut-​wrenchingly bad service. I mean, she was nice and everything, and she seemed cool, but holy hell… HO-​LEE HELL. I honestly can’t remember a time I got even close to service that bad ever before. And I’m including from disgruntled employees in 2-​star Cuban resorts who don’t speak English. It was honestly so bad it was good though, like, it’s a real lasting memory… I feel like I was on one of those new Youtube hidden camera attempt-​to-​go-​viral videos. Like ‘Let’s see how nice people in Toronto are…’ OMG he still said thank you… OMG he still tipped %14 (I had to knock %1 on principle. BUT SHE WAS SO NICE… I compromised though by paying it mostly in junk change).
Anyways, this may have been a one-​off anamoly. Maybe it was her first day and someone dropped LSD in her pre-​work latte or something.
Besides that, the general atmosphere in this place was that of a Lava Life commercial produced as a highschool class project. Like ‘Okay kids! You have your $ 250, now go out there and shoot a faux Lava Life commercial! Don’t have a disco ball??? paint cardboard squares with shiny nail polish and paste them to a beachball! Don’t have that super sultry lighting etc? just get a couple flashlights and tape them to the ceiling!” I love cheap places, I love upscale places, but this just feels like a cheap place pretending to be upscale.
The food was okay.

It’s a busy time during Winterlicious! My friend had her birthday dinner here and we had a big group. The restaurant was packed because there was live music band later in the evening. We fit like 20+ people at the back wall tables, there was a little gap between another group of tables with waiter/​waitress walking back and forth with food. I was so scared that they were going to drop the plates on my head. It was very uncomfortable seating, had such little space to eat my food. The problem with big groups is that the service is not the greatest and I expected it. Took forever before they finally took our orders, get the food and move on with the next course. Seated at 7:30pm, waited for people to settle into their seats, got our orders around 8:30pm, finally started getting my food at 9pm. I was starving, should of had some pre-​dinner before coming.
Because the place was so crowded, it was also exceptionally noisy so it was very hard to catch up with friends and talk. And when the band started playing, it was impossible! We were screaming at each other and only able to talk to the person next to us.
Now for the food. For appetizer, I got the eggplant cannelloni — stuffed with roasted spinach, ricotta & parmesan cheese topped with tomato sauce. I was expecting it to be served warm but it was close to cold. The dish was ok, there wasn’t much of the spinach stuffed in there but the eggplant was good.
Main course, I got the braised beef short ribs with sweet potato mash. The short ribs were really tendered, fell right off the bones and the sweet potato mash was a good combination to soak in the sauce. By this time, I was already starving for hours to the point that I was no longer hungry. The food was still good but I got a stomach ache from eating too quickly. Some of my friend got the ravioli, they said it was good but not filling enough.
For dessert, I had the tuxedo truffle mousse cake. I wasn’t really impressed as it tasted like a cake from the supermarket. The chocolate and cream was too sweet for me. I ended up only eating the cake part. I should have got the cheese cake instead.
Overall, my experience here wasn’t that great. The place was too crowded and loud, so if you want a place to carry a conversation, this is not the place. The food was alright, not the best but not bad for the price you pay. Service wise, they were not bad when you can find them or they finally come to you.

Rating is 2.5 stars
We came for our 16^th wedding anniversary. I can’t rate the food since the food was from SPACCO as we unknowingly went on a night that their kitchen was closed. Food was good but not happy they they charged an automatic 20% tip. Service was friendly but very very slow considering there were only 2 tables occupied. Seemed very expensive even with a 56% off coupon… We only had 1 main, 2 starters, 1 drink, 1 dessert & the bill was close to $ 80 including taxes & the 20% tip.

I’ve been here about 3 – 4 times, once was during winterlicious, the food was really good, the service was really good the drink menu was not that great
The other times we’ve went at night, live music, lots of dancing, very fun
Salsa/​merengue/​bachata lovers this is a good place to go when you are in the area of maybe after a date night after the movies to spice things up and mover el cuerpo ayyyy

I think one star is the lowest I could go but if I could, I would give it half a star. My friends came from Calgary and love jazz so we had gone to Rex’s on Queen street during their visit the month before. My expectation for Alleycatz was pretty low but I was still disappointed. When we first got there, they told us to take a seat anywhere. There was a 30 minute wait until the server came to give us water and take our drink order. Then he disappeared for another 30 minutes even though we didn’t order any drinks. We were the only group at the restaurant as it was still early (around 6:30PM on a Wednesday night) so I have no idea where he went. By the time he got back, our water glasses were all empty (pet peeve) and we had been ready to order for a while. We ordered the buttermilk calamari to share it was pretty good (that’s the half star they earned).
For the entrée, our group ordered the stuffed chicken, the orgasmic penne, the sexy spaghetti and the beet salad with grilled salmon. The pasta was definitely not orgasmic or sexy. I would recommend changing the name of the entrée to «Floppy Penne» or «Sluggish Spaghetti». To start, the pasta was waaaaaaay overcooked/​soft and the spaghetti was cut too thick. It also lacked flavor and needed salt (pretty sure they did not salt the water when cooking the pasta). The salmon on the salad was charred in a burnt way (not a flavorful char) and tasted like coal. It also could use some salt. Overall the food was overpriced and mediocre at most. However, Alleycatz truly earned it’s half star review because of the poor poor service. I wish I had read other Unilocal reviews before coming here because the poor service is absolutely true.
I would not recommend this restaurant, not even for the same mediocre dishes for $ 10 on Spacco’s lunch menu (which I was meaning to try). No thank you.
PS. This doesn’t add to their low rating but just an FYI for those of you who care, they do not accept debit card.

3.5 stars. It’s hard to rate this place and I’ll tell you why. First impression is a nice quiet and cute atmosphere. We got the summerlicious menu. Both apps were «okay» but nothing special. The entrees were actually quite good. The desserts were «meh». But for $ 25 each I would say it was worth it. The only issue I had with this, was that they included tip onto your bill automatically even though there was only TWO of us. And they don’t even warn you ANYWHERE or at ANYTIME that it is included, and is actually 20%!!! Not 10% or 15% but 20%!! That is pretty rude to force that kind of a tip for barely doing any sort of service. Do they not want people coming back?

I don’t give one-​star ratings often, but FOOD POISONING will aid in achieving that!
Seriously, the fiancée and I were feeling pretty good tummy-​wise before and we mostly ate simple home-​cooked food before the dinner here. And AS SOON as we got up from the table post-​meal, we agreed that we were feeling a little uncomfortable. We initially chalked it up just a heavy case of itis — we had just ordered the lobster cakes for appetizer, and she got a spaghettini and I got myself the lobster ravioli. But that feeling of unease in the stomach grew, and grew, to the point that we ended up with two sleepless nights. Uncool.
Zeroing in further, I really think it was the lobster ravioli because I ate more of it than my fiancée, and while we both ended up feeling awful the ENTIRE WEEKEND, I was completely bedridden while she still had enough energy to walk around the house (what an achievement, I know).
I know this place is popular, and I know that usually people are more than OK with the food here (they even participate in Summerlicious/​Winterlicious, for God’s sakes). And judging from how crowded it gets after 9 pm on a weekend night, I’m sure most times the food here is perfectly fine. But I really, really cannot recommend a place where I got food poisoning from.
The service was quite friendly, the food taste was pretty good, and the only two main negatives were the ridiculous portion of the lobster cakes (TWO for $ 12+?) and the fact that there is NO WAY you’re going to have a proper conversation on weekend nights after a certain time due to the constant large crowds coming in. But again, that must only mean that most people don’t get food poisoning here and are having a good time right?
Well, too bad they’re not the ones writing this particular review. I will not be returning here under any circumst — *DRY HEAVE*
We’re done here.