Empire Restaurant and Lounge

I agree. Going out with the intent of letting loose and having fun to having your night ruined by rude, stuffy assholes, is never fun. In fact, I hate it when I’m having a good time on the dance floor, look up and lock eyes with the most bitter chick you could find in the club, with her back to the wall, giving me the dirtiest looks. «…Was it the last dance move I did? I thought it was pretty cool… Do they even say cool anymore… Shhh, act cool»
However, I have to wonder if there’s MORE to the reviews left by the people below when they use descriptors and statements like Wannabe thugs”, «These people» and «The vibe inside is very dark and I’m not just talking about the lighting.“when referring to the club patrons and the club itself. Hmm…
As for the guy who mentioned the Anti-​pot sign. Weed smoking clientele get the bad rep while the designer drug clientele go undetected. Spare me that you’ve never done any of the above! Would u call yourself problematic?
–My 5 cents (Rounded up)
PS you said «Considering how many wonderful people live and work in the area, I’d really like to see Empire permanently closed by next year.» Thank you for what I’ll assume is a compliment unless otherwise noted! I also work in that neighbourhood, but clearly you and I have had different shopping experiences. My experience? Walking past Eton and seeing unpicked cotton and nooses displayed in their store window. What about yours?

WHAT. A. DUMP!!! Came here with the gals, and we are never going back. The atmosphere is intimate and cool but people are not. Crowd, ie guys, is just full of themselves and they think they are the s**t.
The music is terrible too. It’s just boring generic hip hop music, with which DJ did no creative mixing. This music attracts wannabe thugs, and this place was no exception. Like I said this place is filled with guys who want to be perceived as tough expecting such attitude would be accepted as sexy by ladies. The reality is, it’s not. We found nothing interesting to talk about with these people.
But service and management are what killed our experience. We were supposedly on guestlist, which the club forgot about. So we had to wait outside for 20 minutes! But that’s not the end. They also forgot about our bottle service, and we were not given a table. They found out about this after we paid to enter the club. The club was unapologetic and did nothing to compensate us. Our special nightout was ruined. Had they at least tried to work around the issue to satisfy us we would have gone back later as we loved how the interior looked. But they missed the chance so many times, and we won’t support this establishment.

what can i say never been there when it was the restaurant, only when it was party time, and it was some kinda fun let me tell you, you have to go on a night when theres a good DJ if not dont bother lol but its nice. 2 rooms, an outside area for smokers … its really nice

Review on the Run:
Managed to go on a half price menu night. Had the Antipasto Dish for starters, for the main I wanted the Grilled Marlin but they had ran out, so instead I had the Rib-​eye with Parmsen fries. Awesome fries, and the Rib-​eye was done perfectly. And to be honest, I’m not sure whether I wasn’t that hungry, but I was full, too full to even have ordered one of my favourites: Crème Brule. Small restaurant on Yorkville just east of Yonge. Really awesome value if you catch one of their special nights, although they do have a price fix menu as well.
Conclusion: Eat Here? Yes!