Henry VIII Ale House

Excellent food, service and beer selection. Only ever had one poor meal there and they refunded everything and gave us free drinks. We used this place as a venue for a retirement party an got excellent value. I thoroughly recommend this place

Stopped in here for a meal with my family, not really expecting much but regular pub fare. While that is offered, there was so much more! Imaginative dishes and great specials make this pub stand out from the plethora I’ve been to. There was a tasty sounding Quinoa salad that I almost went for had I not seen another patron eating the Fish & Chips when I walked in. I was not disappointed — usually in non-F&C restaurants you get a rather bland but acceptable meal, but here? Holy cow. It definitely rivals Kingsway Fish & Chips next door. A massive portion of 2 pcs of fish and a whole lotta fries, it was so delicious that I stuffed myself to the gills. Battered with English ale, they were a smidge greasy but not in a bad way. Other dishes at the table were the ravioli, an English pudding pie, and salmon which were all very much enjoyed. I will surely come back to try the quinoa salad… and maybe get the fish & chips to go!

Last minute decision to stop into Henry VIII for dinner with my wife. We had eaten there before when it first opened and enjoyed our meal.
This time was not so good.
First of all, when we entered the restaurant, one gentleman was chatting with people at the bar, instead of walking over to greet us, he shouts across the room, seat yourself anywhere you like.
This continued for all guests who entered the restaurant. Kind of irritating.
So we sat ourselves at a booth, which was dirty. Not obviously dirty, just not cleaned well. Not a big deal, but part of the overall experience.
Our server seemed to be ok. He brought us drinks and took our order. While not a big deal again, our drink glasses were ¾ filled.
The food arrived and it was ok, though nothing special.
It was not as good as I remember, and my wife said the same thing.
We will not be back.

I came here on a Thursday night with teammates after playing Ultimate. I had their quinoa feta salad with a pint of a German lager I had never tried before.
The quinoa feta is one of the best salads I’ve ever had. Everything in it was in just the right proportion: tomato, feta, house balsamic, olive oil, quinoa, feta, chickpeas. At $ 16 it’s very pricey, and I’d do it again.
They have a great selection of beers from Europe and Canada; I will be returning here to try the other beers they have on tap. Our server was very helpful with the food and drink menu, prompt and friendly.
Great place, I will be returning.

Had their fish and chips. The fish was very good and the batter was crispy and tasty.

Came here on a Friday night with the girls. Cozy atmosphere and good food. Had the burger and caesar salad and really enjoyed it. I love my cider and there were a few to choose from. Service was decent. Good place to have in the neighbourhood. Looking forward to trying the Sunday night prime rib dinner soon!

Went for brunch with wife & son, and another couple’s kids.
Service was good, very nice server. Food is not impressive, but makes it easier that the place wasn’t packed. My steak & eggs weren’t hot, like it was under a heat lamp. However, we were just glad to be out of the house, in a place that was easygoing.
I’d give it another star if the prices were lower. However, if eggs bene with salmon is $ 13 here, and then it’s $ 13.50 at The Good Fork across the street, I’d choose The Good Fork. The reason why we didn’t go there: 45 minute wait. Couldn’t do it.

Menu: sandwich selection stood out for me. Good variety from the naanwhich to the lemon chicken.
Food: my table was really satisfied with fish and chips, a very tender brisket, tandoori naanwhich and bison burger. And this was a table of picky eaters who know their food. Everyone loved the crème brule.
Service: gentleman serving us should be more observant to customers. We had menus closed for at least 10 minutes before finally taking our order. Even though he screwed up the water count and brought 2 instead of 3, if at least half your table wants water just bring for everyone. After your table is cleared, consider asking if they want dessert, not 10 minutes after. Someone came a cleared 2 of our plates and 1 of another table, then came back to to do the same again — it was weird. Why not just clean 1 table first. After handing us our bills we waited another while for him to come back. I looked over and noticed him at the bar chatting with staff and making a drink. 5 minutes later he walks over to the table behind us and serves a gentleman his liquor on the rocks…5 minutes? Basically our server was taking way too much time. My guess is since there was only 3 tables in the place, he didn’t feel the need to rush, and not that he should — but it doesn’t mean you should take extra time and leave people wondering why you’re in the corner chatting instead of bringing them a drink that takes 2.5 seconds to pour.
Worst of all he brought the debit machine and left it with the first of our table… and at this point we were tired of waiting so we all ended up completed our debit/​credit purchases ourselves. This resulted in little to no tip as the last thing your customers should be doing is completing the sale. Even after this, no apologies or comment on «oh sorry guys, i was supposed to do that». Instead he seemed scrambled about the final receipts. Either he never worked in the industry before or he’s part of the reason we only got to this place when Bryden’s is too busy.
Overall= the food is excellent… hats off to the chef. Our server was lousy… frown to management.
Repeat?= Yes, but not soon or often. The next experience will have to make up for it.

I dropped in here for lunch with a couple of clients because we wanted something quick. The restaurant had lots if seating at lunch time and looked like it would be a great pub to go with the guys. My clients commented on how good the food tasted. Portions, pricing and service were all good. Would recommend for sure despite the somewhat dated décor.

Ended up here because our first neighbourhood choice was closed even though Unilocal hours of business indicated otherwise. Service was friendly but in attentive, maybe just inexperienced.
Burger was a no, Prime rib was ok but, like so many places who ask your done ness preference, overcooked. Chicken sandwich was a four star selection.
There are likely some good menu choices here but given the distance from our natural neighbourhood we are unlikely to return.

The worst pub I have ever been to, hands down. Brie dish was a messy, disgusting disaster. House beer was horrible, bad beer flavoured water. Sauv blanc from Chile smelled like weak vinegar. Steak orders were not done according to preference, things were forgotten, table was not wiped. In short, disgusting. Don’t waste your time. You’d get better, more accurate service at McDonald’s. Just bring a flask.

I’ve been here a few times in the last 6 months.
The atmosphere is casual but elegant. Daily specials that are affordable and good quality for the most part. I have tried many things on the menu but the food quality is sooooooo inconsistent! Cold mushy soup one day and fantastic hot vibrant soup the next, soggy prawns or over cooked steak and then perfect the next. Unfortunately that’s not the biggest pitfall. The service staff is either lacking any food or drink knowledge and noticeably unprepared or completely inattentive. On my last visit I went in with my daughter on a Sat evening there was one other table of 3 in the restaurant. We had hoped to have a couple of beverages while sitting at the open front window and soaking up the last bit of sunshine before. our movie across the street. There were 4 service staff (1hostess 1 bartender and 2 servers) at the bar. Although one server was making drinks for the other table not one of the other staff members other then the hostess that sat us approached or even made eye contact with us. We waited about 10 minutes before we decided to try another place so we could still make our show. Seems to me that an empty restaurant on a Saturday night at 6:15 with only 2 tables might have tried to make the best of all the customers that were there.

This place will RUIN you for English pub food. Everything is tional yet it’ll be the first time you’ve ever had it

Bar Crawl #5: Henry’s Lager & Grimbergen
Henry VII Ale House is a good choice if you or your drinking companion are into Single Malt Scotches and Irish Whiskeys. They have a printed booklet of selection.
My group ended up ordering a few scotches while I stuck with my beer. Beer choice though a little limited on local craft beers.
Service is really friendly.
The interior though a little aged and dark but really spacious!
Not a bad place to have a quick drink. Cannot really comment on the food as I was already so full from drinking all these beers…

Delicious. Great service, lovely desserts, cozy, well appointed décor. Had the streak special, was perfect. Reasonably priced. No complaints.

After Gord and I left the Toronto Ukrainian Festival, we had supper at the Henry VIII Ale House, which was just outside of the festival. We’ve been there before and liked it.
We started with Roasted Garlic and Chipotle Hummus … it was so yummy!
Gord ordered Fish and Chips… he got it the last time and said it was good.
I was in the mood for chicken wings minus the blue cheese dipping sauce (I don’t like blue cheese) … I ordered them medium and they were hot enough. There were ten in the order and they were a good size. I’d order them again.
Our server was Kristen and she took good care of us.

What a pub! Came here on a Tuesday night to live music and stumbled home singing «I’m Henery the Eighth, I Am» with a huge grin on my face.
The service was totally unexpectedly good for a neighbourhood pub. The food was totally reasonably priced and inventive for what it is. The atmosphere was what you would expect from a darkly lit British pub where everyone knows your name.
They’ve got great brie and bites, pasta, hummus and a stellar beer selection. Our server knew that my friends couldn’t have gluten and made immediate substitutions on our subsequent orders without being prompted.
If you’re looking for a pub that will welcome you wholeheartedly in Bloor West Village (which I hear is not a common trait), this is THE place to be.

Pricey, but good.
I have been here at least 10 times now and each time I have been impressed by their food. I have never had wings that were marinated before, very tasty. I would recommend getting the sweet potato fries instead of the regular fries. The regular fries are nothing special but the sweet potato ones are up there with my favourite.
I have also gotten the burger and the curry (cream based, forget what it was called), both have been very good.
The service was very good overall. The burger I got today was a bit under cooked (I’m sure still editable but pink in the middle) so I sent it back. The server was apologetic and said the kitchen felt bad about the burger. They redid the meal, gave me an extra serving of fries and a free dessert of my choice. That’s great service in my books!

On a whim decided to check out this new to the area pub.
It was comfortable, cozy, interior is a bit bland but it does the job. This place is really suffering by not having a patio, however the windows were wide open and sitting near the big open window was close to being on a patio.
Server was really friendly. Service was really quick, good drink selection, good menu selection for gastro pub.
The food on the other hand was not just good it was AMAZING. The Tandoori Chicken Naan Sandwich was one of the best thing’s I’ve eaten in a long time, and the new Chickpea/​Quinoa veggie burger was really delicious. Not dry at all, healthy but super tasty. Big wow factor for such a humble place.
I would honestly have given it 5 stars just for the service and food alone HOWEVER the place really is too pricey. $ 16 for the tandoori chicken sandwich is a bit crazy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a $ 16 sandwich in the bloor west village, especially at a pub. No wonder it was quiet in there.
That being said, I can totally see myself going back and paying that ridiculous $ 16 again for that sandwich, it’s that good. I’m weak. They have a great chef there.

We were in the area and absolutely starving and I had a craving for pub fare, so this seemed to fit the bill, especially because it’s had a few good reviews, but I found it only so-​so.
Décor: Another reviewer mentions that the décor seems to be missing something and I agree. It’s boring. The booths had gaps where the seat meets with the wooden bench part that holds the seat part up. Hard to describe, but looks cheap and crappy, like they’re broken. Our table was very unbalanced and the waitress came and stuck a coaster under it so it would stop rocking. It’s small and very cramped.
Food: Selection was pretty standard pub fare, but a bit on the expensive side. I ordered a chicken curry dish and when they asked if I wanted it to be spicy or mild I asked for it to be mild. Either their mild is just VERY spicy and I would hate to try their actual spicy, or they made a mistake. The curry comes with the chicken in sauce, rice and a sort of fried crisp, which was nice. The rice was bland however… or the spice from the curry killed my tastebuds.
My husband chose a burger, which was overall very good, although they charged him two dollars each for bacon and cheese on the burger, which is expensive when your burger is already $ 15. Not sure the bacon added anything, but the cheese, I’ll admit was really good on this burger.
Atmosphere and Service: Service was fine. BUT, since this seems to be a trend… or the gods are intent on making me detest children while eating out, we had another loud, rude child/​negligent parent situation (see post on Malaysian place). Another situation where children were screaming and running around and parents were sitting off, by themselves, ignoring them, while the rest of the people in the restaurant had to suffer. The group of older individuals across from us kept leaning over to make comments to us and the two ladies nearby grumbled under their breath.
Once again, this was a problem that could easily have been solved by the restaurant. The kids were part of a party and were in a party room, which is adjacent, but separate from the rest of the dining room. This room had doors on it… which CLOSE, but were propped wide open. All the waitress had to do was go and quietly shut the doors. That’s it! Problem solved.
We were getting annoyed and so we didn’t bother ordering dessert. Too bad, because they actually looked great. The group across from us ordered a few and were commenting on how good they were.
So yeah… I actually would have given this pub 2 stars even without the screaming kid, but if the screaming kid had not been a problem, we probably would have stayed for dessert and who knows, maybe these guys would be getting 3+ stars. That said, it just didn’t do it for me. Overpriced, for only okay food and poor atmosphere.